THE PANAMA CANAL & COSTA RICA


Le Levant takes you to islands off of Panama and Costa Rica in comfort and style; explore lush jungles and villages on guided shore excursions


A path between the seas


The Spanish found gold in Panama in 1501 – much of it worn as jewelry by indigenous tribes – luring the likes of Christopher Columbus and Vasco Nuñez de Balbao a few years later with the promise of riches galore. Finding a faster and safer way to transport Panama’s looted gold back to Spain became an obsession of sorts for the Spanish royalty who financed their trips to the New World, especially since stories of their good fortune began to attract the attention of smugglers and notorious pirates like Henry Morgan and Francis Drake. Roads, and later a railway, were built from one coast to the other, serving as the principal trading routes for centuries. But ever since Spain created the first working plan for a canal in 1529, the idea of constructing a water-based shortcut between the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea took hold of imaginations the world over. France came closest to achieving this dream, starting the job in 1882 until illnesses, engineering difficulties and lack of finances took their toll. But it was ultimately the lock-based technology and vision of a young United States that succeeded in revolutionizing world shipping patterns by opening a path between the seas with the Panama Canal in 1914.


92 COSTA RICA


Puerto Caldera


Maximum Elevation: 7,000 ft. Sarchi San José


CARIBBEAN SEA


Colón Osa Peninsula


Coiba Island National Park


PANAMA


San Blas Islands


Panama Panama City Canal


Granito de Oro Island


PACIFIC OCEAN


1. ARRIVE SAN JOSÉ Tour begins: Real InterContinental Hotel & Club Tower Costa Rica. You will be met upon arrival at San José’s Juan Santamaría International Airport and transferred to Real InterContinental Hotel & Club Tower Costa Rica in the elite suburb of Escazú. Dinner is at your leisure tonight in the hotel. Meals D


2. LA PAZ WATERFALL GARDENS & COFFEE Near-perfect growing conditions, from climate to soil, have made coffee one of Costa Rica’s most important exports. Visit a


Darien The


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