It turns out it's pretty easy to travel in Panama with a little one. The grocery stores carry all your basic baby needs, including all the diaper stuff you're used to. I had carefully packed a dozen of jars of Earth's Best only to see it staring me in the face in the local super market in Panama City.
We brought a baby backpack carrier instead of a stroller and a small pup tent that could be sealed with mossy net for sleeping quarters. Also, after much deliberation, the car seat ended up on the leave-behind-list.
Instead, our wee treasure was securely fastened into his backpack carrier between us in the back seat. We couldn't figure out a way to fasten him to the seat so we wrapped the straps around each one of our arms, held on tight, and hoped for the best.
The first time we were faced with this scenario, of course I wondered how irresponsible we were being. But could we have asked the driver to wait while we installed it in the back? Probably. Could we walk around downtown toting it around all day? Yuck. No way. Could we find another driver willing to pick us up to get back to our lodgings? Risky. In the end, it didn't seem to jive with our style of travel.
We did however, rent a car for a few days and the car company delivered it to us with a car seat installed in the back. If I had it to do over again, I would leave the baby food AND the car seat behind.