A Panamanian Adventure

So it has been quite some time since I've had anything blog worthy, but I recently went on vacation for two weeks with my Dad and Sister to Panama.  It was awesome, the following is a rough outline of the activities and adventures that we got up to.

Week 1

We spent our first week in Panama City, Panama.  I met my sister and dad in the Panama City airport and we took a cab out to the hotel that we would be staying at for the week.  It was located in a beautiful cove called Playa Bonita.  I didn't realize that my sister had booked us in at a resort type place and I up until now had never had that experience.  It was really relaxing.  Spent a lot of time laying in sunshine and swimming in the ocean.  Slept in quite a bit and also went on some cool adventures around Panama.  

Casco Viejo

We took a taxi into Old Panama city (actually the second Panama city) and got to check out a lot of their old architecture and buildings which was really interesting.  We went by a historic monument that had a long arch that was build hundreds of years ago.  According to history, this was the sign that Panama was the place to build the canal since clearly since the arch is still standing, earthquakes were not too bad in Panama.

Panama Canal

Richard Halliburton swimming through the Panama Canal

We also made a trip out to the Panama Canal which was awesome.  I learned all about the Canal and how it was built, not to mention some interesting facts about it.  For instance:

The cheapest toll ever paid to go through the locks was 36 cents paid by a man named Richard Halliburton in 1928, when he swam through the locks.

New Years Eve

We went to the Causeway in Panama and spent the evening eating great food, listening to live music and watching Panamanians salsa to the live band.  They make it look pretty easy.  We then enjoyed all of the fireworks (which there were many) on our way back to the hotel.. and at the hotel.  We arrived back at our rooms just in time to hear / see people pouring out of the bottom of the hotel playing drums, blowing horns and lighting off fire crackers.  Everyone stood on the beach as our hotel put on its own New Years Eve fireworks display (Awesome).

Week 2

The second week of the trip was filled with a lot more adventure than the first.  We decided to fly from Panama City to David ( Northern Panama) and see what that portion of Panama had to offer.  We flew out early in the morning and when we arrived we took a taxi to our town called Boquete which was in the mountains at the base of a Volcano (Volcán Barú).  Boquete was beautiful and had a lot of exciting adventures and excursions to go on.

Coffee Tour

The first day in Boquete we went on a coffee tour of one of the local organic coffee farms.  It was awesome.  we learned all about the history of coffee and its origins.  Took a tour of the actual farm grounds and took a look at the coffee plants.  We got eat the coffee fruit which is actually very flavorful and surprisingly sweet.  We also learned that evening that eating the green coffee beans (i.e. inside the fruit) leads to increased heart rate and slight paranoia.  My sister being a lover of pure science came to the same conclusion by accident and was feeling the effects for the rest of the night.  #Learning



After the tour of the coffee farm, we came back and I got to roast the coffee for our tour.  I'm happy to be in possession of 1 of the six bags of CJAM's signature roast.

After roasting the beans to perfection, we took a moment and actually tried some various roasts of coffee.  I also learned many interesting things about coffee that I had often wondered.  For instance:

• Coffee only needs to steep for 4 minutes
• The ratio of coffee to water to be used when making coffee should be 1:16 by weight. (i.e. 1 gram of coffee to 16 grams of water, weird I know)

Hot Springs / Horseback 

Papa Felix

The next day we went on a horseback ride / visited some natural hot springs in some rural area outside of Boquete.  Very relaxing.  Except my horse, Papa Felix, loved to run; don't get me wrong.  I also love to run, but i'm not used to running on a horse.  Near the end of our ride, our guide took us into a field and let us open the horses up for some serious running.. I was not prepared... but it was a lot of fun.  My horse was definitely the fastest of the bunch.

 Zip Lining / Waterfall Hike

The next day, my sister and I went zip lining through the canopy in the mountains of Boquete.  Wow.. that's all I can say.  I'd say the pictures do it more justice than I can.  The only thing I can say that the pictures might not tell you is that we were wearing a leather hand brake on our right hands which we would use to pull down on the cable as we were whipping through the trees... can't say I've got to work the breaks on a zip line before.  Awesome.  I took a video of me on the last zip line which was across the valley about 300 meters.

Zip lining across the valley

The hike to the waterfall was also pretty amazing.  Me and my sister went pretty quick as we were running out of day light but they were nice waterfalls and I enjoyed walking through the muddy jungle to get to them.  Plus the view from up there was spectacular.

Boca Chica, Seagull Cove

Dining Room at Seagull Cove Lodge

The next day we left our digs in Boquete and headed back to the Pacific coast to the outskirts of a small town called Boca Chica.  We stayed at a place called Seagull Cove Lodge and it was amazing.  All of the staff there were incredibly helpful and the grounds were incredible.

My dad wasted absolutely no time when we got there and booked us on a fishing boat to go deep sea fishing.  Another man checked in shortly after and asked if he could join us the next morning to go fishing and it couldn't have worked out better.  Why you ask?  Oh well, you know.. my sister and I aren't very good with the motion sickness thing and being on the open ocean (although calm) proved to be more difficult then we could handle.

Deep sea fishing

Although I may have been sick for a better part of the whole day, I did take a short break from being nausous to reel in a Durado (Mahi Mahi) that hooked himself on one of the lines.  My dad caught a Durado and an Amber Jack and the other man caught an Amber Jack and had a couple marlin bites.

If you would like to see the photo album it's located here:

Panama Trip Album

Well, that pretty much does it for my adventures in Panama.

Great trip, thanks Panama.

Hasta Luego!

CJAM