Panama Master Thread

[zow]

IYH full TR to follow, but we are enjoying our day with Ilene.  Sitting in the cafe at Mar&Oro on Contadoro Island, and wanted to share my photo from boat ride with Ilene and boatman Danilo.  Pales in comparison to @denverite, but we are having a great time.
Fyi this is a crocodile needle fish, ‏לא כשר.

[dvol]

Some pictures as per request.

The pool at the W, view from our window on the 16th floor:



Video from the Monkey Island tour:







After Monkey Island we had our guide drop us off at Casco Viejo:



Then dinner at Aria:
Empanadas, cream of tomato soup (HIGHLY recommend), shisito peppers, and then a shredded meat dish on top of yuca - also delicious:



Pretty sure this was called Thai soup:



The BEST version of crispy chicken I have ever tasted:



And of course churros for dessert:



Apple crumble, also delicious:



The next day, some pictures from our trip to the Embera village. Here is the boat you take to the village:



Being greeted once we arrived, as you can see the kids love Sorhay



Our Embera guide told us that the children in the village had just rescued an abandoned monkey that they found near the village. They normally do not keep any pets so this was a major event and all the children were enthralled with it:



Visitors are not allowed into the homes of the Embera, but they have one hut where they make food for visitors only so we were allowed to see their "kitchen" there:



The view:



The fried tilapia and plantain lunch they gave to all visitors:



The fruit we had brought along and they cut up for us, pineapple, watermelon, passionfruit, banana, papaya and some tamarind:



On our way out we were offered a tribal "tattoo" which is similar to henna and lasts about 7 days:



We then took the boat to the rainforest, and some of the children in the village joined us. Here is Sorhay giving them a lesson of some sort:





The children leading us to the rainforest:



There was only 1 local family at the rainforest, but luckily it was empty otherwise. We did climb to the top of this waterfall and took a dip in the water above:



Later that night we had dinner at Lula by Darna, I tried to look up the items we ordered but the menu we had is completely different from the one I found online. I'm going to say this was called French Dip rolls, I could be 100% wrong, but it was very tasty.



Some kind of ground meat inside yuca - was very good:



Empanadas:



Mushroom salad:



Burger:



The next day we went to lunch at La Spezia. Here is the cheesiest pizza you ever did see:



Eggplant Parmesan:



After that we went to the Panama Canal:





The Amador Causeway at sunset:



And then dinner at Moma:

Pastrami rolled in something. I want to say yuca again since I think we saw that everywhere, but it was delicious:



Tuna bites:



Definitely a tie with Aria over the best sesame chicken in the world:



We skipped dessert, headed back to our hotel and left the next morning. All in all Panama should be a food destination if nothing else.

[davidrotts63]

Some pictures as per request.

Waste of a trip to the Aria of you didn't get the salmon Tarter

[yyzzrh]

Hi

I'm sorry if I didn't notice this being discussed before, but maybe someone could help me here.
Any references for a first time scuba diving lesson/experience, and what it should cost?

[zow]

Is the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at PTY before or after security?

[dvol]

Is the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at PTY before or after security?

After, there was 1 by our gate, 21. However. After buying a coffee we were told we have to go through security again while boarding and have to throw out any liquids. We’d never ever havd that experience before and I wish someone would have told us right before we bought a large coffee

[zow]

After, there was 1 by our gate, 21. However. After buying a coffee we were told we have to go through security again while boarding and have to throw out any liquids. We’d never ever havd that experience before and I wish someone would have told us right before we bought a large coffee

Thanks very much. Sorry that happened you, but I appreciate your sharing information.

[zow]

FYI, highly recommend reservation at Kava for Motsei Shabbat. We came without reservation right after they opened , and they were able to seat us inside, but not al fresco, which was our preference. 

[zow]

At the relatively new Lounge in PTY. Follow signs to gates 1-10. Across from Panama Market.
No kosher food (but the CBTL is nearby).
Plenty of places to sit.
Partial views of planes on apron.
Decent espresso machine.
Free access to soft drinks, beer, and seems to be open access to a few bottles of hard stuff too.
 

[Denverite]

IYH full TR to follow, but we are enjoying our day with Ilene.  Sitting in the cafe at Mar&Oro on Contadoro Island, and wanted to share my photo from boat ride with Ilene and boatman Danilo.  Pales in comparison to @Denverite, but we are having a great time.
Fyi this is a crocodile needle fish, ‏לא כשר.

What do you mean "pales in comparison" because that is a super cool looking and huge fish! So glad you decided to go to Las Perlas and looks like you a had a blast!!! 

[Denverite]

Thanks, nice pictures and food

+1, thanks for sharing...looks like such a special day with the Embrerara and I my mouth is literally watering at your Aria food pics...we ordered most of that stuff...best empenadas I ever had and I went back a few times for that Thai soup!!! 

