Panama - Day 9

One more full day of relaxing, sunshine, and pool time. Chris and I have definitely changed our travel behavior in the past couple of years. 

We got to see a sloth today. It was up in a tree earlier in the week, but I never could find it. When Rosie announced that the sloth was back, Chris and I ran to look. It was tiny and dark gray. 

You’d probably never see it if you did not know what you were looking for. 

Chris had lobster for dinner. It is not my favorite, so I opted for a fish filet for dinner. I think we had fish for most of our evening meals throughout the week. 

Before calling it a night, I packed up a lot of my stuff. Most of it will just be dumped in the dirty clothes.

Panama - Day 8

Only two and half days left of vacation. We have thoroughly enjoyed the down time. 

The bug spray I use works moderately well. I apply regularly throughout the day and still get bit. Chris applies nothing at all and gets only a few bites. 

I made the mistake of saying I wanted “the same as yesterday” to my Spanish-speaking server. I figured she would remember. Nope. I had to go and ask for yogurt and fruit. My egg white omelet came with mushrooms, cheese and tomatoes instead of mushrooms, cheese and ham. 

BUT, my soy milk was cold without ice cubes. 

That’s a win. I will be sure to specify what I want tomorrow. 

Saw this cute little frog by the men's restroom.

I took a few pictures of the gym, yoga room, main casita.

We kicked off our flip flops and relaxed by the pool for the morning.

Lunch was served at the swim up bar. 

I am not a fan of chicken wings. It is a messy food with little reward. I traded my remaining wings for Chris’ coleslaw. Good trade from my perspective.

Panama - Day 7

Besides the usual, today we booked a tour to go see dolphins and then snorkel at two different locations. 

For breakfast, my “cold” soy milk came with ice cubes! 

Raymond captained the boat that took us on our excursions. There were two dolphins that performed for us.

Our first snorkel spot was quite shallow and had lots of star fish. There wasn’t much else nor was it very colorful. 

The second snorkel spot—Coral Cay—was a little deeper and had lots of colorful fish. (Not too many star fish at this spot though.) We loved the snorkeling and got in two more good workouts for the day. 

Back to the resort where we lounged, dipped in the pool, and relaxed for the rest of the day. We decided we enjoyed doing nothing even though the excursions were fun. 

Definitely a good way to spend the last week of January! Chris was enjoying his downtime from not working at LM—no messages, no emails, no demands—his access had been cut off after his last day on January 23. He was preparing for his new job as CEO of Pivot Door Company starting on Monday, February 2.

We took a moonlit walk along the beach and captured a few photos. With the flash on, it looked like day time, but not.

Panama - Day 6

What was different about today from eating, relaxing by the pool, and taking dips in the pool? 

Both Chris and I did a little exercise. I walked on the path (there was a path that went around the resort that I followed this time) for a half an hour and Chris worked out in the small gym. I had tried to use the treadmill, but it didn’t work. 

And…we got massages. Chris said his was too light and feathery, whereas mine hurt a lot. 

More of the same by the pool. 

At the end of the day, we saw this HUGE banana spider. It was about the size of the palm of my hand. Apparently it is a good spider that eats bugs and is not poisonous. Bonus!

After dinner, Chris and I got caught up watching hilarious reels on Instagram and spent the next two hours watching and laughing before realizing that the staff were probably waiting for us to leave the main area before closing up for the night.

New Glasses for Kristen

Kristen was able to get new glasses from Costco before our vision insurance ran out on January 31st. She and Amy sent some pics to Chris and I while we were in Panama to show us the different options.

She chose the first pair.

 

Panama - Day 5

The morning was cloudy, sprinkling rain, and very humid. We grabbed an umbrella and walked to the main casita for breakfast. I made sure to specify that I wanted "cold" soy milk.

After breakfast, the rain cleared up and I exercised by walking along the pathway from the dock to the main office. Chris used the weights in the "gym". I got some great shots of the dock.

Today was a day full of relaxing by the pool, eating meals, taking a dip in the pool, and repeating that all day long. It was awesome.

Panama - Day 4

We had a 4:30 am wake up call to get to the smaller airport in Panama—Marcus A Gehbert International Airport. Our Uber driver was waiting outside the hotel at 5:15 am. Sadly we missed the delicious breakfast at the hotel. 

Traffic is much better at 5:15 in the morning! Air Panama wanted us to be at the airport an hour before our take off at 6:45 am. We checked in and then sat and waited for the next hour. 

