On our last day in Pedasi, a Pananamian fishing town 200 miles from Panama City, 4 people from the multi-generational family who lived next door stood in my kitchen. There was the lady of the house, her 11-year-old daughter, a man I had never seen before and a visiting, out-of-town aunt. I showed them the bits of food we had left and they nodded. They would take it all. The tightness of the visiting aunt’s embrace and the wideness of her smile as she thanked me seemed disproportionate to our meager offering. She said something I did not understand and because I knew almost no Spanish, all I could do was smile.

Our limited Spanish had created few barriers for my husband and me during our month-long stay. Pictures on food tins and the Spanish translation application on my phone helped us navigate the grocery store. Most restaurant staff spoke some English. They were used to serving a small ex-pat community and the tourists who visited this out-of-the-way, laid-back town to surf and to fish in the Pacific waters of the Tuna Coast.

We joined the locals on their evening strolls when the setting sun and gentle evening breezes eased the heavy heat of the day, a heat we welcomed as a break from the cold Canadian winter we had left behind. We exchanged greetings with families walking to the town square or spending time on their front porches. We communicated with hand gestures, smiles and the odd words of Spanish and English we both understood. Our inability to speak and to understand Spanish kept us on the fringes, but we managed.

We developed a nodding and waving relationship with the family next door. Grandpa spent most of his day sitting on the front porch and the rest of the family joined him in the evenings. Abutting cement walls separated our houses and our lack of language created a thicker divide. Smiles and “holas” as we walked by were the extent of our communication.

“I’m going to write them a letter,” Rick said. “Tell them something about ourselves and let them know we are not anti-social. We just don’t know Spanish.”

Using a small phrase translation book, the internet and a few lingering remnants of an introductory Spanish class taken years before, he began to write. While he spent most of the morning composing the letter, I walked to the bakery and bought sweet rolls. When Rick had completed the letter, he delivered it and the sweet rolls to our neighbors. Half an hour later, the 11-year-old girl brought us a basket of fresh oranges, an acceptance of our overture.

I hoped they had not felt obligated to give us something in exchange for the rolls. I doubted they had much to spare. After the exchange of the letter and oranges, wider smiles and more exuberant waves greeted us when we went out and when we returned home. But we still did not have words for a proper conversation.

A few days later, we sat and read on our front porch, the spot offering the most relief from the late afternoon sun. Our front door was open as was the back door at the other end of the hallway running along one side of the house. An electric fan near the front door whirred. It was our attempt to catch any wisp of a breeze that might cool the house. A chicken scurrying through the gutter in front of the porch stirred us from our books. Chickens and dogs ran freely in town. We were used to seeing chickens along the side of the road and we had become accustomed to roosters crowing throughout the night, but a chicken had not been in our yard until now.

Before we could register what was happening, the 11-year-old girl raced by in pursuit of the runaway. The panicked chicken made an abrupt turn and ran through the open front door. After a motionless moment of disbelief, the girl’s eyes widened as she gasped and then giggled. She and Rick chased the chicken down the hallway, closing doors behind them. They cornered the chicken in our walled backyard where the girl quickly recaptured her chicken. Although we shared wide-eyed expressions, gasps and chuckles, we exchanged no words during this incident. A few minutes after she took her chicken home, the girl returned with more oranges.

In the following days, activity and an aura of expectation filled laid-back Pedasi as the town prepared for Carnaval. Men built stages. Women on patios sewed colored feathers together. Float statues filled living rooms as families repainted, refinished and refreshed the decorations. Carnaval arrived and people flocked to town. Tents popped up in empty spaces. Houses, including that of our next-door neighbor, burst with out-of-town relatives.

The next four days were loud and festive. Music everywhere. Bands in the square. Powerful speaker systems in trunks of cars parked on the street. Ghetto blasters on front porches. Until this point, the only sound we had heard from the porch next door had been barely audible voices. Now their porch vibrated with music. Grandpa’s continual smile covered his face. He became sprier and younger as he swayed to Latin rhythms.

