Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We decided to treat ourselves on our last day in Colombia and had a McDonalds for breakfast/lunch. I must say that when you don't have junk food very often it just makes it taste better!After our guilty pleasure we took a taxi to the airport and had to endure the most thorough bag search of my entire travels. Everything had to be removed and searched (I did have to stifle a smile when I handed the guard my bag of dirty underwear!) and then re-packed which took an inordinate amount of time but once through security the rest of the journey was smooth. Sarah was a little uneasy at the size of the plane (30 seats, two propellers and no loo!) but the flight was a breeze and we arrived in Panama bang on time. The now obligatory pointing at a piece of paper with the hostel address on secured us a taxi but sadly our driver got a tad confused and took us to the wrong hostel! With no sign outside, we only noticed after being welcomed inside by the owners and my noticing the name of the hostel was different to the one on our booking. It was midnight at this point so wandering the streets of Panama laden with bags looking for another taxi was slightly uncomfortable but thankfully we managed to hail an 'official' looking car who, after a little circling around, took us to the right place.
Our hostel turned out to effectively be a spare room in someone's house but it was comfortable and the air conditioning was a blessing as, even at 2am, it was very humid. The owner, Dinah, rattled on our door the next morning and served us a decent breakfast and gave us some tips on how to get around and what to see. We only planned on being in Panama for a couple of days as time was starting to run away with us and even our revised plan (now minus the original three weeks in Canada!) was starting to look hugely ambitious but at least we had an excuse to come back at a later date I guess!The proximity to the USA was again apparent as all the buses were old American school buses which has been seriously pimped up with multi-coloured paint jobs, flags, Xmas decorations and disco balls on every bus along with blaring music of all sorts. A great experience once you've accepted that you're never really sure if you've got the right bus going in the right direction and got used to hopping on and off of a moving bus. It does make the buses at home seem very civilized though! We used the buses to take us to the old quarter of town and ruins of the coastal defences and royal quarters which was very interesting and also made a detour via the main bus terminal where we booked our onward trip to Costa Rica late the next evening. After much walking we were both quite tired and tried in vain for about 15 minutes to flag down a taxi. A passing policeman on a mountain bike stopped and asked if we needed help which we readily agreed to. He was very friendly and after a quick chat about football (he was a Liverpool fan and loved English football!) he used his powers to get us a taxi in seconds. I think the gun in his belt may have helped though. Unfortunately our taxi pulled up and promptly broke down so the policeman and I had to bump start the taxi while Sarah held his bike!He waved us off with a cheery smile clearly happy with his good deed for the day! Top marks for the Panamanian police force from us too.
We had dinner at a local bar that evening and, being a Friday night, it was particularly busy. A hen do of ladies dressed in Minnie Mouse outfits arrived midway through our meal and I was quite taken aback. Now I know we weren't exactly in a third world country but I was still quite surprised to see what I thought was a mainly UK tradition so far from home. I guess the world is a small place after all!With our timetable becoming increasingly tight we took the decision that we wouldn't get to see all that we had originally planned. Research had told us that Panama had less to offer than some of the other countries so we reluctantly decided to cut short our time there and head through to Costa Rica the next night.
Dinah kindly gave us a mini guided tour of the city the next day before driving us to the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal. Sarah was, unsurprisingly, not fussed about seeing the canal but my old engineering roots came out and I was fascinated by the whole concept and history of the locks. The visitor's centre had a great museum and guided tour and we got to see a few ships pass through the locks which was very interesting and really brought home how important the locks are to world trade as a whole. We took another lively bus journey back to the main terminal and booked our onward travel to Costa Rica for later that night. The terminal had a huge shopping centre attached so we had a wander and then, with a few hours to kill,decided to take in a movie at the multiplex. While it's not right up there on my list of achievements, it was a little odd watching an English-spoken film with no subtitles in a cinema thousands of miles from home. Just for a couple of hours we could have been at the Odeon on Riverside! After the movie we took a taxi home, checked out and said our goodbyes to Dinah and then took another taxi back to the bus station for our night bus to Costa Rica. We got talking to an American who had had his wallet and passport stolen when he shared a taxi with a stranger on the way to the terminal which, although we hadn't taken any uneccessary risks, brought home how careful you had to be at all times when you were a tourist.
Next stop Costa Rica………….
- comments