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Published: July 22nd 2008
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Panama City and the Canal And so after 10 months of travelling we left South America and headed up to Central America. We took a flight from Cartagena to Panama City and - apart from big security checks on the Colombian side - it all went very smoothly and we were in our Panama hotel by lunchtime ready for some exploring. We spent the afternoon discovering Panama's historic old town which until a few years ago was mostly off-limits to tourists. It had apparently become very rundown and was not a safe place to wander. But lots of regeneration has taken place and although it still has some rough edges there was no stopping us heading in to explore. The old town has a lovely mix of colonial architectures, making a mixture of Spanish and Caribbean as well as numerous other nationalities brought to this "crossroads of the world". We also made time to visit a museum charting the history of Panama and more importantly its famous canal.
This set us up perfectly for our visit the following day to the canal itself. The Panama Canal runs for some 80 kilometres across the width of Panama, linking the Pacific
and Atlantic Oceans. It has huge historic importance and is now a source of immense pride to the Panamanian people, especially after the US handed management of the canal over to Panama in the year 2000. I realise that this sounds quite sad, but I really enjoyed our day visiting the canal. It made a change from the usual museum run, and offered an insight into a modern world wonder. I had assumed that the canal was basically a large ditch, easily dug out. But the truth is far more complicated, with a number of locks built to raise the passing ships above sea level over a large distance. We visited at the site of the Miraflores locks which provided an excellent museum as well as views of the passing ships.
Boquete As we have to cover all of Central America in the next two months, we cannot afford to stop for too long in any one place. Because of this we had to leave Panama City behind and set off to explore some more of the country. A long bus ride (on an old US school bus) took us to the laid-back town of Boquete, situated in
the Chiriqui Highlands. Boquete is the base for numerous activities, as well as apparently being one of the top four places in the world to retire to! This means that there are a large number of old expats (especially Americans) living here. We found it very strange - after the relative lack of English speakers in South America - to be faced with billboards at the side of the road in English and supermarket shelves stacked high with familiar products like Cadbury's chocolate and President's Emmental cheese.
One of the most important agricultural products in this region is coffee, and the majority of the coffee exported from Panama is produced in Boquete. We decided to take a tour with Cafe Ruiz which turned into a very informative day. Our guide, Carlos, knew a huge amount and explained it all in slow Spanish - just what we needed! As a relatively new convert to coffee I was interested to learn more and this was the perfect place to do it. I have also of course now turned into a coffee snob thanks to Carlos and will never dream of drinking instant coffee or of adding any such devilish substances as
milk or sugar to my cup! The Cafe Ruiz finca - where the coffee is grown and harvested - is particularly interesting. The farming is very 'organic', with fruit trees interspersed amongst the coffee plants, to maintain the quality of the soil as well as distract away pesky insects. Thanks to the tour I think I now have the knowledge to establish my own finca: Welsh coffee anyone??
Having not done any trekking since the Ciudad Perdida in Colombia, it was time to get the hiking boots out of the rucksack again. This time it was to attempt a one day hike from Boquete to summit the highest peak in Panama, Volcan Baru. With a ridiculously early start of 4am it felt like a slightly ludicrous exercise, but as with all things like this it was worth it in the end! The hike was mostly continous uphill for 15km to reach the top, but along a very well defined path which meant we didn't have to do too much thinking. The views from the summit (marked by a cross) were unfortunately mostly obscured by cloud, but we could see a few volcano craters around and as always it was
nice to bag another summit. By the time we were at the top though we were exhausted from the lack of sleep and made a fast descent in order to get back for a siesta and also because the afternoon rains arrived!
Bocas del Toro To finish our visit to Panama, we headed to the Caribbean coast and the famous islands of Bocas del Toro. We stayed in the town of the same name, situated on Isla Colon. This is where the majority of hotels and tourist services are to be found as well as bars offering happy hours and free drinks to kick-start the evening. We had two full days on the islands. The first day we stayed on Isla Colon and took a bus across to the quieter side of the island to Bocas del Drago beach, with white sand, clear water and palm trees. Needless to say we took it easy there, swimming, relaxing and swinging from ropes hanging from the trees!
We were more active the next day when we went for a daytrip around the islands via a small passenger boat. First stop was at Dolphin Bay, off Isla Cristobal, where we
(unsurprisingly) spent the time spotting dolphins which come to these relatively shallow waters after having been hunting in the sea. Whilst the dolphins refused to come very close to the boat, we still got some good views and it was, as always, a spectacular sight to see the animals in their own habitat. Next stop was Coral Cay and our first ever snorkelling experience. The current was quite strong and so it was a little like being thrown in at the deep end (get it?!), as we just jumped into the water and hoped we could work out this bizarre snorkelling equipment. I got the hang of it eventually and saw some great coral as well as lots of little fish.
After lunch we went to Isla Bastimentos, where we walked through the forest to get to Red Frog Beach. Here we were able to wade into the sea and jump about in some very high waves. Lots of fun although very tiring! The final stop for the day was at Hospital Point for some more snorkelling. The water here was more murky than at the previous places, but it was a great place to practice the snorkelling and
mess about more in the water.
Every evening in Bocas del Toro we found ourselves in the same bar, the 'Wreck Deck', and I would recommend it to any visitor. Good music, good drinks and a stunning location on the Caribbean waters. I can definitely see the attraction of the Caribbean lifestyle, espeically with that rum..!
All in all, Panama turned out to be a much more interesting destination than I had expected. We were only there for a week, but could have stayed much longer. However, it was a bit pricier than we had hoped it would be, probably partly due to the expat population: best described as cheaper than Chile, more expensive than Ecuador.
Time for us to keep moving. Next stop Costa Rica...
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johnsmit
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http://www.luxurytravelos.com
Hi sounds are good....! We are planing a trip for south America, at same time we are keen interest to see panama city. your blog has helpful to me thank you