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Published: July 10th 2009
The Danish really know how to party!
Ok, the two at either end are not Danish but they weren't shy about acting the part!I have to rate the Panamanian border officials at Sixalola as the most sneaky, officious and downright rude I have ever come across. Everywhere else they have happily been wave you through with the presentation of a few dollars. Here, the oh-so-friendly guy comes to meet you and conversationally asks how long you're travelling and when and where you're flying home from. He then goes and tells the story to his mate at the gate and if you haven't got a direct flight out of Panama then they insist you buy an $11 bus ticket back to San Jose...after this they will tell you there are very few buses to the port, so why not take this $40 taxi? After refusing, the price came down to $20 for both of us for a 2 hr journey which we accepted just to get away from this annoying guy! So beware of Sixalola, they're a bit bored and do everything by the book!
Fortunately the border staff are not representative of the rest of the Panamanians, who are warm and friendy people. They are more than happy to help you out with directions and stop for a chat, plus the men here
are far too polite to make sleazy comments about you in the street!
Mouth's of the Bull
Otherwise known as Bocas del Toro, officially the best party place after San Pedro, the big draw here are the crystal clear waters and the fact that every night is ladies night. Yes, that is free drinks for ladies every night, this compensates for the hugely inflated food costs. In a desperate attempt to save some cash the Danish lads got dressed up in frocks for the famous Aqualounge party, they looked fab and fully deserved the free booze!
Partying aside, the majority of these archipelago islands form a marine park and a snorkelling trip to Coral Caye paid off when I spotted a reef shark cruising the shallow waters. The protected reserve of Red Frog Beach would have been idyllic had it not been for the freak weather that forced us to take shelter from the sand storm.
Lost and Found
Feeling the need to detox a little, this hidden gem of a hostel is perhaps one of the most amazing places I have ever stayed. To get this much isolation and proximity to nature, you either have to
Rocky the kinkajou
Of course he belongs in the wild but local folks still think they can keep wild animals as pets. The family realised they could not look after him anymore and asked for help, fortunately he had been neutered and well cared for. pay a lot of money or camp in the wilderness. Two Canadian guys were lucky enough to buy up the land of an old coffee finca, slap-bang in the middle of Volcan Baru National Park. This is pure virgin cloud forest full of wildlife and stunning nature right outside the door. At night they leave bananas on the feeding platform and I watched the nocturnal creatures creep down and take a piece before scurrying back up the tree. They have a tame kinkajou named Rocky in their care, who is the friendliest little honey bear. In the evening when he wakes it's time to play, he will hop from the branch in his cage to your head, pull your hair and try to bite your nose! The Balneario in Gualaca is a short bus ride away but significantly warmer, sort of a mini canyon with a waterfall at one end where you can jump in and leisurely float down to the other...lush!
Once in royal David's city
More of a transport hub than an attraction, even the local museum was closed, leaving the shelves of Super 99 to be the only place of interest. They seem to have a
The Purple House
Just to demonstrate how extreme an obsession can be! lot of 24 hour stores in Honduras, I couldn't work out exactly who would be browsing in the butchers at 4am but guess that they must have a reason for it!
From the most idyllic to the most kitsch, The Purple House is literally a shrine to all things purple. The owner Andrea has a serious devotion to this colour and a very protective attitude towards her possessions, we thought it might be amusing to substitute a few green mugs here and there but were actually a bit scared of what she might do when she found something out of place!
A brief time in Boquete
What was probably a lovely place before Subway and all the tour operators moved in, this mountain town is one of the top spots for retirement on account of it's cool climate, beauty and twitching opportunities. It boasts great hiking (apparently) but no one will tell you where the trails start as they want you to pay $30 for a guide, so that was out. On the cheap, I visited the immaculate Paradise Gardens which is home to tropical species of flora and fauna. Most of the cages bear the history of
Fresas Mary
Specialising in guess what? their occupants, which is as bad as Animal Hospital for bringing on the tears. Take the case of Loti the Margay, reported to the sanctuary as being cruelly kept in a small wire cage at the dark end of a shed. She was rescued but it took over a year of physiotherapy and TLC to gain her trust and teach her to run and jump again.
