In mid-March, Ryan and I took a much needed vacation (and visa run) to Panama. After 4 months entirely in Mexico, it was nice to have a change of scenery and a change of pace.
We flew out early from Mexico City directly to Panama City. Arriving in Panama City, the first thing we noticed was the heat and humidity. Although Mexico City is warm, it always feels a little bit cool due to the high elevation. Panama on the other hand is extremely humid and the heat feels dense and a little overwhelming.
We took an Uber from the international airport over to the domestic airport to catch our flight to Bocas del Toro, where we would be spending our first 4 days of the trip. We got to take the Uber through the entire city, and we took in the all-encompassing skyscrapers that Panama City is known for.
We arrived at the domestic airport, checked in, grabbed a coffee, and waited to board our flight to Bocas. The flight was only about 45 minutes on a tiny little plane, and we arrived to what felt like a totally different world.
Bocas del Toro is located on the Caribbean side of Panama and it has a Caribbean feel. The Spanish has a different flavor and the buildings reminded me a lot of when I traveled in the Caribbean years ago – short, square, detailed architecture and tons of bright colors.
Almost immediately after arriving in Bocas town, we hopped on a boat that took us to a remote area of Isla Bastimentos, where we had a reservation at Al Natural Eco Resort. This place was an absolutely fabulous place for us to rest and relax for 4 days! To read more about it, check out our post on The World Wanderers here.
We spent the entire 4 days on Isla Bastimentos reading, sleeping, lounging in the sun, swimming, eating and relaxing. We had a beautiful balcony only about 5 feet from the turquoise water and it was literally a dream come true. To say that we left restored would be an understatement.
Nevertheless, we were excited to return to civilization after 4 days, as well as to check out Panama City. We stayed in an AirBnb that was actually in a fancy hotel that had a gigantic bathtub. This is where I spent the next 4 days.
Kidding…. Sort of.
Our apartment in Mexico City doesn’t have a bathtub and taking baths is one of my favorite forms of self-care and one of the things that I miss most from being at home.
While we were in Panama City, we went to Casco Viejo to explore the old part of the city, which really reminded me of the old town in Cartagena. We walked through the cobblestone streets for a couple of hours, took in the view of the city, and had lunch before walking on the boardwalk back to our AirBnb downtown.
We also took a trip to the famous Panama Canal (because, did you even go to Panama City if you didn’t see the canal?!). We visited the Miraflores locks, which is one of the 3 locks that ships need to cross through to cross the entire Panama Canal. We spent a couple of hours there learning all about the canal, and watching a couple of boats pass through.
It was a pretty amazing site to see! The ships that come through are massive, and it takes each ship about 8 minutes to cross each section of the locks. In total, it will take ships between 8 and 10 hours to cross the entire Panama Canal. It sounds like a long time, but when you compare it to the alternative, I think it’s a pretty solid option!
After the Panama Canal, we made our way to the Amador Causeway, which is a causeway to a series of islands near to the Canal. It was a really nice walk and we had an amazing view of Panama City as the sun was setting. This was one of my favorite things that we did while we were there!
On top of seeing some of the major sites in Panama City, we spent a lot of time relaxing. We had gone into this trip with the intention of leaving feeling really recharged, so we spent some time at the pool, and did lots of reading, relaxing and bathing.
Overall, we both really enjoyed Panama. It is a really interesting country with a lot to offer and a lot to see (we barely scratched the surface). We found the culture was a blend of Central American, South American and Caribbean, and that showed in the Spanish accent, which we often struggled with (Mexican spanish is wayyy easier to understand!). Panama uses the American dollar so it was more expensive than we had anticipated, but still more affordable than being back home. One of the things we found interesting in Panama was how readily available imported products were. There are a lot of products that aren’t available in Mexico, or they come with a big price tag, and it was great to see a lot of our favorite products for affordable prices in the supermarket.
After 8 amazing days in Panama, we made our way back to Mexico City and settled back into Mexico work life. More updates to come on what we’ve been up to in Mexico City soon!
To hear about our trip to Panama more in depth, you can listen to our Panama episode on The World Wanderers here!
Update on our Mexico City bucketlist:
In case you were wondering how we’re doing on our Mexico City bucketlist, we’ve managed to cross a few things off! Fortunately, we have a few friends coming the first 2 weeks of May, and we’re confident we’ll tick some more stuff off!
Visit Tulum- Visit Oaxaca
See a soccer game- See a folklore show at Bella Artes
- Visit the inside of the National Palace
- Museo Soumaya
- Hike the volcano
- Spend an afternoon drinking margaritas at La Guapachosa
- Day trip to Puebla
- Xochimilco
Visit the Chapultepec Castle- See J Balvin in concert a 2nd time!
See Bad Bunny in concert- See Carlos Vives in concert
Can we do it?! Continue to follow along and I’ll let you know!