Panamá, Panama
While we were staying in Panama City with my parents for our birthday, we experienced a 5.3 earthquake! That might not have been a big deal, but we were 37 flights up in our Panama City apartment we had rented through airbnb.
I used to live in California, so I have experienced a few earthquakes. That wasn't anything new to me, but what was something that was new was being 37 floors up and FEELING the floor move!! It was crazy and a little frightening.
The first thing I did was go to the stairwell to see if other people were making their way down to the bottom floor. No noise in the stairs. I checked the sites to see if an earthquake had been reported. That took about 30 minutes for me to find a report! My dad headed to the balcony. He said he was looking to see if a tsunami was headed our way since we were directly over the beach!
After we realized the shaking was over, my parents started sending messages to family and friends to let them know that we were okay. Then we started making plans on if the building really had started to fall. My dad suggested throwing the kids out as far away from the building as we could as we fell. My husband suggested climbing up 4 flights to the top of the building and riding it down like a surfboard into the mud below. Such a fun discussion.
We stayed in a really nice apartment while in Panama City. It was great to find it when we did because we were one of the first 3 families to stay there, so we got a nice discount. We paid $80 a night and they now charge $160 a night! We were taking a risk though since there were no reviews, so we weren't 100% sure what we were getting into. We were very happy in the end and the owner was so very nice!
It was a 5 bedroom, penthouse type apartment. Each of the bedrooms was off of a long hallway. There were also three full bathrooms and 2 half baths. The apartment also had a washer and dryer as well as a nice sized kitchen! It was also air conditioned and decorated nicely.
One of the highlights of this apartment was in the bathroom. There was a two person Jacuzzi tub. The kids literally loved this. There were lights you could turn on inside the tub which was pretty funny. Bubbles or jets were the two options. It took FOREVER to fill the tub up, but we did it once and the kids all had a blast. That bathroom also had an interesting shower!
The bedrooms were also pretty nice! We let my parents stay in the master bedroom with the fancy bath and shower. I think they liked that.
My husband and I stayed in the room with a full view of the ocean. During high tide, the water came right up to the building. We had a great view of Cinta Costera as well. The shower for the kids' room was next door and it had a whole wall that was just glass...with a view of the ocean while you shower!
One of the only drawbacks of the apartment was the amount of white furniture they used. Panama City has a lot of pollution, so when you walk around, your feet turn black. Then you step on your white bathmat and it turns black. You put your feet on the white couch and the cushion turns black. It was a constant battle to keep tiny feet off of furniture.
We also had access to the very nice pool and work out room while we stayed here. They were both really nice! My kids, of course, had a blast swimming in the pool!
This apartment was located directly next to Panama Vieja. It was a great location and I'm so glad that we decided to give it a chance. So much better than two hotel rooms for a family of 9...even with an earthquake included!!
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