Just for a bit over a week I had the chance to get a sneak peek into what Panama would be like. Arriving at night and expecting a quiet drive from the airport, we got to experience the hustle of the major trade metropolis in Middle America first hand.

​While Panama City might seem like a polished, westernized high-rise forest at first glance, leaving the Financial District for the Old Town Casco Viejo and the surroundings opens the gate to an entirely different world.

It becomes clear pretty quickly, that there's far more to Panama beyond the big canal! Those photographs show that beyond the city outskirts of the global hub Panama City lies a countryside of wonderful cloud-forest and the stunning island paradise of San Blas.