Quick Trip to Panama City
Apparently not discouraged by his somewhat dramatic previous visit, my brother Erik has traveled down from New York to transit the Canal with us. With our crossing date up in the air and Shelter Bay feeling decidedly prison-like, we decided to head across to Panama City for last weekend.
Having visited Panama City in 2006, we already loved the place, and nothing has happened to change our opinion. We had a blast, including delicious meals at our old favorite Ten Bistro and new favorite Manolo Caracol. The Ten Bistro meal included a couple of bottles of Navarro Correas Ultra, the first South American wine I have ever had that is affirmatively delicious in a “Robert Parker 93 points” kind of way. Personally, I think the alleged improved quality of South American wines has been grossly overstated (and we’ve had plenty of sampling opportunities), but this is the exception.
We spent a fair amount of time wandering the streets of Casco Viejo, made a return trip to the Palace of the Herons and their big strange birds, loved our hotel (the DeVille), and checked out the Panama Canal museum. It was a pretty short trip, but we had a great time and it was a nice diversion from the annoyance of waiting for our transit appointment.