A new continent

Well to be honest I'm not sure exactly where the continental divide lies between South and Central America, maybe not between Colombia and Panama as Panama was once part of Colombia until the early 1900´s in fact. Anyway psychologically it feels as if I have left South America behind and moved onto the second part of the trip; the journey northwards through Central America towards Mexico. Not fancying the trek through Darien- one of the world's great wildernesses and apparently crawling with guerrillas and paramilitaries- even the PanAmerican Highway breaks here so crossing from Colombia to Panama by road is impossible- we flew from Bogota to Panama city arriving on a Sunday afternoon. The plane doors opened and the heat hit us like a wall- we were back in the hot, humid climes which characterise the rainy season ("winter") in the tropics. During our bus ride from the airport to the centre we experienced what is a daily occurence here- a downpour of biblical proportions which comes from nowhere and lasts an hour or two before clearing up.
Our first night in Panama city we stayed in a hostel in the old town. Very basic to say the least- we were entertained listening in to the the travellers in the dorm next door discussing their conquests of the local girls- and no we weren't eavesdropping intentionally; the wall dividing our room from theirs stopped about 1.5m short of the ceiling!
Exploring the old town on foot I felt as if I were walking through Havana. I have never been there but the beautiful although shabby, colonial buildings crumbling almost as you look at them and overgrown with flowering plants was how I imagine Havana to be. The old town stands on a peninsula with the Pacific on 3 sides and small beaches lie at the foot of the city wall where children play in the waters. From the walls you can look across the bay at the most modern part of the city which would not look out of place if blended into the New York skyline- high rise offices and hotels are jostled together vieing for the title of highest and shiniest. The contrast is really incredible! On the second day, in search of a little more privacy we moved to another hotel located in betwen the old and new towns- for $5 more we got 4 compete walls (what luxury), a private bathroom (have I died and gone to heaven?) and a TV (words fail me...) and such a basic as clean floors and sheets! Only after a coupe of days did we realise the hotel made most of its money by renting these well appointed rooms by the hour- for more or less the same as we werer paying for a night- but what did we care!!
So having moved house we went to visit Panama City's number one tourist attrraction- the Canal. 67km long this masterpiece of engineering cuts the country in half from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Owned and run competely by the USA until 1999 even the land surrounding the canal was considered US territory and as you drive through you find beautiful homes where the Americans who worked on the canal lived. In 1999 however all that changed and the canal was handed over to the Panamanian government which now runs the canal (extremely efficiently) and reaps the financial rewards. The houses are now the homes of wealthy Panamanians and immigrants- Panama encourages immigration and buying of holiday homes by forigners. US Americans apparently do so to enjoy the Miami-like climate and the very un-Miami-like prices!
Anyway back to the canal- we went to the Miraflores locks- one of several sets along the length of canal which raise ship from sea level to cros the range of hills running through the cnetre of the country and drop them back again. At Miraflores there is a museum with interesting dsplays about the building of the canal, its impact on the country's environment and role in the supply of water and ecosystems, its very nicely done but the highlight is doubtlessly the viewing platform which provides an excellent view over the 2-lane locks. Miraflores has 2 sets of locks, one immediately after the other to raise ships heading towards the Caribbean and lower those heading towards the Pacific. Ships of the maximum dimensions to fit through the canal are classed as Panamax and can be up to 32m wide- we saw one of these pass through the locks with barely a coupe of inches of clearance each side- impressive! Ships pass through under their own steam with guidance from heavyweight electric locomotives which run on rails alongside the waterway. Watching these huge vessels gradually rise as water flows into a lock was quite awesome- another reminder of the power of something as basic as water which we take so much for granted.
After the canal we retruned to the centre and took in the views over the city from its highest point, Cerro Ancon before heading to the bus station to find out about onwards travel. Connected to the bus terminal is the largest mall in Panama City which of course I couldn't leave unvisited. The city has several of these US style malls- in fact the modern part of the city could easily be part of the US- all the fast food outlets are here, more banks than you can count, all the hotel chains are present as well as multinational businesses; this is a totally modern city with prices to match (relatively speaking). Although the currency is called the Balboa it is in fact the US Dollar with dollar notes being used and only the coins being minted in Panama. I was hoping to be able to use up some of my Ecuadorian cent coins in vending machines here but no joy:-(
That night we arttepted to leave Panama City on the 11pm bus to Bocas del Toro. We checked out of our hotel and got to the bus station a few hours early intending to kill time in the mall and food courts, however at about 10pm when we moved to the waiting area we discovered we had made a mistake and the only bus had left at 8pm- grrr. So back to the hotel and another day in Panama City. Still it wasn't a waste as we used it to visit the Parque Metropolitano- surely Panama City is pretty unique in having an area of tropical rainforest in the middle of the city? Several trails lead around the park and up to a Mirador- we walked them all hoping for a glimpse of wildlife but everything was hiding, or sleeping. From the mirador the view towards the old and new parts of teh city was sectacular but as we sat taking it in we heard a strange sound- the sound of VERY heavy rain getting closer and closer and closer...just time to put the cameras away before it was upon us. This was the kind of rain that soaks you through in 2 minutes flat- and it did- at least the parts of us that were not covered in attractive plastic ponchos- ie our feet. Don't you just love it when you can feel the water squelching in your socks as you walk?
That evening we completed our Panama City experience by watching Mission Impossible 3 at the cinema before taking the 8pm bus to Bocas del Toro- a small group of islands in the Caribbean near the Costa Rican border where we would remind ourselves that we were in Central America!

---

---