Our quiet street bustled with activity. People stopped in front of our neighbor’s house and began lively conversations. Many recognized us from our travels through town and waved. We smiled and waved back, but could not join in the banter. Without a shared language, we were observers, not participants.

Carnaval marked the end of our stay in Pedasi. After four days of noise, parades, fireworks, elaborate costumes, water shortages and power outages, we packed up and gave our remaining food to our neighbors. The morning after Carnaval, wearing backpacks and pulling wheeled suitcases, we walked the block to the taxi stand at the side of the town store. We planned to take a taxi to Chitre, catch a bus from Chitre to Panama City, and fly home to Canada the following day.

There were no waiting taxis and no one else in the taxi queue, but the queue of people at the stop for the Las Tablas bus was long enough to fill several buses. The visiting aunt from next door was in that line. After a disheartening hour’s wait, during which only two out-of-service taxis drove by, I became hopeful when I spotted a taxi stopped on the main road. It stopped on the main street for what seemed like ages.

The visiting aunt left her spot in the bus queue, walked to the vehicle, talked with the driver, and returned to the queue. The taxi turned the corner and stopped in front of us. Before we loaded our bags into the vehicle, the visiting aunt hugged me. As we drove away, she waved.

We had formed a connection with our neighbors in spite of our limited Spanish. Perhaps the wall created by our lack of common language was not as thick as I had thought. When we were back home and the next session of continuing education started, I signed up for Spanish classes. The language wall will be paper-thin the next time I visit Pedasi.

By Donna Janke /

Donna Janke is a writer from the Canadian prairies. She loves exploring the world near and far and believes every place has stories. You can read about her travels at Destinations Detours and Dreams.

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Pan-American Transmissions Part 4: Panama

“Pan-American Transmissions” is a travel series from Special Contributor Diego Cupolo as he travels south from Nicaragua to Argentina. He has few plans, a $10-a-day budget and one flute-playing gypsy companion. Check back as new dispatches are posted from the road.

Ania and I decided to live in Panama City while standing somewhere along Avenue Central. It was our second day in the city, a hot, sunny day, and aside from the canal, we knew little about the place.

But that didn’t matter.

We had just passed the “Barberia Ca$h Money,” a barbershop full of Tupac Shakur murals, and spent half an hour talking to an old man in a red Mexican sombrero about the magical powers contained within his vintage Mamiya camera . . . which he was frantically painting with silver glitter in the middle of the street.

Ania and I were convinced. There was something happening in Panama City, and we both felt it on that pedestrian walkway full of shops, street merchants, watch repairmen, produce stands, reggae music and that sweet, rotting fruit stench of life in the tropics.

It’s hard to pinpoint what brought on the feeling.

Maybe it was the flock of construction cranes perched over the downtown area, changing the city skyline with each passing day. Maybe it was the restoration projects in Casco Viejo, the old colonial neighborhood where, after decades of neglect, original Spanish facades were being rehabilitated. Or maybe it was the expansion of the nearby Panama Canal to accommodate modern cargo vessels, drawing unimaginable foreign investment into the region.

Whatever it was, Panama City was booming and we immediately picked up the classifieds to start looking for jobs.

Skyline Without Limits

The most obvious sign of progress in capitalist countries (and Panama can be considered a hyper-capitalist country) is the number of new skyscrapers in urban areas. Modern, abstract, simply gigantic construction projects filled Panama City’s skyline with towering steel frames, earning the place nicknames like “South Miami” and “the Dubai of Central America.”

I went out looking for a grocery store one day, but instead found a spiraling tower of blue glass. Like a doofus, I watched the building for a few minutes to see if its floors spun around an axis. They didn’t.

Either way, it was a surprise. And many more like it bound to spring up. Billionaire real estate moguls seem to have Panama City fever.

