Panama

Panama City
Another good flight saw us fly in over the rainforest between Panama and Columbia; the Darien (for the worried parents, please be assured that we will not be venturing into this area of Panama).


The airport was a wash with screaming babies (although very cute ones) and queues!  Once we finally got through customs we headed towards the nearest taxi rank.  Walking through the exit was like opening an oven door ´muy muy caliente´.

Our hotel was situated in the old town of ´Casco Viejo´(a world heritage site no less) a very quaint little place with lots of stuning colonial buildings, some of which are pristine, others are close to ´going the way of all things´.  After heading to our rooms to sort ourselves out, we then headed out for our first (and well deserved) Panamanian Cerveza, very tasty!  Prices here seem to be similar prices to USA for food, with beer as low as $1.50 in a bar or 40c in a shop.  Beer is actually cheaper than soft drinks here!

Our plan on the second day was to sort our lives out, get some cash and head to Panama Canal. However this proved to be easier said than done as our bank cards would not work ANYWHERE! So we headed into the vortex that is the main city  towards the HSBC, still no luck. After a hefty and lengthy international call to Barclays bank we managed to get them unblocked, apparently the meeting in the bank in England to inform them of our travel plans wasn´t sufficient enough (tone; sarcastic).

Finally we managed to get some dinero from an ATM, by which time it was too late to head to the Panama Canal… So off we went for another cerveza. First observations of Panama is that the people are extremely laid back, so far we have had no hassle from anyone, they are also very patient with our limited Spanish. Another observation (from Cara) is that Ben is finding it somewhat more difficult to acclimatise to the heat than me (perhaps the Asian influence is falling in Cara´s favour in this situation). Having a shower is almost a token gesture for Ben, as 10 minutes after drying himself off, he looks like he just stepped out of the shower again. Our walks around Casco Viejo have been punctuated by many a 10 minute break beneath a tree for Ben to pull himself together.  

Cara has also noticed that the Panamanians seem to launch straight into Spanish when addressing me , when I reply “no intiendo” (i don´t understand) they just repeat themselves, but louder, until the point where they are almost shouting, to which I reply; “I´ll be heading off now, cherrio”. We got chatting to some people in our hostel, some Panamanian, south African and Colombian people and they gave the inside story; apparently if it wasn´t for Cara´s thick British accent, people would think she was Panamanian, hence the locals confusion.When we first arrived at our hotel there seemed to be a lot of rather dodgy looking people hanging around the communal area; a Colombian guy looked like he had either stepped straight out of the rain forest (with all his piercings, tattoos and dreadlocks) or he was about ready to mug you. Turns out he was a really nice bloke from columbia, here with his girlfriend and both of whom made jewellery. Being that it was our 5th anniversary that day Ben and I thought it would be fitting to get a bracelet made by this guy. He put 5 stones in each one, which originated from Brasil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Peru; places that he had collected them from.A lesson that we have both learnt is that one should never judge someone by their appearance, as this guy turned out to be ‘sound as a pound’.