Description: The hotel lobby was crowded and bustling on that sunny humid Panama City morning. All of the bodies bobbed and weaved, attempting to find the groups which they belonged to. We planted ourselves by the staircase wondering how our tour guide would ever find us. I stood on my tip toes trying to scan the sea of heads and noticed one of the heads, one that was connected to a vibrant beaming smile making a beeline toward us.
"Hello, you must be Saphira," she greeted, "you look exactly as Gustavo described you." I was already impressed. I had exchanged perhaps a handful of e-mails with Gustavo of Panoramic Panama as I was setting up the tour. Never once had I mentioned any physical characteristics yet he was able to describe me to Elvira through the words we had exchanged.
Elvira led us to her very nice air-conditioned mini-van and after we buckled in she asked,
"What are you most interested in seeing today? Some people enjoy learning about history; others like to know where all of the entertainment is and some people who are looking to relocate to Panama like to explore all of the neighborhoods in-depth." We said without a doubt that we were most interested in the history of the city, and so we were off.
Elvira made driving in Panama City look easy. She had the perfect balance of aggression and caution with a nice healthy dose of horn honking. After making several brief stops at important buildings and monuments, including the famous statue of Balboa, Elvira whisked us away to Panama Viejo.
There are three versions of Panama City. Panama Viejo was the first, until it was attacked and destroyed by Captain Morgan and his band of pirates. After the destruction of Panama Viejo, those left built what is now San Felipe (Casco Viejo), and last but not least is the new modern Panama City with its skyscrapers and water view condominiums.
Elvira took care of purchasing our tickets and then she led us through the ruins to the restored bell tower. After a vigorous climb we stood at the top and admired the sweeping view of the ruins. Elvira imparted her knowledge of the ruins to us and explained the function of many of the now crumbled structures. The site is cool all on its own, but it was made all the better with Elvira who seemed to make the history come alive. I could almost see the old city’s citizens trekking to the well for water (I would have never guessed that the arch had been the well) or going to offer prayers at one the churches.
After a brief stop at some public restrooms (Elvira had talent for knowing exactly where they were in any given place) and a couple of bottles of coconut water, Elvira twisted and turned through the busy streets of the modern section of the city explaining lots of interesting details about the everyday lives of Panamanians.
Our final stop was San Felipe. It was as though she knew it would capture our hearts so she was saving the best for last. We loved the French and Spanish Colonial architecture with fountains and flowering vines. We made stops in the main plazas, investigated a cathedral and mainly just explored while Elvira gave us interesting nuggets of history to feast upon. We were a bit sad when she finally dropped us off back at the hotel just before lunch. Even though we had only been together for a few hours Elvira had already become our friend.
Before our tour of Panama City, I must admit we weren’t big fans of tours. Tours are what tourists and vacationers do, we are travelers, but we thought that taking a tour of the city our first day there would help us get our bearings as Panama City can be a difficult to navigate. Besides having the nicest and most fun tour guide ever, I now realize the advantages of taking tours, particularly if they are small personal tours. The first advantage was that there was someone else to take the pictures. We always come back from trips and realize that there are very few pictures of us together. Elvira was a natural with a camera and we probably ended up with more pictures together than any other trip. The other thing that was great was that Elvira was able to give us all sorts of useful information about other places we were planning to visit. She offered great directions to Portobello and even told us where the best place to stop and eat lunch (that has the very best cerviche) was. She even helped us with our Spanish and gave us advice on attending language school. Elvira broke us of our tour pretentions and I would definitely consider doing one again.
If you are going to Panama check out Panoramic Panama (http://www.bedandbreakfastpanama.com/tours/index.htm). If none of the prearranged tours catch your eye, send them an e-mail and plan your own. We wanted to do the Panama City tour, but we didn’t want to do the canal visit and they were more than willing to accommodate us. It was also a great price, $95 dollars altogether and we received fantastic personal attention. I also recommend asking if Elvira is available, she was awesome.
Close