One more Panama Post: Passing the Time on the Airplane

I'm a big fan of sketching, but never seem to have time to practice. And when I do have time, I tend not to have anything useful to sketch.

As we were leaving the hotel and heading home from Panama I had a flash of inspiration. I grabbed a scratchpad the hotel had next to the phone in our room and worked up a little activity for the plane.

I pitched it to our 8 year old like this: I was going to practice sketching some of the photos we had taken on our trip, would he mind using his colored pencils to fill in the color. We'd be a team.

He totally went for it. For the next hour I got sketching practice, had was occupied with coloring, and Shira was able to be engrossed in her book. Here are the results:

Good golly, drawing is hard! On many of sketches you've really got to use your imagination to see much of anything. Still, it was a fun and educational little game. And all it required was the barest of supplies.

Panama Adventure - The Last Post

We're on our way home from Panama, as I tap this out. We're flying over white puffy clouds, without a care in the world.

We had our usual fabulous breakfast, which consisted of multiple trips to the buffet. Shira enjoyed all the fruit she could eat, and our little one was in heaven with the unlimited supply of lox and croissants.

Here are a few miscellaneous observations I made over the last week. Maybe they'll be helpful if you travel to Panama?

• Bring a Spanish phrasebook. They use American currency, and the US had a presence here for the last 100 years. But that's all pretty much irrelevant, we found that almost nobody spoke English, and the majority of the menus and signs are in Spanish only. Sure, it was fun trying to figure things out, and the language barrier made for some good stories, but it would also have been fun to try out more Spanish.
• Frommer's continues to be my guidebook of choice and an essential travel item. I was surprised that we weren't able to use any of the restaurant recommendations. Though I think that has more to do with the street layout and general business turn over of Panama, than the book itself.
• The Radisson Decapolis really delivered as a family friendly hotel. The suite contained two large rooms, which meant that our little one could go to sleep and we could stay up without disturbing him. Breakfast, as I mentioned above, was also outstanding, with a large buffet, and waffles, pancakes and such included. The location was ideal, and being next to a Kosher Supermarket was a bonus I didn't even know I could ask for. The only part of the hotel that left me wanting was the concierge. A good concierge can steer you to just the right restaurant, or attraction. At the Decapolis, they were glad to run Google Map searches and print the results, but didn't really deliver any more specific information. Heck, at one point they routed us to the middle of the city to visit the marine museum instead of to an island at the Amador Causeway.
• Bring the umbrella, leave the windbreaker at home. It down poured every day, and an umbrella would have been handy to deal with this. It would also have been handy to deal with the scorching sun at times. It was way too hot to even think about putting a rain jacket on. With all that said, there's usually shade or cover from the rain to be found. And folks are so used to the rain that nobody panics when it arrives during the day. You stand around for a few minutes and wait for it to pass, and enjoy the cooler weather that it brings.
• While the weather was hot and humid (evidence by the sheen of sweat I have in every photo), neither the sun nor the bugs were a problem. Every day we covered ourselves in suntan lotion and bug spray, and in return we got neither sunburn or any bug bites. This was quite a pleasant surprise, as we expected the worst.
• I used a Tide Travel pack to wash an extremely sweaty (and smelly!) dry-fit shirt and a pair of REI travel pants in the sink, and to my amazement they came out smelling great. They took the night to dry, but were ready to wear the next day.
• I kept my phone in Airplane mode throughout the day with the screen turned all the way down, and it retained most of its charge. I found it handy for taking sound recordings in the jungle, for snapping panoramic photos on top of Ancon hill and for listening to an Overdrive audio book during the flight.

Overall, Panama was a most excellent travel destination. There was plenty to do in Panama City for the week, and had just the right mix of history, nature and activities that I was hoping for. With the language barrier, it definitely didn't feel overly familiar. And the whole Kosher scene was just more than I could have asked for.

Go visit, you'll be glad you did.

Update: After this post was written, and all electronics were turned off, we started our descent. As we approached Dulles, the plane was getting pushed around by the wind. I held my armrest and tried to look as calm and casual as possible for our 8 year old, and Shira just focused on not getting air sick. As we were just about to touch down, the plane was still getting pushed around pretty wildly, and at the last second, the pilot pulled up. As we circled around to try again, there was almost near silence in the cabin. While I was fighting back all sorts of fears, and Shira was trying to keep her stomach contents in place, our 8 year old was happily chattering away, without a care in the world. A few agonizing minutes later, the pilot got on the speaker and informed us that he had aborted the landing because of the wind. He lined up for another approach, and even though the wind was pushing us to and fro, he made the landing. After we came to a complete stop, the cabin erupted in applause. Again, our 8 year old look at us with curiosity - what was going on and did people always clap after every landing? Seriously, this boy should be an astronaut with his total lack of concern for gravity. It was a memorable ending to a memorable trip.

