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! ]]> ASchechter 2012-02-07T12:20:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/2/2/73248/09294

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! ]]> ASchechter 2012-02-02T09:22:00-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/18/153018/399

The good folks at the Panama Investor Blog are befuddled as to why the country has settled on "Panama - It Will Never Leave You" as their new tourism slogan. Great question! They attempt to work out the meaning behind the slogan-change:

I have caught wind of the new slogan they will be using to promote tourism in Panama and it is not so good... 'Panama - It Will Never Leave You.' Unlike your friends, your girlfriend or your spouse, Panama will always be there. Sounds to me like a HIV or malaria, neither of which I believe will help us attract tourists.

We were going to go with a herpes punchline because HIV is a total downer, and for the record, malaria can indeed be cured with the right battery of anti-parasite drugs. But the point nonetheless remains. This is not, in the strictest sense, the most attractive slogan ever produced by an ad agency.]]> Omri 2009-09-18T16:18:54-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/18/8308/81621

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. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-09-18T09:03:23-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/