Max's Baby Book: Panama

7 hour flight to Panama direct
Max slept the whole way on the red eye

Panama City is super modern and quite stunning and expensive
View from the hotel

We took a cab to Colon to ride the train along the Panama Canal back to Panama City

ship going through a lock

The open air cars were amazing

Gamboa Ariel Tram Rainforest Tour

We took a boat ride on the Panama Canal and some monkeys jumped in our boat

Ariel Tram above the rainforest

climbed to the top of a tower for a stunning view of the Panama Canal and the rainforest

The tour also included a butterfly house, orchid farm, reptile house and buffet lunch

The tour van pulled over to watch a cruise ship go through a small lock

We had dinner and walked around Casco Viejo (old town)

Beautiful but lots of trash

view of downtown

45min flight to Bocas del Toro

Koko Resort - 2 nights

The resort was picturesque and we enjoyed it but it was surrounded by trash and poverty.
It wasn't bothersome, just humbling.

Flying Pirates ATV jungle adventure

mapping out our route

Max loved the ride and somehow managed to use his feet to stay on when it got really bumpy

Max's class was studying mushrooms so we had to stop and get pics of every mushroom we saw

We spent about 5 hours riding and making many stops along the way for lunch, snorkeling, swimming and sea shell collecting

Max figured out how to snorkel. We're thrilled he can join us now.

We went on a boat excursion to snorkel and it rained all day.
Dolphins swam next to our boat, and we got to do a little snorkeling.
Max kept us positive, he doesn't let a little rain bother him nor should we.

lunch spot

We saw the owners dumping their compost in the sea so Ole and Max put their snorkels back on and got to see tons of fish eating our leftover lunch scraps.

After the tour we took a water taxi 30mins to our next resort.

our own golf cart to get around

Probably the nicest place we've ever stayed. 2 bdr, 2.5 bath, full kitchen, private pool, breakfast buffet, drinkable water out of the tap, golf cart, laundry and an activities desk to arrange adventures.

Ziplining

Beach hikes

Dinner at the resort on an old ship docked in the Marina

chasing bullfrogs

Adventure day at the Blue Coconut.
Snorkeling, swimming, SUP, and lunch.

On our way to a bat cave tour.

The water taxi through the mangroves was beautiful. Max was so brave and was actually the reason I was able to continue on the tour despite my fear of dark water. We hiked through knee deep water in the pitch dark with bats flying straight at us. Max thought the whole experience was amazing. We eventually had to swim through the dark water and it was totally fine because my 5 year old was having such a good time. I wasn't about to teach him to be afraid.