Panama
View of Panama from the Causeway
Panama City was a lot bigger and more westernised than I had origionally thought. The only country so far where you can flush your toilet paper down the toilet, and you can drink the tap water. Looks like the Americans did some pretty good stuff for the country while they were here – for once (sorry guys!)!!
The Panama Canal was pretty amazing, the only thing I knew about Panama was its canal and Panama Hats (which actually come from somewhere else – cant remember where though!) and I soon found out I actually knew nothing about the canal either. How long it took to build, how difficult a job it was, it was actually the French who started it but had to give up and sell the contract to the Americans who managed to complete it about 10 years later. About 22000 people died – mainly of Malaria and yellow fever. Pretty interesting stuff all in all. Watched 2 boats go through the locks having to take some of the cargo off in order for the boat to raise up enough to make it through the lock. It cost the boat $150,000,000 in cash just to go through the lock, and overall that is still less than what it would cost if they had to go all around South America instead of using the canal!
Went to Plaza Cinco de Mayo, on the 5th May, so there were loads of celebrations going on, most of which I didnt understand and I was pretty dissapointed with the plaza, it was sooo small, not quite what I expected, so we didnt stay for very long.
Casco Antiguo full of ruins and churches made for an interesting morning walk on a Sunday morning
Albrook shopping mall was actually pretty cool as far as shopping centers go. I wanted to go to the national park but as it was p*ssing it down I though the shopping mall sounded like a good idea. After sweet and sour chicken, noodles and rice and buying a pair of shoes I though maybe it wasnt such a good idea – more stuff to lug around in my backpack and less money for the rest of the year!
Causeway
Headed up to David and went to La Amistad National Park & Cerro Punto, it was absolutely gorgeous there, I can see why all the Panamanians want to go there to retire. The small houses and greenery, plants and streems everywhere were like something out of a Lewis Carroll Novel. Some local guy gave us a tree tomato to try, it was sooo sour, had to try and eat it so as not to be rude, but as soon as we were out of distance it got chucked!
Next and final stop in Panama was Bocas de Toro, a group of Islands on the Carribean coast of North Panama. It was amazing, the main town was really small, with one main club Shipwreck (which actually has a shipwreck in the middle of it where the floor is open and you can just look down into the sea and see the wreck and fish swimming around it – dependant on how much alcohol you´ve had of course!), and lots of bars and restaurants so there was always somewhere to go. Went on a boat trip around some of the Islands, it really was like paradise, there was just us on them swimming and snorkelling in the clear blue carribean sea and lounging around on the hot soft white sand, either staring out into the ocean, or into the tropical palm tree filled inland.
Tags: David, Panama Canal, Panama City, Travel, Travel, Travel
Aymi
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