Saturday – Wednesday, 3/01 – 3/05. Left the group and went on my own to Panama. Uncomplicated Transit. Uber is everywhere. The drive from the airport presented a revelation. Panama City is enormous (in height). Extremely modern buildings, unlike anything I’ve seen in Central America before. Though there are the inevitable slums in the city, the wealth was unique. In my case the poorer sections of the city were more obvious than normal. There was a large Mardi Gras celebration in the city center, so Uber had to make large detours.

My hotel room was on the 30th floor(!). The hotel had a very small pool that was more daytime night club than pool. Loud music. It was a pleasure to stay in one room for four nights. For dinner I had the Cuban Ropa Vieja, which was a MacGuffin in a TV show I’d seen once.

On Sunday I took a full day tour of the Canal with about 60 others. It began with a bus ride north to a boat that traveled south, through three locks. A guide gave a continuous briefing about the canal. It was everything I hoped to see and learn. It fulfilled a bucket list item. Perhaps the most interesting new thing I learned was that ALL boats going through the Canal need a licensed pilot. Size notwithstanding. We moored in the locks with a 45 foot sailboat that indeed had a uniformed pilot aboard. I had dinner ashore close to the boat. Loud music. I was sensing a consistency.

The next day I joined a small walking tour of Panama CIty’s old town, which the guide pointed out was not the real Old Town, which was destroyed by pirates 1671. This was the old town of the newly rebuilt town. A lot of history, spread over centuries. Many buildings in existence during the Canal construction still exists. Very nice tour. I had a late lunch of perhaps the most delicious quesadilla I’d ever had.

On the last full day I’d planned to literally do nothing. Just take the day off. But I’d expected the pool area to be a quiet, restful place. Not hardly. So I called another Uber and visited the Canal Museum. Very, very modern and well organized. It was like they’d opened it yesterday. The interesting aspect of the museum was its focus on segregation and the resultant unequal treatment. Though the McCullough book about the Canal certainly addressed the situation, the museum dedicated as much as a quarter of its space to it. I was reminded of the Costa Rican guide who many times stressed that racial discrimination was never an issue in Central America.

The return flight was routine. Next trip is a river cruise from Prague to Berlin in May. Nothing is planned after that yet. I don’t know; maybe the thrill is gone.

Wednesday – Saturday, Feb 26 – Mar 1. Traveling every other day is a drag. Yesterday afternoon on the hike out of the waterfall I was bitten badly by some very nasty mosquitos. Today (Sunday) I’m still putting on anti-itch cream.

Wednesday morning some people went on a nature hike. I passed. On the way to our next hotel we tried to find a local festival, only to discover it’s only open in the evening. We proceeded south towards the western coast on a busy highway, stopping at a restaurant for a late lunch. Spaghetti.

Our final resort was a very large development with hotels and condos. Two beaches, many pools. Very hot and humid. I walked to the furthest beach, hoping for a good sunset that never materialized. Others took the bus, which I thankfully rode back in. Dinner was outside. Buggy.

Thursday was a outrigger canoe trip on the ocean, with a beach-picnic destination. I passed again. Didn’t want more bugs, a hot sun, and a picnic meal. I’ve never liked picnics. Because of the precarious nature of canoes and ocean, I wasn’t going to bring a camera. So I just walked around the resort a bit. In the late afternoon everyone made their way to the nearer beach for a beer and another chance to see a sunset. I swam a little. This one was more interesting.

Friday we departed for San Jose and our final night. On the way we cruised a tidal river that had crocodiles and an abundance of birds. It was perhaps the most rewarding event in the whole trip for me. Worked on my birds-in-flight skills. Afterwards we sat through traffic for what was a supposed to be a 90 minute drive. Three hours later we arrived for a 3PM lunch, 5 minutes from the hotel. Our Farewell Lunch was in an Argentinian restaurant. It was a silly event to close out the trip.

I left Costa Rica on Saturday in a very routine fashion.

Observations: This was a “Learn and Discover” trip to see how Costa Rican’s vacation. At every hotel it was more normal to see Costa Ricans than people from the USA. We did not experience the parts of Costa Rica that other visitors rave about when they come. I would not come back to where we visited, but I can certainly imagine how nice it would be in other parts of the country. Rafting, horseback rides, boating, zip lines, beaches, all are great fun for the vacationer.