ORIGINAL JOURNAL

Panama CIty - July 1, 2009

After stepping off the a 10 hour, over-night bus ride through Panama, without any sleep, we finally arrived in Panama City. It was 3:30 in the morning and we grabbed the closest taxi we could, with only a name of a hostel that we found in the Lonely Planet Guide, and our bags.

The turning point of the trip might have been the part where we climbed into a weird taxi, most likely paying more than we needed to. Maybe it was the idea of being up all night, mixed with the feeling of stumbling off a bus with no idea where we were. Or possibly the fact that the only hotel we prepared on our agenda was booked, and again. I'll mention that it is 3:30 am.

We we driving through what seemed the ghettos, with no idea where we would sleep, and an awkward relationship with a taxi driver who didn't seem in the mood to help us out. However, we found ourselves at the foot of Luna's Castle, and according to the guard, there was vacancy. There was hope.

The thing about Luna's Castle is we didn't know one thing about it. We walked into a room that looked like registration and noticed a table in the center of the room. Little did we know we'd eat continental pancakes on that table every morning...
I managed to stroll into a room full of couches, along with a few computers and I managed to find a way to articulate in a strange email to my parents that I was "safe" and that I had arrived to Panama City in one piece. That's about the time I notices a dude laying on the couch next to me, he seemed cozy catching some Z's so i claimed one of my own and found myself in deep sleep...

I'm gonna skip the boring stuff and go right on to what I did, because I feel like people have been wondering for awhile. This Panama trip was more of a dream the whole time. This dream is explainable because it makes sense. Turns out Luna's Castle had it going on, and as I watched the sunrise over the Panamenio Panorama I felt regret slowly fade...

DAY 1:
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Well this might have been my favorite day in Panama. Not because I saw a ship pass through the Panama Canal, or even the view of the entire city that we enjoyed all day. It wasn't the big city feel or the trip to the peninsula. It was our taxista Don Javier. This was my first encounter with a man who spoke Panamenio, a laguage mixed with Spainish, English, and pretty strong influence from the Afro-Caribe. We found him coming down the ally in his 1957 baby blue Station wagon, and his english cap that matched the color of the car. He was the first taxi we saw and so I flagged him down, and took shotgun.

The thing was, there were five of us. Me and my room mate, two girls from Veritas and an English guy named Oliver. So Javier told us that he would offer a deal. He said he would take us around all the best parts of town for the day at a price of $30, ($6 a person for all you mathematicians out there).

Javier took us all over town. He told me about the history of all the buildings we passed, and what significance they held today. Even though I couldn't seem to recognize the way he spoke, I quickly started to catch on to what he was saying.
He told me eveything I needed to know about how the Canal worked and who used it and when. He was the man.

"Javier la Taxista" he told me, "Cuando mostres esta foto, diga sus amigos que es Javier la Taxista en la foto." as I shot him a nod as I hopped back into the front seat of the car.

He took us all over Panama, and I recommend you look at the photos in my gallery, cause some of them are spectacular...

DAY 2
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Today might have been the most day of traveling through the city. We decided to go to a place called Panama Viejo Which was a beautiful area covered in ruins of old Panama. We stayed here searching through old ruins and trying to savor the sun that we heard was so lucky to have been in Panama during those days. I myself managed to take a few "artistic" photos of Panama Viejo, but I guess when you're taking a picture of something so beautiful, its not hard to take a great photo.

We then decided to go into the city to track down an art museum. I asked a woman at the Panama Viejo Museo de Historia where I could find the nearest one and she told me where one could be found. So we hailed a taxi and then made the next big mistake of our trip.

We were in that taxi for about an hour and a half. The driver tried to make his way through the most congested areas of town. Therefore setting us an hour behind in the agenda we never had.

We made it to the art gallery to find out that it was worth all the pain. Because we found ourselves among the work of a very talented artist. Ironically I forget the name. But we spent some time here, relaxing, enjoying the art and as the day slowly faded into twilight (haha I said 'twilight' in my blog) we headed home.

DAY 3
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Today was the day that we probably did the best job of wasting. We headed to the Island of Toboga, where we decided to spend the afternoon basking in the sun after a relaxing boat ride to the island. However, after spending 2 months in Costa Rica, you realize how spoiled you are. The thing was that the beaches at this island weren't exactly the ones you wanted to take pictures of and put them on facebook. I guess that's the best way to describe it.

We grabbed a bite to eat here and I bummed a nap on a bench as we waited an hour for our boat to come back.

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Basically that wraps up my stay in Panama City. I could go on another 5 pages about what it was like trying to cross a border as a "gringo", or I could mention what its like spending 14 hours on a bus, or even what its like to take sleeping pills you bought in a foreign country for $0.21 each. I could even explain what its like living in a hostel, in a room with 9 people I've never met, and things like having a conversation with people from each corner of the world only happen so often. How that only in Panama can you find cigarettes for $0.50 a pack.

However. I realize now that after adventures, words can only travel so far beyond an experience, and maybe some people should experience an adventure for themselves. 

Critique
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Panama was a crazy week long trip that involved all kinds of ecotourism aspects. I think coming from a negative approach there are not many things I can say that I did wrong. Starting from the beginning of the trip I had been educated about what to do in Panama because of guide books and things that people who had been there before had told me about. As soon as I arrived, the first thing we did was find a hostel, which is a great way to met people from all over the world and educate yourself about the people around you. The first day I was there was pay to enter the Canal Museum, were we watched informational videos about Panama and the Canal and the after that we strolled through the Museum, very educational. 

I did connect with the culture, and Javier the Taxista did everything that I needed in order to grab a great cultural experience, as well as enhance my knowledge of Panama from a native person's perspective. We always ate at local sodas and we always looked for something new to learn the whole time. However, the city is very North Americanized, and because of this, indigenous involvement doesn't get quite as high of a score as needed to grab the Hard-Core B that would get this trip an even better score.

I took buses everywhere and definitely kept the environmental impact to a minimum. These two scores run hand in hand with my usual ecofriendly personality. I think I do a good job of trying to stay away of ecological needs and tourism from the right point of view. 

EVALUATION:
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Transport: (bus transport) 7
Food: (local sodas) 8
Housing: (hostel) 7
Destination: Panama City 7
Cultural Experience: 7
Education: 10
Environmental Impact: 8
Division of Labor: 7
Human Rights: 8
Indigenous Involvement: 6

Total Points: 73/100

Ecotourist Impact:
Hard-Core Tourist rating C