Panamanian Adventures

It's been awhile since I've written on here. To be honest it's been awhile since I've written anything other than thank you notes for wedding gifts. I wanted to share a bit of the fabulous adventure we took shortly after our wedding.  After saying goodbye the day after our wedding to the many amazing family and friends who helped us celebrate one of the most special days of our lives we hopped on a plane to Panama.

Headed to Panama

At the Airport being picked up by Panama Trails 

Canal House; Casco Viejo, Panama City

After our amazing wedding and a fabulous send off from family and friends my husband Tim and I made our way down to Panama. Here we had the opportunity to start our honeymoon in this lovely and amazing city. Panama is an incredible place; one of the most amazing things about it is the warm, kind and relaxing environment there. I could not have wished for a better honeymoon. We started our honeymoon in Casco Viejo in Panama City. For those not familiar with Panama this is the very old part of Panama City; as well as the home of the Presidential Palazzo. Here we stayed in the beautiful old world elegance of Canal House; an old bed and breakfast near the Palazzo de Indepencia. For the first few days of our honeymoon we ambled around the city, strolled along the seawall looking out the the ocean, dined al fresco under glowing twinkle lights, and sipping ginger mint lemonade while listening to musicians marching through the streets with the stars overhead. We had the chance to take a breath, and enjoy life at a more relaxed pace. The hospitality, relaxing, and warm atmosphere of Panama City was a fantastic place to start a honeymoon. 

The Cathedral along Palazzo de Indepencia

The Palazzo Down the street from Canal House.

Wandering and soaking in the local history.

On the Seawall facing "new downtown" Panama City from "old world" Panama City.

Near the Presidential Palazzo.

At our favorite restaurant in Casco Viejo - "Ego y Narciso" So good we ate here the first of our trip (this is that time around) and came back for our last evening as well!!!

Cala Mia Resort; Isla Boca Brava, Panama

From Casco Viejo we made our way over to the Chiriqui Province, and after a short flight landed in David, Panama. After a fun lunch at a marina on the edge of David we took a boat over to Isla Boca Brava and the beautiful amazing Cala Mia Resort.  A truly beautiful Eco Lodge on a fairly deserted island... Eleven Bungalows or so along with living up to the advertisement of not needing shoes or keys while there made for a magical trip.  Hiking in the jungle and being waved at by Howler Monkey's.  Enjoyed our infinity pool looking out on the beautiful Pacific Ocean, with water so warm that it feels like a fabulously big bathtub.  A rather "adventurous" sea kayaking trip which is an interesting story in and of itself... Let's just say that Tim and I found that we are rather good at surviving against the odds of a sinking kayak in the middle of the ocean surrounded by 12 feet waves give or take a few feet... I did mention the sinking kayak right? I am alive as I have an amazing husband and he didn't get nearly enough credit for keeping both of us that way.  Our final day there (and the end of our first week as a married couple:) was spent on the deserted Isla Bolanos with white sandy beaches, surrounded by coral, starfish, adorable hermit crabs, colorful fish, gently waving palm trees, and beautiful shells; all the while humpback whales breaching just off shore. In short Cala Mia Resort was incredible.   

At a peaceful Marina Diner in David, Panama

Traveling to Isla Boca Brava

Entrance to our Bungalow at Cala Mia Resort

Walking to dinner in the evening :)

Cala Mia Resort Bridge

Our Bungalow @ Cala Mia

The lagoon at Cala Mia Resort

The beautiful infinity pool at Cala Mia Resort

The view from our back porch at Cala Mia Resort

Out sea kayaking before we almost drowned in the Pacific Ocean :)

There aren't many pictures from this part of the trip though a few made it thanks to the waterproof camera being tied to Tim's wrist. This is the deserted island that I was pretty sure I wanted to live on as I never wanted to get back in the sinking kayak again... If I wasn't married to the man that I am probably would have still been here ;)

The Howling Mano's (Monkey's) on our afternoon hike through the rainforest after surviving our sea kayaking adventure

The view from the top of our mountain... Our kayak was sinking and we were tipped out to the right of the island in the far distance of this picture.

Back in our infinity pool after an adventurous day.

Isla Bolanges - A deserted white beach that we spent our first Sabbath as a married couple on.  Beautiful.

