Albrook Inn Panama City

I had a great experience in Darien Panana, I did my trip with a awesom tour operator, If your have interest to see wildlife and share some experience with indegenous enthicity, I visited a indegenous town, after we walked three hours to arrive there.I spent the night there and for sleep we used hammock. I ...

... complete with a soundtrack including Celine Dion AND New Kids on the Block). The first thing we all noticed was the difference in temperature- Panama City is about 4 million degrees hotter than Boquete. No joke. We were not prepared. But at least we got to sweat out all those toxins from the night before!

Our hostel was in Casco Viejo, the old city, which was founded back in 1637 (or something) by Capt. Henry Morgan. It's a combination of the ...

... owners of the hostel, Dan. After Dan told us that there was no way to cross the border on the Pacific coast he off handedly said that we could check the fishing dock down the hill.

That night at 5:00am I, as calmly as possible, asked the group of 9 Australian guys, and the girls they had picked up at the bar, if they could kindly shut up and move to a different room since I had already been listening to them yell and shout for over an hour ...

... i almost melted like an ice cube. put me off the idea of walking around taking photos of stuff even more.
Spent most of the day planning, or trying to plan South America. Ive spent 5 months in Central America and its tiny compared to South America, dont know if I left myself enough time. Keep in mind i was held up with spanish school for three weeks, swine flu for one and maybe another one when Brendan and I were both sick, so in total probably cost myself a month on stuff ...

... wonderful A/C with ceiling fans. It would not be a place we would want to stay for any length of time only because of the location but it is great for one night. Everyone here is very friendly. They know as much English as I know Spanish so it is quite funny to watch us communicate.
We leave tomorrow afternoon for Bocas del Toro in the north.
Buenos Nochas for now.

... there was a stuffy air of pretentiousness that we wanted no part in. We soon left, but not before stopping along a trail where Max thought we'd see monkeys, but no such luck. On the way back into town we drove alongside the canal again and the ship that we had seen on the eastern side, was now nearing the pacific. The journey takes some 7-9 hours and only 35-38 ships pass through each day. For dinner tonight we ate at a great restaurant that a co-worker recommended to me ...

... the original. We didn`t have many expectations from Panama which is probably why we enjoyed it so much! Once again arrival in a new place involved a little drama, nothing too serious this time, just the fact that we hadnīt booked a hostel and there was only wifi internet access available. Typical. But luckily we have gained some travel savvy since our arrival and a quick flick through the phone book followed by sweet-talking the help-desk people into ringing ...

... because right outside my window was the RAGING Caldera River and metal awnings that keep banging. I was paying extra for that river room.Yesterday, I learned that just on Wednesday before I came, the guests at the Hostale Boquete had to be evacuated because of the fear of the river flooding. The power finally came back on at 4:00 am, 5 poles had been ripped by the wind... A sense of normalcy is slowing returning here, but it s still raining. More drama to follow...

... that they are having elections there and there are some demonstrations in the capital. So, we will take a cab to a neighborhood said to have express buses to the colonial city of Leon. We have made reservations with a hotel there called Lazybones Hotel. They are expecting us. Letīs see if we can make the flight, catch the cab, to catch the bus, and make it to Leon tomorrow. Hasta Luego! Tomasī

Well, presumably the whole deal with the customs episode is about money laundering, and I guess Panama is one of the favorite places for that, maybe because dollars are so available there anyway. Regardless, Panama is my first stop, and they've just been through one of those not-so-rare moments that in retrospect turn out to be seminal events in the history of a nation, a defining point if you will. They’ve just been invaded by the US. They say that Omar ...