Finding Fantastic: Exploring Panama August 2019

Panama is a beautiful country located at the tip of Central America. Though likely most notable for its canal, Panama hosts an incredibly diverse and interesting ecosystem. Mixing huge cities with mountains, beaches, and rainforests, Panama has a bit of everything. When picking a destination, I often look for a place that offers beautiful destinations to hike and unique culture. Panama has both of these factors.

I embarked on this journey with my dad, who frequently travels with me.

Our journey began with a relatively short flight from Houston to Panama City. Though Panama City has a lot to offer in terms of tourism, it's a crowded city that didn't offer the more adventurous activities we were interested in. We prefer to travel via rental car as it offers more independence and flexibility, but the bus system seemed comprehensive and accessible if you can't spare the extra expense.

Rainforest Yasmin Hostel

8.15. 2019 We began our journey with our relatively quick four-hour flight from Houston to Panama City on United Airlines. Immediately after arriving in the terminal, we headed to National Car Rental where we picked up our rental car, a Rav4. While Panama City has a lot to offer, we decided to spend our time in smaller surrounding cities that had more opportunities for hiking and exploring the outdoors. We decided to leave the city as soon as we arrived in part in an attempt to avoid rush hour where traffic can get quite congested with a city this huge. We headed north about 5.5 hours to Santa Fé, a small, removed city with many beautiful hikes in the surrounding area. The road to Santa Fé was riddled with potholes, so I would recommend making the drive during the day to avoid damage to your car. The four-wheel-drive proved incredibly vital for navigating these roads. We arrived at the hostel "Rainforest Yasmin" just after eight, which we found out quickly was the time that all of the restaurants close. We paid $65 a night for a personal cabana with two beds and a private bathroom. This included the public spaces like a pool and patio with hammocks.

View from Cerro Tute

8.16.2019 Our morning began with breakfast at the nearby Cafe Dorado where we dined on veggie scrambled eggs, fruits, and freshly squeezed juices. Our plan for the day was to hike the nearby Cerro Tute, a popular hike that draws tourists to the remote area. When approaching this hike, there are two options. People seeking to hike Cerro Tute can hike up the hill leading to the makeshift entrance of the major trail or take a taxi up to the entrance. The path is quite steep and while the trail up only took us around an hour, the

Cerro Tute Trail

incline is intense. We opted to take a taxi, mostly due to the weather rapidly becoming foggy and rainy. We wanted to reach the peak while we would still be able to see some of the beautiful views from the top. Driving your own car up to the entrance is possible, but there is no parking and there were more potholes than smooth road leading to a very bumpy ride. The taxi cost us $15 one way up to the entrance. After admiring the fleeting views as the fog began to roll in, we began the descent. I would recommend planning this hike for early in the morning to avoid losing out on views due to weather. That afternoon, we took advantage of the well-maintained pool at our hostel. If you are looking to swim, there are other options in the river with well-designated swimming areas. We finished the night with dinner at Restaurante Hermanos Pineda, a restaurant the served everything from pizza to local dishes.

8.17.2019 We began our day at Restaurante Hermanos Pineda for breakfast this time. After eating, we headed up to alto de piedra waterfalls, a short drive from our hostel. The trail is a bit tricky to find, but there was a small grassy area to park your car on the right side of the road before the trail to the falls. There were three major trail options, the far right, far left, and middle trails. When we went in August, the far right and left were the clearest so we chose the far right. We decided to do the loop that connected all three of the falls so that we could see everything. The first waterfall came after a steep descent and we followed the trail bed to find the second and third. The trail was not well marked and we often strayed from it on accident.

With the help of some locals who were hiking as well, we were able to find our way. You can swim in the water around the waterfalls, so bring adequate equipment for that. The trail was incredibly muddy when we went, so our shoes ended up covered in mud. Overall, the trail took us about 1.5 hours and we really enjoyed the hike through the forest and the beauty of the waterfalls. After returning to the hostel and relaxing for a bit, we headed off to Boquete, about a 4-hour drive from Santa Fé.

Boquete is a city where many people end up retiring from the United States. Because of this, there was a huge ex-pat community that hosted things like musicals and shows. The bars and clubs downtown played their music rather loud and with the shape of the city, the sound reverberated up in the hills where we were staying. We would recommend bringing earplugs if you are a light sleeper. Once we arrived, we headed to our lodging at Casa Cielo, a beautiful modern apartment with a kitchen, living room, balcony, bedroom, and private bathroom. The apartment was a quick 10-15 minute walk to downtown where there were many restaurants, shops, and bars. First, we checked out Boquete Brewing Company that brews around 10 local beers and has an outdoor food truck with vegetarian-friendly options.

Boquete Brewing Company

Next, we headed to Mike's Global Grill that offered drinks and live rock music. On the way back to our apartment, we stopped at a local grocery store to buy some eggs and local produce to make breakfast during our stay in Boquete.

8.18.2019 We started our day with a 30 minute drive out to the pipeline trail outside of Boquete. In order to enter the trail, there was a fee of $5 per person. They offered quite a bit of parking at the top of the hill right before entering the gate to the trail, so driving is no issue. The hike was a relatively easy 3 km trail with slight incline that took us about 2 hours. In some areas, you must step over logs or cross bridges. This trail is known for providing an opportunity to see the beautiful quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. Though there are many living in the trees along this trail, they are quite difficult to spot with an untrained eye.

