In order to keep Colombian Migration Department happy and also maximize the number of days of the calendar year that one can stay in Colombia, one should probably “step out” at the end of the year, then come back in January and get a new Tourist Stamp. It’s called “Tourist Stamp Run”.

So that’s exactly what I did at the end of 2022.

Why Panama City, instead of Jan Jose (Costa Rica) or Chapala (Mexico) where I have friends and acquaintances? Well, the Barranquilla-Panama flight was literally the least expensive of all 😅 Besides, I had never been to Panama before. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

So, I bought a roundtrip ticket on Avianca and reserved an AirBnB. The flight was relatively short and uneventful. At the Panama City airport I was IMMEDIATELY gringo-priced by an aggressive taxi driver – he charged me significantly more than what I was expecting to pay (multiple people including the AirBnB host had already told me what the correct price should be for my trip from the airport to the AirBnB). I checked Uber and Didi, but they weren’t much less… so I just went along with a taxi driver… it was a one-time trip anyway.

The AirBnB lodging was almost as described on the website. However, there wasn’t any sugar, table salt, or clothes iron (even though the listing specifically said there was an Iron available, it turned out that the host had accidentally left it in a different bedroom). Everything else was GREAT… including the normal-size bathroom where I could actually sit on the toilet without my shoulder and thigh squeezed up against a wall, and I could turn around without banging my elbow on something. I settled in and enjoyed the air conditioning and decent view from that high elevation.

On the 2nd day, I did some “urban hiking” around the place where I stayed… there wasn’t much to do but look around and order food to go. The food was tasty, though priced higher than in Colombia (as one can imagine). The pastries I found were AMAZING… and they had lactose-free options!

The next day I took an expensive-ass Uber to downtown and did some urban hiking and exploration, as well as visiting the “tourist zone”.

I hung out in the tourist zone for the rest of the day, walking around, taking pictures, chatting with random people both locals and tourists, in both English and my limited functional Spanish, and occasionally listening to music with my earbuds.

I saw the Panama Canal from afar. I also took lovely panoramic photos using the Panorama feature of my smartphone. Here’s one of them.

Later, I treated myself to dinner at a random “Caribbean” restaurant. The food definitely looked better than it tasted, and the steak was a bit tough. It was definitely not worth the price. But that’s to be expected in a “tourist trap”.

I had no problems besides the prices of everything (basically 90% of USA prices). The parts of the city I saw looked better-organized than Colombia, people followed traffic rules, observed queues, and basically acted civilized.

However, in my short 2-night stay there, I didn’t find anything extraordinary… nothing “unique”, nothing especially suited to my personality and needs. My overall impression is that – barring extraordinary circumstances – I have no need to ever visit Panama City again, let alone live there. However, it’s a good destination for expats in the North Coast of Colombia to do cheap and quick Tourist Stamp Runs.

Anyway, that’s all… safe travels!