[Yordai Dooma]

At the relatively new Lounge in PTY. Follow signs to gates 1-10. Across from Panama Market.
No kosher food (but the CBTL is nearby).
Plenty of places to sit.
Partial views of planes on apron.
Decent espresso machine.
Free access to soft drinks, beer, and seems to be open access to a few bottles of hard stuff too.

Thanks for posting this. The copa lounge is always so crowded and can be far from some of the copa gates. This came in handy. Was pretty crowded but much closer to our gate.

[Yordai Dooma]

Just wanted to chime in on some of our experiences in PTY.

We were very underwhelmed by a day trip to San blas. The travel time is simply not worth it for a day trip IMHO.

There is no denying that the views, the water and the Snorkeling was extremely beautiful. The accommodations on the islands were meh...even for a day trip... Couldn't even buy a diet coke anywhere. All they had was regular coke, water, one kind of beer and some weird non-kosher drinks. Had to get up at 5am, 2.5 hours there and 3 hours back sitting in traffic ...arrived back at the hotel at 730pm.

They recommended we take dramamine because of the windy bumpy curvy roads to get there. We passed 4 vehicles on the way there, stopped on the side of the road with a passenger puking.

If i did it again, I would fly there. Our tour guide told us we couldn't fly there and back the same day. Perhaps the flights were sold out or the flights only go in the morning.

If i want nice snorkeling and a pretty beach, ill go back to BOB or MLE. When i want amazing kosher food options, nice weather, plenty of activities...oh and amazing kosher food... Ill go to PTY.

I'm sure I'm going to get flack for this post and dont plan to come back and debate it. Just wanted to give my opinion on it, in case it helps others.

As everyone knows Aria, Kava, Moma and Lula Darna are phenomenal. No need to write more on that.

I did use a frum tour guide which was not mentioned yet in this thread (to my knowledge). He is a true mentch, was very accommodating, reasonably priced, and was willing to arrange all kinds of things for us (including stopping for food in the morning on the way to places). If anyone wants to contact him, you can contact him on Whatsapp: Arturo +507 6781-5467. He speaks English (not bad but not perfect) and speaks Hebrew.

[Denverite]

Just wanted to chime in on some of our experiences in PTY.

We were very underwhelmed by a day trip to San blas. The travel time is simply not worth it for a day trip IMHO.

There is no denying that the views, the water and the Snorkeling was extremely beautiful. The accommodations on the islands were meh...even for a day trip... Couldn't even buy a diet coke anywhere. All they had was regular coke, water, one kind of beer and some weird non-kosher drinks. Had to get up at 5am, 2.5 hours there and 3 hours back sitting in traffic ...arrived back at the hotel at 730pm.

They recommended we take dramamine because of the windy bumpy curvy roads to get there. We passed 4 vehicles on the way there, stopped on the side of the road with a passenger puking.

If i did it again, I would fly there. Our tour guide told us we couldn't fly there and back the same day. Perhaps the flights were sold out or the flights only go in the morning.

If i want nice snorkeling and a pretty beach, ill go back to BOB or MLE. When i want amazing kosher food options, nice weather, plenty of activities...oh and amazing kosher food... Ill go to PTY.

I'm sure I'm going to get flack for this post and dont plan to come back and debate it. Just wanted to give my opinion on it, in case it helps others.

As everyone knows Aria, Kava, Moma and Lula Darna are phenomenal. No need to write more on that.

I did use a frum tour guide which was not mentioned yet in this thread (to my knowledge). He is a true mentch, was very accommodating, reasonably priced, and was willing to arrange all kinds of things for us (including stopping for food in the morning on the way to places). If anyone wants to contact him, you can contact him on Whatsapp: Arturo +507 6781-5467. He speaks English (not bad but not perfect) and speaks Hebrew.

Thanks for posting the info. I totally agree about San Blas. Like you said it WAS nice, but was just a hard day and also like you said the point of Panama is easy and also it probably does affect your perspective when you’ve already been to the Maldives and similar places. Thanks also for posting about the frum tour guide, that’s awesome! He has a van for transportation as well for families and larger groups?

[zow]

What do you mean "pales in comparison" because that is a super cool looking and huge fish! So glad you decided to go to Las Perlas and looks like you a had a blast!!! 

Just seeing this now... your son(s) caught a much bigger fish, although the teeth on mine were pretty scary.  We had a great day on Las Perlas, but if we had to do it again, we would spend a night or two in the hotel.  Analogous to what @Yordai Dooma said about a day trip to San Blas, it is just too much travel time on the ferry back and forth for a day trip, IMO.  (Hope to post more deets in my TR soon.)