Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
well this is my last blog entry as i fly home tomorrow morning. I cant believe how fast the 6 weeks have gone.
i got up early this morning (well was kinda already awake thanks to 5 guys in my dorm snoring, sharing a room with 12 other people is not fun!) and got a taxis to the old part of the city. the only part that still has colonial buildings. its pretty run down but is slowly getting rebuilt and is fast becoming the trendy area as a lotr of artists ahve moved into the area. so spent a while wandering round and absorbinbg the ambiance. theres a pretty cool view of the city from by the oceaN and could see all the skyscrapers of panama city. I hunted out the Panama Canal museum as its supposed to be better than the one actually at the locks, found it but they didnt have english audio tapes( even tho my guide book said they would grrrr) so then got a taxis and headed to the Miraflor locks - the 1st ones that ships come to.
on the way there i had a full conversation in spanish with the driver, discussing things from the weather, politics, and teaching. just as my spanish is getting near legible i'm going - ah well. the driver was really nice and gave me a discount, plus said he'd come back top pick me up at a certain time and give me a lift to airport tomorrow. BONUS. being nice really pays off.
the locks themselves were pretty cool, if to be honest a bit boring, it takes about 45 mins for a boat to do the full cycle in 1 lock. so your basically watching the gates close, the water filling up, the other gates opening and the bopat going to the next stage. pretty much a much grander scale of canal street locks. i feel i should be more impressed by them but ah well. had a look around the museum, but the most interesting part was the bug room. where they had specimins of all the main insects in panama. basically big arse spiders and beetles.
then just an eveing of chilling out -i went to the cinema 1 POUND it cost, we're so being ripped off in the uk! packed my bag etc.
from my whole experince i have learnt many things, some of these are...
1 - People in central america never want to lose face or appear that they dont know something, so will just make up a random direction, time, place or activity. for example, when asking what time does the bus go to Merida you will be told 5 diff times by different people, you need to keep asking till you get an average time, and go for that one. they will even say that a bus DOES go somewhere when it doesnt and its only when you're heading back the way you just came that you realise.
2 - its always better to ask 'what can you do?', rather than 'can i do this?'or you'll end up on a completely different tour than you expected.
3 - chicken buses are called that for a reason - and only leave when they are full wether its 5 mins later or 2 hours later and the driver is fully fed and watered and done all his errands.
4 - the food you buy from sellers at bus stops that pass the food up on a stick is surprisingly awesome
5 - in Honduras the mosquitos are as big as bumble bees
6 - armed guards stand in front of banks, supermarkets and mcdonalds with shotguns
7 - the children here dont seem to know how to whine or squabble or be anything but cute
8 - 10 mins means an hour at least
9 - if you drive a pick up truck - there always seems to be a competition to how many people you can have in the back, on the front , hanging from the rails at the side.
10 - Central America is amazing
- comments