Blogs from Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 144

Misty Bridges,….visions of the sweaty clamouring heaving silicone of a budding porn queen….no, rather the engineering/meteorological interface phenomenon suffered by early risers on a stormy day, the tourista cop, maybe, and the parallel travellers come back to haunt me. Finally it had rained in Panama after threatening for weeks, or maybe I brought it back to P City from Colon (don’t mention the irrigation) after the transit. Whatever brought it on, it worked, so I left early and went West, funny set-up, but Panama actually runs East - West, not North - South as you would think!…I only discovered this as we went up the canal, at one stage I glanced at the compass, we were heading WNW, I nearly stopped drinking!, but they assured me with another can that all was well, but it still ... read more

Well after being deprived for 2 months we jumped at the chance of movie watching and 1st world shopping centres! I know ...sad! But hey we loved our 4 days here. We arrived in that tiny 16 seater plane (after a fantastically scenic 1 hour flight from Bocas) to our hotel transport waiting for us. Love being organised! Daniel at the hostel at Bocas had given us the name of a cheap but decent hotel that very conviniently offered free transfer from the airport. Our first walk around to orientate us took us to the promanade along the sea and past the marina. It reminded us so much of Durban back home...a lovely long paved path along the coast with the highway running paralell (my spelling has gone to pot! I am sure that doesn´t quiet ... read more

After a very confusing border crossing (we even had to help some Costa Rican nuns and a Dutch surfer, and we got help from an Iranian-American who lives in Costa Rica!) and a nine hour bus ride, we are now in Panama! We were on a through bus from San Jose CR to David, Panama, but still had to walk a quarter mile along the muddy, rutted Pan-American Highway between to Costa Rican border check point and the Panamanian check point. The Panamanians had a number of hoops for us to jump through: passports, entry card, proof of onward travel, luggage inspection, tourist card....these were all in different places and no one told you where to go next...in the middle of it, we were trying to get our bags inspected, but couldn't because we hadn't gotten ... read more

Hello!! This time I'm writing from Panama City! I came down here to meet up with Libi, a friend who's sailing through the carribean, and then to Galapagos. On an italian sailingboat. Sorry, yacht. It was perfect to meet up in Panama, and I had the chance to come with for the crossing of the Panama canal!!! This was an amazing experience, just see my pictures and you understand. I can't believe I'm here... I have also added some pictures from the island in the previous entry. Enjoy!! About coming back to Sweden, everyone is asking so I should answer something... I don't know when!! Right now I'm having a great time and will probably extend my ticket (surprise..). My plan is no plan, and I'm looking for other volunteering and work possibilites. And no, I ... read more

Unfortunatly we left the beach without me learning how to surf properly, but I will definitly be giving it another try. We spent an uneventful night in San Jose on the way across to Carribean side of Costa Rica, most of the worlds bananas are grow here and man there were millions of them. A short walk across a very rickety bridge and we were in to Panama. Bocas del Toro is a small town on a group of islands just off the East coast of Panama and it took us about 20mins in a water taxi to get there. The boat ride took us through Mangoves and coastal canels, quite a cool ride. We arrived in town to the usual welcome of many people trying to get us to follow them to all kinds of ... read more