Just last year, Donald Trump opened his first building outside the United States in along the city’s coastline. The The Trump Ocean Club, as it’s called, is currently the tallest building in Central America and adorns the oceanfront with its sail-shaped architecture.

Ania and I decided to visit it one night and found a luxurious  palace complete with Botero sculptures, $300-a-night rooms, excellent bathrooms with excellent cotton hand towels, numerous fine dining options and easy rooftop access (which resulted in the photo at the top of this article).

At 70 stories high, Panama City looks impressive, but Eric Jackson, editor of the English-language Panama News, says most new buildings remain unoccupied. Speculators simply buy apartments to sell them at higher prices.

“You go around Panama City and look at these new “sold out” luxury towers at about 8 p.m. and there are hardly any lights on in them,” he recently told Time Magazine.

Panama City’s unrestricted housing boom may cause a real estate crisis in the near future, but until then, we can just look at the bright side and say the new buildings are covering up empty rubble lots leftover from the 1989 U.S. military invasion.

Grit, Graffiti and Colonial Grandeur

On the opposite side of the city, far from any skyscrapers, stand the remnants of Panama’s colonial past and, at the same time, the makings for Panama’s future tourist center: Casco Viejo.

The neighborhood, full of classic Spanish-style plazas, churches and colorful facades, housed the city’s rich until the 1950s when they opted for the new high-rise apartments that were popping up downtown. From that point on, Casco Viejo was left to rot. Poor people moved in and it became a somewhat violent ghetto.

But that all changed when UNESCO declared the area a World Heritage Site back in 1997.

Landlords were slowly bought out and massive restoration projects followed. Within five years, the neighborhood will be converted from a deserted construction area lined with ramshackle scaffolding to a pristine, cobblestone shopping mall and nightlife hub similar to Old San Juan in Puerto Rico.

At first sight I found Casco Viejo’s present state of flux to be absolutely fantastic. A playground for urban explorers. The leftovers from another time, ripped open, revealing years of decay, grime and stories, all covered with graffiti and stencils. What more could a photographer want?

I was content spending long afternoons walking around the old quarter, admiring its beautiful textures and trying to get into abandoned houses. At the moment, Casco Viejo is a rare opportunity to explore old Spanish colonial buildings before they get a new coat of paint and become Gucci stores.

If you like history, then get there fast.

(Side Note: Those who really like history can also visit the ruins of Panama Viejo, the original Spanish settlement that was burned down by Welsh pirate/captain Henry Morgan in 1671. Entrance is free on Mondays.)

The Canal Gets An Upgrade

Every action has a reaction, and all those new skyscrapers and restoration projects in Casco Viejo are reactions to the expansion of the Panama Canal. The infamous link between oceans is getting bigger and wider. New locks are being built parallel to the original canal to double shipping capacity, allowing the canal to handle more traffic and modern cargo vessels.

During our visit to the Panama Canal, Ania and I learned the passageway is a major income source for the nation. The average cargo ship pays $54,000 in toll fees to pass through the canal, and though it’s expensive, it’s easier than going around the Strait of Magellan.

The expansion of the canal is especially significant because Panama now has complete ownership of the canal. Up until 1999, Panama split the canal zone and its profits with the United States. When the expansion project is finished in 2014 the increased traffic is expected to increase revenues substantially.

Panama’s former-president Martin Torrijos famously said that the new canal would generate enough wealth to transform Panama into a first-world country. Imagine that.

On the other hand, Donald Trump famously said the “U.S. foolishly [returned] the Canal for nothing” and lost respectability in yet another country.

At Home in a Hostel, At Work in the Streets

So, back to that job search.

After getting to know the city, Ania and I got to know our job prospects: they sucked.

Panama had plenty of good job openings, but we were there on tourist visas and no one would hire us. Our only option was the service industry, and minimum wage for waiters was about $15 a day.

We figured it was better to take matters into our own hands.

