More Panama City and Playa Bonita, Wedding

The next day, we went for breakfast to Manolo’s; a local eatery near our hotel, recommended by the staff. Had fresh Papaya juice and excellent vegetable omelets. Then checked out of the hotel and caught an Uber to Playa Bonita, at the hotel where Sara’s wedding was to be, later that evening. Playa Bonita is on the Pacific coast, and is about a 20minute drive from Panama City, and to get there, we crossed the Bridge of the Americas, which is a major bridge that spans from South America and North America.

Bridge of the Americas; connecting North America to South America

After checking into the hotel, we used the time to enjoy strolling on the beach, and using the hotel pools and facilities.

Westin Playa Bonita

More Playa Bonita

Sea shells at Playa Bonita

Lonely at low tide

Then got showered, and changed. Dress code for men was tropical causal (khaki pants, linen shirt and Panama hat). So, walked a short distance to Casa Naga, where the venue was. Casa Naga is a very grand place to host events; the 18ft entrance has pools and fire pits, outside, and when you enter, you see the Pacific Ocean on the other side, and you can see all the ships waiting to enter the Panama Canal in the distant horizon. Inside, they also had pools of water cascading down to an outdoor garden area, with more water/pool areas. The garden was laid out with multiple tables, and the on one side was the DJ area, another side was the food/desert and a couple of drink stations.

Entrance to Casa Naga

Garden wedding; waiting for guests to arrive

Garden wedding; waiting for guests to arrive

Wedding toast; let the party begin

Very nice and romantic. Great Casa Naga & wedding video at https://vimeo.com/203317794

It was here at the party that we met Daniel (groom)’s sister Alejandro and her husband, Luchin, and their 2 kids. We learnt over conversation that Luchin was a native Kuna Indian, living in the San Blas Islands; which was a place we had wanted to visit but had not planned anything yet. What a lucky meeting. Luchin was planning to go back to his Island the next day, so we asked him to organize a stay for us at his island, Nalunega; which he graciously agreed to do.

Not so lonely, with hundreds of birds

Smooth Gliders

Admiring the view one

We then moved back to Panama City later that day, and since no visit is complete without a visit to the Fruit & Vegetable market, we headed out to the Market, which our Uber driver pointed out was “muy economico”; my kind of place 🙂

Outside Panama City hotel

At the Fruit & Vegetable Market

Habanero’s anyone?

Any guess?

Pineapple city

Oranges and Lemons

Papayas galore

All kinds of roots, including the popular Yuca

Marakuja or Passion fruit

Everybody was out shopping at the Fruit & Vegetable market, young and old

Everybody was out shopping at the Fruit & Vegetable market, young and old

Bananas and Plantain

I believe these are cashew fruit

After getting our fill of coconut water, and tasting all the fruit, we headed back for the hotel, and after freshening up, we went back to the hopping Mercado de Mariscos from dinner of Red Snapper, fried yucca (mogo) and hot sauce one again. When we got there, Michael Jackson was performing there for the partrons ; what luck

Michael Jackson performing at the Mercado de Mariscos

Locals enjoying fresh seafood meals at Mercado de Mariscos

Dinner; fried red snapper and fried yucca

Then headed back to the hotel for an early night, as we were heading out to San Blas Islands at 5AM the next morning

Nalunega and Kuna (Guna) Yala next

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