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Panama City Day 1
We arrived in Panama after a short flight from Quito. When we queued up for immigration we were a little nervous as we did not have an onward ticket directly out of Panama. When we booked our ticket in Quito we had not been told we needed and onward ticket and nor had the lady explained that a person from Ecuador could not buy a one-way ticket and had to buy a return trip. So when we checked in at the airport in Quito we were asked if we were checking in for our flight to Colombia?! The ticket we had been sold as a one-way ticket was in fact returning to South America and Colombia the following day. We were lucky he checked as otherwise our luggage would have been classed as in transit!! Anyway, the guy explained it all to us and we had to prove we were leaving Central America via Mexico. On the plane we checked the Lonely Planet and realised that a ticket from Mexico would not always be accepted and they might ask us to buy a ticket. So with fingers crossed we walked up to the immigration counter. Luckily the lady was at the end of her shift, tired and could not care less. She didn't even ask for an onward ticket.
We managed to share a taxi with a couple from England that were on their honeymoon. Let's just say that they weren't getting off at the hostel we were going to.
We checked into the hostel without a problem but when we were shown our room we were a little disappointed. It was a bit smelly and small. Panama was also much hotter than the Galapagos which made the small room a bit of a sweat box.
When we had settled in we walked up to the supermarket to get some food and we were pleasantly surprised. The shop was massive and they even had Feta cheese.
When we got back to the hostel we cooked and then chilled out for the rest of the evening.
Panama City Day 2
We started the day by making some phone calls and then we went to have a look at the handicraft market. On our way there we passed through some 'interesting' areas and it was clear there was another side to the high sky scrapers and luxurious buildings we had seen on the way to the hostel yesterday. When we got to the Market Marie was boiling and needed to have some water and sit in the shade. Luckily there was a massive tree and some benches so we sat under the tree and cooled down. The market wasn't great nothing like what it had been described as in the guide book. When we had finished looking around we decided to take a taxi back to the hostel, get some directions and then head to the Albrook Mall.We didn't really know what to expect but thought it would be similar to the ones in Bangkok. We were so wrong. This mall was huge and it felt a little bit overwhelming after not having been in one for a long time.The shops varied from upmarket to cheap, some were familiar others not. I wanted to get a couple of bikinis and the first shop I went into had rows and rows of bikinis. With all the choices available I easily found two and bought them. This was in the first twenty minutes of being in the mall which is so not the way I used to shop when I was back at home. Martin was pleased though. We walked around for another hour and then we went back to the hostel.
In the evening we made a Greek salad and chatted to a couple from Australia who had travelled the route from Mexico to Panama and they had some great tips for us.
Panama City Day 3
When you think of Panama, you think of the Panama Canal and today we were going to see the master piece. We took a taxi out to the Miraflores locks which are the first locks on the Pacific side of the canal.We started the visit with the museum which is laid out over three floors. At the top there's a viewing balcony where you can watch the ships come in and out of the locks. When we stepped out on the balcony a big cruiser was entering the locks. It takes 8-10h to sail the length of the canal but each lock takes about 30 minutes-1 hour. However, the hardest part is getting the cruiser into the lock and making sure it is perfectly positioned. Apparently this is the only time a captain will hand over the controls of the ship to someone else. The person in charge during the whole process is called a pilot and he is specially trained. There are 4 trains, two at the front and 2 at the back and they make sure the boat is going in at the right speed and is kept in the right position. It was really amazing to see, especially after having visited the museum and seen how it was all made. We had commentary, over load speakers, throughout the process which was great as we had forgotten some of the facts. After we had seen the cruiser pass we went downstairs and watched a film about the canal. The film explained in some more detail the plans for the new locks currently being built. After the movie we watched a container ship pass the locks and this was apparently the biggest ship the current locks will take. The new locks will take the super tankers that currently cannot fit into the locks. Although the ships have to pay large sums to pass through the canal it saves them two weeks by not having to sail all the way around South America.
When we got back to the hostel we had some wine and chatted to some people for the rest of the evening.
Panama City Day 4
Today we decided to go and have a look round the old town and then go to the cinema in the afternoon. We timed our visit to the old time with the siesta which meant that everything was closed. Not so great. The taxi driver dropped us of at the peninsula and we walked out to the end to have a look. What we could see was pretty fascinating as you see the new Panama City with all the sky scrapers on one end and then the old panama with all the colonial buildings on the other end. I think it was a fair representation of the city's history and present. We walked round for an hour looking at all the old buildings currently being restored and afterwards we took a taxi back to the hostel. We didn't have long before the film started but we had enough time to walk to the cinema instead of taking a taxi. On the map, the walk looked like it was following the seafront and it looked like it could be good. However, it started to rain and the path followed the Panamerica so it was really busy and loud. It also didn't help that a lot of buildings are still being built so it felt like you were walking on a building site. So we arrived at the cinema with wet and dirty feet. We bought our tickets to see Hangover 2 but it was more expensive than what we expected. When we sat down in the cinema we realised why, we had bought tickets for the premium showing. We had reclining seats and a button to press for service. We settled in with our popcorns and enjoyed the film.
Panama City Day 5
Today we did nothing. Literally just sat in the hostel and did nothing. We had done everything we wanted to in town and everything else was a little bit too far away for a day trip. The weather wasn't great so our original plan of going to an island didn't work out either. We had an option to stay longer and visit San Blas islands but after hearing some horror stories from people in the hostel we decided against it.
Panama City Day 6 - Bye Panama
Our bus to Nicaragua left at 11 so we got ready and took a taxi to the bus station. The bus journey would take 26 h in total and we would have to change bus in Costa Rica in the middle of the night. It took about six hours to get to the boarder from Panama City and it was pretty handy that we had found an English speaking local we could cling onto. The crossing went smoothly but would have been a little confusing had it not been for the local helping us to understand what we needed to do etc. We arrived to San Jose at midnight which was two hours before we expected. This meant we would have to wait three hours to get the other bus to Nicaragua. Nice.
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