Most of my clients choose a cruise through the Panama Canal, but I decided to see more of Panama with a flight there and an on-the-ground adventure. Air Transat offers nonstop flights from Edmonton to Panama City and this is the route I took. So, joining an all-women group, which can be an experience all by itself, our story began. The in-flight service was good and the coffee was excellent. Before we knew it, we had left the cold behind and arrived in Panama City to a lovely 27 degrees Celsius. The flight was a good seven hours from Edmonton and the airport procedures were extremely slow. We waited a long time for our bags to be unloaded and then had to line up again to clear customs. Following customs was another baggage scan before we could leave the airport. However, our transfer coach was waiting and we then learned that our hotel, the Royal Decameron Beach Resort, was a good two-hour drive ahead of us. We were one exhausted group of ladies checking into our hotel that evening. We went off to dinner while the hotel staff sorted our luggage and delivered it to our rooms.
The Mediterranean a la carte restaurant provided a nice meal – the grilled fish was tasty and I was hungry. We were all too tired to appreciate it though so we set off to our rooms for rest, only to find our luggage had not arrived. We called the front desk, waited, talked to a few porter-type people, but still no results. Tired and getting down-right grumpy, we decided to scout through the adjacent buildings ourselves and see if we could spot our luggage outside any other doors. Sure enough, two buildings down our lonely bags were sitting all by themselves! Bed at last!
After a good night’s sleep, the world was right again and we discovered that we had a lovely ocean view room looking out to the Pacific with lots of sunshine! The Royal Decameron is a large resort with 820 rooms. It is spread out with three story buildings. All the rooms are the same, but the location of the rooms is where the differences are. They offer ocean view, oceanfront, and villas around the 18 hole golf course. This is a very nice family style resort with several pools and restaurants to service your needs. There is nightly entertainment at the outdoor theatre, spa facilities, and a long stretch of beach. This property has the most to offer of all the hotels and will provide a relaxing holiday for most. The Royal Decameron is built on a hillside though and requires a fair bit of walking up and down the stairs and slopes. The buildings do not have elevators so this would not be a good choice for people with mobility issues. It has eight a la carte restaurants (we tried four of them) and guests can eat at a la carte as often as they like. They can only make reservations for three at a time though. Overall I found the food to be okay, but not exceptional by any means. Comparing it to my stay at a Mayan Riviera resort which had a much better spread; I think in a few years, with some practice, Panama will shine with their all-inclusive programs too.
We spent our first day just enjoying the beach, checking out the nine pools available at this property, and sampling some of those wonderful tropical drinks. Panama has a lovely tropical climate with a uniform temperature of 24C to 32C year round and two seasons. The rainy season is from April to December typically and the dry season runs from January to the end of March so it has lots of warm rain. We experienced several showers during our week, but they didn’t last too long and the warm sun makes one forget about them quite quickly! The Pacific side of Panama is a little dryer and temperatures are not as hot as the Caribbean side. It is outside of the hurricane belt too, making the climate very appealing.
Panama is a nature lover’s paradise with a plethora of options to choose from. We went on a half day tour to the Anton Valley. It is about an hour from the resort and offered some wonderful scenery. Our first stop was a picturesque village nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano. They had a lovely craft and farmer’s market. The art work was different. I purchased a few paintings of wildlife done on bird feathers. They were well painted and quite unique and they made wonderful Christmas gifts. Then we continued on to the El Charro Macho waterfalls and a nature walk through the tropical rain forest. On our return we stopped at an animal shelter where injured wildlife are taken to recuperate and strolled through the botanical gardens there too. With more time, I would like to have taken the tour to the Embera Indigenous Community; the Yayas Falls tour and possibly the Canopy Adventure! This is a zip-line experience around the El Charro Macho Falls area. Panama is quite diverse with so much to offer.
