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Panama Travel / Bus Travel / Public Transportation / → All Tags

Are Panama's Red Devil Buses Now a Thing of the Past?

Panama City, though less visited and talked about than its neighbor to the north, San Jose, is by no means an outdated place. For evidence of that, simply look for the skyscrapers shooting up in high-end nabes like Punta Pacifica, the new promenade being constructed along the coast, as well as the recent arrival of big name hotels (Trump, Hard Rock, Waldorf-Astoria).

But there's one part of the city that has remained a glaring anomaly in the city's tireless campaign to bring itself into the 21st century: los diablos rojos. Translated literally as "red devils," these are second-hand schoolbuses that careen around the city, decorated vividly with cartoon characters and graffiti-style imagery, offering cheap rides to anyone brave enough to flag one down. Needless to say, these bad boys were hard to miss.

The only problem was they weren't the safest way to get around. Drivers were often more worried about what songs were playing on the radio, or how to fill their dashboard with as many dolls, statues, and toys as possible, than what was actually happening on the road.

For years, the city fought to put an end to the red devils—against the wishes of locals, who enjoyed the festive vibes on their morning commute (not to mention the 25¢ ticket price!). Again and again, the government would announce an expiration date for the red devils, and again and again, they would fail to do away with them.

But as of last month, it appears the lawless jalopies have been put to rest once and for all.

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Nature Travel / Active Travel / Panama Travel / Soberania National Park / Central America Travel / → All Tags

Skip the Zip Lines for the Aerial Tram in Panama

One of the highlights of a trip to Panama can be a day trip out to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, which is about a 40-minute drive from Panama City. Set along the Chagres River, all the rooms here have stunning views of the rainforest, plus a spa and nice outdoor pool area to lounge around like a cocodrilo in the midday sun.

Guests are kept busy with a list of outdoor activities, guided tours and excursions; you name it (fishing, bird-watching, kayaking, night safaris), they've got it. So it was with much joy that we booked ourselves for a ride on the resort's own Swiss-engineered aerial tram, which runs smoothly up a 1.2 km stretch of pretty dense rainforest.

From there, there's the option to then climb an eleven-story observation tower (also built by the hotel), until you reach...the top of Soberania National Park!

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Videos / Panama Canal / Panama Field Trip / Ships / Panama Travel / Museum Travel / → All Tags

Watch a Giant Container Ship Pass Through a Lock of the Panama Canal

Ever wondered what a giant container ship passing through the Panama Canal might look like? Well, it just so happens we were visiting down there last week, and managed to stop by the Miraflores Locks, on the Pacific side, to witness a giant Dole container ship—full of pineapples, we assume—ease its way into the canal.

The entire process involves three sets of locks (Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun) and takes about 8-10 hours (though they allow multiple ships to travel along the canal at once) from one ocean to the other. But worry not. We've gone ahead and sped up the process to cram a 45-minute Miraflores Locks crossing into an easy-to-swallow two-and-a-half minute video clip. See below!

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Wild Animal Travel / Panama Travel / Weird Travel / Monster Travel / → All Tags

New 'Montauk Monster' Crawls Out Of Cave In Panama, Freaks Everyone Out

Last summer, the world was fascinated by the mysterious corpse of the Montauk Monster, a scraggly-looking creature whose body washed up on the shores of Montauk, Long Island. it was unidentifiable as any certain species, but boy did it put Montauk back on the map.

This summer had almost ended without such a grisly discovery, until some children playing outside of Panama City came upon an odd, hairless creature crawling out from a cave. As the ugly thing crawled towards them, they "feared for their safety" and beat it to death with "sticks." They then returned shortly after to take pictures of the (now dead) creature, which of course hit the internet like gangbusters. Kids are so cruel these days, jeez.

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Panama Field Trip / Aeroperlas / Air Panama / Currency / Lists / Travel Tips / → All Tags

Five Things To Know About Visiting Panama

Our own Brendan Spiegel has wrapped up his trip in Panama and here's a parting gift on all that he's learned. If you have still have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

Not that we're exactly experts after two weeks in the country, but here's a couple of field tips we wish we knew beforehand…

1. No Need To Change Currency: The money thing is super-easy here. Panama has their own currency, the Balboa, but it's tied to the dollar, which is accepted literally everywhere. They don't even print their own bills, so there's no need to change any money if you're coming from the States. You'll get Balboa coins as change, which are the same size and color as their American counterparts. Just make sure to get rid of them before you leave, as I've learned New York shopkeepers are not so happy when you accidently try to pay for the newspaper in Balboa quarters.

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Panama Field Trip / Panama Canal / Boats / Trains / → All Tags

Oh Yeah, About That Canal…

Our own Brendan Spiegel is down in Panama this week and will be reporting back on all that he's seen and done. Whether or not he's wearing a Panama Hat, we can't say. But if you have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

Hopefully, our two weeks of raving about this Caribbean-Pacific paradise have led you to think of Panama as more than just a man, a plan and a canal.

