AfroLatinx Travel began its journey in 2014 with our very first AfroPanama trip—an experience born out of a desire to center and humanize Black world-building; the overlooked histories, cultures, and contemporary lives of Afrodescendants who have built, shaped, and continue to sustain life on the Panamanian isthmus. On this journey, we move through stories of resistance, migration, and cultural capital that span centuries.

But this 2027 trip is a very special trip!

Join us for a special edition of AfroPanama centered on wellness, movement, longevity, and taking ownership of our health. This experience blends the cultural immersion and diasporic connection of AfroLatinx Travel with an intentional focus on investing in our bodies and building practices that support a longer, healthier life.

This journey features fitness and nutrition pioneer Mike Grimes, who will guide participants through conversations and practices around strength, nutrition, preventative health, and sustainable wellness. Participants in the Wellness & Fitness Package will train at Mike’s gym and receive access to an extensive panel of health testing that can often cost thousands of dollars out-of-pocket in the United States (if you can even get a referral). These labs and screenings are designed to provide a deeper understanding of what is happening inside the body, including key indicators such as cholesterol, cardiovascular markers, magnesium, vitamin D levels, and bone density testing (subject to availability). The cost of these wellness screenings is included as part of the Wellness & Fitness Package.

Participants can choose between two experiences: the Wellness & Fitness Package, which includes the full AfroPanama cultural itinerary plus all health-focused programming, workouts, and included testing, or the Classic AfroPanama Package, which includes the cultural immersion experience without the additional fitness and wellness components.

Whether you are beginning your wellness journey or looking to deepen your commitment to lifelong health, this trip is an invitation to reconnect—with your body, your health, your community, and aliveness.

More about the trip

Our trip begins in Panama City, tracing the city’s layered past from colonial walls to modern rhythms, before crossing to the Pacific pearl island of Taboga, a place of rare natural beauty and deep historical resonance. From there, we travel to the Caribbean coast of Colón Province and Portobelo, home to the revered Black Christ, where spirituality, music, and memory converge.

AfroPanama is not a "vacation"—it’s a meditation through living history, an invitation to bear witness to the endurance and creativity of Black Panamanians across generations.

This trip is educational in nature and centers the history and contemporary lives of Afrodescendants in Panama. There are direct and one-stop flights from major cities in the U.S. to Panama City (PTY). We recommend flying in a full day before or taking a flight in the evening the day prior to the start of the tour.

Independent days are for the participant to spend however they wish. Workouts will be in the mornings. Get breakfast before the bus leaves.

Participants are required to attend monthly meetings, we will have at least three, to become familiar with cultural norms, etiquette, and expectations while in Panama, ensuring respectful, informed, and considerate engagement throughout the experience. Engagement with educational courses and readings are also part of the trip experience. Mutual aid is required where we will respond to the local needs of a community grassroots organization.

We want serious participants only who will make the commitment to attend the trip, participate in prep and experience the trip in all its fullness. We want participants who are mindful of the space they take up, considerate of others and themselves and want to be in equitable community with others. 

Our trips are intentionally designed as immersive educational experiences for thoughtful travelers who are genuinely interested in engaging with local Black communities in a spirit of respect, openness, and grace. We travel to regions where conditions reflect historiographies of inequity, displacement, state brutality and abandonment and ongoing manufactured economic scarcity, and we ask that participants approach these realities with sensitivity and awareness.

AfroLatinx Travel curates groups that value curiosity, flexibility, and collective synergy. For this reason, we seek participants who contribute to a positive and cooperative group dynamic—those willing to adapt, listen, and share in an experience that is as much about learning as it is about connection.

Our itineraries are dynamic and responsive to local rhythms, opportunities, and community needs. While a general outline is provided, more detailed information is shared as the trip date approaches. If this level of fluidity makes you uneasy, this experience may not be the right fit—and that’s completely okay. We prioritize travelers who are comfortable embracing the unknown, trusting the process, and engaging with intention.

All participants are required to sign a liability waiver upon sign-up. Trip insurance is recommended on your own and up to your own discretion.

