The only items left on my planning list were choosing a hotel in the Azuero Peninsula, a place to stay should I decide to spend a night in the area of David or Boquete, and selecting the tours I will go on to see the canal and hopefully to visit an indigenous village in the jungle.
I'm running short of time with only a few days left before I leave, but I promise to list lots of tour sites to help you with your own trip to Panama once I return!
As I suspected I would, I ended up making a reservation at Hostal Dona Maria in Pedasi. Arriving on Sunday is good timing because they are completely booked over the weekend. With only six rooms, Hostal Dona Maria reminds me of the B&B I owned in Key West.
As far as a tour of the canal goes, I looked over a lot of web sites, sent a few emails and finally ended up booking a tour through the American Airlines website. It just a Grey Line excursion, but I didn't think that a simple viewing of the canal requires anything really special like a one-on-one escorted tour. I was amazed that I American had so many offers on their website, but for what I was looking for this turned out to be the best deal. By the way, the car I rented through Thrifty was also done through the American site. While I did not get a better price than that offered on the Thrifty web site, I did earn extra Aadvantage frequent flier miles.
For my trip to visit the Embera tribe, I chose Embera Village Tours. This group is not the cheapest, but they came highly recommended by Trip Advisor and looked the best of the tour companies I looked at. This is an all-day tour. We'll drive about an hour or so to a boat ramp where the Embera will meet us and then go up river about 45 minutes in a dugout canoe. There will be presentations on the Embera culture, tradition and crafts followed by a traditional lunch, and a hike in the jungle with one of the village elders to learn about medicinal plants. There will also be a show of their traditional shamanic and celebratory dances and music (I hope this is not hokey… like the luau shows in Hawaii) before heading back down the river and returning to the city.
And finally, I booked my usual car service for my trip to and from the airport here in Florida. For short trips I just park in long-term parking because it is quick and easy. For longer trips, like this one, it is cheaper to use a car service and it is nice to know that a friendly face will be there to pick me up on my return. If you are in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, I highly recommend Jack -- you can reach him at World Corp Travel. If Jack can't take care of you personally he will get you set up with another service.
Given my schedule before I leave, this will likely be my last post before the trip. I would like to say that I will make blog entries as I travel, but my Belize trip proved that it is difficult to do and still get the most of my trip. I'll post a few times while on the go and do a day-by-day accounting of my trip once I return.
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