4x4 Jungle Racing and One of the 8 Modern Wonders of the World

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After getting up ridiculously early and being tugged by a small speed boat to the island where immigration was (the engine failed the previous evening), we eventually had our passports stamped and were legitimately in Panama after 6 days of officially being nowhere. We jumped into a small boat and head for the mainland, a little sad to be leaving paradise.

The mainland wasn't quite what we expected. A small building with a few men sitting around outside, a plane wreck, and a ''toilet'' - nothing more than a few planks of wood over the water surrounded by corrogated iron - greeted us as we stepped ashore. Luckily the boatman who had taken us there helped us find a driver to take us to Panama City, and soon we were rolling through the jungle, across rivers and over construction sites, perhaps a little too fast for comfort.

Unfortunately, the journey came to a halt as our driver experienced his second flat tyre of the day. As a result, he had already used his spare, so we sat around waiting in the Panamanian jungle for a good 45 minutes for help to come. With little food, we didn't think we were going to make it, peanut butter and crackers - now known as life savers - helped us through though, as the heavens began to open. Luckily, just as we were starting to lose hope, a spare tyre arrived and we were back on track.

We finally arrived in Panama City feeling slightly weary and still starving, only to find the hostel looked more like a dodgy council estate than the write up in the Lonely Planet had lead us to believe. However, as we were only staying for one night we decided to grin and bear it and quickly dumped our bags in our rooms before heading out in search of food.

After 6 days of minimalist cooking, we decided to treat ourselves, and headed to a nearby Sushi restaurant where we devoured a huge array of Sushi for ridiculously cheap prices. Finally satisfied, yet still exhausted, we went back to the hostel and crashed in our rooms.

The next day we were all up early to run various errands before heading off to the Canal. We head to the bus station to book our night bus to Bocas del Toro and got back to the hostel in time to meet the others so we could all get the bus to the Miraflores Locks together, which was an interesting enough experience in itself. The suped-up old American school buses are all colourfully painted with unique designs. Awesome.

At the Canal we wondered around the museum before watching some of the big freight ships slowly make their way through. Pretty cool to watch and learn about the history of one of the eight modern wonders of the world. Later, we head off to the Old City, which is still in the process of restoration and unfortunately looked a little more like a building site than we expected. However, there was still some beauty in the few buildings that had been carefully restored to their original grandeur, as well as some great views of the New City and of all the boats lining up to enter the Canal.

Unfortunately, the heavens opened again, and it was getting late, so we head back to our hostel to pick up our things, said goodbye to Phil and Petra, and set off to the bus station with Lucas to catch our bus to Bocas.

Despite being such a brief visit, we were both glad to be moving on. Panama City did not have nearly as much to offer as the other cities we have been to so far, and was clearly very influenced by the US being there for so long. Hopefully, with the restoration of the Old City, some of the colonial charm will return in the years to come.

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