A few last photos from the day:

Panama Adventure - Day 7

Oy, our vacation in Panama is just about over! As I type this, we're packing up and getting ready for one last night, an early breakfast, and then it's back to DC for us. Today we tried to tick a few more must-see items off of the Panama list.

We spent the morning in Casco Viejo, a quaint little neighborhood about a 15 minute drive away (technically, it's only 5 minutes away, but you need to leave 10 minutes for traffic and turn-arounds). We parked the car at what appeared to be legal parking, and gave an old fellow watching the corner a few bucks to keep an eye out for us. We then did a walking tour of the neighborhood. We took in the plazas, ogled the architecture, and visited the Panama Canal Museum in the area. We tried to get a glimpse of the Presidential Palace, but were turned away by a guard who spoke no English, but looked like he meant business.

From Casco Veijo, we made our way to the Metropolitan National Park, which gave us another chance to sweat profusely in a jungle. Again, this is exactly what I love to do. We didn't see any large animals (just ants, a frog and a bunch of turtles), but it was still a pleasure just to take the hike.

Shira's definitely on her way to mastering driving in Panama. It turns out, there's more to it than figuring out the woefully inadequate (yet, still relatively useful) GPS maps and dealing with the lack of street signage. No, there's a whole acceptance that lanes and traffic rules (right lane must turn right, for example) are more suggestions than anything else. One habit she most definitely has not embraced is the use of her horn. In Panama, a gentle tap on the horn is a sort of "pardon me, I'm going to change lanes - I hope that isn't a problem. Too bad if it is." It's not the angry horn honk of the U.S., it's more like an audio turn signal. Though one used after the turn is in progress, rather than to warn others you *might* make the turn. Seriously, the drivers are quite nice here, and often given right of way to pedestrians. They just do it all with a sort of flare you might expect from a person driving in a video game, rather than with real cars and real lives.

Panama Adventure - Day 6

Today we spent the day touring Panama Viejo, the original site of the capital of Panama. This got us into our first museum (finally!), and some quality time perusing cool ruins. It was exactly the kind of stuff I love, and that Shira's had enough of after about 8 minutes. We also had a fun time spotting iguanas among the rocks, which is often trickier than you'd image. For example, how many iguanas are in the photo below?

(Answer: 3)

In the afternoon we spent time at the pool and finally went across the street to try a new pizza place. I'm sure it was a chain restaurant, but it was quite tasty, regardless. It was either eat there or at Popeye's or Subway. Almost nobody speaks English here, and few of the signs are in English - but they've certainly got all our fast-food. I'm not sure if I should be proud, or ashamed.

Panama Adventure - Day 5

What would a trip to Panama be without some sort of canal adventure? And that's what Shira arranged for today. We did a partial crossing of the Panama Canal, which translates to this: we were taken on a bus about half an hour of town, boarded a ferry like boat, and floated down the canal. It was awesome. The scenery and the massive container ships floating by were a sight to behold. The locks were just like those of the Erie Canal I grew up next to, only on a massive scale. Even watching the dredgers and other working boats do their thing was cool.

As great as the whole experience was, I just can't wrap my head around the feat that the Canal is. Consider this summary:

In the end, the engineers and workers minimized the mosquito threat; moved, rebuilt, and expanded the Panama Railroad; excavated over 200,000,000 cu yd (150,000,000 m3) of earth; built the world's largest (then) dam and a lake; poured about 2,000,000 cu yd (1,500,000 m3) of concrete creating a spillway at Gatun Lake to control its height; and formed three sets of double 110 feet (34 m) by 1,000 ft (300 m) ship's locks, then the largest concrete pour in the world. This was supported by an extensive buildup of U.S.-built, then-modern, heavy-duty excavation and construction equipment, and one of the world's earliest and most extensive electrical systems, used to power and control the flow of water into the locks and spillway. The United States spent almost $375,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $8,600,000,000 now[27]), including $12,000,000 to build facilities used to guard the canal, to finish the project. This was by far the largest American engineering project of that or any previous era.

