October 20 - 21 - Panama City, Panama

Day 1 in Panama City

 Goodbye to our ship, it was fantastic

And hello Panama City

Driving to our hotel felt like driving along the Hudson River heading to New York City, but Panama has a much longer history, so after checking in, we headed to Old Panama City.

Panama City was originally founded in 1519 by the Spanish (let's call this old old Panama City).

The original old old Panama City was destroyed in 1671 by Captain Henry Morgan, who set fire to the city (I guess I'll have to start boycotting Captain Morgan rum now). Above and below are some of the older structures.

Moving on to old Panama City, the structures are in most cases very well maintained. Above is a hotel and restaurant called Casablanca, and below is one of several narrow streets with various shops.

And speaking of shops, today's list of things to do was purchase a Panama hat. Above is the hat I purchased. There is an art form to folding these hats for travel and the video above explains it all (in Spanish though).

Both Sheryl and I felt very safe in Panama City but we did notice a large contingent of men with guns. The police wore blue uniforms, the military wore green uniforms and then there were the Royal guards that protect the President who's palace was a couple blocks from us. 

Ending our day we came across this lovely place which had 3 restaurants, a nightclub and a rooftop bar (the rooftop bar was closed due to the potential of some rainfall this evening). We chose the 3rd floor restaurant and managed to get the patio seating circled above.

Our seating and the view we had.

Day 2 in modern Panama City

So before the Spanish arrived, there were the various indigenous tribes that inhabited the area. Today there are 7 tribes still in Pamama that follow their culture from years ago. We were lucky enough to travel to a village just outside of Panama City in the Chagres National Park to meet one of these tribes (the Embera Tribe). From the parking lot we boarded small narrow canoes that took us along a river to the Embera village. There we met several families, had a traditional meal, danced to their music and learned about their history.

Amazingly, no one fell out of the canoe

Greeted by the local flutist

Welcome to EmberaVillage

All the buildings are on stilts in order to keep out the snakes and crocodiles out at night. We will definitely be leaving before the sun sets.

Lunch time

Lunch included local fish from the river as well as wok fried Plantain, which is sort of like deep fried banana.

And of course dessert.

And some dancing

Great band. Nice beat, easy to dance to. I'll give it a 9 out of 10.

One of the elders, who made a bracelet for Sheryl.

Two sisters posing for us

And no trip is complete without a picture of some cute kids

Our toured ended with another canoe ride home and again, everyone stayed dry.

Back in Panama City, we had to spend our last evening overlooking the city and Pacific ocean. The food here is fantastic. I had a skirt steak that was the best ever and Sheryl raved about her chicken (why is it always chicken) dish.

Goodnight and goodbye Panama. Tomorrow we head home.