Central America
Winter Break in Panama
The flight from Chicago to Panama City is under 5 hours, on a direct flight on Copas Airlines. The food is your typical “airplane fare”, eatable if needed, but I always prefer to bring my own food bag on the plane. Luckily, this is still allowed by the TSA. The service is nothing to rave or rage about. The toilet was dirty after the first hour, and went downhill from that point on, particularly since the soap pump was missing an actual tube for the soap to get to the pump. Not sure what happened there, and in this case, I was glad I threw a pack of wet wipes in my bag before leaving the house.
The customs in Panama City were a breeze, the luggage was there waiting for us by the time we got to the baggage claim and so we were, in a semi legal cab on our way to a sleepover at Hyatt Palace Downtown.
Hyatt Palace - served its purpose for one night layover so we could get to Albrook Airport the next morning for 9:30 flight to David. For $80 a night with breakfast included, 24 hrs. Restaurant with very decent food, and a good size room to accommodate the 5 of us, I was willing to overlook the complete lack of ambiance or any sign of luxury.
On Sunday morning, it only took 35 min. for the taxi ride from the hotel to the airport, to get checked in, go through security and to comfortably settle in the departure area to wait for our flight. It’s a small interior airport with not much to do except to patiently wait for your flight.
An hour later we landed in David, got our rental car from Enterprise, and were on our way to Boquete.