December 23, 2024

PANAMA CITY - Day 1 - HoHo Bus ( hop on, hop off)

Panama City is such a huge place we thought the best way to get the overview would be the Hop On Hop Off bus. The down side was they only had 2 buses running the 16 stop route and there was a ton of traffic everywhere due to the holidays and the wait time at spots was really long with an app that did not give accurate info. Regardless a lot of other fellow residents had the same idea - so our core group of 8 was constantly fluctuating. 

Scott & I jumped off bus at Panama Canal Museum. They had an excellent IMAX movie on the history of the Canal narrated by Morgan Freeman - we had a lot of laughs, as we tried to see IMAX over 3 intervals - last 1/2 - first 1/3 then somewhere in middle - whille we tried to catch the next buses on route. After 2 failed attempts we took a taxi to Old City. We did get a nice Air Conditioning break, restrooms and cold beverages. Did I say it was stinking HOT with really uncomfortable seats on the HOHO Bus!?!

Old City was quaint with 7 churches all connected by underground tunnels, cobblestone streets, and lots of quaint shops, restaurants and hotels.

One of the churches had the most unique Cresh / Nativity Setups I have ever seen.

By Patricia Patrick November 14, 2025
Fun fact - Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse country in the World! It is estimated that there are at least 826 Papuan languages. Some are spoken by just a handful of people, while others by 100,000. (Thanks - Basia & Wikipedia for sharing this information).
By Patricia Patrick November 12, 2025
Tully is a small sugar mill town about 2 hours south of Cairns and we traveled here with a group of about 20 other residents to go white water rafting in the Tully River at the Gorge in the National Park. It is the beginning of the wet season and the river was running at a high level, so the rapids were class 4 out of 5. We had some trepidation, but were excited for the adventure! OMG so much FUN!!
By Patricia Patrick November 12, 2025
This is my second time here in Cairns and we did so many excursions last time: the Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling, Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation, Kuranda Skyrail & Scenic Railway and the Butterfly Sanctuary. I was happy to explore the City and try something new.