[url=http://www.paradisegardenspanama.com/ParadiseGardens/Animals.html Paradise Gardens
After all that I deserved an ice-cream at the famous Fresas Mary who has designed her cafe around the tasty fruit, slightly less obsessive and far more beneficial than the colour purple!
Santa Fe
A world away from Boquete, this little village is still protected from the tourist hordes. Milk is delivered in the churn to the sparse population on horseback and locals ride to school and the supermarket. The bus station serves up tasty and cheap food and the Hostal Qhia has the best beds (and bathroom) I've ever found in a dorm. Normally the 'mattress' is a slice of foam but the kind folks here have invested in full-spring deutsh-technik quality bedding.
It's easy to follow the direcctions out of town and explore the surrounding hills
Ngoble-Bugle woman and child in typical coloured dress
Don't ask me how to pronounce that! This group of indigenous people can be found in both Panama and Costa Rica trekking to waterfalls and remote communities. Hiking up the steep roads is exhausting but the views are more than rewarding, once off the beaten path, a toucan announced my arrival into his territory and I saw evidence of a jaguars feast on an unlucky three-toed sloth. Unlucky me really as the stench of rotting animal kind of spoilt the atmosphere at Cascada Bermejo.
Chitre
This region is perhaps the most authentic and least visited of Panama's provinces. The Azuero Penninsular is home to the famous Spanish style
pollera dresses and many typical festivals. Unfortunately I was to early to watch the passage of humpback whales as they teach their young the skills of life in the deep. I did however meet some lovely people and was invited into their homes to see the craftmanship involved in these handmade dresses, some valueing at $3000 apiece! I asked the bus driver about meeting the musical instrument craftsmen, which I didn't find but sat in the parlour of an old couple while he showed me his saxaphone and talked about the band he was in.
El Valle
Another one of those places that sounded a lot better on paper than it
Mask workshop in Pedasi
These paer mache masks are used at carnival time, sadly too large and fragile to carry away! actually was, perhaps I have just become fussy but as soon as I got there I decided to just stay for the afternoon and head to Pananma City that evening. Actually the golden frogs were all I really wanted to see anyway, El Nispero a botanic garden and zoo is one of the place sthat houses a collection of the little critters. It was pretty pitiful to see the rest of the animals in their small and rain-soaked cages but the frogs had a brand new multi-thousand dollar enclosure. Wow and what super frog they were, blue ones with black spots, translucent glass frogs, poison darts, horny toads and the famous golden frogs. All of them special and all of them under threat from the deadly Chitrid fungus.
Frog hotel The canal
"A land divided, a world united" was the slogan of celebration for this modern wonder of engineering. The first ship passed through in 1914 but it was actually King Charles V of Spain who visualised the potential of an interoceanic canal back in the fifteenth century. The narrow boundary became a crucial trade route at the time of the conquest with mule trains bringing plundered gold between
One of the elusive glass frogs...
So called because of their transparent skin. I found this one in the frog house of El Nispero, El Valle. the ports of Panama and Portobelo. This activity attracted the attention of English, French and Dutch pirates and in 1671 Henry Morgan attacked the city, stole all it's treasures and burnt the old town to the ground, unaware that he was breaking a recently signed peace treaty between France and Spain. Returning to England, he pleaded innocence and was duly forgiven, knighted and made Lieutenenant Governor of Jamaica. Who says crime doesn't pay?
The old camino eventually became a rail road, built and controlled by the USA and saw plenty of traffic in the Californian gold rush years. Though it was the French who first began work on digging the canal but yellow fever and malaria got the better of them, killing 22,000 workers. It turned out to be a lot more difficult than first imagined and drove the French to bankruptcy, they then agreed to sell the concession to the States, a slightly illegitimate move as at this point Panama was still a province of Colombia. The treaty was eventually waived through after Panama declared independence in 1903 but became the subject of much dispute as to its legality. The canal zone area was under US licence until
eventually they agreed to hand control back to Panama in 1999. Though in the run up to handover, relations started to decline when the dictator Noriega caused international scandal when he was accused of drug trafficking, murdering his opponents and rigging elections. The US froze Panamanian assests in US banks, ended a preferential trade agreement and refused to pay canal fees. A year later, Noriega declared war against the USA and murderd a US marine dressed in civlian clothes. Five days later the Bush Sr. Administration attacked Panama with 26,000 troops, in the process killing thousands of poor cilivians that lived in the canal district. They caught and convicted Noriega on eight charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine. As with all good corruption stories, there is some CIA involement, back in the day Noriega was a CIA employee and on the books for a six figure sum! The handover went ahead in 1999 and the US immediately closed it's military bases leaving a huge economic deficit and unemployment. They also left an estimated 105,000 unexploded bombs in fragile virgin rainforest which they claim cannot be removed without destroying the forest.
