Jan 4

Written by: chris
1/4/2011 

Panama Panorama

Christmas in Panama: beaches and rainforest, skyscrapers and thatch huts, flora and fauna…and of course the Canal. It’s a potent cocktail of very diverse perspectives and my week’s trip has left me wanting to see so much more…

Pacific Beaches

Most of the Panamanian resorts are on the Pacific coast of the country and I stayed at the Royal Decameron Golf, Beach Resort & Villas on Playa Farallon, 140 kms west of Panama City. A long beach of silvery sand fronts this huge all-inclusive complex which boasts all the facilities you might expect of a sophisticated international resort…and yet in typical Panamanian fashion, a short walk down the beach from the glitz takes you to an authentic local fishing village of palm thatched huts and fishing nets strung over ancient wooden boats.

Canal Crossroads

Two hours drive along the coast takes you to Panama City, a booming place of skyscrapers - and the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. This monumental triumph of human engineering is magnificent to experience from a boat transit, but it came at a terrible cost: over 25,000 deaths, a revolution and poisoned US/Latin American relations for a generation.

Our little boat was dwarfed in the gigantic locks of Miraflores and Pedro Miguel, tiny under the Bridge of the Americas and insignificant as we puttered through the Gaillard Cut through the Continental Divide – the biggest excavation ever undertaken by Man. Huge container ships and cruise liners alternated along the course of the Canal and the rainforest grew ever denser as we entered Gatun Lake at 85 feet above sea level.

Rainforest Riches

Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a treasure buried in the wet and steamy jungle where the Chagres River meets the Panama Canal in Gatun Lake. All the qualities of civilization in a primeval world. Getting to grips with the forest all around is not easy. I rode the Teleferico aerial tram through the canopy to the top of a nearby hill, then a guided hike in the dripping forest took me to an observation tower above the canopy for a breathtaking view over the rainforest to the Chagres River below. On the way back, glimpses of colourful birds included parrots and hornbills and the chatter of the jungle creatures was incessant.

Panama People

The Panamanian people I encountered were warm and joyful – but then it was Christmas week! And the children are irrepressibly adorable, whether clad in the Christmas finest or playing in the dirt.

Flora

Flowers were little explosions of colour in the greens of the rainforest. Orchids and epiphytes grow in profusion, watered by the never-ending showers of the rain that drip through the jungle canopy high above.

Fauna

Birds and reptiles, mammals and rodents scuttle everywhere - above and beyond sight for the most part, but in clearings and by the brown rainforest rivers I saw crocodiles, caimans, turtles, agouti, iridescent butterflies, parrots, eagles and the world’s largest rodent: the absurdly rotund capybara.