La Estancia Panama City

The title of this entry is a palindrome (Google it if you don't know what one is) and it is probably overused but what the heck I'll beat it some more. We took the 11am flight from Bocas to Allbrook regional airport in Panama City, everything went smoothly for the one hour flight, although we did have to pay an extra $11 because our bags were overweight, most likely due to the huge bag of coffee beans that we bought. We had a driver waiting for us in Panama City as planned. The sign he was ho...

The rooms at La Estancia are comfortable and it's quiet in this area at night. The breakfast was not that great and I was surprised because of the good reviews I had read. Honestly, we had better in Bocas at Cocomo on the Sea (which rocks) and Lula's B&B. I won't criticize until after we have had a couple more breakfasts here. We walked up the road to the top of Ancon Hill this morning to get some exercise and enjoy the incredible views of Panama City and the canal. It reminded me a little bi...

Our trip to visit an Embera village started at 8:30am when our guide Edwin picked us up at the hotel. Edwin knows anything you want know about the Panama Canal, the Embera and everything else we asked him about. He grew up in the US, went to college in Miami then moved back to Panama, his home country. His knowledge of the area and being fluent in both spanish and english make him very much in demand working at the canal's port of call and also working for Panaramic Panama, the tour company r...

Today we walked the length of the causeway checking out the shops and boats. Unfortunately it is carnivale now and there is no one around. Many shops are closed and the restaurants are empty. We got our exercise for the day and then headed back to the hotel and had dinner there. Not much else to report. Tomorrow we are taking the 2pm flight back to Portland.

It's now 11:30p and we're hanging out in our room at La Estancia Bed & Breakfast. Just got done chatting with someone named Les from Portland, Oregon who arrived here an hour ago with his partner Kamala. They are headed for the jungly interior city of Gamboa, where they hope to see some birds, monkeys, etc. I was just checking email in the common room of La Estancia and got one from Gram, thanks Gram! The community computer here at Estancia runs Win98, OMG. Keli and I did find some fun sa...

Upon arrival in Panama City, we stood in line for immigration. Once it was our turn, the Immigration officer kept out passports and we were sent back to get into another line to purchase our Tourist Cards ($5). Once again were were in the line for Immigration, and ultimately obtained our passports with the Panamanian seal of approval and off we went to find our driver to our hotel. As you recall, I reserved a Bed and Breakfast, La Estancia, over the internet. Sure enough our driver was waitin...

We are back in Panama City (our third time as we pass back and forth) and staying in La Estancia B&B up on Ancon Hill. I do mean UP. Yesterday I did the 190 steps up behing the Canal Administration Building....that was a chore. We met some people staying at the B&B, he was born in PC and knows the area. He showed us the short cut which saved a lot of other upward steps. The Administration Building of the canal (ACP in Spanish) is a beautiful building built in 1914, formerly American, ...

Sunday we took a half day city tour which was uneventful. Rode to the top of Cerro Ancon for a view of the city and saw the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal and Casco Viejo. The tour guide said the Locks were not crowded but to us they were. You had to wait to get a spot on the overlook to see the ship go through. Had a famous shaved snow cone in Casco Viejo. She dropped us off downtown and we tried to make our way to Carnival. The three blocks turned into about 12 as we had to circle aro...

This will be quick to update you on the journey. We got back from San Blas yesterday morning after waiting till our 6:45 a.m. flight came at 8:30. San Blas and the Kuna were a highlight of the trip. We got picked up at the airport and taken to Yandup, an island within sight of Playon Chico, the village, where the airport was. The place was a coral island covered with sod and planted palms and white sandy beaches at two places. The Caribean breezes were muy tranquillo so after the two days bef...

We are back tonight in Panama City, having left the Bocas del Toro monsoons behind. After the very eventful bus ride to Bocas with washed out roads and a protest demonstration, we spent two days in off and on torrential downpours in Bocas, the "on" times occurring during our boat tours and beach trip. Our Hotel Angela there left a lot to be desired. It seemed to be on the quiet edge of town, except it seemed a bit sketchy getting to it, away from the more secure feeling of having lots of tour...