Back in 2018 I visited Panama with the express goal of ticking one of my bucket list goals: to travel the full length of the Panama Canal. Unfortunately, this falls into the era (still semi-current, to be frank) when I stopped really blogging seriously. We could discuss that here, but we won’t.
The trip was with one of my German friends, a regular travel buddy, who was initially dubious about Panama but was, ultimately, won over. My bucket list goal was essentially the only thing I really wanted to do in Panama – so we had to research everything else that we did.
Ultimately, travelling the fully length of the Panama Canal was both rewarding and boring. The half-day tour takes you up to the top, going through a series of locks – then there is a very long, very boring, middle in which people tend to fall asleep. At the end, you go down on the other end –then hop on a bus that returns you to the starting point. It’s an all-day adventure; I recall that the bus ride back was less than an hour. Boats really are slow.
Panama City is a place I actually want to return to – the Biomuseo was amazing and, since we were there, has opened an extension. That alone is worth a trip. The city was alive and vibrant in a way that I fully appreciated.
Although Panama hats are traditionally made in Ecuador, they are named after Panama, so whilst in Panama, we each bought a hat and wore it everywhere, even on the boat – which, as it was windy, was a bit tricky since both of our hats tried to escape.
Every time I look at this hat, sitting on top of a lamp in my living room (and occasionally on my head as I wander the streets of Berlin), I am taken back to Panama City and the good times I had there.
During the Covid-19 crisis, I am going to try and make a point of writing a blog post about an object in my home.
We’ll see how long this lasts.
[…] know that I’ve already written about my Panama Hat – today I write about my Panama […]