Panama Day 3

 Today was our last day in Casco Viejo. We really like the old town area. It’s touristy, but that also makes for easy walking, lots of curio shops, and great restaurants. We took our time getting up in the morning but due to all the early mornings we’ve had, the kids were up by 6:30. We let them have screen time until we decided to go to breakfast at 7:15. Caroline picked at her food, as usual. We had them make her a scrambled egg with cheese but she didn’t like the cheese… I told her she needed to eat the egg and a pancake, then she could go up to our room and have more screen time until we left. That bribe made her finish pretty quick. Once the kids were gone, joel and I enjoyed a quiet, slow breakfast. We were researching what to do for the day. Joel originally wanted to go to the Miraflores Lockes but as he was researching last night, didn’t see that any ships were coming through. So as we ate, we read some blogs and looked at the Lockes website. Then we found another schedule that said a ship would be passing through the locks at 9 am and then nothing until the late afternoon. We looked at the time and it was 8:00. The locks were a good 20 minutes away so we knew we had to rush because this morning ship was the best option. We ran up to the room and got the kids out the door. 

Our Uber driver, Manuel, was the best we’d had yet. He looked like Jason Momoa and sounded like him too. After we left the Uber, I asked Joel if he thought he also looked like Jason Momoa and he agreed and also mentioned he had the most piercing blue eyes. Haha. Manuel was a great driver, not because of his looks, but because he actually spoke English (which he pointed out that he bet we were surprised by that) since none of the drivers we had seemed to speak much. Plus, he was chatty and we had a decent drive ahead of us. He talked about the diversity of the people of Panamá, the Chinese culture here, baseball, basketball and of his time spent in Canada. Joel mentioned he was an engineer and Manuel said, “Oh. So you must be really excited about the canal. Engineers always are.” And Joel  vehemently agreed. “Like Disney,” they both joked. Manuel said he suspects we will not had as much fun, not we’re we probably looking forward to it as much as Joel, and he was correct. It was a fun ride. 

Once at the locks, there was a queue to buy tickets and included with the admissions ticket was a ticket to watch a 3D IMAX movie about the history of the canal. We made it to the viewing area around 8:50 and there was already a boat in the locks nearest the viewing stands. It was packed so we had a hard time seeing, and the kids but Caroline in particular, were super bored. Despite the locks working on action, it just looked like a boat was slowly rising, then slowly moving forward. Not the most exciting thing, but really quite amazing. We finished watching that boat pass through, and then watched another boat get in place to pass through the second lock. It was a little further away so a bit more difficult to see than the first. We watched as it started making its way through, then decided to leave and watch the IMAX film that started at 9:45. Each showing was 45 minutes long, and the next one didn’t start until 11, which would mean we wouldn’t get out of there until noon, then back to Casco Viejo until 12:30… it all made sense to just watch the 9:45 showing so we could make our way back. 

The film was really good, narrates by Morgan Freeman. I was worried I’d feel sick from the 3D action, but only had to close my eyes during a few parts. Once the film finished, I was on my phone looking for an Uber. The locks are an interesting place in that you have to see the locks first, and exit to watch the IMAX film. Once leaving the locks, you are not permitted back in, which means the movie is the last thing you do before leaving the area, which means EVERYONE in the movie would be trying to leave the area. I wanted to be sure to snag an Uber as quickly as possible since the locks were out of the way and most Ubers nearby were probably because they were dropping off other visitors. My plan worked and we were able to walk out to a waiting car.

We had the car drop us off at the seafood market. I wanted to see it, and I was probably the only one,  it I wanted the kids to experience it as well. It definitely was a no frills seafood market, setup farmers market style, with each vendor having an area to themselves. It was definitely all about business, not catering to tourists who wanted a glimpse. After we walked through, we went to the restaurant area, and wanted to find the places called Evesa, which was recommended by our tour guide. She mentioned it’d be an intimidating place, with restaurant vendors trying to pull you into their place, which was so true. But we were on a mission to find Evesa. We found it with some help and the place wasn’t quiet open yet, but they encouraged us to sit anyway. The food was good. We got the kids fish fingers, small pieces of deep fried fish. Bennett said it was way better than their school’s fish nuggets but not as good as fish and chips in London because it lacked the sea salt and vinegar. Joel and I shared a chopped octopus dish, in a brown sauce that reminded me of etouffe. It was good, not super amazing but I’m glad we tried it and is order it again. We also tried the sea bass ceviche. According to our tour guide, all restaurants claim to have the best ceviche, so we wanted to be sure to try one. It just tasted like picked herring, which I don’t mind so much, but definitely not what we were expecting.

Our plan after lunch was to either walk back to our hotel and shop along the way (the seafood market was only about a 15 minute walk away)… but then decided to go to the Punta Culebra Nature Center. It was hot out, and Caroline was already complaining about feeling miserable so we figure a walk would probably break her. Plus we were hoping to go later in the afternoon anyway, so it would just be easier to get it out of the way now, so that the kids could swim uninterrupted. The nature center wasn’t quite what we were envisioning. It was mostly outdoors, and kinda run down. It was run or funded by the Smithsonian, so we thought I’d be better than it was. Luckily three of the buildings had air conditioning but there wasn’t seating, so Caroline wasn’t loving it. We saw poisonous frogs, fish, starfish and sloths. Really, the sloths were the only highlight. We were able to see them from just a few feet away, as they were hanging out in the trees, in the wild. It wasn’t clear if they were wild sloths, or sloths the nature center cares for, but if I had to guess, it’s be the latter. The staff seemed just as delighted to see them as we were, but also pretty hands off and they weren’t caged in. The kids asked the staff if they named the sloths and they said no, so that makes me think the sloths are just kinda there.

We finished the nature center a little after 2 and made our way back to the hotel to swim, read and relax. This seems to be our typical siesta and it’s just so wonderful. We were able to snag 3 of the 8 chairs by the pool. It’s really a very teeny rooftop pool and we’ve been lucky enough to snag the same three chairs every day… and watch people walk away dejected because there wasn’t an open chair. Yesterday both kids figured out if they read by the pool that they can have some screen time, so both kids grabbed their books without me asking. They swam, then read, then swam and read some more. Joel ordered all of us some fruity, slushy drinks (alcohol in ours) and it was most delightful!

We headed out for dinner around 5 and decided to try Nazca 21, the place we were hoping to eat at yesterday. Another recommendation from our tour guide, this was specialized in Panamanian  food. The kids got a seafood spaghetti, because they wanted spaghetti. Bennett ate around the seafood and finished a little more than half. Caroline at a bite, said it was fiiiinnneee and ate the white rice that accompanied my entree. I had a dish called the Fujimori Sea Bass, which was seafood, prawns and calamari in a similar sauce to the one from lunch. It was good. Definitely not super salty like some of our previous meals but good flavor. Joel had a dish with mashed potatoes, grilled prawns and other seafood. He really enjoyed it! We both drank pesco sours, which were delicious. While we were waiting for our food, Caroline did some shopping and she got a sloth backpack. I had to buy a Panamá hat, even though I’m not a big hat person. According to our tour guide, they’re 100% a tourist thing, and actually an Ecuadorian hat instead of a Panamanian style. The only reason it got it’s name is because Teddy Roosevelt wore them whenever he busted Panamá, and so they became associated with the country.

After dinner we packed up to get ready for our trip out to Contadora Island tomorrow. It’ll be another early morning, as we have to be to the port by 6:45 am, which means we’ll leave the hotel by 6:15 and have yo get up at 5:30. I’m really going to look forward to our time on the island because I’m hoping we will be able to sleep in for once!