Panama

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Upon arriving in Costa Rica on Tuesday 1st of July we decided that we would pass through straight to Panama City. The others had different dates for being back in the States and therefore different timeframes for being in places so I went along with the majority and the plan was to find a boat to take us from Panama to Colombia. From the Costa Rican border post we took a direct bus for about 4-5 hours to the capital , San Jose, arriving in the evening and were able to purchase tickets for the 15 hour bus journey to Panama City where we arrived, somewhat tired after 2 days of travelling on Wednesday 2nd of July.

Panama City is said to be the most modern city in Central America but I was immediately surprised by the number of high-rise buildings. I am loathed to quote from the Lonely Planet but the guide books says something along the lines of Panama City is said to be the Miami of Central America except more English is spoken than in Miami. We checked into a hostel where we would be able to book a boat, but excuse the pun, we missed the boat with booking a boat going a couple of days later and after that there weren’t any boats leaving for 5 further days and we provisionally booked places on a boat leaving Tuesday 7th of July. The hostel was in ‘Casco Viejo’, an old part of Panama City, home to the Presidential Palace and slowly being rejuvenated after years of neglect, with a mixture of newly renovated building housing restaurants, bars, hotels and homes; uninhabitable buildings; and what appeared to be barely habitable buildings that were home to what appeared to be close-nit communities of people who were often congregating on balconies and in the streets.

Casco Viejo was a pleasant place to walk around, but apart from the obvious trip to the canal, there wasn’t really much to do in Panama City After a few days of essentially wasting away the days I decided that I didn’t want to spend 5 days on a boat but would rather get to Colombia and to experience the life and culture of a different country. Instead when it came to confirming my place on the boat I found a cheap flight to Cartagena on the north coast of Colombia and flew there on Monday 6th of July.

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Al llegar a Costa Rica el martes, 1 de julio, nos decidimos pasar por el inmediatamente e ir a Panamá. Los otros tuvieron diferentes fechas para regresar a Estados y queríamos ir a Colombia por barco. De la frontera entre Costa Rica y Nicaragua tomamos un bus por 4 horas a la capital de Costa Rica, San José. Al llegar pudimos encontrar un bus a la Cuidad de Panamá esa noche y viajamos por 15 horas.

Aparentemente la cuidad de Panamá es la cuidad mas moderna en Centro America y estuve sorprendido por tantos rascacielos allí. Algunas personas dicen que la Cuidad de Panamá es la Miami de Centro America pero con mas ingles diciendo que Miami! Nos quedábamos en ’Casco Viejo’, un viejo parte de la cuidad donde esta la Palacio Presidente, que después de anos de abandono es despacio recibiendo ayuda y dinero para renovarse. Ahora en el lugar hay una mezcla de edificios bonitos y edificios no en buen estado. En el hostal donde nos quedamos fue posible organizar botes a Colombia pero los otros fueron muy desorganizados y no reservamos el próximo bote en buen tiempo y íbamos a esperar hasta el próximo lunes para salir y después de pasar muchos días sin hacer mucho (no hay mucho hacer en la Cuidad de Panamá) decidí que no quería pasar cinco días en barco para ir a Colombia. En cambio compre un boleto para ir por avión y salí de la Cuidad de Panamá a Cartagena el lunes 6 de julio.

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Photos

New & Old in Casco Viejo
Presidential Palace

New & Old in Casco Viejo
Presidential Palace