TIM AROUND THE WORLD
Seeing the world, one week at a time.
CHAPTER SIX: A PANAMANIAN PAUSE
(In 2024, I planned and executed a round-the-world adventure, spanning all six occupied continents in about a month. This is Chapter 6 in a blow-by-blow retelling of how it all came together, and how it all went.)
NOVEMBER 12 - PEREIRA, COLOMBIA
MILES TRAVELED: 2,369
Panama was not on the original itinerary for this trip, but Copa Airlines had a deal that made visiting a bucket list attraction a no-brainer.
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Basically, I wanted to get from Salento to Sydney with as little hassle as possible, which meant going back up to L.A., and Copa Airlines was the easiest way to get there. It turns out, if you book transit through Panama City, you can stay there a few days with no change to the original airfare. So, Panama City and the Panama Canal made it onto my circumnavigation list.
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But that meant leaving Pereira at an ungodly early hour, so, into I hopped into a taxi at 3 a.m. to get to the airport.
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The airport was small and uncrowded, but one of the security agents clearly had some reason to believe I looked sketchy (or maybe she was just bored, who knows?). Even after the bag cleared the scanner and I walked through the metal detector without a peep, she took it upon herself to COMPLETELY unpack my bag. I mean COMPLETELY. She even cut open one of my mosquito wipe packages, inspected it, and then used scotch tape to close it back up.
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I don't think I'll ever know what prompted her to do that. Was it that I was a solo traveler flying one-way to Panama on a U.S. Passport? Was I disheveled enough to look like a drug runner at 4 in the morning? Did she just need something to do? I don't know, but at least I had plenty of time to repack my carry on right there in the airport. Sigh.​​​​​​​
Anyway, the rest of the flight experience went off without a hitch. The flight from Pereira to Panama City is just over an hour long, and as we were coming in to land, my window seat afforded me a great view of dozens of ships waiting to transit the Canal.
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Panamanian customs was a breeze, and the country accepts U.S. currency alongside its own (the 'Balboa') at a 1:1 exchange rate, so there was no need to stop at an ATM. An airport taxi was easy to find, so it was off to the hostel (The Bodhi Hostel) for an 8 a.m. arrival, far too early to check in. So, I once again stashed the luggage and headed off to explore on my own until the afternoon.
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So, off I went, and I quickly discovered that the hostel I booked, while in a nice neighborhood, was not really close to anything a visitor would want to do on a short stay. It was actually closer to the 'business' side of Panama City, which at least made finding a good local coffee shop easy. From there, I decided that walking to the more interesting parts of the city would be just as fast as getting on the series of buses I would need to get to the old town.​​​​​​​​
It was a long, hot, sweaty walk. But the old part of the city (Panama Viejo) is worth it, with its colonial-era buildings and old-style fishing fleet. It's quite a contrast with the shiny skyscrapers of the new city, and honestly, if I had it to do over again, I would have found a place to stay in the old city instead of where I was.
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By the time I got there, all I wanted was an air-conditioned place to eat some breakfast. Luckily, I found a nice restaurant in one of the nice hotels in the old city and sat down for chicken and waffles and a couple of Aperol Spritzes. Not exactly Panamanian cuisine, I know, but it re-energized me to go ahead and see the Canal before going back to the hostel.
The part of the Canal that's nearest to Panama City is called the Miraflores Visitor Center, but it's still a ways away from the city itself, so going there would definitely require a taxi. When I flagged one down, he made me an offer: he would take me to the Canal, wait for me there, and then drive me back to the hostel afterwards. It seemed like the perfect 'easy button' for a very tired traveler, so I took it.
There's an aspect to the Panama Canal that makes perfect sense, but you don't think about as a tourist. Ships just don't show up and go through the locks at Miraflores. It's only open in certain directions at certain times of the day. Luckily, the airport taxi driver warned me about this, so I knew that ships wouldn't be coming through until 2 that afternoon.
But still, I wanted to get there early. I wanted to be in the front row of the viewing platform when the ships came through. I wanted to see the 3D documentary (narrated by Morgan Freeman, naturally) about the building and operation of the Canal. So I didn't mind going a few hours early.
I'm not an engineer, but I am a bit of an engineering geek, and the chance to see a 'how did they do that' marvel (especially one that was done 110 years ago) is something I enjoy. And the Panama Canal did not disappoint.
Beyond the engineering of it all, it's amazing to me how the gigantic cargo ships (like the one on the right side of the picture) can glide through the locks with mere inches on either side to spare. The are guided by small cars on rails on either side, and part of the rules of the canal is that any ship entering must give control to a Panamanian master while transiting, but still it's just an incredible sight to witness.
Anyway, as promised, my taxi driver was waiting for me when it was all said and done (good thing - I left my raincoat in there), and we made it back to the hostel without any issues. Once I got back and checked in, weariness took over, so I took a short nap and went to dinner at the closest place I could find (which turned out to be a BW-3, don't judge me).
The next day, I think the combined exhaustion of the past few days of travel caught up with me. It was still hot, it was raining off and on, and since I'd seen the one thing I came to Panama to see, I really didn't have the ambition to go anywhere. So, I parked myself at a poolside table at the hostel, grabbed a Balboa (beer) or two, and started penning my experiences thus far in my handy dandy travel journal.
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To be honest, I felt a little 'lame' taking a rest day in the very first week. And maybe, if the weather had been better, if the hostel were closer to things I wanted to see, if my flight to Panama hadn't been so early, maybe I'd have done it differently.​
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But then I remembered that this was MY vacation, and the whole point of vacation is to enjoy and relax. I had enjoyed everything so far, and this was a good time to relax.
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Besides, my Uber app told me I needed to catch a ride at 3:30 a.m.(!) to catch me 7:20 flight. Yikes.
And I knew that tomorrow would be the longest day of pure travel during the whole trip, and possibly of my life so far.
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Panama City to Los Angeles to Sydney lie ahead. Best to rest up as best I could.