This happened rather quickly and literally after we moved into Hostal Miami on Avenue Central.

The place was a live-in hostel ($4-5 a night) full of traveling street merchants, artisans, jugglers, streetlight artists, fire breathers, sword swallowers and musicians. Many people had been living there for months. Most of them from Argentina. Some of them from Colombia. All of them earning money from the streets.

They made it look easy so Ania and I gave it a try. Our first business venture was baking and selling arepas filled with pollo asado. It worked extremely well. Panamanians loved our Venezuelan flavor.

After about a week of cooking we got tired of eating arepas, so Ania started making feather earrings and we sold them to tourists in Casco Viejo. This also worked, but not as well as the arepas.

Then, Ania brought out her flute. We struck gold. She’d make more than $20 an hour when she played outside shopping malls. I’d juggle a little to supplement the show, but she was the star, and with her gypsy flute we were making a profit by staying in Panama City.

Olive oil, vegetarian restaurants, wine — we indulged in everything we missed through our travels.

Life was comfortable again; not just financially, but at home as well. The people at Hostal Miami formed a community — almost a family around us. We celebrated birthdays; made joint dinners. The women put dreadlocks in each other’s hair while the men shared juggling tricks. It felt like we were living in a traveling circus, but with more luxuries and fewer animals.

Ania and I ended up staying there for more than a month. Ever since leaving we’ve been looking for another place like Hostal Miami, but have yet to find it.

Sure, Panama City’s booming with its new canal, shiny skyscrapers and refurbished colonial areas, but what matters most are the people and I look back at Hostal Miami as the place where we formed the most friendships along this ever-changing voyage.

We didn’t end up getting real jobs and didn’t find a real place to live, but we had the experience we were looking for. For a brief period of time, we became part of something. We learned the trade of backpack entrepreneurship, we learned how to work the streets, but more than anything, we learned the time to visit Panama City . . . is now.

By Diego Cupolo

Read Part One of Pan-American Transmissions (Northern Nicaragua) here, Part Two (Southern Nicaragua: Bargain Paradise) here, and Part Three (A Cheap Bastard’s Guide To Traveling) here.

Coming soon from Pan-American Transmissions: 10,000 Ways From Panama to Colombia, None of Them Paved

About the Author

Diego Cupolo is a freelance photojournalist currently on the road to Tierra del Fuego. Most recently he served as Associate Editor for BushwickBK.com, an online newspaper in Brooklyn, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Star-Ledger, The Australian Times, Discover Magazine and many other publications. View more of his work at DiegoCupolo.com.

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Has it always been this hard to find an island that hasn’t been overdeveloped? If isolation is your thing, look no further than Panama. The San Blas Archipelago off the country’s Caribbean coast is a handful of islands (378 to be exact) where travelers can expect to find some of the most isolated islands in the region, and meet one of the few existing indigenous populations — the Kuna — who have successfully resisted change in Central America and have preserved their way of life since coming from Colombia in the 1500s (the also rose up against Panama in 1925 and have since maintained a great amount of autonomy).

So what can one expect in such an isolated and untouched destination? As the New Zealand Herald writes, expect to run into a large number of albinos (a genetic trait passed down in this closed society), a large number of coke addicts (a result of the islands’ proximity to drug routes from Colombia to the north) and an undeveloped string of islands you’re unlikely to see anywhere else in the Caribbean. This is a result of the Kuna’s resistance to outsiders.

Compared to the mercenary development of other parts of Central America, tourist infra structure in the San Blas Islands is still defiantly low-key. The Kuna refuse to sell or lease any land to outside developers, and just a handful of locally-owned, rustic lodges are dotted throughout the 3,000 sq km making up Kuna Yala.

The quickest way to get there is by flight, and both Air Panama and Aeroperlas offer daily flights from Panama City for around USD$60, and the quickest way to never go back home is to travel to San Blas.

