The best of The Panama Canal and The Casco Viejo tour

This was by far the best way to see the city and the canal in one day. Knocked two things right off our list. Roderick was AWESOME!! He was a fun tour guide and made this experience worthwhile. A must do!

We met Roderick in front of the Central Hotel Panama Casco Viejo where he helped us arrange parking for our rental car. We were running a little late due to Panama City traffic and called Roderick to let him know via the cell phone provided. He picked up right away and told us not to stress he will be waiting for us. We started the trip in Independence Square where very quickly we could see that we had a very good tour guide. Roderick is a beautiful person, full of energy and good vibrations, very warm and friendly, immediately made us feel very comfortable. If you want he can do the standard group tour kind of thing offered by the larger tour operators where you step through the list of sights in Casco Viejo, but that is not what we were looking for. Yes we wanted to see the standard sights, be we wanted a more authentic walk that could evolve organically. One of the highlights of the tour was a spontaneous decision to stop in a small coffee shop as we were walking by when Roderick asked if we like coffee. He said let me show you something neat. We went in and did a taste testing of the Gesha coffee Panama has become famous for over the last five years, and his friend who did the testing told us a lot about the Panamanian craft coffee scene, it was cool, very informative, and delicious. We really did not know much about Panamanian coffee before hand but since realize it is very important for Panama, this Gesha craft coffee. The other thing we noticed about this coffee shop was all Panamanian customers, not the tourist that where numerous everywhere else. We continued the trip doing things very organically, hoping from site to site and doing fun things in between for our kids. Bought some souvenirs at the markets, he showed us a good spot to get our 5 yr old a Panama hat when he was getting very hot. He got us some coconut water straight from the nut. When my 5 yr old was about pooped out, he picked him up and carried him a little ways and used his good vibes and great personality to get him going again until the end of the trip. He also treated my 14 year old very well too and talked to him a lot. Roderick was simply great and provided a very fun and customized tour to meet our specific needs. Essential we had a knowledgeable local guide (and great human being) to show us the town for the morning.