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December 25, 2024

PANAMA CITY SKYSCRAPERS - Day 2

My favorite port days are when I am in small group with friends sharing a common interest. Day 2 in Panama City was all that! I love architecture and always go out of my way to see the cool shapes up close and try to know the stories of how they came to be. I tried to use the Panama IA resource - but they needed more notice to set up a tour. So, I did a bunch of internet searches and came up with my own plan to investigate the skyscraper zone of Panama City. The HOHO bus didn't go there, you just saw the building in the distance.  Turns out Scott and the Little/ Olson Family shared my interest, and we came up with a whole game plan for day 2. First, I hired an Uber XL to take the 6 of us to the furthest Building of Interest, The original TRUMP Ocean Club - now a JW Marriott. We evaluated the uber comfort - great AC and decent leg room for all, the language skills of drive with Scott and Whitney's spanish language skills and the drivers overall knowledge of city. Turns out we got the PERFECT UBER driver, his uncle was an architect and he knew alot about the city and all it's landmarks. We asked him if we could hire him for rest of day at $15/hr/ car load - he was thrilled and so were we!

Traffic in the CIty was very slow moving, due to all the people in and shopping for Holidays. The stand stills were great for us because we got to see so much of the skyline. Here are some of the best we saw. F&F Tower an office building called El Tornillo - tornado is the most unique!   

In sharp contrast we left down town wealthy Ex pat neighborhoods and went to old town - El Barro - original old city, still occupied by some of the lowest income levels of people in town. They have a heavy police presence in this area to keep things calm.

Whitney had read about the making of Molas fabric by indigenous women and found us a free museum to visit in old town, afterwards we went to French Market place where they sold Molas products, I got a lovely unique bag from sweet lady, Kids got shaved ice and Whitney got some original fabrics to use as runners in her villa. We walk through more of old town and got a fun group photo.

Next, we were off to our last Architectural stop, the Frank Gehry Bio Museo, his only project in Latin America. Have to say we were all disappointed in it's poor construction and had little interest up close. Then onto our final stop, the Duty Free Liquor store then back to ship. In total, we were with driver 5 hours after initial uber ride, had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed the day!

The Oreo Gang and Our great Uber driver guide!

OFF THE COAST OF RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

By Patricia Patrick • March 4, 2025
OFF THE COAST OF RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

ILHE GRANDE, BRAZIL

By Patricia Patrick • March 4, 2025
ILHA GRANDE, BRAZIL

PARITY, BRAZIL - Day 2

By Patricia Patrick • March 2, 2025
Today we spent on the water. We had signed up for a beach and snorkel trip yesterday and had to move to today because we had tender issues into the port and missed the start time. Today was also looking bleak but the charter waited for us and even sent their tender over to our delayed shuttle and rescued us off so we could join the group waiting for us! It was a fun day, swimming and snorkeling over 4 different beach locations. The water, drinks and sunshine were all great fun!
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