The Road Sandwich: PANAMA.

Ice cream.
Guau, really really tasty and economical. We enjoyed a big cup of ice cream for just $1 American dollar. Two important pieces of information: the national currency in Panama is called Balboa but they use American dollars and they are equivalent to their Balboas that means you see American bills circulating as well as Balboas and American coins, they do not have Balboa bills and you cannot use the Balboas anywhere else but in Panama.
The second piece of information is that there are lots of Europeans in Panama, specifically Swiss people in the North therefore you can actually find good milk products, like ice cream.

Cerveza Panama.
It is a light and tasty beer and when it is enjoyed by the beach is even tastier. We stayed at “Cabañas Carrera” in Las Lajas for $10.0 a night with all basic services needed. The price of a Panama beer is $0.75/each, a Corona is $2.0/each.
Along with a beer some fish is just perfect. A regular dish of meat, fried plantains or potatoes and salad is about $4.0-$5.0 American dollars. Not bad and well done.

Con la Tia.
We discovered I have an aunt in Panama City and her family hosted us for a good amount of time. My aunt and uncle made us feel like at home, my aunt cooked a lot of delicious Mexican food that I have been honestly missing, also Panamanian meals. She cooked some “Crema de Habas” (creamy soup), habas is a type of a broad bean (according to a website) but I am not sure of the exact translation. Very tasty, almost like chickpeas.

My uncle in the other hand took us to have some Pozole at Sanborns and that was very thoughtful. Pozole is a Mexican traditional pre-Columbian soup cooked with dried maize and meat mainly, it is really tasty and spicy.

We cooked crepes at my aunt’s home with Brian’s simple recipe but this time our cousin Daniel was in charged. He made the crepes and we just observed and ate. We all had different designs and really enjoyed using our imagination. Food brings people together for sure…

Tortilla Panameña is something typical in the country and it can be made at home or found in the grocery stores already made and frozen. It is a ticker tortilla and it is very tasty, a little bit greasy since it is fried but tasty!!!

Sancocho is another typical Panamanian dish, it is a thick soup made with chicken and veggies; new to us a veggie called otoe, similar to yuca but not quite yuca; this veggie is purple and delicious. My aunt said she had spent about $8-9 dollars for a big pot that would feed 8-10 people, so basically about $1 USD per person for a full meal.

Thanks to both of you for taking care of us.

El Rincón Suizo, en la cava.
This was a total new experience for us, not just the Swiss dishes but the Cava (cellar) as the area to have our meal. It was fantastic… A friend on my aunt and uncle, Ricardo, included us in his list of invitees to this dinner. We were able to enjoy amazing dishes and desserts, as well as wine.
Some of the dishes we had (in Spanish with a rough translation):
-Lengua de res a la vinagreta. Beef tongue vinaigrette style.
-Risoto con calamares y langosta. Risotto with calamari and lobster.
-Pulpo al aguardiente. Octopus.
-Ternera con rosti. Beef with Panamanian potatoes.
-Plato Suizo. Swiss plate.
-More… I can simply show you the pictures but pictures do not make justice of this feast.

I cannot speak about the prices because we did not pay but I can only tell you that Panama has everything you can wish for. I felt like in Vancouver B.C. where you find several options.
Thanks Ricardo for the experience…

Delicioso!!!

Uno de los platillos favoritos de Brian: Risoto.

Pulpo Ummm...

Rico!!!

Plato Suizo.

La Cava.

Gracias a todos por la experiencia. Gracias Ricardo.

Swiss pizza.
Just because this pizza was made by a Swiss couple in Panama. While in Panama Passage, a hotel/camping area, we met a Swiss couple who invited us to have pizza with them, made by them with a little bit of our help. I am glad that the Argentinean fellow who was there and who was also invited declined the invitation; his response in Spanish was that he could not eat such a fatty thing but the next day he was eating pancakes with a lot of corn syrup. Something does not make sense but it does not matter because we had a fantastic meal. The pizza had cheese, tomatoes and eggplant and a variety of secret spices… Delicious… Thanks guys.

Kuna Yala meal.
The Kuna Yala Comarca cooked this meal for us, the passengers of Stahlratte while in San Blas Islands. This native group, one out of the seven tribes in Panama, is well organized and out of the ordinary. People live close to each other in these islands and happy to preserve their heritage. We really enjoyed this BBQ chicken.

Members of Kuna Yala Comarca dancing...

Stahlratte style.
Ludwig, the Captain of Stahlratte (the sailboat we took from Panama to Colombia) knows how to keep people happy on board. Here are some of the various dishes we enjoyed in this journey, some of them we were unable to enjoy due to sea sickness, but one day when our legs grow stronger we will come back to meet Ludwig again for a one good reason… take a guess…
German bread, Ahrr Rum & Coke with a squeeze of lime, lobster on the grill while in a Virgin Island, pasta, Semmel Knődel with beef stew; the Semmel Knődel was new to us but it is basically a German version of meat balls without meat but do not call them meat balls or Germans will get angry, they are actually made with bread and bacon in this case… isn’t bacon meat?