[San Blas by sharpei100/Flickr]

The post The San Blas Islands: Where Leo Would Have Gone If The Beach Took Place In The Caribbean appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

On one recent trip through the Panama Canal, an intrepid cruisegoer (an oxymoron, right?) perched out on top of his ship for the 10-hour trip through the 51 miles it takes to travel from one ocean to the other. If you’re wondering why it takes so long, keep in mind that Gatun Lake, near the Atlantic side, is actually 85 feet higher than the Pacific Ocean, which means you have to spend your time in 12 locks that make up the canal either raising or lowering yourself to the appropriate level.

An interesting fact is that ships are charged by weight to travel through the canal. In 2008, a record fee was levied upon a Disney cruise ship, with the bill coming to $313,200. It’s unclear whether this was based on weight or on anger that Disney built a cruise ship.

The post Time Lapse Video Of Traveling Through The Panama Canal [Video] appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Day two of the Travel Show kicked off Saturday morning with none other than the emperor of excursion, the maharajah of movement, the tycoon of travel himself, Arthur Frommer, and his spawn of sightseeing, Pauline Frommer, who presented their top budget destinations for 2010.

Arthur’s number one destination this year is Las Vegas where, he noted, just this winter there were close to 6,000 rooms dumped on the marketplace as a result of the opening of City Center, the massive condo/hotel/shopping complex. Consequently, Arthur’s been watching rates plummet as the recession-hit city has had to cope with this extra supply, with luxury rooms beginning at $150/night, and basic rooms at some of the less desirable locations (ahem — Circus Circus) coughing up rooms for under $50 (with even more discounts to be had by picking up coupons on the strip).

Number two on his list was Central America, where Arthur noted destinations such as Panama City have been rapidly building up their infrastructure for snow birds (more condos have opened up just this year in Panama City than in Miami for the last few years combined). Add in the fact that despite the Euro’s recent decline, Central America is still far cheaper to travel around than across the Atlantic, budget travelers can’t overlook the region.

Rounding out his top three was Orlando. A dubious choice myself (I don’t care how cheap it is, it’s going to take a lot to drag me down to that swamp — no offense Orlando outside of the Disney Industrial Complex), Arthur did bring up the fact that the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter is poised to open soon, piquing the interest of those who normally would avoid Orlando.

Next up was Pauline who recently traveled to Mexico and suggested that those looking to explore tourist-free ruins, taste unforgettable food, and see unmatched works of art check out the country this year, especially with the recent bad news of swine flu and border gangs scaring off many travelers to the otherwise flu- and gang-free portions of the rest of the country.

Later on in the day I had a chance to catch up with Arthur. We discussed his blog, he checked out my new camera, and we chatted a bit about travel photography — he was surprised how much prices have come down on SLR cameras. (Arthur also told me he’s a big fan of the travel shots found on flickr.)

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, travelers are some of the nicest, interesting, genuine people in the world, and Arthur exemplifies the best of all these qualities. Just watch him walk around the show floor and see the way people react to him and you’ll know why he’s one of the best loved in the business. He also way outdresses everyone around him. Can’t wait to meet up again in 2011. Next time I’ll spruce up the clothes a bit. Sorry about that.

The post 2010 New York Times Travesl Show Blog (Day 2: Special Frommer Watch Edition) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Something you hear alot of this time of year (especially in New York) is: “I’m heading down to Boca for the weekend.” Chances are they’re probably not referring to Bocas del Toro, the Panamanian archipelago located in the Caribbean near the Costa Rica border.

Besides having a rich history (literally — guess where the Spanish exported their plunders from?), this 68-island chain is perfect for exploring unique wildlife — above ground as well as underwater in its coral reefs — as the SMH explores this week.

The islands were formed 10,000 years ago, when the polar ice caps melted. Rising sea levels separated the islands from the rest of Central America, creating a unique ecosystem with several endemic species. There is a red poison dart frog here that is found nowhere else in the world. Seagrasses, the perfect habitat for endangered sea turtles and manatees, brush against the bottom of my kayak.

