Panama, ooh na-na

I just went on an amazing trip to Panama City, Panama! Why Panama? My friend Nadine and I decided to plan a trip for Presidents Day weekend. When we searched for cheapest flights out of Richmond for Presidents Day weekend, Panama was one of the cheapest (apparently this isn't normally the case - so yay for us!).

Our flight landed at 2:00 a.m. in Panama City, and then we headed to our hotel. It was interesting. It was okay enough and really close to all the things, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they are a SUPER budget traveler like myself. So comment if you want to go to Panama and are like me, and I'll give you the info. None of the hotel staff spoke English, which was the same for most of our Uber drivers throughout the trip. We were both surprised by how few people spoke English, but that was actually pretty cool because I was able to use what little Spanish I know.

After a few hours of sleep, we went to our church's temple in Panama. It was stunning! The temple is surrounded by jungles and palm trees, and the sunshine, heat and humidity that morning were a wonderful contrast to cold, rainy Virginia. Everyone in the temple was so kind and helpful even though again, very few people spoke English, but the Temple President and Matron came and helped us several times. I had a trying week prior to this trip with big life decisions and changes, so I REALLY needed the temple and the sweetness of everyone I met there.

We weren't sure where to go for lunch and didn't have wifi to look anything up, but the Matron recommended that we go next door to the temple housing cafeteria. We went, and it was perfect! This really great chef makes cheap, delicious Panamanian food, so I loaded up on rice, delicious chicken and fried plantains. Even if you aren't a church/temple person - head there to get some quality lunch. Also - stop by the Albrook Mall to get a sim card (make sure your phone is unlocked) for $2 and a week's worth of data for about $10-15. We never did this, but it would have been worth it. Don't make our mistakes!

After lunch, we visited the Miraflores Locks section of the Panama Canal. I found all sorts of prices online for tickets, but the current price for non-citizens/residents is $20.00. Other blogs will also tell you that you can forgo paying this and just go to the museum restaurant and watch the ships from the drinks-only section. That's a good idea. OR do what we should have done and just walk through the main building, past the souvenir shop, and out the back door. You can sit out there for free, grab a treat from the cafe if you want, and watch ships there. No need to pay any $. The $20.00 gets you into a 20 minute film that was bizarre and a 4-floor museum that was also rather bizarre. It ends with a crowded 4th floor viewing deck where it is impossible to get a good selfie. Anyway, it was pretty cool seeing a huge ship show up, and I still don't know how it fits in that narrow section of the canal. Mostly I just enjoyed seeing something historic that I learned about in school. Also - the best souvenirs I got were from a lady on the main road near the Miraflores Locks. Highly recommend.

On Sunday we went to church in the building next to the temple. The service there is half in English and half in Spanish. So two hymns in each language, a talk or two in each and a prayer in each. Then Sunday School afterwards was mostly in English. We met my friend's brother, and he and his wife invited us to their home for lunch afterwards. I loved hearing from them what it is like living and working in Panama. His wife is an elementary school teacher at a private school and she has students from Panama, several South American countries, several European countries and Canada. So Panama is a cool melting pot of cultures and languages.

Really briefly, here are the other things we visited in Panama:

Veracruz Beach - this is where you can go if you want to see where locals go to the beach. Lots of pretty shells here

Casco Viejo - old part of the city with beautiful churches and a kajillion souvenir shops

Panama Viejo - old ruins of original Panama City. We found out that the museum and path to the ruins are definitely closed on Mondays, but the part of the ruins I'm standing next to in the picture below is accessible. There is a great souvenir market here with a ton of vendors, but probably more on other days of the week. They have a great selection of Tagua nut carvings.

Cinta Costera-walk/run/bike pathway along the water.

Taboga Island - The island is nice to explore and water was okay for swimming, but we only needed a few hours here. Best to book ferry ride ahead of time online.

Taboga - Island of flowers

This is the San Juan church on Taboga Island. Apparently it is the 2nd oldest church in the Americas, built back in the early 1500s.

Just in case you ever go you shouldn't expect food or anything to be super cheap. Grocery and restaurant prices were similar to Virginia. Taxis are not metered so they can get expensive, but Ubers are about 3-5 dollars around the city, and about 15 to get to the airport. USD is the main currency used in the city. Luckily our flight and hotel were inexpensive, so we had more room in our budget for food and fun!

We had quite a few miracles happen when we were stranded places without Wifi, but I'll just share one. We went to a souvenir market right before it was closing one evening, so there were only a few shops open. We walked around a little, saw a monkey and some other cool animals in the trees behind the market and then decided we needed to get a taxi back to the hotel because there was definitely no Wifi. Taxis passed by again and again, but they were already carrying passengers. Finally, we walked back into the market area and found one vendor shop still open. I did my best to explain to the man that we needed an Uber and didn't have Wifi, and then he told us that he was the owner of the taxi at the front of the market (I forgot to mention that there was a taxi parked at the front haha). Anyway, he was the owner, and he could take us to our hotel. Nadine asked him how much it would cost, and we were thinking a taxi would be somewhere around $15, but he told us $3! That's even a little less than an Uber would have been. We agreed, and then he proceeded to clean up his shop and lock it up for the night. Then when he dropped us off a little while later, Nadine gave him a $5, and he started pulling out change. She told him to keep the extra $2 which surprised him. He was just the sweetest and most honest taxi driver ever!

I'm grateful for my time in Panama City. It is a beautiful city with new skyscrapers on one end and restored architecture on the other. I loved the temple and opportunities to meet many kind people. I frequently feel alone and wish my life were different. Traveling is great, but I would give it up any day to be able to have a family of my own (not that you HAVE to give up traveling if you have kids, but I've just heard it isn't as easy :) But I'm also grateful that Heavenly Father gives me these experiences to bring me joy as I continue to try to figure out my life and my purpose. Love, Ash