Blogs from Gamboa, Colón, Panama, Central America Caribbean

Gamboa was a place we had highlighted in the early stages of planning and we are so pleased we went ahead with the decision to go there. It wasn't particularly straight forward as the accommodation options were few and far between in addition to being ridiculously overpriced (in our European based opinion - we are starting to learn how expensive the USA must be if people are happy with these prices). Even getting there was a challenge as our travel day was a public holiday with limited transport out of the city. Thankfully Uber only cost $17 to do the 35km trip, although a long-distance surcharge was cheekily added without our knowledge. On complaining it was deducted! We had read that there was no shop or restaurant and that we should take all of our provisions ... read more

Playa blanca (Porto Belo) Today we had a little day trip to the Caribbean Sea. We have been near Porto Belo at Playa Blanca. Our driver took us by boat to a remote beach with white sand, coconut palm-trees, and very-warm water. But before taking the boat is saw something flying by... and was kind of sure: THAT WAS NOT A BIRD?! so... what flies as well? You got it! A bat :) We spottet a small colony of tent-building bat underneath a palm-tree leaf. It was one of the cutest bat-species there is: Uroderma bilobatum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent-making_bat#/media/File:Common_tent-making_bats.JPG) I snorkelled the whole day, seeing cuttlefishs, sting-rays, funny fishes playing with my finger, and so on. It was lovely ❤ As well, you could see many pelicans fishing nearby from their perch. These birds are quite big, but ... read more

My second time in Panama. Contrary to many of my previous trips, I didn't change place to sleep every 2 days, but did only 2 places in 2 weeks. I spent 8 days in Hotel Summit Radisson near Gamboa, and Bocas del Toro, 6 days. Highlights: 1-Soberania national park: easily accessible; I walked 8 days in the trails and forest is full of animals I saw 2 new species of monkeys: Geoffroy's tamarin and Panama night monkey. Finally, I saw all species of Central America! Yahoo! 2- Bocas Del Toro: Bastimentos island: national park on it, really nice beach. 3- Zapatillo Caye: colour of the sea is splendid! Lows: 1- Bocas del Toro: Bocas town. The city sees an army of tourists, but it isn't the nicest city. Be careful of porters at the airport!! They ... read more

Our day started off with more information on yesterday’s trouble at the mall. After tourists traded stories at breakfast, Pedro, our guide, said he had been there: it was “only domestic”; she was stable; and no shots were fired; maybe I only saw the guard level his gun; and, the very late arrival of the police was actually to quell a later incident of near-riot by youths. Hmmm. (Yesterday evening, we saw the shooter on TV news being taken in to jail by police.) On our bus we wended our way through city streets to the toll highway and across the country to Gamboa where we embarked on the url=http://www.canada.com/travel/Gangster+Capone+running+yacht+ferrying+tourists+Panama/9360023/story.htmlIslamorada. (At the end of the trip we learned that it is the oldest working boat on the Canal, built in 1912. Rockefeller built it; ... read more