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So after narrowly missing out on a shark bite, people rotting in tents and a crazy drug lord adventure (The Beach btw), we left our last Caribbean island - sniff. It's been wonderful and we can see ourselves buying a holiday home in the area when we win the lottery.
After a few near tears, a boat, a couple of buses, a hotel and a cab we made it to Panama City. First impressions is that this is the most developed of all the places we've been to in Central America. There's an old city, which is being renovated but still has a bad reputation for being dangerous, and the new city, along the coast by a km or two and covered in sky scrapers.
The main purpose for us being there, however, was to the see the canal. An amazing feat of engineering that has bridged the land gap between the Pacific and the Caribbean, it didn't disappoint either. We headed off early in the morning to catch the bus (most people get a taxi.. not us.. we managed to get a bus from an unlikely place under a fly over in flip flops because the day before
we ended up in a flood up to our shins which meant our fancy walking boots were like ponds). Anyway, after our $0.35 bus ride to the Miraflores Locks we managed to get to the viewing platform just as a massive tanker was going through.
Some of the ships can pay up to $200K to complete the eight hour journey. There are around 14000 ships that pass through each year, that's a lot of money! The government have decided to expand the locks, doubling capacity and increasing the size of the new locks to cater for the beasts that now sail the seas. They will soon be taking tenders if anyone is interested.
After being truly impressed we went back to our lovely room in a slightly odd 'pension'. We were on the top floor with five windows that opened up completely, a little dicey but excellent for people watching. Night time was a little noisy being on top of a night club and there was the strangest feeling that the rooms on the lower floors were of the 'rent by the hour' variety. On the whole though our trip to Panama City was great, it was a
Sheryl on the dock
taken by Steve having a night time swim.shame that we didn't have more time to really get to know it.
This marks the end of our time in Central America. A fabulous action packed five months ranging from the amazing to the out right peculiar, from diving everyday in Honduras to goat meditating in the hills of Costa Rica.
Up at 2.30am the next morning we grabbed a cab to the airport. After a 17 hour journey (via Miami - yes we know it's a crazy route and yes - we still firmly believe that MIA is the worst airport ever) we have arrived in Quito, Ecuador.
New continent, new adventure, new bloomin' cold climate.
All our love, kisses, hugs and tweaks,
S&S
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MAD
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Panama
Your Gt grandfather, Gt Gt grandfather and grandfather were all called Alfred Lee but they did not work on the Canal - at least I don't think so!! A panama hat would have helped keep the rain of your heads. What happened to Willy? Did he get wet? Great blog keep them coming Love MAD