Trying to Make the Best of it in Panama
Dec. 25th, 2024 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerPanama Travelog #10
El Valle, Panama - Mon, 23 Dec 2024. 8pm.
With so many little things go wrong on this trip we're trying to keep our spirits up. Instead of remaining bitter about the things we missed because they were closed, broken, unavailable, swapped to a cheaper model, or laden with fake reviews, we're trying to focus on what we do have.
After the snafu with our hotel booking for the next 4 nights we relaxed with a pair of drinks in the hotel restaurant. They made a virgin piña colada for Hawk without needing multiple rounds of negotiation. It was rich with real pineapple and coconut, possibly the best she's had. I got a margarita which, while not the best I've ever had, tasted like a it's just a tequila slushie. 😵💫
It's good we relaxed with these drinks at the hotel before heading out, because once we headed out we were in for more snafus. 🤣
With it being too late in the afternoon to hike anywhere and too early for dinner, we figured we'd visit the butterfly sanctuary in town. That entailed two more snafus. The first is that a bridge is out on the main road through town. The detour routed us along this neighborhood street... that's actually a dirt road. And it's muddy.
Then, once we got to the butterfly sanctuary, it was closed. Well, not closed-closed. But thanks to delays arguing about the bait-and-switch at the hotel we arrived just after the last entry.
So again, it was too early for dinner, too late to hike, and now too late to visit the butterfly sanctuary. What else was there to do? How about... go shopping!
We parked near the town's flea market and walked around the vendors' stalls. This area was clearly a tourist trap but we enjoyed looking at the goods here. Tourist trap or no, most of these are hand-made. We could tell because in many of the booths the craftspeople were sitting there making them! The photo above shows a hand-painted wood piece featuring a Harpy Eagle, Panama's national bird. We saw lots of them in different forms of art; I like this one because it's preying on a sloth.
After visiting all the booths at the flea market we walked along the town's main street— yes, the part on the other side of the "Bridge out Ahead!" situation— to glance at other shops and restaurants.
One of the shops had a bunch of Panama hats. I considered buying one... But a) they didn't have my size, b) I already own a couple of straw hats, though I left them at home this trip, and c) these hats nowadays strike me as being a bit colonizer-y, especially when a white guy like me wears them.
Soon enough it was time for dinner. We were hungry, too, as lunch was a couple of bao (for me) and 50 cents of fried plantains (for Hawk). The restaurants in town are mostly tilted to the tourist crowd, touting burgers, pizza, Italian, and... Chinese. Though the Chinese seems more locals-oriented than the others. We picked a restaurants with pizza and Argentine style food, particularly empanadas. Hawk got an empanada while I ordered a pizza and drank two cans of local beer to wash it down. I opted for the beer partly because I was curious to try Panama national brands and partly because it was only slight more expensive than the overpriced cans of soda.
Now we're back at the room, after a stop along the way at a mini-super (M/S), the regional term for a small grocery store that sells a bit of everything, to get some drinks and snacks for the room. I bought a few bottles of beer— I found Negra Modelo sold as loosies for a cheap price— to enjoy this evening. We're sitting out on the hallway/balcony in a pair of Adirondack chairs enjoying the evening air.
Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow. With everything.
El Valle, Panama - Mon, 23 Dec 2024. 8pm.
With so many little things go wrong on this trip we're trying to keep our spirits up. Instead of remaining bitter about the things we missed because they were closed, broken, unavailable, swapped to a cheaper model, or laden with fake reviews, we're trying to focus on what we do have.
After the snafu with our hotel booking for the next 4 nights we relaxed with a pair of drinks in the hotel restaurant. They made a virgin piña colada for Hawk without needing multiple rounds of negotiation. It was rich with real pineapple and coconut, possibly the best she's had. I got a margarita which, while not the best I've ever had, tasted like a it's just a tequila slushie. 😵💫
It's good we relaxed with these drinks at the hotel before heading out, because once we headed out we were in for more snafus. 🤣
With it being too late in the afternoon to hike anywhere and too early for dinner, we figured we'd visit the butterfly sanctuary in town. That entailed two more snafus. The first is that a bridge is out on the main road through town. The detour routed us along this neighborhood street... that's actually a dirt road. And it's muddy.
Then, once we got to the butterfly sanctuary, it was closed. Well, not closed-closed. But thanks to delays arguing about the bait-and-switch at the hotel we arrived just after the last entry.
So again, it was too early for dinner, too late to hike, and now too late to visit the butterfly sanctuary. What else was there to do? How about... go shopping!
We parked near the town's flea market and walked around the vendors' stalls. This area was clearly a tourist trap but we enjoyed looking at the goods here. Tourist trap or no, most of these are hand-made. We could tell because in many of the booths the craftspeople were sitting there making them! The photo above shows a hand-painted wood piece featuring a Harpy Eagle, Panama's national bird. We saw lots of them in different forms of art; I like this one because it's preying on a sloth.
After visiting all the booths at the flea market we walked along the town's main street— yes, the part on the other side of the "Bridge out Ahead!" situation— to glance at other shops and restaurants.
One of the shops had a bunch of Panama hats. I considered buying one... But a) they didn't have my size, b) I already own a couple of straw hats, though I left them at home this trip, and c) these hats nowadays strike me as being a bit colonizer-y, especially when a white guy like me wears them.
Soon enough it was time for dinner. We were hungry, too, as lunch was a couple of bao (for me) and 50 cents of fried plantains (for Hawk). The restaurants in town are mostly tilted to the tourist crowd, touting burgers, pizza, Italian, and... Chinese. Though the Chinese seems more locals-oriented than the others. We picked a restaurants with pizza and Argentine style food, particularly empanadas. Hawk got an empanada while I ordered a pizza and drank two cans of local beer to wash it down. I opted for the beer partly because I was curious to try Panama national brands and partly because it was only slight more expensive than the overpriced cans of soda.
Now we're back at the room, after a stop along the way at a mini-super (M/S), the regional term for a small grocery store that sells a bit of everything, to get some drinks and snacks for the room. I bought a few bottles of beer— I found Negra Modelo sold as loosies for a cheap price— to enjoy this evening. We're sitting out on the hallway/balcony in a pair of Adirondack chairs enjoying the evening air.
Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow. With everything.
