"Why Panama?" They ask me, flummoxed. Less flummoxed than when I went to Dubai, but still somewhat flummoxed.

I don't know. Maybe because I wore a hot pink Panama Jack t-shirt in eighth grade. Because David Lee Roth pines for it. Because I fell in love with Canopy Tower back in 2003 when I read about it in Travel + Leisure. Because my sister raved about her family's Panama vacation last year. Who knows what random events influence and determine these decisions?

Of course the weather -- sunny and 80's every day -- factored in. Crossing no time zones is nice. And the cheap prices (a buck a beer, 3-star lodging for less than $100, etc.) didn't hurt. And the people are friendly (although far from effusive). Plus, it's "safe." And pretty, verdant: we haven't seen a speck of green in Chicago for a good seven months now. So that pretty much decided it.

Oh, and: the diversity. Panama, geographically, lacks for little. In the span of a week I will visit a rainforest (Canopy Tower in Gamboa), a metropolis (Panama City), the mountains (Boquete), and an archipelago (Bocas del Toro).

So that's my answer, and I'm sticking to it.

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