Panama City

What a cool drive into the city. Over the bridge and canal, past the enormous ships and towards one of the biggest skylines of skyscrapers and cranes I have ever seen. It was like no other city in Central America. We had hit civilisation and hard. I didn't know what to expect but I didn't expect this.

We made it to our hostel which was situated in one of the older parts of the city in an area called Casco Viejo. The area was almost half dilapidated building waiting for renovation or demolition and the other half were completed renovated and beautiful old apartment buildings with decorative cornices and coloured walls. The area of dodgy and safe was divided by 13th street which we were recommended on a number of occasions by locals, tourists and police not to pass. The slums started not far away but on the other side of 13th started the trendy restaurants, the new apartments, museums and many other cool places to visit. This place was very interesting.

We made it to Panama city earlier than we expected so we had a few days up our sleeves. At first this seemed frustrating as we looked back at all the other places we would have loved just one more day along the way but hindsight is a wonderful thing and it actually turned out really great that we had more days than planned in this super cool city. We were able to really sick our teeth into it as well as have a few luxuries and spare time to catch up on things.

One day we went to the Canal and spent quite a few hours marvelling at the enormity of it all, watching ships pass through and escaping from the heat by taking our time in the air conditioned museum. Brendan was suitably impressed with this place and probably could have stayed for hours. We headed back into town and decided to stop off at one of the enormous malls they have to try and stay in the air con alittle longer. After wondering around and being back into civiliasation and fashion we realised that we could very easily and very very cheaply replace some of our well worn and sticky clothes from the past 3 months of travel. Yay, we get to go shopping!!! Over the next few days we went through our bags, decided what we could give to the church across the road and what needed to be burnt and then headed to the malls. After splurging on $2 t-shirts and $4 shorts we were pretty impressed. We were also impressed with the food courts and the smoothie stations. All things we haven't had in so long. We even treated ourselves to a movie, the only one in English for that week so Twilight it was.

Apart from shopping we spent our days checking out the various parts of the city such as down at the corso, downtown, the old areas of Casco Viejo and the many little bars and restaurants that were dotted around our area. The best find was a little cafeteria just around the corner from our hostel where you could get a massive plate of whatever mystery stew you wanted, rice and salad and a drink for $1.80. We frequented this place many a time, saving our pennies knowing what Europe would bring.

Our last night in Panama we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal out at one of the trendy and very well recommended restaurants in Casco Viejo. 'Manolo Caracol' was its name and they don't have a menu to choose from. Each night they just have a set degustation menu that is $30 per person and involves 12 courses of delicious food with a local flare. We dressed up in our best clothes that had been stored away in space bags for the past 3 months and headed out for one of the most amazing meals we have ever had. The small bite size courses ranged from lightly seared tuna, ceviche, grilled prawns, slow cooked beef with pumpkin, lamb patties, chicken with mole sauce and just so much more. The food was amazing and we enjoyed every portion with our beautiful wine too. What a way to say goodbye to Central America. No rice and bean here!

Bring on Europe!