Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Panama Panama City

... morning we left, I really think they did have lobster that night.
We returned to Panama City, well, evertying except my passport, but more about that in a later story. The next night we played an intense few games of ping pong, and and some good drinking games with other residents of our hostel. We could have eaten anything for lunch the day we were due to fly out. However, we ended up in a TGI Fridays. A proper club sandwich with fries and a ...

... behind to nap). It had just started raining when we started our venture down the road to the Caldera, and it only worsened with each kilometer we traveled. The road to the springs is a turnoff from the main road...it's not paved- not in the least! But we felt confident, being in a big, burly truck and all. That was until we reached the "stream"...Heath suggested we turn around or at least try to get the 4WD working before we attempted a crossing. But ...

... around and seen the parts of Panama City I wanted to see, so no point sitting in the hot hostel.
Finally its time to head off to Colombia and South America, only an hour or an hour and a half on the plane, but worlds away from Central America!!!


Due to the Central America leg of the trip coming to a close, I thought it appropriate for some random ramblings of a madman about the trip, the places, the people and myself:

Well the last 5 months have been ...

... to sell stuff walked up to me and started a conversation.  He wanted to practice his English on me, but it was actually quite comical.  Just as people from the US try to speak Spanish by adding Os to the end of every word, he was removing them.  We had a short conversation in Spanglish and then I moved on.  I had things to see!  (Although I wasnīt quite sure what they were.)  I also ended up talking briefly with some other lady on the street.  Whenever ...

... first day wandering the streets of Panama looking for things that I never found. The city is a nightmare. Street names mean nothing and so many things have closed down and/or moved that my 6 month old guidebook seems horribly out of date. Added to that, the city is incredibly busy with traffic screaming around everywhere, American fast food chains and sky-scrapers next to falling down Panamanian slums. I dislike it. However, I had to hang around for Kat to arrive. I did ...

... to a dry bulk cargo ship and cruise ship on their final Pacific-bound approaches to the pair of locks. My first impression (probably most people's) of the cargo ship was that it is bigger than most, and barely fits in the locks. In fact, a lot of the ships moving through the canal are exactly the same size as this one: 106 feet beam by 965 feet long. This is called a Panamax vessel and it is designed to fit precisely into the Panama Canals ...

... his father had been bitten by snakes 9 times in his life and lived to survive them all. Panama has some of the most poisonous snakes in the world, including the Fer de Lance which is common in the area but not often seen. We had a simple lunch of fried talapia fish, plantains and pineapple and watermelon. Edwin brought some beer and water for us to drink. After lunch we were entertained by some traditional dancing and were told that if ...

... car to the airport for us - for Troud and Vatlo anyway! Saved $20 taxi fare, but I suspect itīll find itīs way into our bill. First on the agenda was a trip to Miraflores Lock to watch the ships and as we were walking to where the buses left from the last time I was here a young black guy tried to snatch our bag, which Jon was carrying. I was my customary 10 paces behind Jon and I donīt think the kid ...

... hot, so we were very fortunate. We had our tv turned up, so we could hear the naturalist give us information as we passed certain areas. We had to run to the other side to view a portion of the bigger 2010 canal progress. From our balcony we saw...them using the machines used to drill the current canal deeper, a floating gas line, passing several barges, a tug spouting its' water out, railway system, Gamboa midpoint area, Gaillard Cut, clay Islands, several lighthouses, Gold ...

... an amazing national park just down the road. We were taken to this park by a German biologist and his Costa Rican wife and we all went trotting through the forest, him carrying a huge telescopic lens thing on his back. When his wife spotted an animal up in the trees, he found it on the lens and we could see it up close and make out all the details. Thereīs nothing quite like watching a hairy sloth having a big yawm and scratching his tummy, or being able to make out the up and ...