Judi and Shauna arrived on Thursday night. We went to the city, checked into the DeVille, a lovely boutique hotel, and hung out with Doug on his last night in Panama. He was staying at the Marriott a short walk away, so we met up with him there at the sports bar.
Though they had instructions about where to meet us, enough time had passed since their landing that I went back to our hotel to see if we had any messages -- and I ran into Judi and Shauna at the stairs!
On Friday, we walked the Cinta Costera -- a long walk on a hot day, and we enjoyed it, but we were ready for La Rana Dorada when we saw it: a brew pub that happened to be open even though it was only about 11:00am. (The Sides folk are early risers.)
After some sangria (for the girls) and beer (for Brent) we set out again for Casco Viejo. We strolled around this incredibly charming old part of the city for several hours, before stopping for lunch.
We were ahead of schedule, so we tooled around a bit before heading to a hotel/bar, Tantalo, where we were meeting up with a photography group.
I had signed us up for a photography tour of Casco, where we got some photography tips from a professional while exploring the very photogenic area. There was also an actual tour guide, who offered a lot of historical insight and fun information about the various buildings.
It was a fantastic time. Even though we had seen the entire area that day, it was nice to get some of the facts from the tour guide, and to see it at dusk. We also had a great time looking at it from a photographer's viewpoint -- I found myself intrigued by things I wouldn't have really noticed if I weren't out to get pictures.
On Saturday, we went straight to the Panama Canal. Even though we've been here for several months, we still hadn't visited the Canal, and I was sort of expecting nothing much more than, well, a big ditch. To my surprise, I was DELIGHTED to watch the little ship go through. Watching the locks in action, the water rising and falling to get the boat through....it was pretty cool. The museum was equally fascinating, and I wished it hadn't been quite so busy so I could have spent a little more time reading everything.
And Judi bought a shirt that ended up not fitting so well. Turns out it was a kids large, not a ladies large.
We made it back to the city in time for a late lunch at the FABULOUS Beirut restaurant: a definite favorite for me.
On Sunday we drove back to the beach -- relieved to be exiting the city on a quiet, quiet Sunday, instead of having to deal with that Thursday traffic we came in on.
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