Hotel Duville and Mirasflores Locks, Panama City, Panama

On Sunday we headed back to Panama City for one night. This time we stayed at the fabulous Hotel Duville. If you are ever in Panama City and looking for incredibly hospitable people this is a place to stay.  Getting to the hotel we realized that this was our one day to go to the Panama Canal.  With only a moments notice they arranged for us to go to the Canal, with only 30 minutes left before the canal was to close they arranged for a taxi driver to take us to the canal. This young taxi driver (Enrique) not only took us out to the canal, he then parked his taxi and came in with us. Using his Panamanian Resident card he got in for free and we got a large discount. Enrique then came in with us took us on a tour using his broken English and my very broken Spanish and a very well used phrase book gave us a locals tour. He also got us into the VIP area at the canal and we were allowed to take pictures. It made for a marvelous and memorable experience.  Proving no matter what language you speak there is usually some way to communicate. 

There are no real words that I can find to describe how an incredible work of art the Panama Canal is. We had the opportunity to watch an incredibly large ship make a complete pass through a lock from start to finish.  So glad that we had the chance to see this!

Coral Lodge; San Blas Islands, Panama

After a great night in Panama City we were picked up by our Panama Trials arranged van and driven to the other side of Panama, here we caught a boat over to the beautiful Coral Lodge. I have to admit that what I pictured didn't even come close to what we found here... Coral Lodge exceeded every expectation I could have had; it was... amazing. Here we had the opportunity to enjoy over water bungalows, views of the Caribbean, hikes in the rainforest, amazing wildlife, boating, sea kayaking, snorkeling. We were even afforded glimpses into the Native Kuna Yala Indians lifestyles.  Thankfully my Spanish had thankfully improved by this point into the trip; and as our visit wore on we found that while they might not speak much English Vallaro, who ran the Lodge at least must have understood almost every word as anything we mentioned that we wanted, from a different dish at dinner to a different type of mosquito repellent, things magically appeared... :)  Fabulous garden grown fresh food made up every meal with the most incredible fruit I have ever had in my life. (I only thought Hawaiian Pineapple was the best... Nothing to date has ever beat Panamanian Pineapple). 

Our final full day at Coral Lodge was spent kayaking in the morning with Vallaro which was a fun adventure in and of itself. Vallaro took us earlier than planned as we asked and he always tried to comply but this meant there was a slight change in tides which caused him to have to tote us across coral reefs (he wouldn't let us out for fear that we would get cut on the coral). Tim tried anyway not wanting our 5'2" guide to have to pull his 6'4" frame across at least a football fields worth of coral reef but after a couple coral cuts and a strict "Timo" and motions to get back in Tim was back in the kayak. With Vallaro pushing and Tim helping out with the shoving off of oars they did eventually make it across with their combined strength. Whenever I asked "como esta?" I was answered with a big smile and a "todo bien".  We learned why Vallaro always wore these odd looking rubber shoes - waterproof and coral proof! I was grateful to see Biki had food waiting for him when we got back. Such an amazing couple, always cheerful. Tim and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the ocean or the pool, relaxing with Vallaro offering to bring us drinks, snacks, and finally serving us dinner. You would have thought we pulled him across a reef! 

Leaving Coral Lodge the next day was sad. However our trip home was an experience I will never forget. We stopped in Portobello for lunch and sightseeing. After a wonderful lunch of yucca, plantains, and garlic we enjoyed looking in and around Portobello which is the home of one of the old Customs House that 80% of the gold in the entire world went through from approximately the 1500s to the 1800s. (Not sure I am remembering this 100% correctly but I think this is what our driver told us). Also had a chance to see the Island of Sir Francis Drake and ships that were sunk in the bay when Pirate Captain Henry Morgon ransacked the village.  

Whale Watching Panama, Pearl Islands, Panama  

We spent a relaxing Friday evening in Panama City back at Hotel Duville and then early that next morning took a very very very small plane over to the Pearl Islands. Here we spent the last weekend of our honeymoon on a 44 foot Catamaran Whale Watching. The Pearl Islands and all of Panama really is home to the Humpback Whales July and August and this is when they have their babies. Humpback Whale Babies are certainly not little but they are amazing. It was so fun to listen to whale songs while snorkeling, watch the mother and baby whales swim together, and the male whales breaching.  

Canal House, Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama

Taking yet another little plane Tim and I flew back to Panama City to end our Honeymoon where we begin: the lovely Canal House Bed and Breakfast.  It was just as wonderful the second time there.  We enjoyed ambling around, lounging at cafe's, and most of all dinner at Ego y Narciso our favorite restaurant we found in Panama City. A fantastic way to end the most amazing trip in my life... so far!!!

More Photos to Add when I have a chance... ;)