Jan 18, 2023 – Want to warm your bones in the middle of the winter? Come with us to Panama!

What do we know about the Republic of Panama? It’s a really narrow little country in Central America, tucked between Costa Rica and Colombia, with the Caribbean Sea (leading to the Atlantic) to the north, and the Bay of Panama (leading to the Pacific) to the south.

Colonized by the Spanish in the 1500s, it became part of Colombia in 1831. The US got access to the special area in 1904 to build the you-know-what (remember A man, a plan, a canal, Panama? Best palindrome ever!)

The official language is Spanish, with enough local eccentricities to make it hard for us to understand. The official currency is the balboa, but they don’t actually print any, using US dollars instead. No conversion math – yay! Weather = tropical, with temps in the high 80s – 90s expected every day. This season is called the dry, and the summer months are the wet.

We got up early and Lyfted over to the airport. When we walked in, I thought we must have missed the Rapture – a totally empty check-in area, and a totally empty TSA screening area! We talked with the screeners, who are usually too busy to chat, and a good time was had by all.

Unfortunately, our flight was to Newark, which is an hour and a half in the wrong direction, but that’s where United sent us.

Then a five hour flight straight south to Panama City. Good news: Panama is in our same Eastern time zone, so no jet lag or resetting our watches! More good news: tap water here is totally drinkable, at least in the city.

Jorge, the Uber driver, was happy to drive us the half hour to our downtown hotel, where we collapsed gratefully into a very comfy bed. More tomorrow!