We flew from Iquitos to Lima , Peru & on to Panama City on 27 June, arriving late at night.

Our taxi driver told us that it had been raining all day & emphasized that it was the rainy season in Central America .It continued to rain for the next 48 hours, tropical storms, thunder & lightning but temperature almost 90 degrees. It was impossible to leave the hotel , which luckily was very comfortable. I had been aware that we would be traveling Central America in the rainy season but had not taken it literally ! Having had only 9 days of rain in 7 months in South America this came as a bit of a shock. We wanted to fly South again ! However the next morning we woke to brilliant sunshine which has lasted for 9 full days. So all is well but it is really uncomfortably hot & humid.

We stayed in Panama City for 5 nights. It felt more like a North American city. Heavy traffic everywhere. It was not a city for walking around. We took a taxi to visit the canal , which was interesting. It has only been owned by Panama sine 1999, having been built by the USA in 1914 & controlled by them until 6 years ago. Much of the population here is English-speaking , descendants of West Indians who were brought here to build the canal. We spent the rest of the day at a lovely area called the Causeway where there was a marina & good views back to the city with its many skyscrapers.

The next day we walked around the city's colonial district , Casio Antiguo , which is quite dilapidated. We saw the ruined building which Noriega used to hangout , which was destroyed during the 1989 invasion.

On Saturday we traveled by bus 8 hours to David , Panama's 2nd largest city . The journey was delightful, through lush tropical vegetation, coconut palms , banana plantations , coffee bushes , citrus trees. We saw many exotic plants , flowers & birds. On Sunday we travelled to Boquette which had more of the above , but where we could walk near the river & enjoy the scenery & wildlife. Boquette is fast being bought up by foreign investors. It seems to be a popular retirement destination for N. Americans especially. We could understand why.

We cannot understand why the same is true of our present location. We arrived here at Bocas del Toro on Monday by bus & boat. It is a group of small Caribbean islands. We were disappointed that the main island on which we are staying is not really very beautiful & that it is necessary to travel to the other side or to other nearby islands for beaches. So on Tuesday we visited Isla Bastimentos which still entailed a 30 minute walk throuth the jungle across this island to reach the beach. After a few scorching hours we returned & on the way back Ady fell , badly twisting his ankle .So now we are stranded here with very little to do till he can walk again. I managed to find a walking stick yesterday. Quite an achievement ! At least he can leave the hotel now.