One of the more developed Central American countries-and cheap…
PANAMA. When that name is said, two things usually come to mind. The Panama Canal, and raiding and busting Manuel Noriega in the late 90’s.
Well I am here to say to you that a lot has changed since then, including the country being on the US Dollar and a very lucrative tourist industry. Condos have gone up all over the coast and many Americans spend sometimes half the year over there on retirement.
I stayed in Panama City when I first got there for a few days in a hostel and met some great people. We sat around and had beers and talked about traveling. It was definitely a great experience. We did a lot of walking around the city just looking and checking things out.
I then took a mini bus to a place called Rio Hato, which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Why did I go there? My mom’s uncle is one of those Americans who live over there for half the year. I had gotten in touch with him and his wife on facebook and they invited me to stay for a few days with them. I rode this bus and got off at this little stop and then got in back of a random truck to take me to the condo they were staying at. I must tell you that they have a pretty nice layout as they have their own pool and it is very quiet. We basically sat around and took walks on the beach, made food, drank wine, and just pretty much lounged around. I had a blast catching up with him and his wife and could of relaxed and stayed there a while more.
When I got back to Panama, I decided that I wanted to jump and have a boat tour of the Panama Canal. I was really impressed with it. We jumped on a good size boat and went up and down and saw baby alligators and all kinds of wild life. We had lunch in a nice boat on the water then took kayaks up and down the tributaries to a small waterfall. Let’s just say after that I was very stinky and sweaty and I had to hop on a plane to get back to Maracaibo to teach the next day……
