A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!

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Ah, my favourite palindrome of all time, and now I get to use it as a blog title - result!

We arrived in Panama City yesterday, and thus came to the halfway point of our journey, in terms of:

Miles - we have covered over 10,000 miles of the 20,000 (ish) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina.

Time - we are nine and a half weeks in, with nine and a half to go.

Symbolism - Panama, and the canal in particular, represents the meeting point between the northern and southern parts of the continent, as well being a bridge between the Pacific and Altlantic.

The canal itself is not all that much to look at, with the usual shopping trolleys sticking out here and there, but in terms of history and economic importance to the country, it's a massive influence. In a nutshell, thousands upon thousands of labourers from all around the world died of hideous tropical illnesses and general maltreatment, so that we can now enjoy cheap tellies from China, and Panamanians can drive around in blinged up 4x4s. There endeth the history lesson.

Other highlights over the last few days:

Costa Rican rainforest

Hot and sticky, but loads of fantastic flora and fauna, including Howler monkeys (they wake you up at 5am by screaming as loud as their lungs will allow), luminous frogs, brown vipers cunningly disguised as curled up Richard the Thirds (don't go out in flip-flops), and iguanas. Not to mention the Walking Trees!

Banana bridges at the Costa Rica/Panama border

A little more 'adventure motorcycling' to remind us that it's 'not a holiday'. These are old railway bridges, with tracks down the centre, and a few planks (in variable condition) down either side to ride the bikes across. The trick is to avoid looking at the gaps where the missing planks are, as you usually end up going where you look!



Footnote:

Our Mr Magoo-like progress across Central America continues, the fast evolving trail of destruction reading as follows:

Mexico - serious ramping up of the narco-wars. Borders closed during shoot-outs between narco-terrorists/people trafficers and border police. Government officials shot dead in car on way to meeting in Zacatecas (we stayed there for a night, which is clearly what did for them).

Guatemala - as mentioned in a previous blog, pillions on motorcycles have been banned in an attempt to curb drive by homicides.

Honduras - ongoing standoff between ousted president Zelaya and the military backed interim Government. Protests on streets, curfews, general turmoil.

What's next? Keep your fingers crossed for the good people of Panama...

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Photos

Panama City skyline
Plenty of 'my tower's bigger than your tower' speculative office development going on around here. At least there was until the financial meltdown. Now it's a bit of an unfinished building site.

It may not look like much...
... but it keeps plenty of people around here in beers and flash motors.

A Walking Tree, Costa Rica
Not an escapee from an episode of Dr Who, this thing actually moves around to lighter spots by growing new roots and discarding the old ones. Innit clever?

He may look cute...
... but if you succumb to temptation and give him a quick lick, you'll be in hospital for days.

A banana bridge, the Costa Rica - Panama border
It's a bridge, but it's not made of bananas. Some of the planks have the same shape and consistency, however.

Comments

[Mary/Harry]

HI, FROM HI-FIELD!
Thanks for the history lesson - all very interesting. Good to know you've made it half way - sounds pretty dangerous to us! We can reassure you that your voracious fish are healthy and happy, and Barry is keeping the water flowing. Your lawns look super and your windows sparkle! We've had a welcome Indian Summer which is about to give up. We keep in good spirits - what more can we say? Just take care of yourselves, and tune in to our happy, loving thoughts! Mary and Harry XXXX

[Mark Bower]

What about Napolean's last words...able was I ere I saw Elba