It's our final day of the trip to fly home (well almost home at YVR). We left the hostel at 6:25a. I didn't have a good sleep last night. The room we're given was like a basement dungeon. No outside window. This made a big negative on my opinion of this hostel.
Guess what? It's a perfect sunny morning in Panama City with the sun just poking up from the sea horizon, just in time for our departure! Even at this early hour, traffic is already building up. Not sure if it's abnormal but the opposite side of the highway to the airport was just crawling with heavy traffic. Linear parking lot in the Paradise!
Check in went smoothly and we're checking out the Copa Airlines lounge. Not impressed. Just bagels and cereals. Better than nothing.
Some random final thoughts about this trip and Panama:
- Don't try to seek out any museum in Panama. Even their "premier" museum, Museo Antropological Reina Torres de Arauze, has been shut down for some years now due to insufficient fundings! I went to check it out just in case and all we saw was very nice colonial building that was closed and locked. Very sad. The canal exhibition at Miraflores was also funky. Between different floors of exhibits about the canal history and operations, they would insert a random floor of insects, birds, and fish aquariums!!??
- Retiring in Panama is not what it is cooked up to be. We were trapped in Boquete for three days amidst the heavy rain storms. It's miserable: cold (14-15C) and damp. I'm thinking: why retire to somewhere that has the same dreary weather as Port Alberni in the winter? In addition, food and grocery prices here in Boquete are super expensive, even by North American standard. Housing costs are similar to Vancouver 10 years ago. If we pick Panama, it has to be somewhere else away from rain.
- Driving in Panama is safe and ok. Even Panama City is fine. I've seen a lot worse places.
- There are not many people who can speak any English. This is a big surprise to me. It's the same case in the rural areas (expected) and cosmopolitan Panama City (unexpected). Considering all the financial activities and commercial development in Panama City, one would expect more fluency in English. Same for Boquete which is supposedly crawling with expats and tourists. Other than our hostel receptionist and one waitress, no one we met can speak or understand any English!
- Food scenes were not exciting. Despite the tropical and many micro-climates in the mountains, you don't see any decent selections of tropical or other fruits. Not even papayas or coconuts. The central markets are not vibrant. Quite disappointed! The Japanese food we tried last night was poor despite the high price. Mexican food was surprisingly pricey and not authentic.
- From what we saw, there is no acute poverty in Panama as in some other countries like Peru or Guatemala. For many, living standard is not high and comfort features are absent. Yet, people seem content and happy with what they have. In the countryside, the whole family would walk up and down a steep gravel road to get to town and groups of children would walk to far away school down the hill. Yet, they have a house to call home and grow their own veggies or raise chicken or goats, horses, cows, etc.
- Although there is no guarantee, traveling with your young adult son can be fun. It doesn't mean there is no disagreement but after 10 days of adventures, Eric and I are still talking. And I got to know him better.
- Patanone (fried plantains chips) tastes quite plain; while hojaldre (Panamanian fried bread) tastes great similar to Chinese donut
- Although famed for wonderful ocean ecosystems and teeming with fish, there is not much seafood consumed or available in restaurants. Even the shrimp ceviche I tried was mediocre. As in other Latin American countries, pollo is king and most reliable dish.
- Not too many people smoke here which is great. I'm surprised that one of the duty-free stores at the airport here doesn't even sell cigarettes!
- Finally, traveling without my sweetie wife is no fun! No one to take care of me, in Eric's words. 😟 Most importantly, I missed my wife to share the adventures with. 😄
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