12-hour Panama ADVENTURE
So here is my belated blog about Panama. I apologize I've been kinda lazy since I've been home. And “kinda” is an understatement.
Like I said in my previous blog, my two friends and I had a 12-hour layover in Panama. Yes, I know, that’s half a day but we planned it that way because we wanted ample time to go adventuring. And c’mon now, you know I love me some adventure.
Our main goal of our 12-hour Panamanian adventure was to obviously see the canal. Although, we had doubts because we of the many nay-sayers back in BA. “The canal is too far from the airport” they said, “you’ll never be able to do that in 12 hours”.
Oh, did we prove them wrong.
We touched down in Panama around 8am on Thursday morning. All rested up from our 8-hour flight we headed directly to immigration (yay passport stamp!) and customs. There, the people told us that before they let us into the country we needed get tourist cards available for purchase for 5 American dollars (cash only) at a different desk. Great. Like we would have 5 USD after three months in Argentina. The workers directed us to an ATM upstairs, so up we went. Airport information upstairs then said the ATM was downstairs so, frustrated, we went back to the immigration desk and told them our ATM location woes. Quickly the nice Panamanian immigration lady stamped our passports sans tourist card!
..and that’s how I got into Panama semi-illegally.
After that whole ordeal, we went to the tourism desk to find out our options in getting to the canal. One tour fit us perfectly, we would be able to see the old city, the new city, the canal….it was like the stars were aligned! Okay, I’m lying. The company works in conjunction with our airline so that in-transit passengers can tour Panama while waiting for their transfer flight. It’s still cool though.
Confession…I thought Panama would be kinda…eh, how do I put this...Okay, I just wasn’t expecting it to be as nice as it was. Sorry, Panama! I’m bowing my head in shame. But, seriously wow! Panama is nice! From the high-rise towers (one of them being a Trump hotel), to the historic Ciudad Vieja, to the clean blue waters, I like Panama!
Due to its one time status as an American territory, Panama is very Americanized. Pizza Hut, Quizno’s, Wendy’s, the numerous BMW’s I saw….it was like a little America hidden between Costa Rica and Colombia. Some may see that as a good thing, others may see that as a bad thing. All I know is that it was a nice transition time for me before I made my first “appearance” in America in three months.
As you can tell, my 12-hour Panama adventure was successful! Now I can say I visited South America, Central America and North America all within 2 days!
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