Panama City & Colon

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I arrived last night in Panama after a long day of travelling, and after settling in to my dorm I (predictably) went to the bar beneath the hostel with a number of male travellers, where I soon discovered how cheap panama can be: vodka tonics for $1 each. Seriously!! Obviously I had a 'few' of these whilst discussing travel plans with others around me, hearing their stories, thoughts and recommendations for me. I managed to persuade Taylor, an American I befriended, to come to Colon with me the following morning - even if that meant a 6:30am meet.

Come 6:30am, I'm brushing my teeth whilst Taylor walks in from a club! Impressively, he's dead keen to come to Colon still, so we crack on. Upon arriving at train station at 7am, we are swiftly told the train doesn't leave until 8am. So we get in a cab and come back for 8am (in which ionly describe as a shed load of cocaine in the boot, having spilt all across it), to be told this time that trains only run Monday - Friday! One chicken bus and 'coach' later, plus a couple of hours, we arrive in Colon. An fascinating place, full of people and some beautiful yet very run down architecture. The ships coming out of the canal are impressive to say the least, and yet slightly humbling when you see such an example of how globalisation impacts our our world.

Walking back through the main and backstreets of Colon, we again saw - there many run down buildings, a lot of trash and an amount of 'toilet matter' which required purposeful avoidance! But we had lunch and quickly jumped on a 'coach' back to Panama, only to realise there were no seats left! We had to suck it up and stand for the next 2 hours.

Back in Panama, I went with another couple of guys from the hostel for food, before exploring the local streets and markets. I then took myself for a walk along the promenade in the glorious early evening sun, taking in some fabulous views of downtown Panama. Close to our hostel, I had spied a rather nice looking bar with a view over looking the water and downtown Panama. Well, I can't describe my self-pride when I sat down and looked at the menu: a gin bar, with my favourite Hendricks cocktails!!! To say I was feeling content couldn't quite describe it!!! Sundowners in a delightful bar with an incredible view! Happy days.

2 cocktails down, and I'm soon going to have to leave this perch with a view. Who knows what tonight will bring, but I'm pretty happy right now.

Off to the mountains tomorrow......

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