But when you come back from Panama, all anyone ever asks about anyway is the canal, so you still kind of have to go. And even given all the hype, it is pretty awe-inspiring to see. Even just viewed from the plane, the sight of all those giant ocean liners queuing up to get through is something else.

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Panama Field Trip / Beaches / Kuna Yala / → All Tags

Panama's Other Paradise Islands

Our own Brendan Spiegel is down in Panama this week and will be reporting back on all that he's seen and done. Whether or not he's wearing a Panama Hat, we can't say. But if you have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

While Bocas Del Toro is Panama's first obvious stop for a beach bum, drop-out-of-life vacation, those with a few extra days in the country shouldn't miss Panama's other Caribbean beach archipelago, the Kuna Yala Islands.

Not far from the southern border with Colombia, these tiny isles are even more cartoonishly idyllic than Bocas, and we swore multiple times we must be on the set of Lost (the beautiful beach paradise part, not the scary smoke monster part).

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Panama Field Trip / Museums / Frank Gehry / → All Tags

Panama Still Waiting on That Building of the Future

Our own Brendan Spiegel is down in Panama this week and will be reporting back on all that he's seen and done. Whether or not he's wearing a Panama Hat, we can't say. But if you have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

Flip open any guidebook to Panama and you'll read that the country's biggest project since the canal is getting set to open "next year." The attraction in question is the Bridge of Life Museum, a celebration of natural biodiversity housed in a futuristic building designed by starchitect Frank Gehry. (You can check out the crazy design online).

The museum's backers hope the Bridge of Life will do for Panama City what Gehry's Guggenheim did for Bilbao, namely, give it a permanent spot on the global cultural map. And Panama seems to have all the tools in place.

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Panama Field Trip / Hotels / Casco Viejo / → All Tags

Panama Hotel Has Old World Setting, New World Style

Our own Brendan Spiegel is down in Panama this week and will be reporting back on all that he's seen and done. Whether or not he's wearing a Panama Hat, we can't say. But if you have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

Considering how built-up and cosmopolitan much of Panama City is, we've found that to our tastes, the accommodations game is surprisingly lacking.

You've got a bunch of very high-end places like The Bristol, which are pretty clearly outside our price range; there's a whole slew of cheap, dimly-lit pensions that strike us as just a tad too sketchy; and there are only one or two backpacker hostels to even speak of.

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Panama Field Trip / Bocas Del Toro / Beaches / Beach Towns / → All Tags

The Five Best Beaches in Bocas Del Toro

Our own Brendan Spiegel is down in Panama this week and will be reporting back on all that he's seen and done. Whether or not he's wearing a Panama Hat, we can't say. But if you have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

As we mentioned earlier in the week, Bocas Del Toro is home to the best island living Panama has on offer—this tiny strip of islands has a laid-back, good times beach vibe that is so relaxed you'll inevitably feel the pull to stay indefinitely (and many people do).

But the only problem with Bocas Town (where most of the hotels and restaurants are), is that it's gotten so built up there's barely any beachfront to speak of. You can have your morning espresso and then leap right off the coffee shop's deck into the Caribbean, but serious beach time—sand, waves, long walks and all that—requires a bit more of a trek. So we've spent this week hard at work scouring Bocas in search of its best true beaches (try not to feel too bad for us). After the jump, our take on Bocas' most idyllic beach spots.

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Panama Field Trip / Street Food / Food Travel / → All Tags

Panama Street Food Is Worth Bringing the Cipro

Our own Brendan Spiegel is down in Panama this week and will be reporting back on all that he's seen and done. Whether or not he's wearing a Panama Hat, we can't say. But if you have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

When traveling in less developed countries, we're of mixed opinion about street food. The pros are obvious: genuine, not-for-tourist grub at prices often cheaper than a stateside pack of gum. The cons are also obvious, and evident when you spend a significant portion of vacation in the bathroom.

So we don't recommend partaking in street food everywhere you visit, but we're definitely declaring that Panama falls in the category of "bring some back-up stomach meds and pig out."

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Panama Field Trip / Movie Set Travel / James Bond / Casco Viejo / → All Tags

Paris Meets Port-au-Prince in Panama

Our own Brendan Spiegel is down in Panama this week and will be reporting back on all that he's seen and done. Whether or not he's wearing a Panama Hat, we can't say. But if you have any questions or suggestions for him, let us know.

Much of the recent James Bond flick Quantum of Solace was set in Haiti, but the producers weren't actually all that excited about the hurricane-strewn, poverty-stricken isle; they filmed the Haiti scenes in Panama instead, in what by all appearances is set to become Latin America's "next" neighborhood

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