Panama with Canal Transit Tour 2012

DAY

B

5

L

4

D

2

ITINERARY

DAY 1

Jan 11

(W)

x

Arrival & Orientation Session

Early afternoon arrival.  Meet and transfer from International Airport to your hotel. We will have an orientation session and dinner together at a local restaurant.

NOTE:  If you cannot arrive by 3pm, please arrive on January 10.  Additional cost: $125 for room In single or double occupancy and airport transfer.

TOSCANA INN
(all 5 nights)  

DAY 2

Jan 12

(TH)

x

x

Historic Caribbean Coast:

Portobelo & San Lorenzo

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

After breakfast, you will transfer by motor coach to the Caribbean/Atlantic Coast of Panama to visit the town of Portobelo.  During the 17^th-19^th centuries, the Spanish used this port to ship products from Peru and other Spanish Colonies back to Spain.  Spices, gold and silver arrived on the Pacific coast and were transferred through the rainforest to Portobelo on a trail called the Royal Path.

Your will tour the Customs House (now a museum), the colonial fort, and the famous local church with the Black Christ.

Next, you continue on to Colon for lunch and to visit Fort San Lorenzo, a well-preserved Spanish-era fort, which guarded the Chagres River and the adjoining bay. There, you learn of the reoccurring pirate attacks and Panama's importance during the colonial period.

In the afternoon you will travel on the Panama Canal Railway back to Panama City. As you cross the isthmus and rainforest you will recreate the experience of the 1849 Gold Rush miners who traveled  on the railway across  Panama on their way to California. (It was safer to cross Panama than to cross the U.S.)
On your 45-minute ride you will enjoy the view of the rainforest and the heart of the canal.

A driver will be waiting for you at the train station in Panama City to transfer you to your hotel. 

FREE EVENING – you can enjoy one of the many excellent restaurants in Panama City.

Fort in Portobelo

DAY 3

Jan 13

(F)

x

x

Full-Day Panama City Tour

First you will visit Panama La Vieja, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You will visit the museum and the ruins of the cathedral in this first settlement established by the Spanish on the Pacific coast.  It was destroyed by pirate Henry Morgan in 1671.

Next, we visit Casco Antiguo which was built in 1673 after the destruction of Panama La Vieja.  You will see its beautiful Spanish, Italian and French architecture and visit the gold altar of the San Jose Church, the French Plaza and Independence Plaza.  We will have lunch at a local restaurant.

Aferwards, we visit the former U.S. Canal Zone to see the Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks.  From the Observation Deck, you will see ships up close as they pass through the locks.

You will also visit the Miraflores Visitors Center, with its exhibits about the history and technology of the Panama Canal, in preparation for your transit on the next day

In mid-afternoon you will have a presentation on the effect of the isthmus of Panama on global diversity and a construction tour at the Frank Gehry designed Biodiversity Museum (which will open in 2013).

FREE EVENING to enjoy another restaurant, casinos  or nightlife in modern / cosmopolitan Panama City. You may want to catch a dinner & folk dance show at Las Tinajas Restaurant which features the pollera dresses, the national symbol of Panama.

Panama La Vieja

Biodiversity Museum

Optional Folkloric Dance

Show with Pollera Dress

DAY 4
Jan 14

(S)

x

x

Panama Canal Full Transit

You will transfer at 6:45am to Flamenco Marina to begin your full (ocean-to-ocean) transit through the Panama Canal. The transit will take approximately 8 hours, and will include a buffet breakfast and lunch. Being on a small ship, you will have a perspective of the enormity of the three locks you will pass through.  

You will be able to admire the Bay of Panama and Panama City’s splendid skyline, and later pass under the Bridge of The Americas.

At Miraflores Locks, your ship will ascend 54 feet in two distinct steps. You will enter Miraflores Lake which is a small artificial body of fresh water that separates Miraflores Locks from Pedro Miguel Locks, one of the two sets of locks on the Pacific side.  You will go through the Galliard Cut, also known as the Culebra Cut because its curves resemble a snake. This is the Continental Divide from which water flows North to the Atlantic /Caribbean Sea and South to the Pacific Ocean. 

At Pedro Miguel Locks, your ship will be raised the last 27 feet to get into Galun Lake.  You will cross Galun Lake which was formed by erecting the Gatun Dam across the Chagres River.  During your transit across Gatun Lake you will pass Barro Colorado which is the Smithsonian Institution’s Research Station. In the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, your ship will be lowered a total of 26 meters in three distinct chambers. 

Once in Cristobal, you disembark and return to Panama City on a motor coach (1.5 hours).  Back at Flamenco Marina, your driver will be waiting for you to take you to your hotel.

Pacific Queen ship

DAY 5

Jan 15

(SU)

x

x

x

EMBERA VILLAGE

Your adventure today will be long-remembered.  You travel in a dug-out canoe on the Chagres River through a tropical rainforest to an Embera Indian village.

You meet the gentle Embera villagers, learn about their culture, and see their ceremonial dances and hand-made crafts. You can visit the community garden where the village healer will show you plants from which many common pharmaceuticals are made. You will have a typical lunch of freshly-caught fish from the Chagres River and cooked bananas.

After your return to Panama City, you will have a Farewell Dinner at Pencas Restaurant on the Amador Causeway.

Embera Family

DAY 6

Jan 16

(M)

x

Transfer to Tocumen International Airport for your departure home or to Costa Rica to continue on our Variety Tour. You can also extend your tour in Panama with a stay at a luxury resort in the rainforest or at an all-inclusive five-star resort on the Pacific Coast.