Yet, as you float through the canal, it just looks like it belongs. And sure, they had to dig through the Continental Divide, but how tricky could that be? It turns out, very. The whole thing is just too much for my brain to take in. Still, it's an excellent mental exercise to think through.

I'm proud to report that the bus driver who dropped us off had to stop and ask for clarification as to how we could get to our hotel. That's how wacky the road system is here, even he needed a nudge to get us to the right spot.

After spending most of the day on the canal, we wanted to take care of a bit of nagging task. Whenever Shira and I visit a location, we usually find the nearest grocery store and stock up on snacks, water and just do the usual comparisons between home and abroad. Since we'd arrived, we heard there was a super market across the street, but hadn't found it yet. Supposedly it was in the massive mall, but after gathering much intelligence, we learned, only accessible via the parking garage. Strange, to say the least.

After the canal, we made our way into the parking area and continued to ask for the supermercado, or the Deli K as we had been told it was called. After one wrong turn, we finally found the entrance. Sure, enough, the Deli K exists. And more than that, it's a Kosher Supermarket! That's right, we randomly picked a hotel across the street from a (the?) Kosher Supermarket. While not quite as surprising as randomly walking into a Kosher restaurant, this was close. And as supermarkets go, this one was quite large.

For dinner, we made our way back to the supposed location of a few guide-book recommended eateries. We found none of them. What we did find, however, was another restaurant with a big O-U and folks in kippot eating on the terrace. For the second night in a row, I had Kosher meat out. I had a "multi-max" sandwich (or named something similar) that consisted of schnitzel, a hot dog and pastrami all together on a baguette. It was total overkill. And totally delicious.

It's official, we accidentally vacationed at the most Kosher friendly location possible.

Panama Adventure - Day 4

Day 4 started with a hike up Cerro Ancon (Read: Ancon Hill). While I was hoping for impressive views and maybe some additional wildlife settings, my real goal was to do a bit of Geocaching. Specifically, I wanted to drop off a travel bug in a new (and exciting) location. A travel bug is a small metal tag with a unique number that can be tracked as it hops from location to location. I didn't have high hopes about completing this mission: I wasn't sure we'd have time to do any geocaching, or that there would be any active caches around, or if my cellphone without a data connection would be of any use. However, all the stars lined up: the c:geo app works fine without a cell connection, there was an active cache on Ancon Hill and most importantly we had the time to go hunt for it. And today, this all came together as I poked around and found the cache. Whoo! I also picked up a new travel bug. This one has covered 15,934 miles, and has been in Canada, Colorado and Osaka Japan, and now it's on its way to Washington, DC.

Along with our Geocaching adventure, Cerro Ancon did provide some awesome views, and we even saw a Toucan in the trees. Man those birds are gorgeous. From Cerro Ancon we made our way to the Amador Causeway and found some lunch. First thing this morning I had picked up a map, and between that and the GPS, we are finally beginning to feel like we can get around this place. True, the map, physical street signs and GPS never seem to agree, but we can usually cobble together something to make some sense. When in doubt, ignore the GPS, seems to be a solid rule.

Lunch was Panamanian food, which turned out to be fish and fried plantains. My rule about deep frying still stands: anything deep fried is going to taste good and fried plantains were no exception.

After lunch we hit Punta Culebra, a marine exhibition park. Really this was another chance to take a stroll (this time through a dry forest, as apposed to a rain forest) and ogle some fish. They had a touch tank which our 8 year old enjoyed, though the real highlight was spotting a large iguana perched high up in a tree.

By the time we made it home (with no detours or mis-attempts, thank you very much!), it was time to start thinking about dinner. But what to do? We could do the hotel restaurant or the pizza place across the street, or we could take a chance and do some walking. I pushed for the walking, but as we got underway, it started to drizzle and then rain. Between the rain and a tired 8 year old, things were starting to look grim. We stepped into the first place we could find cover, which was some sort of diner looking affair. It would do, but was going to basically be a repeat of lunch. As a last ditch option, Shira went across the street to a Mediterranean looking option. After a bit, we walked out of the diner to see what Shira had to say, and I could see her beckoning us to come over.

