Taste of Panama - 7 Days

Arrival to Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, you will be met by an representative and transferred to your hotel in Panama City.
Enjoy a welcome dinner and briefing with your guide at the hotel tonight.
3 nights at the MARRIOTT PANAMA(D)

Full Day Panama City Tour
Start your Full Day Panama City tour at the Panama Canal Visitors’ Center at Miraflores Locks where ships can be seen transiting the waterway. The 3 floor exhibit halls will provide information about the history, engineering and current events related to the Panama Canal.
Your next stop is the Biodiversity Museum, designed by the world renowned architect Frank Gehry. As a Smithsonian Affiliate museum, the Biodiversity Museum serves as a gateway to new information about the biodiversity and natural history of the Isthmus of Panama. Scientific experts from both the Smithsonian Institute and the University of Panama oversee the contents of the museum and aim at teaching visitors about eco-awareness, conservation and Panama’s extraordinary natural treasures in various unique exhibition galleries. Did you know that the Isthmus of Panama has more bird, mammal, reptile and plant species than the US and Canada together in just 75,990 Km2 (approx. 29,000 square miles)? In fact, 3 million years ago, the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama changed both the climate and the biodiversity in the planet and played a key role in the creation of the world we know today.
Continue with a historical walking tour in Casco Antiguo (the old city compound) which dates from the late 1600’s where you start with lunch at a local restaurant. At the folk market, you will have the opportunity to admire and obtain local and indigenous handcrafts. Casco Viejo is home to monuments to Ferdinand de Lesseps and other Frenchmen instrumental in the ill-fated attempt of the French to construct a canal through Panama became the new Panama City of the times. This part of town was never successfully attacked, being protected by a wall that surrounded the new settlement. You will visit San Jose church with the famous Golden Altar, one of the few testaments to all the wealth that made its way through this city. You will walk along the French Plaza – a monument to the French canal effort and take a panoramic look of the modern city from this vantage point as well as the ships that are anchored in the bay awaiting transit of the canal.
As a final stop, visit Oro Moreno where you are being invited on a small chocolate journey with a presentation about the whole cocoa production process from the company’s plantation in Bocas del Toro. Also, you will have a chance to taste a variety of types, feel aromas, and flavors of cocoa. While you enjoy your every bite of chocolate, you will learn more about our fascinating chocolate from Panamá. The chocolate tasting journey includes chocolates with different percentages of cocoa and our chocolate candies with unique fillings, which are representing the authentic flavors of Panama. Drop off at your hotel mid-late afternoon.
Optional evening folklore dinner show.
Overnight at the MARRIOTT PANAMA
(BL)

Jungle Boat Exploration and Partial Panama Canal Transit
08:00 hrs you will be picked up at the lobby of the hotel by your Naturalist Guide. Nearby you will board a small expedition boat and depart on an adventure that will include a voyage across Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal passing by gigantic cargo ships transiting the waterway, making contrast with the natural surroundings. Along the way, you will have the opportunity to spot Green Iguana and Three-toed Sloth resting on tree branches, Crocodile, Osprey in the hunt for Peacock Bass, Snail Kite and Keel-billed Toucan among other wildlife. Gatun Lake was formed to give way to the Panama Canal in 1914. With a surface of 262 Km2 (164 Mi2), at the time of its creation was the largest man-made lake in the world. The flow of all the rivers within the Panama Canal Watershed is contained in Gatun Lake to provide water for the operation of the locks system. Nearly 200 million Liters (52 million gallons) of fresh water are used for every ship that transits through the Panama Canal from one ocean to another. Your expedition boat will allow for close approximations to rainforest-covered islands (former hill tops) in Gatun Lake to search for White-faced Capuchin, Mantled Howler Monkey, Central American Spider Monkey, and Geoffrey’s Tamarin.
Later this morning you will board a 250 passenger ferry for the Partial Panama Canal Transit. Now you will be sailing at 26m (85 feet) above sea level. Shortly after departure, the ship will enter Gaillard Cut, the narrowest section of the Panama Canal. The 13.7Km (8.5 Miles) long portion of the Continental Divide was carved through rock and shale at beginning of last century when the canal began operating (1914). You will have the opportunity to look at the work’s progress on this extraordinary engineering venture. The ship will reach Pedro Miguel locks, where the vessel will be lowered 9.4 meters (30.8 feet) into Miraflores Lake. After traveling nearly 2 kilometers you arrive to Miraflores locks, where the transition from fresh water to salt water takes place in the locks chambers. Due to the Pacific Ocean’s extreme tidal variations, Miraflores locks miter gates are the tallest of the locks system. In two steps, the vessel will be lowered 16.6 meters (54.5 feet) onto the Pacific Ocean. You will then sail under the bridge of the Americas, which reunites the land divided by the Panama Canal as part of the Pan-American Highway. Disembark and return to the hotel late afternoon.
Overnight at the MARRIOTT PANAMA
(BL)

Cultural tour to a Embera indigenous village
This morning you will be picked up at your hotel by your Ancon Expeditions guide for an approx. 1.5 hour transfer across the Isthmus to Gatun River near Colon. You will have the opportunity to visit an Embera indigenous village on the shores of the Gatun River. You will board a motorized piragua (dugout canoe) and travel up through lush forest to the community. Along the river you may be able to spot Little Blue and Green Heron, Great Egret, Anhingas, Neotropical Cormorant, Amazon, Ringed, and Green Kingfishers, along with Keel-billed Toucans and Ospreys flying above. At the Embera village you will be greeted with dancing and music. You will learn about Embera customs and their relationship with nature. There will be handcrafts available for sale and you will have a chance to be painted with the traditional jagua, a natural dye the Embera use to adorn their bodies. After a traditional Embera lunch you will be taken for approx. 2.5 hours to your beach resort on the Pacific Ocean
Arrival in Santa Clara for check in to the all inclusive beach resort, Sheraton Bijao.

Beach time
Leisure time at the Sheraton Bijao

Beach time
Leisure time at the Sheraton Bijao

Depart Panama
Today you will be picked up at the lobby of the hotel transfer in time to to Tocumen International Airport.

Fly home.