Panama Sketches

By Warren R. Johnson

You must take care not to pick up a bug when you travel. However, to travel you must already have a bug - the travel bug. Hopefully, you will find Panamá interesting, but more importantly, I hope this book stirs the travel bug within you. Whether you will be an armchair traveler or an actual experience-focused traveler, I wish you th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Second Harvest Books
• Release date: Aug 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986679914

Warren R. Johnson

I am a freelance writer and publisher. I have published print and e-books and have written for magazines and newsletters in the fields of travel, history, religion, and music. I am a former bookdealer and classical musician. I have many years of education and traditional employment in multiple fields. I have traveled extensively - 47 states, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, and Europe. Some of my works can be seen in whole or in part at www.clippings.me/warren-r-johnson. I also publish the blog www.TravelSketches.info.

Book preview

Panamá Sketches

Warren R. Johnson

© Copyright 2022 Warren R. Johnson

Published by Second Harvest Books

ISBN 9798986679914

Every effort has been made to ensure the content provided in this ebook is accurate and helpful for our readers at publishing time. No liability is assumed for losses or damages due to the information provided.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Arriving in Panamá

Villa Gauguin

No Square Corners

A Typical Day

Riding the Bus

November Holidays

Felice Navidad

A Rose is a Rose...

A Little Local Color

Western Panamá’s Indigenous People

Molas and the Guna People

The Real Panamá Hat

Burying the Sardine

Swimming the Panamá Canal

An Island a Day

Pollera - The National Dress of Panamá

Food Shopping

The Little Engine that Could

A Secret Beach

Two for Panamá

The Day Panamá Changed the World

Chiquita and Oil

How Does the Panamá Canal Work?

Some Panamá Romance

Panamá has a Desert!

Behind the Scenes in the Boquete Library

Boquete on the Rocks

Fun Facts about Panamá

Chiriqui Province, Panamá

My Other Books

Introduction

You must take care not to pick up a bug when you travel. However, to travel you must already have a bug – the travel bug. I think mine must have begun when I was a child.

After traveling the United States, Canada, Mexico and parts of Europe, I moved to Panamá lock stock and barrel. I arrived in the popular expat town of Boquete. I planned to travel around Panamá for some unknown period of time. However, the panic of Covid-19 kept me pinned down. I had begun a travel blog, but now I couldn’t travel. What was I to do?

I wrote about the minimal travels I could do and wrote about the places in Panamá I wanted to visit. The blog became somewhat of an educational blog. I learned where I wanted to go and wrote about those places. I also wrote about my life in Boquete.

The popularity of my blog got me to thinking I should make this available to more people. So I took some of those posts, did some re-editing, and created this ebook. At the end of each post is a unique Fact about Panamá. Since a picture is worth a 1,000 words, I followed the Fact with a hyperlink to take you to the actual post where you can see pictures I included with the post.

Hopefully, you will find Panamá interesting, but more importantly, I hope this book stirs the travel bug within you. Whether you will be an armchair traveler or an actual experience-focused traveler, I wish you the best and safest trips.

Return to Table of Contents

Arriving in Panamá

Greetings from South of the Border, way south of the border. I have arrived in Panamá, frazzled from complications and lack of sleep. But, I’m here, and my new life has begun.

After 6 days of estate sales and multiple trips to the thrift stores, recycling center, and transfer station, I got rid of everything. I left an empty house, except for what my landlord/best friend wanted. He even bought my car and drove me to the airport! Anything to get rid of me :).

The first day of travel was most complicated due to the new use of QR codes to exit and enter a country. I was not prepared for this. It took professionals an hour to get me out of Atlanta and another hour to get me into Panamá. I have a learning curve to take on this subject. I had long periods of waiting for shuttles, a late plane, but an early arrival. It all worked out, but I needed much more sleep. I got up at 3:00 am to catch an early flight because I forgot to set my clock back an hour. Panamá has no daylight saving time.

I met with my immigration lawyer right after getting off the