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Our service-learning tour of Panama starts in Panama City with a tour of Casco Antiguo, the historic colonial center. You’ll participate in several service projects including one day of beach cleanup at Playa Blanca. We’ll travel to the Anton Valley and enjoy beautiful green mountains, waterfalls and healing hot springs, and see a huge variety of flower and tree species, mammals, reptiles, and birds.
- Travel to Panama City: Relax and enjoy our scheduled flight from Dulles Intl or National Airport to Panama City, Panama. Our Tour Director will meet us at the airport in Panama. Our private coach will be waiting to transfer us to our hotel in Panama City. For the next five evenings we will enjoy the convenience of our centrally-located Panama City hotel, where daily breakfast will be included.
- Panama City: Panama City, the capital of Panama, is a modern city framed by the Pacific Ocean and man-made Panama Canal. The city of Panama was founded on August 15, 1519, by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila. The city was the starting point for expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire in Peru and was a stopover point on one of the most important trade routes in the history of the American continent. Today, the Panama Canal has transformed the city's infrastructure and economy.
- Local dining: We will dine this evening in a local restaurant. Typical Panamanian foods are mildly flavored, without the pungency of some of Panama's Latin American and Caribbean neighbors. Common ingredients are maize, rice, wheat flour, plantains, yuca (cassava), beef, chicken, pork and seafood.
- Tour Casco Antiguo: During our tour, we will have access to a private coach and driver for transfers and sightseeing where needed. Take a walking tour of Casco Antiguo, the historic colonial center of Panama City. The old historic quarter dates back to the 1670s, when the destruction of Panama Viejo made relocation a necessity. Casco Antiguo's parks and narrow streets are lined with colorful buildings representative of Spanish, French and early American architectural styles. This eclectic collection of architectural styles reflects the city's role as an international trade center and cultural melting pot that began well before the building of the Canal. Some of Casco Antiguo's must-see sites include the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Municipal Palace, the National Theater, and France Plaza. Lunch is included during your tour.
- Local dining: We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.
- Service-Learning Project: Contribute to the local community with a full day service learning project. All service projects are subject to reconfirmation closer to date of departure. Boxed lunches are included during project activities. We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.
- Miraflores Locks Visitor Center: Visit Miraflores Locks Visitor Center on the Panama Canal to view the locks at work and enjoy the museum's interactive displays. Miraflores locks is one of three locks on the canal. Vessels here are lifted (or lowered) 54 feet in two stages, allowing them to transit to or from the Pacific Ocean port of Balboa in Panama City. Lunch will be included today at Miraflores Locks We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.
- Continue Service-Learning Project: Contribute to the local community with a full day service learning project. All service projects are subject to reconfirmation closer to date of departure. Boxed lunches are included during your project. We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.
- Anton Valley: We will board a private coach for our transfer to Playa Blanca. Enjoy lunch as a group at a local restaurant. After lunch, continue on with sightseeing! Anton Valley is 90 minutes from Panama city, a picturesque town in the crater of a verdant volcanic valley. Surrounded by green mountains, waterfalls and healing hot springs, the valley enjoys a Spring-like climate year-round and is populated by an infinite number of flower and tree species, hundreds of mammals and reptiles and over 350 types of birds.
- Playa Blanca: Our base tonight will be be in the Playa Blanca area, breakfast will be provided at the hotel. We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.
- Service-Learning Project: Beach Clean Up: The group will participate in a beach cleaning activity on a location nearby the resort. Lunch will be included at the hotel today. We return to our centrally-located Panama City hotel tonight, where daily breakfast will be included. We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.
- Depart for home: Our rewarding and enjoyable tour comes to an end as our Tour Director accompanies us to the airport on our final day.
