We began our time in Panama at the island chain of Bocas del Toro. This small archipelago in the Carribean has a lot of flavor. Each island is like a different world. We stayed on the Isla Colon, which is the main tourist hotspot with restaurants and bars, surfing and a nightlife. Nearby Isla Bastimientos has more of a small town feel and provides remote beaches that are very rewarding if you can brave the trek through the island's muddy interior. Some people pay good money for a mud treatment on an island getaway; ours was free! Many of the other islands have only a few houses and are made up almost entirely of mangroves. Very beautiful!

Next, we went on to Panama City. With a Chicago-like skyline, beautiful blue ocean, and a world famous canal, Panama City has a lot to offer a traveler's heart. The city itself is made up of tall, narrow skyscrapers built right along the Pacific Ocean. It has an old quarter lined with cobble stoned streets and old buildings. We visited Panama Viejo, the old city from colonial times that is now only ruins after (some might call him "the dred") pirate Morgan attacked and burned the city to the ground. We spent the majority of our time walking around the city and visiting its various parks, islands, and lookouts. Oh, and of course, what would a trip to Panama be without seeing the Panama Canal. This 50 mile long, man-made wonder is quite a site to behold. It opened in 1913 and every year 14,000 ships pass though. We learned that with the passing of each ship, 52 million gallons of water is used to raise and lower them through the locks (luckily they are in the process of creating a new lock system that reduces this amount). From cruiseliners to container ships, it was fun to watch the whole process from start to finish.

The only bad thing we have to say about Panama City is that there are large holes in the sidewalks all over the city. I was a victim of one such hole. Mine was a rectangular "hueco" about 2ft wide by 3ft long and 2ft deep. After getting our lunch and hurriedly walking down the street to catch a bus, I stepped out over one of these death traps and quickly found the bottom. I scraped both knees, took a pretty good chunk out of my big toe, and worst of all smashed our lunch and launched our soda into orbit. Genny turned to find me half on the ground, half in the hole, and quickly came to my aid. I'm happy to report that I am ok now and my toe is recovering well, although it did impact our daily budget a bit. At the end of the day, our expenditure log read: $4.00 lunch, $2.50 bandaids, and since my graceful landing disposed of our first lunch, $4.00 lunch again.