Panama

---

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 shopping list (I didn't think a moisturizer and a camera were that obscure?). Unfortunately, having no cameras other than my phone (certainly not safe to have on display) I have no photographic evidence of the extent of decay, but you can take my word for it.

Luckily, Panama city's shopping malls were more up to scratch. We stayed in Casco Viejo, a slightly run-down part of the city but in more of a graceful, elegant, charming kind of way, and a lot of buildings had been or were being restored. The fish market nearby had delicious and very cheap fresh fish, lobster and prawns, a great incentive to self-cater for a few days, and there were men wandering around with huge blocks of ice on trolleys, which can be shaved into a cup and covered in syrup of various flavours - refreshing, though very sweet. Casco Viejo was also home to a delightful little shop selling hoegarden and leffe beers, nice wine and cheeses. A bit of a treat.

We visited Panama Viejo, the original capital city which was ransacked and burnt in 1671. The cathedral tower has been restored so you can climb up and get a clear idea how far the old city stretched. Then of course there was the canal, which was quite interesting in a geeky sort of way. The canal is 67.5km long and 26m above sea level so there are a series of locks at each end to raise or lower the ships as they pass through. The locks are fed by the artificial Lago Gatun and there are plans underway to widen it. The first official passage through it was by the Ancon in 1914, although the building of it was started in 1881 by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez canal. Apparently 20,000 people died during its construction, although it is believed that this is a gross underestimate. The company eventually went bankrupt and the project was bailed out by the US, who retained control over the canal area until 31st December 1999 when it was officially handed over to Panama. The ships passing through the locks were absolutely enormous and you could barely discern them moving up and down through the locks without staring very carefully.

Last stop in Panama was Bocas del Toro - a group of islands in the Carribean. We stayed on Isla Bastimentos in a lovely hospedaje built on stilts stretching out into the water, with a veranda complete with sunloungers and hammocks to sit and watch the sunset, whilst drinking some high quality Chilean carton wine. Did a snorkelling trip, visited a couple of beaches, including Red Frog beach (because it is inhabited by large numbers of tiny red frogs) - nothing too strenuous.

---

Photos

Panama city
all the shiny skyscrapers

Miraflores locks
Panama canal

Panama Viejo
the restored cathedral tower

My what a big boat that is
probably technically a ship

Wizard beach
Bocas del Toro

El Jaguar
Our lovely little hostel built out on the water on Isla Bastimentos

Little cabin on Wizard beach
Bocas del Toro

A pink bus
a bit blurry I know but I had to include a picture of the public transport - is that not the best bus you've ever seen?

My lovely walking boots
it was a sad day when I had to say goodbye to my walking boots. They have served me well, but the time had come for us to go our separate ways.