Leaving USA

Trip Start Jul 27, 2008
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Trip End Mar 05, 2009


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Where I stayed
Anita's Hostel
(San Francisco hotels)

Flag of United States  , California,
Thursday, August 21, 2008

The flight left San Francico at 1.25 in the morning and  following a change in El Salvador arrived in Panama City in the afternoon. Nothing but praise for the connections and it was nice to see my bag on the carosel. I last saw it in USA! Immigration was not much of a problem, just a few questions.

The hostel in Ave Argentina is fairly central. Nothing special, but at $20 (a tenner) is ok  Some may say that its too much for cold showers. There are hot ones on the floor above. Panama City has big skyscrapers and there is a lot of building work going on. The quality of the work is poor. the building blocks are laid all over the place and the gaps are filled with cement!

The traffic too seems to be a bit haphazard, but there is some order is all the chaos. No one gives way until the last few inches. Those on foot take their lives into their own hand as do the motorcyclists. I have seen plenty of accidents.When they do collide they just stop and wave their arms about regardless of the traffic chaos  being caused. The buses are very brightly coloured and remind me of those in India. It costs about 12p stadard fare which is paid when you get off. However its difficult to know where they are headed and so I have tended to concentrate on taxis.One stand at the side of the road and the taxi slows down enough for you to yell your destination and if he is going your way, he will stop. Just like in Istanbul. The most one pays in about a pound or two.

This part of the world is a mix of all sort of nationalities all mixed up. I met a tutor at the Spanish/English school whose gran is Chinese and her uncle is black. She is coffee coloured and speaks good English. There are some very nice part to the sicy but the majority is pretty slummy.
I met a couple who are travelling to the bottom of S America in VW Transporter powered by bio diesel. They have travelled from Mexico begging discarded oil from restaurants and converting it to diesel. They have agreed to email me more information. They are being sponsored by Yahoo and some other big companies.

Another couple have travelled all the way from Alaska and have taken 18 months so far. They are both from London and are headed to the tip of S Am..   
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