http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Panama , Panamá , Panama City , Casco Viejo en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 04:02:36 +0000 Wed, 22 May 2013 04:02:36 +0000 PANAMA more than just a canalPanama is fast becoming the top spot in Central America with its modern city sky line to the soon to be completed metro system the city is as vibrant as ever... http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-783243.html On the long journey from Ostional to the central capital we had decided that we39d skip the big city and take another long bus to the Caribbean coast and a beach side town called Cahuita. The journey was pretty spectacular climbing and descending through deeply forested areas before reaching the flatter plains of the coast. We arrived after dark but the hostel owner meeting us with his huge d http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-774438.html We arrived to the panama shoreline and Gisbert gave us a lift to the town centre where we could get a bus into Panama city. There was a street parade going on and part of the road which the bus would go down was shut off so we hiked a few Kms up road and hailed a bus which was heading in the right direction. It was a little under a 1We checked into the hostel and headed to the panama canal. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-759388.html Made it to Panama City My last stop in central America. I39m staying in Casco Viejo which is the old town region across the bay over looking the city39s skyline. I was very surprised when I first saw this city. I don39t feel like I am in Central America. It feels more like Miami with large skyscrapers fancy shops people from all over the world and super nice houses cars. Not to m http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-736632.html I almost did not. It was looking like i might have ended up in Miami instead. My flight had arrived 20 minutes late and into terminal 24 i was leaving out of terminal 49. Slowed by a weighted back pack and a pair of flip flops i attempted to make a run for my plane which was deaprting in 10 minutes. Not making any headway i stripped off the flip flops chucked the bottle of water and ran my hear http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-736615.html After being forced to stay a night longer in Bocas del Toro we decided to make it a good night out. We still planned to get up at 5am the next morning and together with our Norwegian cotravellers catch the bus to Panama City. We made it a really great night out at Barco Hondido a popular open air barclub in Bocas with a swimming pool. There we ran into a few people we met while travelling. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-733833.html 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 wasn39t close to really anything. At least this way I would have to re http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-711040.html Monday 13th Feb Bocas to Panama CityA 5.45am alarm and we were off to the tiny little municipal airport of Bocas. It felt like a bit of a sell out taking the plane and avoiding the 11 hour bus ride but what the heck for a mere extra 50 quid we39d travel in comfort at speed. Our inflight meal consisted of a glass of Orange Juice and a packet of cheesy crackers which had a fluorescent orange f http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-689666.html The final country I was to visit in Central America was Panama and even before I arrived there I had a feeling that I would really like it. As the Panama Canal is the only way to cross from the East coast to West coast without going right round the contintent there is a huge investment in the country. Panama City is an exceptionally safe and modern Capital city its almost a tiny piece of Americ http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-675742.html MONTEVERDEWe left San Jose leaving behind two hot Panamanians we met at our second night of partying destination Monteverde a beautiful little village up in a cloud forest.After long bus rides in a normal bus and the fabled chickenbusa cheap converted american schoolbus used by police and bus companies here in Middle America we arrived in the cloud covered Monteverde.This is where we took on http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-663302.html 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 900am from Heredia to catch a 1000am bus in San Jose. Well there was so much traffic on our way to the bus station that we didn39t get th http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-662043.html GLOBAL WARNINGWarning I39m boring. Many of you already know this. But many of you out there actually found my A.D.D. innermonologue styled stories from a few years ago to be at least mildly entertaining. I feel that this time it may be different my Blogger Hall of Fame status is in jeopardy. Maybe it39s because this was a shorter gig than before or maybe because this time I actually http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-635783.html 39...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.39 Duke Leto Ateides 39Dune39 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 longterm travelling companion Ben39 http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-635172.html 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 wasn39t 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 b http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-628784.html Today and every day you are bombarded with some 5000 advertising messages. Thats nearly 2 million ads per year every year of your life and the volume is accelerating daily.Not to mention your neurons are being overloaded and overrun by a growing variety of modern gizmos and gadgets mobile smart phones computer tablets apps and much more.Yes all five of your senses are under siege f http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-627360.html OioiI39ll start by telling what I will be doing in the coming week.I will be travelling to Colombia by pampampam p boat a sailboat to be precise.The trip will start somewhere in the area of Colon Panama.After setting sail we will be island hopping the San Blas islands for 3daysgoogle San Blas if U want to see some really nice pictures after which we will travel trough open sea to nort http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-618937.html Hi We are Erika and Fabio two italian guys from Genoa and we went to Panama two times then we moved to Chiriqu We39d like you can discover the beauties of this country by telling you our travel storyIn the first trip we reached Panama City in a very hot panamanian summer night. The nocturnal atmosphere of the capital was marvellous with its skyline of its new skyscrapers of Pun http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-618367.html Hithe 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 cheapish 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-617750.html Travel day. Woohoo said with very little enthusiasm. I guess I shouldn39t complain. There aren39t very many of these days left for us. We39ll be home before we know it. The countdown is on 22 days to go. Yikes.We packed up made a quick breakfast sandwich to start us off right. We caught our first bus in Santa Catalina at 715 am. My favorite passenger today was the guy who got on the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-612566.html Panama has been wonderful. We got our 5th into storage on Feb 28th spent the night at a hotel near the Miami airport. The next morning we flew out to Panama City. It was a great flight. Just 2 12 hours and no time change. Piece of cake. Our BB host in Panama had her Taxi favourite pick us up at the Panama airport. He was a fun guy. He spoke pretty good english. He dropped us off at our http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/Casco-Viejo/blog-585609.html