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Published: April 13th 2007
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This One was Tame
Airbrush artists could make a fortune down here! After a 15 hour journey on a bus from San Jose we finally made it in to Panama City at 6am. Viva Panama!! Upon arrival we hopped into the first available cab to take us away, so that we could sleep. We ignored the fact that the cab had a cracked windshield and a busted up rear end, and we went on the ride of our lives!! No really, he almost got in 5 accidents in less than 15 minutes. We thought we may die twice. My favorite part of it was that when I asked what had happened to his windshield, which was obviously cracked in front of the driver and passenger, he told us that he hit a telephone and his head. Yes ladies and gentlemen his head had broken the windshield. Seatbelts are our friends. Unfortunately, there are no seatbelts in the back seats of taxis in Panama, but it is illegal to not wear them in the front seat. Go figure.
Mass transport in Panama City has it´s own special flavor. The taxis all have bumping sound systems, racing steering wheels, and sometimes bring their girlfriends along for the ride. They may even drop their
kids off at school with you in the cab. So, you think you´ve seen a school bus?? See enclosed picture....... We´re not in California anymore are we Toto?
The first hostel we stayed at was Hostal Voyager. It was all bunk beds, not too clean, and full of degenerates talking about drugs all night long. We did meet a couple of cool people there, but for the most part it was not our scene. We spent that afternoon scouring the city for better accomodations, and we found them. We couldn't get out of Voyager fast enough, but did stay through that first full night.
We moved over to Hostal Balboa Bay in Bella Vista which suited us much better. It was not in the center of downtown, which was a welcome respite from the smog of the center city. There are no existent smog/muffler laws to our dismay. After our walking day of scouting a new spot to rest our heads, our lungs actually hurt. No bueno.
We delved into a bit of history in hardcore tourist mode and went to the Panama Canal. It was a enlightening experience to watch the ships go through the Canal.
Jill of the Jungle with Dead Tarantula
And she wanted to go camping in the jungle. (Picture: In the Panama Canal Museum at Miraflores Locks). One of the freighter ships we saw go through paid $230,000 to go through the canal. House... trip through canal....house...who can decide. The canal is an amazing engineering feat where about 1/3 of the people who worked on its construction died from disease. See moms we paid attention in the museum 😊
The following day we were off to Casco Antiguo for some more learning, getting in touch with our regal side, and a scrumptious batido at the Brooklyn Cafe. It´s the oldest part of town and has the remains of a club that Manuel Noriega used to frequent before it was blown up. It also holds the presidencial palace (the presidencial birds were a hoot-see picture), a shrine with info on the process of building the canal. There was also an old dungeon that is now an art gallery, talk about having a captive audience.
Time to get back in touch with Nature. We hiked through the Metropolitano Park in Panama City, which partners with the Cleveland Parks Department for the upkeep of their park. We found out that Panama´s National Mascot should be the leaf cutter ant. They are everywhere!!! An anteaters paradise.
Off to
Leaving Miraflores Locks
Exiting the locks after being lowered through the locks from the Pacific Ocean to the lake. visit the Harpy Eagle at the zoo. We were amazed at this gargantuan eagle!! It could literally eat a toddler for breakfast and not look for the Pepto Bismol. It´s not the San Diego Zoo, but the habitats for the animals were well done except for one jaguar that looked a bit ill and was in a very small cage. He was by the entrance, so they could better keep an eye on him (we hope).
However, none of these places rival the supermarket in Bella Vista where we ate the vast majority of our meals while in Panama City. Our cheap food became even less expensive with our move to Panama. Our meals in our famed supermarket never cost more than $3, and the french toast breakfast cost a whopping $0.80. We were all in heaven. Did we mention our growing addiction for gelato. It rivaled fresh gelato in Italy. Yum!! Unfortunately they only served about 30 flavors.
Off to David and Boquete......................
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Andrea
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Photographer Goeth!
Hola Roomies! BEAUTIFUL BLOG and may I add some of those pictures on vaious journal enteries are stunning... who was your photographer? Hee hee Drea