Panamanian oasis

16 hours in Panama City

Due to our unsuccessful trip into the jungle, we had only left ourselves one night in Panama. Dave had made a call to Sandy, who got in touch with Baz, and we had an invite to stay with Baz's brother-in-law, John and his partner Vladamir, in Panama City.

And it was heaven! Short taxi ride from the airport and we arrived at their lovely flat with great city views, hot water, crisp clean sheets, nice wine and good company. We can't thank John and Vlad enough for their hospitality. In the short time we had, the took us off for a quick tour of the city, accompanied by their local knowledge (Dave got very excited that some of the scenes from Quantum of Solace were shot in Panama). We then went on to supper at a lovely restaurant. Fab food, cocktails and wine. Then on to a bar for more cocktails. All very lovely, but my head did hurt when we got up at 5.30am as John very kindly took us along for a tour of the Panama Canal, before back to the flat for a fabulous breakfast and then dropped us at the airport for our flight to Quito.

Boys, you did yourselves proud. Considering the short notice you had and the limited time we had, we saw far more of Panama City than we would have managed on our own and your company was great fun. I felt fully fueled by civilization before heading into the jungle again. x