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PANAMA what an adventure filled, hectic, beautiful two weeks!
CHAPTER ONE
Panama City. What did we think of it? As Nick said: a cross between LA and Miami with a few shoe shiner children and lottery ticket venders thrown in.
Theres also supposed to be more danger (although we didnt notice), def loads more funner buses (called Diablos Rojos = red devils), BETTER malls (even an American agreed! see photos!! the different sections were signaled with different themes, inc fun park, jungle and dinosaurs!!) and a huge ass canal.
Casco Veijo was the only 'nice' part of the city. A little town in itself nestled on the peninsula.
CHAPTER TWO
After a (semi) very horrid 6 hour bus ride we ended up in David. Yes dad its yours! However, dont think the city would live up to your expectation. A melting pot of humidity and nothing much else (although much more real a place that the capital) we feld to Boquete, a town high up in the coffee filled mountains.
A complete contrast to David. For one it POURED TORRENTIAL rain the first afternoon. Sha (Nick) and I were forced to hibernate in a restaurant drinking wine and reading 'The Little Prince' in Spanish for a few hours. Its a hard life! Sha describes the town as a cross between Wales and Big Bear in San Diego. The American influence growing in stength as more and more ex pats retire there. The sad situation is that they have formed very much their own community, and as a taxi driver explained to us (in Spanish), it really bothers locals (and rightly so) that the Americans dont even try to speak more than 'hola, gracias y adios' in spanish.
Next we had an awesome activities packed day, with a canopy zip wire tour in the morning, which was AWESOME, stunning views!! And then a hunt for Hot Springs in the afternoon, that thank god eventually was fruitful. The water was hotter than a bath, crazy stuff.
Oh also I have a wildlife fact for you: we found out that theres a wasp (that was flying around us at this time) that can sting you with the equivalent of 10,000 watz! Now that is fair justification for running away from flying creatures, if ever I heard it!
CHAPTER THREE
Car rental to Punta Burica! Deserted island paradise! But as to go with the theme of the holiday we had to slog our guts out, to the point where we absolutely wanted to give up before we found our treasure. So heres the story, perhaps to rival my dads tales...
In our normal (non 4x4 rental car) we pootled along to the penninsula. Yes Lonely Planet HAD said you needed a 4x4 car to drive the miles of beach to get to the lonely campsite/hotel but heck, Lonely Planet had continuously let us down with lack of updates, surely the drive was easier now.... So we drive and drive and drive. Get lost in the entry town. Then on the advice of a seemingly friendly and wise local, were reinvigorated to drive, drive and drive some more as "we only had 20 minutes more until the destined beach". Oh no, oh no, oh no. What tall tales.
So the road gets more rugged, and eventually we question the existence of said road. Have a stop and hard think whether we should continue. Decide we have nothing to loose so we'll do a few more hours. Then we come across Juancho and two twenty somethings. So turns out Juancho is the owner of this back of beyond campsite/hotel and explains to us that Julio and Eva are stuck and could do with a lift. We are offered an additional passenger, a 'guide' (lets use this title very very very loosely) to tell us where to go and Juancho will follow us up later when he sorts out his car.
So we drive. The road gets worse. Sha gets more stressed. (Although all credit to sha he did an aweosme job). After a 5 minute drink by a beach we begin to relax and think its all in Gods plan for us to go, having met a guide and appearing like off the road crazy backpackers. No longer the run of the mill tourists. Yey us. Spirits lifted we continue.
Then comes more rocks, more scrapes, more praying the car wont have lasting damage that we'll have to pay for. Then.... the beach. By this time the tide was coming in. Quite dramatically so. We had no idea how long the beach was as it curled round. So when sha approached, us 4 Westerners turn to said 'guide' and ask "what now??" GO ON he says, ITS FINE he says. JUST be quick. Oh Christ. so during filming one of my mini videos.... we get stuck in sand!!!! VERY VERY stuck. Nothing was moving it. And the water was getting closer and closer. Visions of the car being washed out to sea and the shas shelling out a HUGE amount of cash was very realistic!
Heaven finally helps us when the previously broken down car and Jauncho appear. After much hauling and broken ropes and cursing life, the car is moved to safe ground and we are instructed to get our stuff QUICK!!! So all essentials are collected (passports, money...), albeit not any change of clothes, (well for sha anyway) or toothbrush or well anything was remembered! So we all squish into this van, among boxes of chicks and confused/angry Panamanian locals, that I swear thought WE were to blame. Then.... this van gets stuck and the water gets too close. And we have to moor up at the side of the beach, still 2 hours from our accommodation.
Poor Panamanians opt to wait out the tide (hours of waiting) while we walk to our beach. I have to say it was a STUNNING beach. And with the slogs of Rum Juancho (who had had a LOT too many) gave us, we made it for sunset and 2 nights of beach heaven.
The time on our deserted beach was well worth the turmoil of the journey. we were amazing lucky to see a baby sloth up close, feed wild monkeys, nap in hammocks, dine with frogs, and talking of food, have 3 delicious meals a day (all without frog). We had another small worry to do with shas feet, cuts from one onimous pair of flip flops (later to be washed away by the sea) seemed to sprout deep red thick lines up his feet, very similiar to what youd expect blood poisoning to look like!! But yes worries put to rest it went down the following day and sha was saved.
We faced another 2 hour walk back to our car a few days later, to find a puncture and a nest of crabs!! Luckily for us (as there was no way the shas knew how) a local replaced the tire and off we sped to our next adventure...
CHAPTER FOUR
Bocas Del Toro!! Relax time! (Without the rental car! much to shas relief!)
Bus ride up was fun, as I shared my earphones of my Ipod with a very sweet Panamanian child, dancing/head banging together to the Chilli Peppers as we raced around bends in the mountains of the rainforest up to the islands was an experience I wont forget! :)
Bocas was LOVELY. Very different to the rest of Panama. Much more Carribean influence (as we were ON the carribean!) so with the crazy half Jamaican accent added to Spanish my understanding was shot to hell. But nevertheless LOVED it. Boats were the new taxis as we sped across the water to different islands each day. Had another hair raising experince trying to find Wizards Beach, a hike it sure was. But gorgeous nonetheless. Where we also witnessed the rescue of two swimmers caught in a ripe tide!!
We had a day on a Catamaran and snorkeled to our hearts content, got sickeningly brown and spotted dolphins and jelly fish!!
Oh oh and visited the most picture perfect beach in the world, the clearest water, whitest sand, starfish by your feet (oh and a stingray!!) and palm trees lining your walk. Gorgeous.
Along with a wonderful hotel (El Limbo) and scrumptious meals, a wonderful way to end our adventure in Panama.
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