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Published: July 14th 2005
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The Panama Canal
An aerial view of the Miraflores locks at the Panama canal. The gateway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Soon after the last posting I did a few more reasonably constructive things, and here´s a quick rundown/summary of what came to be after leaving David:
(You read me wrong audience, for your information ´David´ is a town , not a guy - let´s get that straight for starters)
BOQUETE: a lovely, sweet, small and charming town an hour from David in the Chiriqui highlands. Rivers run through it, with a lush green landscape, it has no humidity, a lack of travellers & a few sheep up in the hills - I loved it , it reminded me of home. I attempted to climb Volcan Baru for about 3 hours but was still 9km from the top, running out of water & food, getting headaches, it pissed down, the views were awful (because there weren´t any) and my boots were killing me softly and slowly. In short, I gave up, but at least I can admit that. I could´ve lied to you and said it was great: in reality I enjoyed it for about the first 8 seconds.
To really rub it in, I got back to the hotel dishevelled, dirty, wet & tired... Then someone had
The Panama Canal
An incoming ship at the Miraflores locks decided to set up a festival and DJ stage about 29 yards from my flimsy bedroom window - so I had banging and awful latin music pumping until 3 the next morning. Happy f##king days... It doesn´t rain but it pours.
BOCAS DEL TORO: Now no joking,
everyone I have spoken to loved this place. I read in my guide book that it was being called the ´´ new Galapagos islands´´.
In a word, I thought it was
crap. More like the new stoke-on-trent. I got bitten by an ant. I don´t recall anything else.
PUERTO VIEJO (Costa Rica): I crossed back over the border to this great little beach town with a kind of Carribean/Rastafarian feel to it. I travelled with a funny & great girl called Judita, from New York, whom I met in the previously mentioned Bocas Del Toro. We hired some bikes, went snorkelling (my first time ever, can´t say I am natural due to the number of grazes and cuts sustained and amount of salty water swallowed) and met this hilarious girl from Canada called Ecetera (?) who showed us her invention which was a small, plastic, V-shaped funnel which allows women to pee when standing up! Useful for fieldwork, at festivals, marathon runners etc... if you want to buy one take a look at:
http://pee-zees.tripod.com/
(I would never normally plug products on my diary, but I thought it was great and most unusual!)
Anyway, not to digress.
Tomorrow morning I leave for Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, with a quick one hour stop in Colombia or ´Locombia´ as the locals call it. Right now, I am sitting here in an internet cafe in the city with the famous canal and a city centre peppered with skyscrapers, ugly Mcdonalds outlets, old American school buses with blaring salsa songs, bank after bank on street after street, a diverse mix of people all doing their own thing, a humid climate and random collection of stray cats near the seafront --- the eclectic Panama City. I have been here 3 or 4 days, staying in the only hostel here called ´The Voyager International´ with its friendly staff, dorm rooms and collection of books in German or Chinese. Not much use to me really, my Spanish is bad enough without tackling other languages.
I visited the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal with another guy from the hostel, Gregg from Canada, we went a little early and couldn´t be bothered waiting for any ships to come through... There you go, apathy - even in Panama City. Having said that, I did enjoy the quick visit there and we got collared by an old Panamanian guy who gave us a 30 minute lecture on the history of the canal and Panama in general, which was nice. All in all, I really have enjoyed Panama and recommend it to you.
Sidenote: I went to watch ´Mr & Mrs Smith´(Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie) at the local cinema last night with two others from the hostel. My advice to you is don´t bother, it´s nothing short of god-awful prairie shit. But the constant camera-work involving Miss Jolie in tight-fitting dresses and tops kind of off-sets the drudge.
Overall, although I have rushed through Central America, I have enjoyed my time here and could have done a lot more if I wasn´t so determined to get to South America so soon! The little time I had in each country I have enjoyed even through the stomach bugs, bruised feet and torrential rain. There were many highlights for me including studying spanish, the white water rafting, just being in Boquete, meeting interesting characters and scoring 7 goals for the Gringos against the Guatemalans - a game we lost about 24 - 13 !! Ahhh, the joys of 5 a side football.
Like I said, I leave for Venezuela in the morning. I have a contact down there who´s going to show me around and give me advice on the country, best beaches, best towns and the best way to get over to Colombia without running into the FARC. I look forward to a new challenge, a new culture and a country with a refreshingly left-leaning president.
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Frankie B
non-member comment
When are you back?
Yes Jamie - trip sounds good. Our new team 'Seren Coch' ('Red Star') has been accepted into the Swnasea Senior League. We will announce your sqaud number to the international press!