Map of The Caribbean and Central America
One random day while riding my little Suzuki 100cc motorcycle down a back road in The Dominican Republic where I used to live, I ran into a funny, older and quite eccentric woman who sparked my interest in the smallish Central American country of Panama. She was looking for directions and after some witty banter, I learned she was a writer for the Fodor’s travel guide book series. She was spending some time in The DR making updates to the most recent guide book and while chatting she revealed that her favourite place to visit was Panama. She told me that it reminded her of what The DR was before all the tourists came, which seriously enticed me considering my absolute love of the beauty, culture, and lifestyle The Dominican had offered me. So, I had it set in my mind that Panama was a top priority place I wanted to explore! Finally, in June of 2013 I had a two week opportunity to do just that! As usual, I simply booked a flight and a hotel for the
Panama Viejo, Panama City, Panama
first night and started my planning once underway. I figured out that I wanted to delve into both the history and modernity of Panama City; I wanted to make sure to dive on both the Pacific as well as the Caribbean sides mostly just to say that I dove two oceans in one week; and I wanted to hang-out in Bocas del Toro. At the end of the day, Panama has left an awesome imprint on my travelling mind because of the ease with which to travel (I used bus, boat, plane, taxi, bicycle, and FEET!), the super inexpensive shopping (sooo many new board shorts….soooo little time), and tons of adventure tourism (Just not enough time to see it all). I’d return in a heart-beat.
Read about the scuba diving I did while staying on beautiful Isla Contadora and hanging out in Bocas del Toro!