Panama

I rang in 2025 from the rooftop bar of the building that the Panama government took from Trump at gunpoint. The locals called it Narco-a-Lago, which I thought was perfect.

The trip started with an airport guard dropping his revolver on the curb, barrel pointing straight at my feet. The other guard carrying a shotgun came around shaking his head like it wasn’t the first time. I got a full pat-down at security and they never noticed the water bottle in my bag.

The jungle tried to steal my camera. We took a boat through a section of the Panama Canal and had to take the top down to fit under a bridge. The wildlife was everywhere — monkeys, toucans, crocodiles in the water alongside our boat.

Panama City itself was a surprise. Modern, vertical, glittering with glass towers against the Pacific. The Casco Viejo old quarter had the same kind of charm as Cartagena but with less chaos. A good place to start a new year.