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Hi,
the 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 cheap-ish 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 City.
Its located in Casco viejo, the place where Panama city was moved to after the first settlement got sacked by arrrr, aye pirates!(not sure wetter it were pirates though, might have been some navy, but pirates sound better...)
So ye, it was sacked by pirates arrr!!
Casco viejo is a nice little part of the city that is quite picturesque and stretches out in to the bay of panama and thus offers a really nice view of Punta patilla, the part of Panama City with all the skyscrapers and stuff
Apart from 'the red zone' on the map I got from the hostel its also quite safe I’ve been told 😊.
So with my little map
at hand I started walking, exploring Casco Viejo, which is a world heritage site if I may add.
It turned out to be quite small but pretty and quiet, offering some exquisite panoramas of anchored boats, Punta patilla like I said and the causeway, which I will be visiting somewhere in the coming days.
For now I guess that this is it though as my head hurts a bit and so I will be taking it easy the rest of the night.
Now I know I said I would tell what the next leg of the trip is gonna be, but I feel like the time isn't right yet.
However I do feel like adding that I have been thinking a bit already of the part that follows after that bit(the other dimension bit), and I think that if I make it happen the way I would like it to, it would take this trip to a whole new level of awesomeness(yeye a whole new level.. yet again xp).
I would be stepping in the footsteps of giants as some would say ;p
But I am not sure if it is even possible so I will need to do
some research I guess.
Hmm this post is mainly to state that I made it to Panama without major hickups, I did experience a close call though.
The guy at the counter where I bought my ticket noticed that the little written number which indicates how many days I was allowed to stay in Guatemala was 05...which yes is about 40short of the time I actually stayed, he also added I was going to have to pay a 10quetzal fine for every day I stayed longer than the five days(which meant 400Qtz !!)
It didn't take me long though to figure out that it really isn't hard to change a 0 in to a 6, so all I needed was a blue pen..
However somewhere along the way in my search I got sidetracked(pizzahut -.-' my only weakness ) and ended up at the border with a small problem...
I kept my cool as the dude looked at me and said I was going to have to pay the fine and replied 'hmm? No, es un seize senor, estoy seguro'
It didn't work out though and he asked his colleagues who all confirmed it was a zero(stupid border inspectors
A room in a hostal
So my father can stop asking for it ;p -.-)
He stated that I could either pay the 400Qtz fine, in cash, or go back to Guatemala city and extend my visa.
And basically then I said 'but sir, I only have 135Qtz on me'.
He looked me dead in the eyes and replied 'how much' with a little grin on his face.
I repeated '135 senor' and put the money on the counter.. and he took it.(basically this was when I realised I was getting across the border without a problem.)
So he went back to his boss with my passport and when he returned a moment later, the zero magically turned into an eight.
At this moment I figured it would be appropriate to say 'hey, see, this isn't a zero, so I don't need to pay the fine. Could I please have my money back', 😊 but as it was only about 13euro and I didn't wanna ruin the moment, I just let it be.
All the other border crossings went smoothly so I found myself being driven trough Panama city by a lovely girl('s sister actually) and dropped of right in front of a hotel 2days ahead of schedule.
I will make one more post I guess in five-ish days before going offline for about a week.
Until then, adiós 😉
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Jacques
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no idea what might be your next mysterious destination
It looks as if you avoided prison just by an inch, after you were unable to pay a fine imposed by the border police. This young man would have made your world trip a little bit longer and this was certainly not according to your planning. May we say that this was your lucky day? You must have made a good impression, but that discussion... six or zero might have turned out otherwise, I would think.The second item of your message is that suggestion that you are about to step in the footsteps of giants. All this is very mysterious. I would think of something very, very adventurous. Apparently only a few have preceded you... big cities are excluded because the adventurous factor is nihil. May be it's time for a quiz. It is very doubtful that there will be a winner, but if against all expectations there is one, what will be his prize. It must be something worthwile and no doubt such a quiz will enhance even more the readers'interest in your travelblog. Of course Peter all the foregoing is meant humourously. A little teasing isn't far away. But I really don't understand the situation. Apparently you are still to find out whether you have "access" to this mysterious destination? Apparently this place isn't all the time accessible ? You say that you have still some research work to do, whilst we, on our side, have to continue our guess work. I wish you all the best with what you are doing. Vamos Pedro. Come on Peter. Yes you can.