Blogs from Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panamá, Panama, Central America Caribbean

A combination of a cheap flight and a lifelong desire to see the Panama Canal resulted in us heading down to Panama City for our spring break. As Shauna wanted to relax at the beginning of the trip, we booked the first three days in at Coconut Lodge, which was just outside of the city. I was worried about the location, as it wasn't close to really anything. At least this way, I would have to relax… In all my years of travelling, I have never had quite the experience as I did here. While it bills itself as a B&B, it was really a B&B and resort combined. Right from the pickup at the airport to the free room upgrade and complimentary drink everything exceeded our expectations. We were the only guests there for our ... read more

So I ventured to Panama. And I absolutely loved it. Everything went wonderfully except for Wednesday.. a day of travel hell. Adele and I decided to take a trip just the two of us to Panama to see both Bocas Del Toro, and Panama City. We left on Wednesday at 9:00am from Heredia to catch a 10:00am bus in San Jose. Well, there was so much traffic on our way to the bus station that we didn't get there until 3 minutes to 10:00. Adele ran to buy tickets and I ran to the bus to try to delay it, but there was only one seat left and they wouldn't let one of us stand. So our bus left without us. I explained to one of the men working that we had to cross the Panama/Costa ... read more

'...A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.' Duke Leto Ateides, 'Dune' (David Lynch, 1984) TJ, Anja and I made our preparations to leave our friends at The Naked Tiger hostel in San Juan del Sur. I gently kissed long-term travelling companion Ben's passed-out forehead by way of good bye and then toyed with the idea of smothering him with a pillow. Such is the effect that Ben has on people, the cocky little twat. Genuinely though, I was worried that I wouldn't see the lad because, like some kind of twisted sadist, his plan was to head back to the Posta Rojo tree house for a couple of weeks. Presumably he liked being dirty and enjoyed ... read more

As we arrived in Panama city I thought landed in the states. There were drive through ATMs and skyscrapers everywhere. After six days on a boat we ended up staying at the first place we could find, but we soon realised it wasn't in the best neighbourhood and moved ourself to casco vieja, the old town. None of us were really ready to deal with the developed world just yet. The old town use to be the place where all the rich people lived but do to crime a lot of people moved out. In the last few years it's become a UNESCO world heritage site and money is starting to be spent to restore it. It is very run down, but it's definitely getting better and in years to come I'm sure it will look ... read more

Hi, the four day trip from Guate to Panama City turned out to be just a two day trip with us travelling the last 24hrs of that trip, making it pretty tiresome. Luckily I sat next to a really nice girl from panama city who offered me a ride to a cheap-ish hotel where I spend the first night. So the first day I found my way to the hostel where I am planning to spend the nights during my stay in Panama City. Its located in Casco viejo, the place where Panama city was moved to after the first settlement got sacked by arrrr, aye pirates!(not sure wetter it were pirates though, might have been some navy, but pirates sound better...) So ye, it was sacked by pirates arrr!! Casco viejo is a nice little ... read more