Blogs from Panamá, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 51

At the request of my English-speaking family, this will be in English. It means I can type faster anyway. Yesterday was a holiday from school (I was told it was a remembrance day in Panama for when someone killed a lot of children in a school - Martyr's Day) so no classes. But instead, not knowing the solemnity of the occasion at the time, I went to Calzada de Amador (the Causeway), a long jetty built out into the bay near Panama City (Gulf of Panama). It connects to some of the different islands. It is made from the dirt (or at least a small portion of it) that was extracted to make the Canal. It is very modern in the sense that it caters to tourists, with beautiful views on either side of the sidewalk ... read more

1-5-07 Since my internet connection is being screwed up, and feels like depriving me from all I know and enjoy, I will type this up in word and cut and paste it later. Today they (meaning the FSU people) arranged for an English-speaking tour guide to take us around Panama Viejo, Casco Antiguo (the European-influenced, old center of the city), the Miraflores locks at the canal, and a craft fair right near where we are staying. I’m in old military housing with my own bedroom and three other very nice girls in the duplex. The adjoining apartment in the duplex is also full of International Program FSU students. We’re in a suburb of Panama City, Balboa, in a neighborhood called La Boca. Es debajo del Puente de las Americas (Bridge of the Americas) which is part ... read more

Hola from Panama City! We made it! It wasn´t without its struggles. Our flight was just fine, both planes leaving fairly close to on time. We arrived at customs and managed to not have our tourist cards to enter the country. It was the first of many tests of our spanish! We aren´t quite sure where along the way we were suppose to get the tourist cards, but we were directed by customs down the hall to purchase one. They were $5 each. Deb headed over to buy them and John waited at customs. 1st nerve racking experience! Getting thru customs and standing on the sidewalk outside the airport, we looked for the sought after ¨SHERMAN¨sign, but no one was there to greet us! This was not too much of a surprise since we had e-mailed ... read more

So I finally got to Panama city after a few hours of waiting around. My days here in Panama are numbered for I´m only allowed 2 days as a stop over before getting to Quito, Ecuador. Now Panama is just as expensive as Costa Rica if your on a budget. In some places if there no kitchen my budget for food is $3 a day which means street vendors is what I´m resorting too, cuz my ass is broke. Fact: I learned this on my 2nd day you can spend up to 30 days in jail for not wearing a t-shirt and drinking in public. That sucks cuz Panama is sooo hot, it retarded. My first impression of Panama city was that it looked like new york because of the sky scrapers and vegas because there ... read more

Ok, so we left Isle De Ompetepe and headed for San Juan del Sur. God, feels life ages ago! Stayed there for almost a week and had a great time with the guys we´d met on the island. We did some beach time, boogie boarding and a fair few big nights out, which usually ended up with all of us paddling in the sea chatting some kind of rubbish enjoying the feel of the warm sea inbetween our toes. We also managed to get a room for $10pn for the 3 of us! After San Juan we went to San Jose for 4 nights. Nice city, most developed one we´d come accross, and most expensive. Hostel was OK though and we watched a fair bit of telle in between the downpours and whilst one of several ... read more