Panama was an excellent vacation, and we will be traveling there again. We ventured out to new restaurants every night and the casinos, and the local food is good and cheap. The taxi driver who picked us up at the airport became our unofficial but official tour guide for the week. Mr. Yard (686-5680) spoke excellent English, and I could test his history knowledge of the canal since I had read the book "Path Between The Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914" by David McCullough (an excellent book, in my opinion).
I would recommend renting a car, but since we did not know that ahead of time, he was an excellent substitution, and the cost of taxis are nowhere near what they are here in the States. Using Mr. Yard instead of tours allowed us to see more of the normal tourist areas, like old Panama City, new Panama City, the causeway, Malafores locks, and other off-the-beaten-track locations at a more leisurely pace than if we took a tour.
We did give him a couple of breaks and took the tour to the Indian Village, which included a hike to a waterfall. While the waterfall was not the best, the hike there was adventurous because of the rainfall from the morning’s rain. The undercurrent was strong, and we had to make human links to pass people from one bank to the other. At the village we did a tour, saw a show of native dances, purchased local baskets, got temporary design tattoos like those that they wear on their body, and ate another excellent lunch of fresh fish and fruit.