The Latest Traveler Hot Spot-- Panama

I consider myself fortunate to be born in the Canal Zone, Panama and I lived there for fourteen years before moving to the US.

My childhood was filled with exploring and sightseeing all the amazing places Panama has to offer. My intention is not to steer you towards Panama because I liked it more before it became a tourist type of place,but It would be selfish of me not to share this beautiful country with you.

Panama is perfect for any type of traveler, sights to pay a visit to are tropical rain forests,waterfalls,Oh and before i continue with the rest of the attractions I want to tell you a little story about a time years ago when my Wisconsin wife and I were exploring a waterfall in a rain forest and we met Miss Universe filming a commercial in the middle of the jungle.That only happens once in a lifetime.I will post pictures later when i can find them.Any how Panama also has
Incredible mountain retreats, amazing beaches, the planet's best bird watching expeditions,
Historical sites, many parks, as well as numerous scuba diving,fishing,
surfing, snorkeling and whitewater rafting opportunities.

Panama's main attractions are the Panama Canal,Its amazing if you have never seen it,allthough the Panama Canal is never on my list of things that I must do when I go to Panama, I am always out exploring the rest of the country,
the Darien National Park and its thousands of bird and plant species,
Panama City and its Bolivar Plaza,
The Causeway is an excellent place to go on weekends for biking and skating and restaurants.
Summit Gardens is a great place for picnics and seeing the local animal species. Metropolitan Cathedral is another must see, and Portobelo historical Fort is an awesome place to visit.
And of course no trip would be complete without visiting San Blas, Bocas del Torro, and the Pearl Islands.

The most dominate features of Panama are the forested,
volcanic formed mountains that stretch from Costa Rica to South America.
Significant ranges include the lengthy Central Mountains,
As well as theTalamanca, San Blas, and Tabasara.

The sandy beach coastlines of Panama run along both the carribean,
and the pacific oceans and are some of the most beautiful and unspoiled beaches in the world.My dad made sure to take the family to a different beach almost every weekend.And if you like fishing,forget about it,because you may not want to go back home after your first fishing trip.The world record marlins are caught in Panama waters.

The Darien province is a thinly populated area of dense rain jungle,
rivers and marshy lowlands and high mountain peaks.
The Darian Gap, is an inhospitable, almost impenetrable thick jungle and it borders with Columbia. This is not an area I would consider tourist friendly but the rest of Panama is a must see.

The northern coastlines are cluttered with hundreds of small islands
That form the San Blas and Bocas del Torro Archipelagos.
Significant islands along the southern coastlines include Cebaco and Coiba islands,
The Pearl Islands where one of the survivor series was filmed,
and Taboga,the closest island to Panama city. My friends and I would skip school sometimes and take the ferry to Taboga Island for a day trip and our parents never found out.

Hundreds of rivers systems are scattered all over Panama,
Most of them are small rivers,
the larger ones are the,Tuira,San Pablo, Chagres, Santa Maria, and the Chucunague rivers.

Highest Mountain elevation is Volcan Baru - 11,401 ft.
Panama has 9 provinces, the provinces include, Chiriqui, Cocle,Bocas del toro,
Darien,Colon, Herrera, Los Santos,Veraguas, Panama and 1 territory called San Blas.

Panama Climate is very humid and warm most of the year,
with very little seasonal temperature variations.
Panama City temperatures range from the mid 70s in the morning to the high 80s in the afternoon.

The mountains are way cooler and sometimes they experience frost.I am going to my nieces wedding this christmas and she is getting married on one of the mountain tops.How cool is that.

The rainy season occurs April through December, The Colon area receives over 120 inches in yearly rainfall.When it rains it pours.There is nothing more relaxing then taking an afternoon nap during one of the afternoon rain storms.