Panama was all about getting the truck sold. We handed the truck over to a Finnish family and in return they gave us two thick bundles of dollars and a day in paradise.
　
The moment we entered Panama we could not get the selling of our truck out of our minds. We had allocated a month of our holiday to get it done before we had to be on the plane to LA, but still we stressed if this would be enough. The process seemed very daunting; would we have to complete the importation process ourselves? If so, this was rumoured to take 2 to 3 months; time we just didn't have. We had a lot of unanswered questions that would only become clear once the process was underway.
　
We decided to swing by, on route to Panama City, to the surfy village of Santa Catalina; Panama's most famous surfing destination. The swell was small and almost unsurfable but the Surfline forecast was predicting 2.7 meter waves in about 5 days time. Ordinarily we would have found a nice place to camp and waited for the swell to arrive but with the truck sale hanging over our heads we couldn't resist just getting to Panama City to get the process started.
　
The Green Lady to the Finnish
　
Based in the ex army barracks, the Hostel de Clayton, we set about putting ads on various internet sites and making posters to hang up in other hostels. We spent our first day exploring Panama City and trying to find hostels which were advertised in the Lonely Planet. Not as easy as one would think as half of them had moved or were now a pile of rubble. There is an amazing amount of construction going on in Panama City, buildings are either being torn down or put up all over the place. We think its time for Lonely Planet to do an update!
　
By hitting the hostels we were hoping to find some other travellers that may have been looking for a vehicle to drive back up to the US. If we could have sold the truck this way it would be a lot less hassle as we would not have to worry about importing the truck into Panama, it would be a straight swap with minimum headaches. Our next option was to find someone in Panama that would be happy to deal with the importation process themselves. Luckily enough for us, our first potential buyer was prepared to do just that. Hannu, an expat from Finland, is currently living in Panama with his lovely family. They are starting an enterprising ecotourism/environmental business on a beautifully rugged property 50km south of Panama City and needed a heavy duty vehicle to truck in building materials and the camper for accommodation while overseeing the project.
　
We said yes to Hannu's offer and set aside the following days to do all the paperwork involved in the importation process. With Hannu taking care of the importation of the car, we only needed to sign a few papers and be available so Ollie's passport could be released of the truck but even that was complicated enough for us, especially when all the meetings with the broker were in Spanish. We were relieved that we didn't have to deal with it. I'm sure it would have taken us more than two months!
　
Forest Generation
　
As mentioned above, Hannu and his family were starting an environmental/ecotourism business. They were very kind to invite us to join them on their family day out at the property. Hannu and his wife, Tarja, have purchased a 200 hectare parcel of land, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and to get to this property requires a 4x4 and balls of steel to navigate along fairly non-existent roads, through rivers and up and down cliff like hills (the Syncronauts would be drawling at the sight of these challenging lanes). Ollie was impressed with Hannu's 1995 Toyota Landcruiser and wished he had had the Velle handy.
　
The last part of the journey was made by foot, in the dry season you can drive the whole way but the river is too swollen during the rainy season and can get worse in an instant if there's rain further up in the rainforest. We instantly fell in love with their little slice of paradise. The land is pretty much untouched, just acres and acres of jungle with the majestic Mamoni river running through it; a paradise to nature lovers.

Forest Generation; the name of Hannu & Tarja's innovative business involves ecotourism and reforestation in one. The idea is for people to order trees from an extensive list via their website. This is an excellent present idea for the person who has everything or a memorial to someone special. Once the tree has been chosen, Hannu & Tarja will personally plant the tree on the Forest Generation property and dedicate it to whomever it has been chosen for with an ecologically made plaque, beautifully carved with your own personal thought. They also include GPS co-ordinates and photos so you can see how your tree is progressing. Future plans include a series of luxury ecolodges so people can visit the property, enjoy the nature as well as see their tree in person. The possibilities for this property are endless and we will definitely be back to see how it's going, especially since Hannu and Tarja kindly planted a tree dedicated to us. For further information on Forest Generation see their website;

http://www.forestgeneration.com/
　
We spent the day on the Forest Generation paradise feeling like kids again, we frolicked with Julia, Isabella and Enso (Hannu and Tarja's beautiful children) in the Mamoni River and refreshed ourselves under the jungle waterfalls. An old farmer and a few other local employees fixed us a dinner of sausages, rice and beans on an open fire. It was a blissful day, one that we would have no problem in repeating. We were almost tempted to look into buying the next door property to have our own slice of paradise. Hannu and Tarja proved to us that anything is possible.
　
Birthday Buffet at the Panama Canal
　
A restaurant buffet on the Panama Canal was Ollie's birthday treat. The Miraflores lock and canal is just a 20 minute walk from our hostel so we took the opportunity to visit this world famous engineering marvel. We were lucky enough to have a constant stream of huge container ships entering the double locks at Miraflores while we sat down to a pricey but delicious buffet lunch in the restaurant. It really is amazing to see how quickly they lower the water levels in the locks to get the ships through. After stuffing ourselves to the brim with every food imaginable we strolled around the museum and learnt a little bit more about the history and how it was made.

We also managed a visit to the historic old town of Casco Viejo. Back in 1904, when the canal construction began, Casco Viejo was Panama City but as the population grew the cities elite abandoned it and the neighbourhood deteriorated into slums. There has now been a huge effort to clean up this beautiful neighbourhood, a likened to old Havana in Cuba. It certainly was fascinating to stroll around, taking in the life of the old town, crumbling buildings, locals gathering on the pavement playing card games and lively salsa music blaring out of shabby apartments. There is an extremely fine line which separates the gritty slums from the tourist area.

With the truck sold in only one week we had a bit of time to kill before our flight back to LA on the 12th September so we decided to book ourselves on the German owned and operated sailboat; the Stahlratte (Steel Rat), bound for Cartagena, Colombia on the 31st August 2009.