Blogs from Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panamá, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 5

After the chaos of Venezuela I was looking forward to Panama city - nice and modern, big shopping malls, and Colon, home to the world's second largest duty free shopping zone - what more could a girl want? In Ecuador we'd met some people who'd spent seven weeks in Colon and said that it definitely was as bad as its name suggests. Surely it can't be that bad.......according to our guide book, Colon '......has lost some of its former splendour.' That has to be the world's biggest understatement. It was an absolute hole. The duty free zone? As run down as the rest of the town, most shops seemed to be wholesale only or a minimum purchase of 12 of any one item, and we weren't able to buy either of the two things on our ... read more

Ended up staying in Panama City for another day since there is so much to do here. Today we went to Panama Viejo which is the ruins of Panama from back in the 1500s. It rained most of the afternoon but we spent a good bit of time exploring the area of the city that we are staying in, Casco Viejo. It is very old world and the buildings are magnificent. We saw Noreyaga's, not spelled right, home before he was forced out by the US. Only a shell of a building due to the bombing but still can tell how grand it once was. Think we will stay in Panama City just one more day before heading north. Have lots more to do and see. ... read more

Nachdem es einige Zeit gedauert hat, wollen wir nun auch ein paar Fotos mit Euch teilen. Wir haben die Zeit in der Karibik und in Panama City an der Pazifikkueste bis aufs Vollste ausgenutzt, deswegen bekommt ihr nun das Kompaktprogramm von ganz Zentralamerika. Los ging es in Costa Rica. Nachdem Micheal und Marcus sich schon ein paar Tage an der Pazifikkueste in Jaco die Beine vertreten haben und ihr Glueck beim Surfen versuchten, erfolgte die grosse Reunion der kompletten Reisegruppe in Cahuita an der Karibikkueste am 7. Juli. Nach einigen Imperial (la cerveza de la gente) ging es dennoch frueh zu Bett, um am naechsten Morgen in den nahgelegenen Urwald bzw. Nebelwald aufzubrechen, der sich bis an den Strand erstreckte. Mit Schweizer Taschenmessern bewaffnet, ging es fuer ca. 4 Stunden auf eigene Faust durch den Regenwaldpark. ... read more

Spent the evening in the Hostel getting to know the people Im sharing the building with, plenty of cans from the local good stuff was consumed whilst sat on the balcony where I met Martin from Holland, hes just finishing a 5month trek around these parts so took a good few tips of him for the rest of the journey. Its nice to know he made it all around here without any Spanish so I feel much more confident now. Marc and Max from Germany are staying here too, they seem good guys and speak great English. I tagged along with them today into Casco Viejo which is the old town there, was very surreal seeing all these run down buildings yet next to them was a nice sparkling new one. Took my first ride on ... read more