What’s better than amazing wildlife and pristine tropical waters? How about really cheap flights. I remember this time last year when flights into Panama City were around the low-$300 range, and a quick check with Kayak shows prices have only risen slightly from that range for trips in the next couple months.

Bus rides from the capital to the archipelago go for only $20 (this is why we love traveling in Latin America) and get ready to settle in for an 8 1/2-hour trip. That’s not that bad, come on. When’s the last time you did anything sedentary for 8 1/2 hours that didn’t involve unconsciousness or alcoholic beverages?

The post The Boca You Should Be Visiting This Winter appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Lonely Planet’s doling out accolades to these ten countries as being very topping, with El Salvador being the toppingist of them all. Okay, they don’t really elaborate as to what this list mean, other than being the “hottest countries for next year,” but I assume they mean destinations that are, or have been, under the radar and are just coming into their own as hot spots for travelers. Which usually means one thing: Get there now before they’re firmly on the tourist trail.

Rounding out the top five are Germany, Greece, Malaysia and Morocco. And at number 10, experiencing a little Obama bounce, the U.S.A., which given the likelihood of a an anemic dollar for the near-term future, will likely be at the top of the list for many visitors, especially those carrying the enviably strong euro.

So what’s missing here? I may sound like a broken record, but let’s give a shout out to Colombia, a country whose culture and diversity, not to mention accessibility, makes it a great “top” country in 2010. A few of my own honorable mentions: Panama (have you seen how cheap it is to fly there in the winter?), Ireland (see Panama), and Namibia (everyone I met in Africa who was visited the country raved about the outdoor adventures that can be had there).

The post Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Countries For 2010: And The Winner Is . . . appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Kuna Yala, the coastal area of Panama along some of the most picturesque parts of the Caribbean that you’ll ever see, is home 72,000 Kuna, the native people that call this piece of paradise home. In actuality, most of the Kuna live on one of the 365 islands off shore, a chain of coral atolls where everyday life seems light years away from the hustle and bustle of nearby Panama City, as was experienced in this article in the UK Times.

Travelers here have the opportunity to explore the many islands. Take heart though, you won’t be overrun by tourists in these parts. “Anyone expecting the bland luxury of a Four Seasons-style resort will be disappointed. The few lodges on the islands are made of the local materials, thatched in palm with walls of bamboo and shutters which are simply planks of wood.” Sounds good to me, now if we could only do away with the other Four Seasons . . .

The post Panama’s Caribbean Paradise That You’ve Never Heard Of appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Brendan over at Jaunted has posted his first blog entry from his journey through Panama, beginning with his stay in Kuna Yala Islands, the 400-island archipelago off of Panama’s southern tip. Brendan wistfully describes the islands as an “obvious stop for a beach bum, drop-out-of-life vacation,” which is kind of the goal of most people’s vacation, right?

Lonely Planet lists the number one thing to do in the region is: “Interacting responsibly and sustainably with the Kuna, a fiercely independent people who maintain their traditions in a changing world.” I suspect that most PR agencies leave out “interacting responsibly and sustainably” in their travel brochures, but perhaps that will change soon.

The post Blogging Panama, Loving Panama appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Has anyone else noticed how cheap it’s become to fly to Panama? (I found rates as low as $336 from New York City). My friend’s heading down there for New Year’s this year and I suspect there will be plenty more travelers discovering this nation of 3 million so long as prices stay so low.

Also, did you know that the U.S. Dollar is accepted everywhere you go in Panama in addition to their own currency, the Balboa, which is pegged to the dollar? Bad new for those Americans who enjoy doing complex division while traveling; good news for the rest of us.

Here’s a recent video from Lonely Planet exploring Panama City. Good video — annoying host. Oh man, please don’t tell me I come off like this guy in my videos, or I promise, for the good of the world, I’ll quit doing them this instant.

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