I walked into the place and noticed that it was a typical Mediterranean setup, though as we were seated, I did notice a Mezuzah on the door. The name of the place was Karbones, and I noticed the circle K on the front of the menu. But surely that was a coincidence, right? Shira sits me down and gives me the surprising news: yes, this place is Kosher! I look around, and sure enough, most of the men in the restaurant were wearing Kippot, there were benschers in the corner, and some frum music group was playing on YouTube over the sound system. I ordered a schwarma and ate till I was going to explode, and then ate a little more. Seriously, in a place where we can't find our hotel using a GPS, how on Earth did we stumble into a Kosher restaurant? However it happened, I'm glad it did. As surprises go, this one is going to be hard to beat.

Panama Adventure - Day 3

Ever since we decided to visit Panama, I had this vision of hiking in a rich rain forest. And today, that dream came true. We did a little over 6 miles of hiking in Soberania National Park.

We saw frogs, lizards, butterflies, spiders a couple of snakes and even a Spider Monkey perched high up in a tree. We caught a really good glimpse of one exotic (to us, anyway) bird. Though, by far the most impressive creatures we saw today were the ants. Specifically the Leafcutter ants. Our photos just don't these guys justice: imagine a 10+ foot line of ants, each one schlepping a neatly cut piece of leaf. It was almost like something out of a cartoon.

As our hike finished up, I remarked to Shira that it hadn't rained yet. And sure enough, within 10 minutes, the skies opened up and we got drenched. This actually completed the jungle experience nicely. As the rain was pounding down, there was thunder crashing and not too far off in the distance some howler monkeys were making a racket. At least I think they were howler monkeys. Whatever animal it was, it was loud and not pleased by the rain.

The tricky part of the day wasn't the hike; it was driving to and from the hike. Slowly but surely we're learning to traverse the streets of Panama. Shira has no problem with the traffic or roads, it's just that the maps in our GPS are woefully inaccurate, so it just can't give us sane instructions. It's constantly trying to persuade us to go right when there's no obvious road to turn right into. Add to this the lack of tourist (read: English) friendly signage, and it's not pretty. For example, it took us 3 attempts to pull into the grocery store that had construction surrounding it. At this point, what I'm craving is a high quality set of street maps, yet I've not been able to find them.

We finished up our afternoon with a dip in the pool and then on to dinner. We definitely had a unique and fun time today. And again, I'm proud to report that our 8 year old was a real trooper. 6 miles isn't a whole lot for Shira and myself, but for him to do all that without complaining is nothing short of amazing.

And here's a few sound clips from the jungle:

Panama Adventure - Day 1 and 2

We're in Panama, and boy the is the weather awesome! Yesterday we arrived, and the trip was uneventful. Some highlights: drinking a L'Chaim of rum and some eggnog-like substance on the plane (handed out for free), stepping out into sunshine and warmth, having my wife demonstrate her international driving skills like a champ and arriving at one of largest and nicest hotel rooms we've ever stayed in (it's the Radisson Decapolis - and it's the ultimate family friendly room).

We spent 20 minutes driving from the airport to the vicinity of our hotel, and then another 20 minutes looping around the city trying to actually figure out what street sequence we needed to take to reach the hotel. Apparently in Panama, a city that's known for total lack of street signage and direction, that's par for the course.

Today Shira arranged for a trip to an Embera Indian Village. The Embera are an indigenous people that have transitioned from primarily farming the land to tourism. They couldn't have been more warm and welcoming. Lunch was fantastic: fresh tilapia, fried plantains and all the fresh fruit you could eat. The best part: it was served traditional style, meaning without silverware. Our 8 year old was in heaven with this.

Speaking of our 8 year old, he's having a blast. One of the highlights of the trip was that a fellow tourist brought along a soccer ball to donate to the village. They brought out the ball, and sure enough, within minutes, all the kids--Embera and Americans--were playing away. Soccer truly is an international language. As travel hacks go, the soccer ball is an awesome one.

We finished up this evening at a random Chinese Restaurant named Yee. It looked more like a generic diner than Chinese food place, but, whatever. They had pictures of the food and understood our feeble attempt to explain we wanted to eat vegetarian food, so that was good enough. Among the dishes we ordered was Mapo Tofu. And why is this significant? I'll tell you why. 18 years ago tonight, Shira and I had our *official* first date. And on that date I had Mapo Tofu. If you had told me then, that in 18 years I'd be sitting in Panama with her and an 8 year old, I would have probably smiled and said, "yeah, that sounds about right." So glad it worked out that way.

I should knock off now and spend some time with Shira. After all, this is an important anniversary, I hope to have many, many more Christmas Eve dates.