Today the canal is still a vital
View from Casco Viejo
The old town is a stark contrast to the sky scrapers of downtown Panama trade link and an excellent source of revenue for the Panamanian government. About 13,000 ships a year take this route and passage is increasing, so are the size of the ships. Some oceangoers exceed the 'Panamax' capacity, the maximum size that will fit through the locks, so work is underway to open a new set of locks to take these super-tankers, due to open in 2014, one hundred years after the first boat sailed through.
Visiting here you have to take into account the years of struggle and human sacrifice in creating this waterway, it is very much more than just a large canal which is why I have given some background information. For eight dollars you get the privelage of it's very pro-Panama museum and a running commentary on the Miraflores Lock's activity from the viewing platform.
Panama City
A city of many faces, my first hostel was downtown, a shabby establishment sandwiched between the Marriot and a carpark. The area was great though, all glitz and 24 hour casinos and had the most superb vegetarian/chinese buffet restaurant at 50 cents a portion. Though the tofu was not enough to keep me there and I moved more
centrally to a friendlier establishment. The Avenida Central looks like it's still recovering from the bombing raid in '89 and is slightly reminiscent of a working class high street in one of Britains worst towns. Lined with chav clothes shops and shoppers wearing fake bling, squeezed into very tight jeans and polyester tops. Mixed in all of this you can spot the strange contrast of indigenous Kuna Yala families waiting at the bus stop, looking worlds apart from their fellow countrymen.
For good shopping you need to hit one of the malls...the Allbrook Mall and bus terminal is a massive monument to cheap clothes and transport. Every bus calls here, everyone shops here, especially on a Sunday as I found out; it was like Christmas at the Metro Centre! My first night at Zuly's Hostel they put up signs on the bathroom doors stating that there would be water works going on from 6am to 8pm and the whole city would be without water. They kindly suggested that we should take our shits and showers the night before as we would not be able to take them the next morning! Well, I could not believe this and decided to
Senidup/Franklins island
Never mind Desert Island Discs...I'm a celebrity, get me out of here! take refuge in the mall in the hope that they would have a separate water source, as they did, and everyone else did, we're not sure whether it was an elaborate hoax or that they'd forgotten to pay their bills.
The nicest part of town is the Casco Viejo, built on a penninsular, this colonial area replaces the old city that was destroyed by Henry Morgan. It has a reputation for violent crime, especially at night, despite the fact that the president lives here in the Palacio de las Garzas (House of the Herons), which does in fact keep a white heron in the yard for toursits to gawk at. Some of the buildings are immacualtely restored, some have peeling paint and washing hanging from the balconies, others are empty, rotting shells. This is definitely the most picturesque place to be and from here you can see the skyscrapers to one side and the Bridge of the Americas and Causeway to the other.
The Causeway is actually a road that links three small islands in the bay provided a place for a very hot jog or cycle ride. The islands have mainly been developed with shops, bars and
A Kuna lady in typical costume
This is not just for the tourists, it's a strange site to see people walking around Panama City in these clothes. hotels but the Smithsonian Research Institute has salvaged one small spot for a Marine Museum. Rather small but very informative, I learnt a lot about fish I can't remember the names of and watched sharks and turtles swim in their aquarium. From the telescope viewing deck you can spy on the ships queuing for their turn at the docks, much the same as all the military personnel that stood before me protecting the canal during the World Wars'.
For a glimpse further into the past, the Ciudad Viejo a few propped up walls, a church tower and a partially restored convent are all that remains of the former glory of Panama City. What the guidebook didn't tell me was that the museum bit was closed on a Monday but they still have a free bit over the road which is more or less the same and includes free mosquito bites into the bargain.
