Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hey guys, here's what we've been up to since leaving Boquete.
Friday we headed south to Panama City and back to the heat. Long bus journey but they have huge fancy buses here with air-con and DVDs so its actually pretty pleasant (despite the 1st movie being dubbed in Spanish with Spansh subtitles to boot, super! ;-) Stayed in the Casco Viejo (old town) in a lovely new hostel. Saturday we walked along the sea front to head towards the city centre,and found refuge from the heat in a massive shopping mall—bliss! Headed out for some drinks at night,and ended up on a rooftop bar which overlooked the city skyline—very impressive and good cocktails too so we didnt move from there all night.
Spent Sunday just exploring the old town, and then made our way out to our hostel near the canal. Hired some bikes on Monday and cycled out over the Causeway which was built out of left-over canal material to connect the mainland to some smaller islands. Visited the famous canal in the afternoon which was pricey but had to be done. Not hugely exciting but we timed it well and managed to catch a couple of enormous cargo ships pass through the locks so it was worth seeing.
Travelled on Tuesday to the Caribbean coast via the Panama Railway which is a train that passes along the side of the canal and through the jungle. From there we headed down to Portobelo (named by Columbus when he discovered it but it has definitely lost some of its charm since those days). Not much to do there after visiting the old town forts but we did get to meet all the other folk that were sailing down to Colombia with us. Food and drink were really pricey in our hostel (only about 3 restaurants in the entire town so they seem to charge what they want),so it was quite common place to buy a carryout from the supermarket and drink in the plaza. At 25 cents a beer we thought it rude not to partake in the activities. We both felt like we were 16 again but it was a good nght!
On Thursday afternoon all 18 of us plus our captain John, his 1st mate JB and the cook Carolina boarded the 60ft yacht for our 5-day sail to Colombia. As we were the only married couple on board we lucked out and got the captains cabin with ensuite!! Very Handy for the imminent sickness. Journey started off smooth obviously but within an hour we were in open sea and it got VERY choppy. I was sea sick for the first time in years (aaahhhh,childhood memories came flooding back) and went straight to bed. We hadnt realized the windows in our cabin were open and got a nice surprise in the night when huge waves came through the windows and soaked the bed!! Refreshing! However we awoke the next morning in the San Blas slands which was much calmer. After much-needed cornflakes, we then got a 2nd breakfast of pancakes which was a great surprise, especially since most of us hadn't managed dinner the night before. Visited the indigenous Kuna Yala tribes that inhabit and completely govern the islands, which was very interesting as they arent ruled by Panamian laws, but have all their own. Had a party on the boat at night.
The next day, still in amongst the islands, we went snorkelling before breakfast then swam to lots of tiny paradise islands whch was bliss! Dolphins swam at the front of our boat for a bit so I was a very happy girl! Fresh fish for dinner. Could a day be more perfect?
The next day we had to leave the slands and hit the open sea again to go to Colombia. Everyone was dreading this as we knew it was going to be 36 hours of rough seas. Needless to say, I spent the next 36 hours in bed. Talk about cabin fever!
Arrved in Cartagena a few hours ahead of Schedule about 9.30pm so we all breathed a sigh of relief as we got to all enjoy dinner and get a decent nights sleep before leaving the boat in the morning. We survived the journey,and it was defnitely an adventure,with some incredible experiences. Dont think we'll be planning any more boat trips for a wee while though ;-)
- comments