David & Panama City, Panama

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Hi Everybody!
Friday
We enjoyed our time in Jaco, Costa Rica. Our hotel was first class and located right on the beach. It had a nice casino and restaurant. We were able to travel from Jaco to the capital city, San Jose, by a comfortable van. We traveled over mountains with curvy roads and had spectacular views. We saw farming on terraces, coffee farms, a winery, many different fruit trees. Before leaving Jaco, we had a travel agent book a nice hotel for us in San Jose. It is not a city where you want to spend a lot of time.
We left San Jose on a big Greyhound type bus. We traveled again over hills and mountains. We went through a Cloud Forest. I think it was probably the Tapanti National Park. Cloud forests are cooler and usually occur at elevations of 6500 to 11,500 feet. Clouds accumulate around mountains and volcanoes, providing precipitation and shade. The shade slows evaporation. This keeps the plants green and lush. We could tell a difference in the temperature as soon as we got in the forest. We saw our first rain shower since arriving in Central America. We passed acres and acres of pineapples. Many were being harvested by workers and loaded onto wagons. It rained off and on as we traveled to Panama.
Because this is Easter week, many businesses are closed. Children are out of school and many families are traveling. We have seen small parades with religious floats. I will try to include a picture of one of them. We could have stayed on the bus until we reached Panama City but that would have meant riding all night. We didn´t want to do that so we got off in David, Panama. This town has a population of around 80,000 and is the business center for the Chiriqui Province. Even though the town was settled in the 17th century, it has almost no historical buildings. We arrived after dark but were able to get a room at a really nice hotel, the Grand Hotel National.
Many bird watchers, fishermen, and nature lovers come to Panama. We have met so many interesting people on this trip. We talked to a couple today from Homer, Alaska who are spending 5 months bumming around Central America. They have lived 30 years in Alaska and want to move here. My seatmate on the bus was a nice girl from Russia. Yesterday, we met a young couple from Norway who were here to snorkel, go river rafting, zipping, etc. One lady told me that she was on a bus a couple of days ago that struck and killed a pedestrian. She said that it was hours before she could get on another bus.
Saturday
Panama City reminds me of Miami with its many skyscrapers. There are taxis everywhere. The people in this part of the world depend on taxis, vans, and buses. I wish that I could be more complimentary of this city. Truthfully, the only word that I can think of to use to describe it is: SEEDY! I really wonder what this country would be like if the U.S. had not come here to build the Canal. We went to the canal this morning. When we walked out of the hotel, we asked a taxi driver how much he would charge to take us to the Canal. He responded that it would be $40. We walked half a block and hailed a cab that only charged us $10. The Miraflores Locks have a Visitors´Center. It is the best place for observing the ships as they pass through the locks there. There are 2 locks on the Caribbean side and 3 on the Pacific side. The Canal is approximately 50 miles in length. The Visitor Center contained a museum on the building of the canal and the workings of it. A film was also shown giving the history of the Canal. I had forgotten that President Jimmy Carter was the one who turned the Canal back over to Panama. In the museum, very little was written on the signs about the U.S. involvement in building the canal. We rode by the former U.S. military base. The buildings were similar in architecture style as the buildings at Fort McClellan. Many of them are now being used by businesses.
We walked to the business center of town to have lunch. We asked a lady where we could find a restaurant. She first pointed us in a direction to our right. We waited a few minutes and started that way. She turned around and came back to tell us that she didn´t think it would be safe for us to go into that area. We walked the other way and found a Turkish restaurant that was very nice. Our guidebook pointed out three areas of town that are unsafe for tourists. It has been a little hard to know when we were crossing over into those areas.
The waste of Panama City is dumped into the Pacific making it unsafe for swimming. We found the same thing to be true in Lima.
I have tried to load photos at our hotel and at an internet cafe. It has not worked so I will have to try again when I get to Guatemala in a few days. We will be here 3 nights.
Take care,
Everette

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Comments

[Maggie Noland]

Goodness!
All I can say is that you and Walt are much braver than I. I know that you are having experiences that you have never had before, but....I do have to admit that the pictures you have posted are gorgeous! I get excited each time I see that a new blog is posted!