Casa Grande Panama City

... at the bus stop so we shared with them and saved a few bucks.
Got into town and despite being described as the Miami of the south it was not a particularly welcoming city. Yes it had loads of modern sky scrapers but most seemed to be under construction, and the roads were flooded due to the rain which did not help its appearance, turns out we are at the back end of the rainy season, good planning! Got dropped off fairly central and trudged the streets for an hour or so looking for ...

... dude from Arizona, Ros and Trav, our Ozzy friends that we met back in Guatemala and a couple from Switzerland Dom and Anina.

On Halloween we all went to this great party at another hostel called Lunas Castle. Everyone made such an effort with their fancy dress except for us!!! I blew the lid off the can as we'd not really been out much so I really went for it and ended up with a rather sore head the next day!!!

A crowd of us also went bowling on our last night ...

... I said, "That's not a good idea for a
budget traveler." He said, "Come on, when is the next time you'll get
to go to the Casino in Panama." And, I was like, "You're right, lets
go!" You can only imagine how much convincing I needed to go to the
Starlight Karaoke bar afterwards! While everyone else was singing fresh
Latin pop hits and old stand-bys like "Besome Mucho", Willam brought
the house down with Oasis' "Wonderwall" and I sang my favorite Def
Leopard ...

... water taxi to Isla Bastimentos, a much more desolate island that was a 10 minute boat ride away. We hiked up over the mountain to the Caribbean side and arrived at a beautiful beach. Today was by far the hottest and sunniest day we have had, so it was perfect for the beach. On the other hand, all of our beach clothes (bathing suits), suntan lotion, etc, were in our backpacks already checked at the airport. Needless to say, we were not going to let that stop us ...

... the first taxi driver, this one didnīt really feel the need to stay in only one lane at a time.  However, gassing was a new adventure for me.  He pulled up to a gas station, honked, and had the guy put $5 in the car.  Notice I didnīt mention turning off the car.  As soon as the gas tank was closed, we could take off because the car was still running.  I was a little nervous, but if thatīs whatthey always do, then I guess itīs got to be relatively safe.  I ...

... around the decks I noticed a proliferation of brown boobies, always a beautiful sight, so I took the opportunity to stop and stare for a bit, what grace and poise, a sight you never tire of, such attractive acrobatic sea birds, (what were you thinking of?) they performed their aerial manoeuvres, swooping for fish and generally keeping pace with the ship, whilst gliding alongside the decks often no more than 12' away, such ...

... ranged from art to Panama`s history and our life stories. He was a bit of a charming rogue and when I went to leave he wanted to hug the beautiful girl goodbye. Lol. It was such an interesting interaction and it really made my day, it is the people you meet while you are travelling that truly make for the experiences however magnificent the sights are. The afternoon was spent at the canal, we were very impressed by the engineering feat it represented ...

... to get boats out to all the surf breaks every time you want a wave it was a cool place. So after a day of traveling on various claustrophobic and over crowded buses i made it to Santa Catalina, and after another hour of driving around in a local guys beat-up, ancient green car that broke down several times, i eventually found a room in a small hostel halfway in between the town and the reef break i was planning on surfing. After that the story gets pretty ...

... saying hi baby, ok baby, thank you baby.. It was kind of funny. 12 people in the hostel, could have slept better. Headed to the airport bright and early to my flight to Boquete. It is cheaper to take the long bus ride, but to save time I decided to fly!