Normally a capital city boasts about it's zoo but the Summit park wasn't a particular talking point apart from the eage enclosure. All the other animalas had pretty small and boring cages apart from the huge den of the Harpy Eagle, Panama'a national bird. This
rare bird is in decline thanks to the destruction of it's habitat and hunting. They only have one male bird right now and you can watch him looking sulky in the rain from their web-cam. These giant birds have a two metre wing-span and are the largest of all the eagles and can be found now only in the Amazon, the Darien and Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica.
For a real taste of nature the fascinating Metropolitan Park is a last bastion of tropical dry forest right in the middle of the cityscape. Perhaps it is the thanks to the busy roads that animals find refuge here, the park is a 15 minute walk from the Allbrook terminal but a world away. What is more amazing is that I saw more animals here than in any of the other National Parks I've visited recently, I saw the raccoon like Coati's, the rabbit sized agoutis, a whole troop of Geoffreys Tamarin monkeys and a Mot-Mot among other tropical birds I don't know the names of. It was also my first sighting of Jesus Christ lizards, who literally stand up and run accross water when startled!
A Prisoner in Paradise
Just perfect for a dip!
The balneario (bathing place) at Gualaca After much deliberation I decided to visit the San Blas islands...an archiapelago of picture postcard perfect islands. The problem was I really wanted to see them but was a bit put off by the cost and isolation. Costs are $25 each way jeep transportation, $6-10 Kuna Yala tax, $2 port tax, $7 boat journey to island, pricey for your food and accommodation, extra for boat trips, all drinks and water plus $1 to take a photo of the locals!
Trying to do these things on the cheap is never a good idea and we ended up on Franklins Island, a steal at only $17.50 a night with food included (others were $25-50 a night!). For this price you get a palm-leaf hut, three shit meals a day and some rude locals which rip you off. After I was served a cold bowl of rice and spaghetti, complete with maggots in I complained to deaf ears and moved camp..literally 20 metres away to the other side of the island. Senidup Cabins were exactly the same apart from the family were friendly and the food was much nicer, there was obviously a turf war between them and the
jefe was delighted that I'd switched from Franklins and would tell everyone how bad it was, thus earning myself a discount aswell! One joking Isreali even compared Franklins camp to Auschwitz!
Beautiful they were, but being stuck on a desert island is not my idea of fun, after 20 minutes I saw all there was to see. It wasn't even as if you had your own little piece of paradise, it was shared with at least 40 Isreali travellers, 6 Europeans and about 15 locals! I guess you get what you pay for, and if I hadn't been such a tightwad then the chartered sail boat trip would have been a better way to explore the Kuna Yala territory.
Some people rate Panama as the most American of all the countries in Central America. If you only consider the dollar currency, it's high rise buildings and it's shopping malls, then I guess it is. Remember that they have also had a long occupation by US military so things are going to be a little different. They do have a higher proportion of indigenous people than Costa Rica and are perhaps a little more tolerant to their needs. The Comaraca Kuna Yala territory is run as an autonomous province by the tribe and many Ngöbe-Buglé have emigrated from Costa Rica after the Puntarenas province ordered them all to turn to Catholicism or get out.
This has been my last port of call in Panama and as far south as I will be heading. It's time to turn around and start heading back up to Mexico, which doesn't look so far on the map but I've allowed three months. Tempted as I was to visit the Darien Province, I have decided not to provoke possible guerrilla kidnapping or splash out on an expensive tour. The Darien region is literally the end of the road, the Panamerican Highway, which has run all the way from Alaska abruptly stops here. The road does not restart again for another 150km over the border in Colombia, the point in between is a lawless land of narcotic trafficking and paramilitary hideouts. A few foolhardy souls have managed to cross the isthmus but many have never been seen again and it appears unlikely that Panama and Colombia will ever bridge the gap.
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Elke
non-member comment
hey
havent they told u that franklins island is only israelis and kuna yala?!?!?! :P Poor thing!!! Better pay a bit more and less israeli?! I LOVE San Blas!! And im soooo jealous of your road trip in Panama, I hadn't enough time for it and also some other factors which made it more difficult to do some more travelling and hiking... Whats next zoe?!?