I had considered including a visit to Panama in the trip to Costa Rica, but decided quickly that in the week we had available for the trip, it would be too much running and would take away from the trip overall.  I still wanted to make a visit.  My interest in Panama was fueled in large part by an interest in retiring outside of the United States when the time comes.  My Spanish would need some improvement to make a move abroad a success, but it was doable, and some advanced research indicated Panama might be a possibility.

Probably as a reaction to the extreme amount of moving I did throughout Namibia, I decided to focus on a narrow section of Panama, and perhaps make additional trips in the future to see other areas.  I settled on spending two nights in Panama City and then spend the balance of my time at a lodge on the edge of Gatun Lake, a large man-made lake the Panama Canal runs though.

I stayed in the Casco Viejo area of Panama City in the central square, in what claimed to the the oldest hotel in Panama.  

Good restaurants and shops were available with just a short walk from the hotel.  The Panama Canal museum was just the other side of the square so I spent a few hours walking through reading what I could of the historical explanations in Spanish, and filling in what I could not understand with the abbreviated English translations.  

To help cover some of the main sights through the city the next day I booked a hop-on hop off bus tour.  I had seen this company or a similar one previously in Quebec City, but not used it.  I arrived at the pick up spot a bit early.  However, the first bus did not show until two hours after it was supposed to arrive.  I spent this time speaking with a family from the Dominican Republic who were waiting on the same tour, as we all were trying to figure out what was going on and when the bus would show up, as the tour company could not provide any useful information.  

The bus did eventually arrive. Due to the late departure, which I think may have been the result of road construction on the bus route, we either moved very quickly through some stops and skipped others entirely to rush us to the Miraflores Locks, which control the movement of ships and water in and out of the canal.

From what I gathered reading online after the fact, the Miraflores Locks are only interesting when the ships are going through.  You only have the opportunity to see this if you arrive early in the morning.  Because of the delay in the buses, we were not there early in the morning.  So, yeah, not a lot to see here.

There was an Imax movie about the Canal with Morgan Freeman narrating what was interesting-ish, but overall it was a bit underwhelming.  From the what I could see riding on the bus and what stops we did make (which were few in number) Panama City has some very nice parts and not so nice parts like any major city.  I have understood that Casco Viejo is surrounded by some of the not so nice parts, so I was wary of how far I walked in a particular direction, but my stay in Panama City was trouble free other than the delay with the bus tour.  There are a lot of very good restaurants that are pretty affordable in Panama City and that serve a wide variety of cuisines, and that was probably the highlight of my stay here.

The next afternoon I had transportation arranged to Gatun Lake Lodge, where I planned to spend the rest of my time in Panama.  The lodge sits right on the edge of Gatun Lake. The drive from Panama City to the lodge is less than 30 miles but took close to two hours because of traffic, poorly maintained roads, and because it was raining to the point some the roads had standing water several inches deep as we were driving.

The lodge was lovely, though water levels on the canal were low at the time, and the staff were very friendly and accommodating.

I think the manager of the hotel was concerned I would be bored as I was a solo traveler and they had few guests at the time.  At this point I mostly just wanted some time for quiet relaxation and to fish the lake a bit, so I was fine.  There was not a whole lot of entertainment at the lodge, so it was best to bring your own entertainment. I had originally intended to book my stay at a different but similar lodge, but after reading reviews of how badly it was managed and deciding I did not want to deal with that, I changed course.

I spent the majority of my time kayaking the canal, fishing the canal, and watching birds on walks through the short hiking trails around the lodge or from the patio of my cabin.

This is a decent sized peacock bass I caught just a few yards off the docks at the lodge.  In Spanish it is called a sargento.  They are invasive in the Panama Canal, and so I consider myself to be performing a public service by removing it.

With the help of the kitchen staff, he/she became the guest of honor for dinner.

I also caught one of these from the Lodge’s docks, which I think is called a wolf fish.  It has a row of very sharp teeth. They are common in many Central and South American bodies of fresh water and go by different common names, trahira being the name I see most often.  It was pretty small, and when the kitchen staff cut it open it had worms, and so could not be eaten.

I spent several hours trying to catch what appeared to be its grandpa.  While the larger fish hit at my lure no less than 10 times over the course of 3 or 4 hours, I never succeeded in hooking and landing it.

As mentioned above, the water levels were low, and so the stumps of the many trees that I presume were felled in the making of the canal were visible protruding above the water.

While pursing the wolf fish, I heard a loud splash off to my left, and found that I had been joined by a fishing companion.

This is a caiman.  I think they average around 4 feet long.  This one appeared to be bigger to me.  I would guess 6 feet.  The manager of the lodge said this species is shy and therefore generally not dangerous to humans.  I took a break from fishing for lunch, and later returned to find that it had approached the docks quite closely, but it fled to deeper water when I approached.

One of the inconveniences of traveling in Panama is that while they accept the US dollar, outside of Panama City credit cards are generally not taken.  So, you need to be either sure of the availability of ATMs where you are going, or you may have to carry around large enough amounts of cash to settle all your bills, including hotels and restaurants. 

After settling my bill, the ride back to Panama City took even longer as we took a different path with worse roads.  I spent an evening in a hotel by the airport to fly home the next morning. The hotel was nice enough but the behavior of some of the personnel in the restaurant was just obnoxious.  

I enjoyed Panama, but I am not sure how much of it was that I liked Panama the country, and how much was that I just liked sitting on the edge of lake for several days with little to do but watch birds and fish.  I will have to revisit Panama someday and take in some of the areas farther out from Panama City.