Chris had paid extra for us to carry more luggage than the maximum allowed for a standard fare. We were carrying snorkel masks and were definitely over the max weight. Our flight to Bocas del Toro was one hour.

The sun was just rising as we walked out to our plane.

We flew out above the canal and then on to Bocas del Toros on the Caribbean side of the country. 

We arrived at the Bocas del Toro airport in Colon on the island of Bocas del Toro. Baggage claim involved the workers bringing all of the bags to the waiting area and distributing them through a small door. But, not before a drug-sniffing dog sniffed each bag. 

We found our boat driver, Raymond, and took a short taxi ride to the transfer station. 

We ended waiting another 45 minutes to an hour for the A/C technicians and parts that were also needed at the resort. 

The air conditioning guys.

Our boat transfer was another 45 minutes until we finally arrived at Popa Island and were greeted by our hosts, Vince and Rosie, with an inviting coconut drink. We quickly settled into Casita #5 and were at the resort early enough to enjoy its breakfast!

I asked for soy milk for breakfast and it was brought to me hot! Not my favorite. 

And finally we relaxed by the pool. 

Lunch was enjoyed at the swim up bar in the pool. Dinner was a delicious white fish called robalo, also known as snook fish or sergeant fish.

Chris and I explored a little of the resort after dinner.

Panama - Day 3

Today was our Panama Canal day.

Unfortunately, we took an Uber to the canal only to find out that the big ships were all through the canal for the morning. We were encouraged to come back at 2 pm for the afternoon ships. 

We ubered back to the BioMuseum and the Amador Causeway. 

We walked along the causeway which was a lot longer and hotter than we anticipated. We ended up on Flamenco island and took pictures by the Panama sign before having snacks and drinks at Kiyoco. 

We were NOT walking back along the causeway and had an Uber pick us up and take us back to the canal. Lots of others had the same idea as us. 

We watched the IMAX 3D movie narrated by Morgan Freeman and then tried to find a spot to watch the ships going through the canal. The viewing platform was wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder, and butt to butt people. 

Notice the water level in the canal that is furthest away.

The water is let out of each lock as boats wait to move to the next lock. You can hardly see the two boats now. 

A huge container ship right before it passes through the lock. 

A second ship passing through canal right next to the viewing platform.

The viewing platform itself was hot (and crowded). I could feel my arms getting sunburned as we stood there watching.

After getting our fill, we returned to the hotel where Chris watched the last of the Denver Bronco v New England Patriots. It was a whiteout with a snowstorm and must have been miserable. Denver lost.

Before going for dinner, I took a few pictures of the view from our balcony as the sun was setting.

The ruins at the bottom of the picture, are right next to the reconstructed Hyatt hotel. 
 

We had dinner at “American Bazaar” that was filled with lots of people watching the other football game between the Seattle Seahawks and LA Rams—AFC championship play off games. They were not playing in a snow storm!

Panama - Day 2

We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then took an Uber to the Panama City temple grounds.

Breakfast included desserts so we just had to try a bite or two.

I got an idea the other day from a friend in our ward who was able to get the new style of garments in Singapore when she visited. I checked to see how close the Panama City Temple was from our hotel—about 20 minutes by Uber. Doable.

The temple grounds and the housing annex nearby was packed with adults and youth. So cool to see. We took pictures, walked around the grounds, and then visited the distribution center. Unfortunately for me the medium sizes weren’t available in Panama either, but I took a chance and picked up some small sizes. They worked. Chris had no problem finding his size.

After leaving the temple grounds, we walked down the hill to the Corozal American Cemetery and walked around before catching another Uber back to our hotel. The two flags and a plaque create a memorial to the Americans who served in the Mexican-American war, the Civil War, World Wars I & II, and other conflicts, as well as Americans who contributed to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Panama Canal.

The Old Town was calling to us, so we dropped off our stuff at the hotel and set out to explore. We saw a few cathedrals, ruins next to totally renovated buildings, and plazas full of locals and tourists. 

We stopped for fish tacos at the restaurant, “Mahalo” and then spent a couple of hours at the Museo del Canal that focused on the building of the canal, the challenges, the help from the US and other countries but also documented the intrusion by the US and the transfer of control from the US back to Panama finally in 1999. The US was instrumental in introducing racism in Panama.

We enjoyed dinner at Hari’s in Hyatt’s complex (Mexican food). One of our favorite tastes was the fried plantation chips. 

An after dinner walk at just the right moment in the Plaza Mayor next to the hotel had a newly married couple exiting the cathedral to sparklers, cheers, and applause.