Guides can be hired to spot them, but we were lucky enough to have some locals point out the birds for us and lend us their binoculars. We learned that the best time to spot the birds on the trail was around 10:30 when they feed on the small avocados from the tress. We were able to see many birds but none close up, they seemed to be concentrated in the trees around the large marked century tree. In addition to the quetzals, we were able to see a sloth as well. After we had finished with the trail, we headed up the road about 10 minutes to the 3 waterfalls hiking trail. Parking is clearly marked with signs off the side of the road. The fee to enter the trail is $7 per person and the money goes to maintaining the trail. The hike up to the entrance to the trail where you pay is arguably the hardest part as it is incredibly steep.

The top of the hill where the entrance to the trail is offers wonderful views of the surrounding area and many beautiful flowers. The trail is clearly marked with ropes tied to assist with steep areas and leads to three waterfalls. Swimming is recommended in the pools under the second and third waterfall, but the water was very cold in August. We took about 3 ours to finish the hike, but spent time enjoying the scenery. On our way back to Boquete, we stopped south of town at Fresas Mary to try some of the homemade ice cream garnished with fresh strawberries served there. After we had returned to our apartment and relaxed for a bit, we headed in town to go explore a local festival we had seen going on. The cost was $1 to enter and there was food, drinks,bounce houses for children, and live music.

Fresas Mary

8.19.2019 We had wanted to do something in the water during our trip to Boquete. We were toying with the idea of going white water rafting as the rapids were supposed to be good in the area, but much of the advertised trips was spent in a bus driving to the drop of spot.

Instead, we settled on exploring Los Cangilones de Gualaca which turned out to be amazing! This was a great way to escape the heat with some cool water and it was completely free. There are signs marking the turn off from the main road, and at the end of the side road there is places to park your car. The road leads practically all the way to the canyon so there is only a short walk to the water. You find a length of canyon with a beautiful blue stream carving out the middle leading to a larger pool of water. Nearly to whole length of stream is deep enough to jump in and the larger pool at the end is great for swimming.

Los Cangilones de Gualaca

Some areas are higher than others, but nothing is too high. After spending many hours jumping off of the cliffs and swimming around, we returned to Boquete. We went to Sugar and Spice, a restaurant and cafe, for a late lunch and had the most amazing house made vegetable soup.

8.20.2019 This morning, we took an early morning trip to Boca Chica to catch a boat around 9:00 am for snorkeling, whale watching, and some fishing. It was quite easy for our guide to find the predominate whale of the area, the humpback whale. We had many opportunities to see the whales fin as it arched out of the water. We also saw a whale repeatedly flapping its tail, apparently to kill sardines for the younger whales or to scare away predators. We traveled a bit farther into the water and then jumped off the boat to snorkel. The water was pretty clear so it was easy to see the fish, turtles, and coral at the bottom.

The boat went over to a small island with a beach that we were able to get off and explore. The water was a great temperature and very clear in this area. Once aboard the boat again, the fishing began and a few snappers were caught. After returning to the dock in Boca Chica, we had lunch at a local seafood restaurant nearby. We then retired to our cabana at Seagull Cove Resort. The cabana has two beds and a private bath. The resort offered a walkway down to the waters edge, a dock to sit on, and a seaside bar and restaurant.

8.21.2019 After a relaxing morning in our cabana and breakfast at the restaurant at the resort, we drove an hour to David. Once there, we returned our car to the National Car Rental by the David Airport. We decided to take a short hour long flight from David back to Panama City instead of spending the day driving back. Once we landed in Panama City, we took an Uber to our hotel, AC Marriott. Once we had checked in, we took another Uber to Casco Viejo, the old town.

This area has many nightclubs, breweries, artisan markets, restaurants, and trendy shops. We stopped in for a drink at La Rana Dorada Brewery and then headed to Barrio Pizza for dinner. This pizza shop was a build-your-own style, but utilized a wood fire oven to cook the pizza. I had seen Ay Mi Negra, a rolled ice cream shop while walking around the town and decided to stop in for dessert. The ice cream turned out to be really good and worth the wait. After this, we caught an Uber back to our hotel.

8.22.2019 We had wanted to see the famous canal while we were in Panama and were able to squeeze it in on our last day. We tool an Uber to the canal in the morning and planned to be there right when it opened.

It was about a thirty minute drive from our hotel. The cost to enter was $20 per person for non-residents and that included access to the four floor museum and a viewing dock to see the canal in action. The museum proved really interesting and included the history, business, and wildlife impact of the canal. You could spend many hours in the museum as there was quite a lot to see. We headed out to the viewing platform and were able to see two ships completely go through the whole lock system after learning about how the system worked. It was a cool experience and the museum really enhanced it. After we had finished at the museum, we caught yet another Uber back to the airport to catch our flight back to Houston.

As I reflect on our trip to Panama, here are some tips and useful information:

- You can drink the water! No need to buy bottled when in Panama, so you are saving money and time.

- We found that the weather pattern was sunny in the morning, then became cloudy mid day and rained in the afternoon, then became sunny once more.

If traveling to Santa Fé:

- Know that everything closes at 9 pm.

- Try to drive in during the day as the roads are very rough.

- If hiking Cerro Tute, go as early as possible to avoid cloud cover.

- Bring earplugs if you are a light sleeper.

If traveling to Panama City:

- We found Uber to be much cheaper than taxis and allowed you to use your card rather than cash.

- We had some issues with buying bus tickets from the machine as it was confusing, but there is a bus line that runs through town.