Check back for updates as more details become available as we get closer to our tour. As with all of our trips, we curate the most comprehensive, dynamic and up-to-date events and content as possible. Let the trip be as it is moved to be.

Please note:

This trip is on a first come, first served basis. Your spot is reserved with your deposit which is immediately non-refundable. Initial deposit is followed by installment payments or you have the option to pay in full. Your installment payments become non-refundable five days after payment.  Any and all trip drop-outs will not be reimbursed nor re-scheduled. Any trip missed because of missed flights, expired passports or other error on the participants' part will not be refunded nor re-scheduled. Participant assumes this agreement when deposit is submitted.

Do not buy any flights until the trip is confirmed. If the trip minimum is not reached your deposit will be returned.

We understand things come up and we also would like participants to understand that we also have a commitment to also fulfill and trip drop-outs make this harder. 

Itinerary dates and arrangement of activities may be subject to change before or during the trip to best accommodate the needs of the group. A deposit of $600 is due upon sign-up, the balance is to be paid in monthly installments, with final payment a month before the trip. Credit card payments incur a 3% fee. All guests must provide proof of travel insurance before the trip, or upon arrival to participate in group activities. Guest passports must not expire before February, 2027. All guests must complete and submit a liability agreement before embarking on the trip.

Welcome to Panama!

Included: Dinner

Today is group arrival.

We have a physical activity in the evening at 6:00pm before our group dinner on the classic cinta costera, the coastal beltway in Panama city. This is open to everyone to attend.

Our welcome dinner will be at 8:30pm

Suggested: El Faro rooftop 

Included: breakfast

Pick up at 7:30am for wellness crew

• 8:00 a.m. workout.

• 9:50am departure for beach day in Taboga Island directly from the gym. Bring your items to change.

• 11am ferry departure to Taboga Island. Bring your passport. Beach day at Taboga Island.

• Lunch is independent

• Ferry leaves island at 4:30pm, ferry ride is 30 minutes, then 30 minutes back to hotel.

Included: Breakfast and lunch - departure from hotel at 9:30am. There will be moderate walking.

• 8:30-9:30 a.m. wellness presentation.

• 10:00 a.m. departure from hotel.

• Afro-Panama City tour with lunch included.

• Focus: Black history, urban memory, migration, canal-era histories, and contemporary Afro-Panamanian life.

• Back at hotel at 4pm 

We start off at the West Indian/AfroCaribbean history of Panama at the

AfroAntillean Museum near the city’s old colonial sector, to go over the history of the AfroCaribbean labor that not only built the Panama Canal but also the

country’s infrastructure from the railroad to the artificial 77 km waterway that is

the Panama Canal. One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, it serves

the vital function of connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean across

the Isthmus of Panama, facilitating international maritime trade for over 100

years. We go to the historically Black neighborhoods of Santa Ana and San

Felipe just outside of the colonial city and within them where the residents are

undergoing gentrification. We end at the Panama Canal Miraflores Locks and

visitor center where we see what the AfroAntillean labor force built.

Included: Breakfast and lunch - pick-up at 7:30am. There will be moderate walking.

• 7:30 a.m. departure.

• Visit the Canal on the Caribbean side.

• See the city of Colón.

• Visit the town of Portobelo and the Black Christ.

• Congo history.

• Lunch on a nearby island with a beach component.

• Back at hotel at 7pm 

We travel to the Atlantic Coast to the province of Colon and experience our

Portobelo Historical Walking Tour and Congos de Colon presentation and workshop with Mama Ari, keeping these traditions alive, working with local youth. We will go over the town’s patron saint El CristoNegro (Black Jesus) as well as the African and Afrodescendant labor that built the town and province, making it a principle region during Spanish pillaging of the Americas, as well as the resistance and maroon legacy of Africans who liberated themselves.

Breakfast included

• Departure at 8:15am for the wellness crew.

• 9:00 a.m. workout.

• Independent day, spend the day as you wish!

• Labs may be scheduled on this day.

Breakfast included

• Departure at 9:15am for the wellness crew

• 10:00 a.m. workout.

• Independent day, spend the day as you wish! Join us for our farewell group lunch at 1pm!

• Labs may be scheduled on this day.

See you next time!