Blogs from Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 18

Distance driven today: 14 miles / 22 km Cumulative distance driven: 8,129 miles / 13,082 km Today’s trip: Panama City to Miraflores Locks, Panama Canals visited: 1 No stay in Panama City is complete without a visit to the Panama Canal. It is hard to argue that there is any other attraction in this part of the world that is even remotely as impressive and iconic. Therefore, today we did what every other visitor to the country does, i.e. took a tour of the Panama Canal. The Pacific side Miraflores locks are located just 10 minutes out of Panama City, making them very accessible. From the balcony of the visitor center at the Miraflores locks, Zoe and I witnessed how enormous cargo ships passed through a series of interconnected locks at Miraflores. And all of this ... read more

Distance driven today: 276 miles / 444 km Cumulative distance driven: 8,101 miles / 13,037 km (another 8,000 miles to go) Today’s trip: David to Panama City, Panama Milestone achieved: we have now completed half the PanAmerican highway :-) We let David in the morning, figuring that it would be a pretty straight forward ride to Panama City. Turns out that, between David and the next major city called Santiago, there were roadworks going on. These were not your ordinary roadworks, but rather what we believe must be the world’s longest roadworks! The entire 194km / 121miles stretch between the cities was one gigantic construction zone. The existing 2-lane road was being widened to 4 lane highway. Somehow the Panamanian ministry of transportation must have decided to widen the entire section all at once, rather than ... read more

So after a long bus journey on a bus which stank of cockroach repellant, we arrived at Panama City. We were lucky as our room was available at 6am when we arrived so we went and crashed there for a few hours. That day we went to the infamous Panama Canal. We took a shuttle there from our hostel (Lunas Castle) in Casco Viejo- the old part of the town and went to the Miraflores Locks. Here they had a four story museum about the development of the canal and viewing points looking over the lock and allowing us to view the massive ships that go through. Due to the current usage of the canal they are trying to extend and widen it so they can get more and bigger vessels through. On our way back ... read more

Having left a very wet Lost & Found in the early hours, it was an enormous relief to hit the Caribbean coastline in the glorious sunshine, where I have to catch 2 water taxis to my next residence - Bambuda on Solarte Island, near Bocas del Toro. I've heard great things about this the hostel, so my expectations are high - and I am not disappointed! The very delightful hostel is virtually 5 star in hostel terms, with a private pool overlooking the sea and chilled vibes playing throughout the afternoon. It is where a significant proportion of my time in Bocas is spent, embracing the sun by the pool or on the sofas under the covered veranda, this place is well designed for travellers. They provide a communal dinner for everyone at 7pm each evening, ... read more

Pancakes for breakfast with Oliver and Evelein (from my coffee tour on Monday) - a great way to get started in the day. Evelyn and I are heading to the Lost and Found hostel (a small, remote hostel set in the jungle on the side of a mountain, with simple amenities and a chilled vibe) on the way to Bocas, whilst Dan will meet us there as he needs to go to David first. The shuttle ride takes us through some stunning Panamanian countryside - miles of mountains and jungle, as far as the eye can see. When we get dropped off at the 'driveway' to the hostel, and no one warned me of the 20minute hike up the mountainside with all bags on our backs - I feel like a packhorse, and curse myself for ... read more