Voyager International Hostel Panama City

(Pictures were added to Bocas Del Toro entry, check them out) Asaf Our stay in Panama city began at Voyager International Hostel; a proper backpackers location and in this case full of Australian guys. We made quick friends and joined about ten of them for drinks before going out. While most of them taught us how to play a casual drinking game called Buffalo another guy with an IPod selected one Aussie song after another. As we found out soon it was Australia Day, which basically meant we wer...

Today is the Canal day. Finally I got to see this monster canal with all the troubles I went through to get to it. I wonder if all ships have to get to do this. But this canal is one of the must see attractions if you are close anywhere around this area. You should time it when there is a big ship passing through since that is the real action. I saw two ships passing by at the same time. It costs $8 for the deck and the 4 must see museums as well as the movie about the history of the canal. I...

after our bumpy ride from the coastal town of carti, we rolled into panama city and got rooms at the voyager hostel. it was the most expensive place we've stayed in so far, at 9 bucks a piece. after a couple days of paying top dollar, though, we found zuly's backpackers hostel around the corner and settled in there. we had a great stay at zuly's, and met some cool people. we also hung out with ori (from the boat trip) and his friend ohad, who flew in to meet him. while trying to find the old ...

After our 7 hour bus ride from David, we arrived into Panama City. We took a taxi to the Voyager Hostel, another 'interesting' Central American taxi experience. We needed two taxi's and neither of the drivers knew where the hostel was (one of the biggest, most famous hostel's in Panama City!), so out came the Lonely Planet guides! Along the way I noticed the not too great condition of the car...I was sat in the front and could feel the floor moving around under me, I thought it was going to f...

We had a good flight to Panama City and arrived at the hostel safely by taxi, as we were told pretty much that we wouldn´t survive a bus trip from the airport as it was night time, dark and not a tourist bus. We thought it safer to opt for the taxi as we would like to continue with our trip! The only hostel we could find in the area turned out to be a pretty awful hostel, although we met some lovely people there. We woke up on our first morning in Panama and decided to find out how to get to ...

The Panama Canal! What a feat of engineering but Panama City has its own charm too. Our arrival in Panama City was not without dramas. First we were unfortunate to get an immigration officer who spoke no English. As Australians we did not have to buy a tourist card (entry permit) but some countries did. We could not get the message across. A kind traveller interpreted but she still insisted we go back and buy the cards. The interpreter shrugged and said "Welcome to Central America -its easier...

Great place. Population of Adelaide but looks like Sydney. Lots of money being poured into apartments and office buildings. Presidential Palace sits right next to a slum. Drug raids on the local clubs and the bar kept serving us drinks despite the 20 cops and a machine gun or two. We were here for a while, waiting for the new passport. Not a bad place to be stuck, with all the conveniences and luxuries of home. Stayed at Voyager International. They were ok, except the chick who took our money...

After getting into Panama City late at night we got a taxi to a hostel we had found online. The ride from the airport to the hostel was a bit unnerving at times as we had to get used to Panamanian style of driving (use both sides of the road, hold down the horn for no particular reason, and go at insane speeds) The Voyager was a pretty standard hostel and we stayed in the bunk room with about 20 other people. In the morning we woke up and had a light breakfast in the hostel (bread, bananas an...

Pictures from International Voyager hostel *great place* and a little of Panama City

I have more or less skipped the other Central American capitals; Guatemala City, Tegucigalpa and Managua. Traveling quickly through them in order to catch a connecting bus or because that's where the road runs. San Jose I didn't even go to, because it was way off my planned route. Anyway, none of them are known to be great cities, although I am sure they all got their extremely well hidden charm. Panama City however, is one of those exotic sounding places. A city I really want to see, and not...