The next day we visited the Gamboa Rainforest area. Nature Lovers – this is the place for you! Bird watching, fishing, and cheeky monkey viewings are just a few of the activities to welcome you. We crossed over a single bridge where the Gatun Lake meets the Chagres River. This river brings fresh water to the Panama Canal which is what is used to operate the locks. The area is part of Soberania National Park. We had lunch at the rustic Gamboa Rainforest Resort which is a great place to relax and experience some peace and quiet. It has 195 rooms on 240 acres, stunning gardens on the river, and a definite luxury ambience. It also has a lovely old style library and three restaurants, although not a completely all-inclusive resort. Bird watchers will enjoy a stay at the Gamboa Rainforest for sure. We signed up for a boat ride to Monkey Island. This takes you out into the Canal, Gatun Lake with the big ships and over to Monkey Island. As soon as our boat left the dock we got caught in the pouring rain. We were all given plastic ponchos, but we were completely soaked nonetheless. It was warm rain though so not really too bad. We only saw one very cute monkey on our way back to the dock. Boating out into the canal between the huge cruise ships was a different experience for sure.
One cannot go all the way to Panama and not spend some time in Panama City.
We did a city tour of Panama City and took in some of the highlights of this impressive metropolis. Most of Panama City (80%) is built on land fill dragged from the canal.
The city is divided into three: first, second and third city. The first is the oldest established by the Spaniards and has an old fort. The Spanish had gold quarries in the area. The second city is the Colonial section with five styles of architecture. The third city is the new modern city that is sprouting up everywhere.
Panama is all nonsmoking so there is no smoking allowed in any of the hotels except in their designated areas (usually the parking lot). The fine for smoking where one shouldn’t is 200.00-500.00 USD. Another note of interest is that men are not allowed to wear shorts or muscle shirts in the downtown area and no shorts or halter tops for women. Proper clothing attire is required by all. Also, motorcycles are not easily insured in Panama so there are few on the streets.
There is no subway or metro system in Panama City right now, but they are building one which should be operating by 2014. The Panama Canal is being widened and a new lock built to be completed in 2014-15 as well. The locks are a fresh water system that lifts the ships up 26 meters to the same elevation as the canal. There are a series of these locks to ensure the ships safe passage from one ocean to the other. The Panama Canal was opened in 1914 and was one of the greatest engineering feats of its time. These new upgrades will coincide with the canal’s centennial celebrations. So, 2014 will be the year to go to Panama! Ships going through the canal pay upwards of $300,000.00 and approximately 35 to 38 ships go through the canal every day. Surprisingly this is not Panama’s biggest industry – the largest profits come from the Colon Free Trade Zone along the canal. We went to the Panama Canal Center and watched a large ship pass through the Miraflores Lock, very impressive and worth a visit for sure.
We also took a little time for shopping!! What? A group of women wanting to shop?
We went to the Albrook Mall which is a huge mall just off the causeway that could keep one shopping all day. The interesting thing I noted about this mall was that shoppers could not bring their purchases from one store into another. Each store had an area where you would check your bags and then proceed into the store. It really slowed down the shopping experience in my opinion and discouraged us from buying too much. This was probably a good thing!
Other shopping areas include the Multicentro Shopping Mall, which is connected to the Royal Decapolis Hotel by a suspended glass walkway and is said to be one of the largest malls in Central America. Also shopping can be fun in the Causeway area which is a manmade road leading to four islands joined by the causeway. It is a trendy area with a marina and the rich and famous can be seen here at times. It has several restaurants and little boutique-type shops. The currency in Panama is the Balboa which is fixed to parity with the US dollar. I would recommend taking USD with you to Panama. They are welcome.
Our week in Panama flew by as they tend to do. To my readers, I would recommend you go for two weeks. The flight is long for just one week and there is so much to see and do. Nolitours offers combination packages where you can spend a week or eleven days at a beach resort and then a week or three days in either Panama City or at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Depending on your interests, either split would work well. They also have a one week Royal Caribbean cruise paired with a stay in Panama which is a great vacation option. Other tour companies such as Goway Travel offer modules that you can piece together for a more escorted holiday. Add Panama to your “must see” list for 2014.
