A City to Sea Escape in Panama, Just in Time for Winter

Lunch at Tapa included tostones (fried green plantains), jerk chicken, rice and beans, coconut mussels, cod fritters with blackberry sauce and a house-made beer called Tiny Winey.  Isaac’s favorite is the popular One Pot Colonense, a rice dish that includes everything from dried shrimp and salted fish to pigtail. “The One Pot is the type of meal that our Grandmas would cook for Sunday food after the church service and the leftovers will be eaten for breakfast the day after. It’s one of the highest expressions of love and happiness in our homes,” he added. At Tapa, I remembered my own grandmother’s recipes, and all the ways that food can taste like love when created with thoughtful hands.

After lunch, I began a tour with Truly Panama—a company run by Panamians with a focus on sustainable and authentic travel through the country. We visit a few small business owners, including an art boutique called Karavan that features the works of indigenous artists. Truly Panama’s other tours include a visit to the country’s Caribbean coast at Portobelo National Park, where you can relax on secluded beaches and snorkel amid protected coral reefs teeming with marine life. 

Next, it was time to swap city for the countryside. I was off to a remote island by way of David, a western city lined with fruit groves and slower paced streets. A 10-minute boat from Boca Chica led to Isla Palenque, a 400-acre private retreat where you go when you’re ready for the simple wonders of nature’s stillness. Part of Cayuga Collection’s sustainable hotels and lodges, the property sits in the bay of Chiriquí, surrounded by calm waves lapping velvety black sand. Sunsets here are so dramatic and sweeping that your camera will never truly capture it, try as you may.