By Michele Herenstein
What do $2.16, $4.70, and $3.65 have in common? They’re all the cheap prices of Ubers in Panama. The flights might have been expensive, but the food and transportation were not. I had never been to Panama before, but traveling to new countries is my “new hobby.”
I met my friend at JFK while we waited on line to get a boarding pass and check in our luggage. The line was long, and we almost missed our flight. We had given ourselves over two hours, so on the way home, we gave it three hours and that worked.
Our tickets said we were going to Curaçao right after landing in Panama. This is something our travel agent did, and it got us in trouble, to the point that we almost couldn’t go.
I never get to walk through security without being looked at with a squinty eye and patted down, as if I’m a would-be terrorist. I still don’t understand why this is the case. Do I look scary?
I have a piece of luggage that weighs a whole heap, and I had to pay an extra $100 each way because I couldn’t bring two pieces. I’m a terrible packer. I start laying out my clothing for the trip about a week before. Each day I add, thinking I’ll need more. I end up not using half of what I bring.
My friend wanted an aisle seat and I preferred a window seat, so between us was a big man, legs spread apart. Each seat had much less space than the old El Al seats. That is to say, the seats were horrible and meant for small three-year-olds.
At one point, the stewardess came around giving out customs sheets. This was the beginning of my Spanish issues. The sheet I received was in Spanish. There were no English sheets left. I was finally given a customs form in English towards the end of the flight. There was a lot of stress involved.
When we arrived at the place where we were staying, Marriott Executive Apartments, we were shown to the exact room we wanted. We had a large living room with a dining-room table, a full-sized kitchen, a bathroom, and a separate bedroom with two queen beds. We wanted to stay in a suite because we went food shopping at a huge kosher supermarket, bought the food we needed, including drinks, used the refrigerator and counters, and there was a section of the living room we called “the office” where we davened. We set up our Chanukah candles on the kitchen table and lit candles together each night.
We had an itinerary. Some families who traveled to Panama before us gave us tips for places to see and for kosher restaurants.
“A diverse multicultural city of almost 1.3 million, Panama City offers a lot more than an up-close view of the Canal. Shantytowns slink up alongside shiny high-rise condos. The Old City is an atmospheric labyrinth of churches, plazas, and palaces. Fifteen miles from downtown Panama City, Soberania National Park is an excellent destination for hiking and birding. For a fascinating look at the canal, take a taxi or local bus to Miraflores Locks Visitor Center and look down on the traffic below.” (TripAdvisor)
One morning we were picked up by a driver/tour guide named Danilo to go to Monkey Island. We were in a low-lying boat that went close to the trees and we were able to see white-faced and dark-faced monkeys jumping around, hanging by their tails from a tree. They liked bananas, so if you threw them a piece and they failed to catch it in their mouths, they would jump from branch to branch and it was fascinating to see. This was one of our favorite activities.
This was December 24 and we had plans for the afternoon, but we couldn’t go through with them because things were closed early.
On December 25, we went to Emberá. “According to Panama’s 2010 Census Report, about 22,000 Emberá and around 9,000 Wounaan Indians live around or in the Darien Rainforest of Panama or Colombia. At least five…other communities also exist in the area. The Emberá live somewhat primitive, off the land for hunting and fishing.”
We got to Emberá by boat. When we got off the boat, we were greeted by dancing and singing, and we were pulled into the dance and given a headdress to wear. We were able to see the huts where they lived, the communal bathrooms, and the area to cook food for guests. They gave out food for the guests as well.
It was fascinating and we had a wonderful time.
We were there for Shabbat Chanukah. We had made sure in advance that we would have a short walk to Chabad and could eat there for Shabbat lunch. It turned out a huge mistake was made. Chabad thought we were staying at JW Marriott, which was close to the Chabad House. We found out towards the end of the week that the hotel we were staying at was far from Chabad. On Friday, my friend test-walked the whole way to Chabad, getting lost several times. It turned out to be a 40–45-minute walk. If we had known, we might have tried to find a suite in a different hotel, closer to Chabad.
There were other activities we enjoyed, like going to a park filled with all varieties of animals. The weather was beautiful, with little rain, even though we were there during the rainy season. In the park were a bunch of yeshiva girls and boys, speaking Hebrew and maybe Spanish. It was fun trying to speak to them.
I was sick on the day my friend saw the Panama Canal. If I’m ever in Panama again, that would my first activity. It’s like going to San Francisco and not seeing the Golden Gate Bridge.
I had a hard time because I wasn’t able to speak Spanish and most people spoke little English.
Oops, I forgot to give you a rundown on some of my favorite restaurants. Panama has a lot of kosher restaurants and huge kosher supermarkets.
Our first night there, we went to a popular restaurant called Aria. We sat in a beautiful courtyard and ate a delicious dinner. One night we ate at Lula by Darna. A couple of mornings we ate at Jeffrey’s.
We had a driver/guide one day named Eustacio. He was terrific. We used him on a Thursday. After our touring he took us to the kosher supermarket so we could buy Shabbat food and he spent an extra two hours with us than we’d paid him for. I felt comfortable with him. He took good care of us and explained things well.
So yes, there were a lot of snafus, but in total, it was a terrific trip. Although there are many foreign countries to visit, there are also many fascinating places in the U.S. I hope my next trip is to some of our national parks.
Michele Herenstein can be reached at msh61670@gmail.com.
