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Published: September 10th 2010
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Well we had finally finished up with South America, and the next part of our adventure - travelling through Central America - was about the begin. Our flight from Bogota (once we managed to get on the actual flight), was non-eventful and on time. When we arrived in Panama City we were already impressed after stepping off the plane. The hot weather, the palm trees everywhere, and the carribbean accented english/spanish.
We rocked up at one of the few hostels available in Panama City - staying in the old town (Luna's Castle). Panama City itself was very intersting, it was lively, and vibrant, and very busy. Along one stretch, near the coastal highway there are loads of high rises. And in the old town there are many restored old style buildings and architecture. The currency is US dollar, and we found a lot of things to be very cheap.
We had found out that digital cameras and things like that are a lot cheaper in Panama then elsewhere in Latin America, so we decided we both needed to buy new cameras before sightseeing anywhere in Panama. So we went to this mall that turned out to be ginormous. It
took us the whole day just to walk from one end to the other. Hayden ended up buying the new everything-proof Lumix, but I wasnt really keen to spend more money on a camera i hadnt researched before hand to see whether it was decent or not. But at least
we now had a camera between us.
The hostel itself was pretty awesome - it had a cool theatre room with multi levels and cushions and a big projector screen, playing requested movies three times a day, it was great to just chill out. Then there was the bar located on the floor level of the hostel, that was also open to the public. It has a big beer garden outside and a funky inside room with awesome A/C and served cheap cheap drinks. We had a fabulous first night with all the new friends we had made at the hostel.
The next day we went and visited the Canal. We arrived in the afternoon when most of the big boats make their way through. It was definitely very interesting watching them all go through. The canal works through a series of locks adjusting water levels to match
the water levels on either side of the locks. The boat comes through into the first lock and the barriers on either side are closed and the water level is either raised or drained. Then the boat moves through to the next lock, and then the final lock and goes out on the other side. We saw some very big freight carriers go through - it was very cool.
The next day it was the world cup final and we decided not to go into town to see it, supposedly a madhouse. Instead we stayed in the old town and took over a funky little bar. Have to say - we thought Italy were the biggest actors in the world, but surely Spain takes that position now, although we were barracking for Spain, the amount of fake injuries and drama was rather offputting.
But afterwards we decided to get in our last bit of culture and headed to the old ruins. And then we stopped off at the big mall again and i bought my third camera of the trip - the canon everything-proof. While big and cumbersome, it is amazing! I was Very glad to have a
camera again.
We left Panama City on the night bus a couple of hours later to get us to the north east - a town called Boquete where the scenery is supposed to be amazing, and you can do some awesome ziplining. The bus actually went a lot quicker then we thought, and we ended up in the transit town at 5am. We managed to get on the next bus to Boquete, and arrived there at 6am.
Unfortunately none of the hostels receptions were open yet, but there were a couple of cafes open, so we had breakfast and tried to wake our tired heads up. We ended up splashing out and treating ourselves to a nicer B&B. Boquete was such a gorgeous little town, beautiful scenery - greenery everywhere, friendly locals, and good coffee. But very expensive. It has a strong reputation for being a retirement town, and as such there are quite a few elderly americans and canadians about.
In Panama it was wet season, so it would generally be relatively sunny and clear in the morning, but as soon as 12 midday arrived so did the rain.
We booked ourselves onto a morning
ziplining tour, which was a lot of fun. We got driven up to the lodge at the top of the mountain, and then started off on a series of ziplines and ledges set into the trees. One of the lines was 500m long and was so super fast. It was definitely a fun experience - although rather expensive. After Boqeuete we hopped on another bus back to the transit town David, and then took a bus to take us directly to the Costa Rican border.
Adios to our whirlwind trip through Panama .. next stop Costa Rica
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