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We
had arrived in by far the most cosmopolitan of all the Central American capitals
by way of the Bridge of the Americas and we had booked 6 nights in Magnolia
Inn, a new hostel in the UNESCO site of Casco Viejo (Old Compound) area of
Panama City. We had reserved a 4 bed dorm, a rarity for us as private rooms are
so cheap for the most part on our travels. It was cheap for Panama City
standards but the hostel itself is a luxury hostel so we can’t recommend it more
to anyone who comes for a visit. The Casco Viejo area is where the majority of
backpackers stay and is where the second city of Panama was built after Captain
Morgan plundered the first city (probably had a bottle too many of his own
brew). The colonial district is half derelict half restored to former glory.
While we were there it appeared the derelict half was all under restoration so
I would guess that in 10 years the whole district will be completely restored
and to buy/stay here will cost a small fortune as even now the prices must be crazy
to buy as the area is beautiful and views amazing.
Casco Viejo
On a little side
note; doing our online research on Panama City, the majority of the top Google search
results would give Panama City, Florida. Why a beach town with a population of
about 40, 000 people ranked nearly always higher than the capital city of the
richest Central American country with a population of about a million baffles
me. Google, sort it out!
Our first night there we went out to the sea wall guarding Casco Viejo to view
the line of ships awaiting entry to Panama Canal from the Pacific side. Walking
along the promenade you could then see the view of new Panama City (the modern
skyline). Apparently the city’s skyscrapers are known as the Cocaine Towers
(built by drug money) and the international banks are called Laundrettes (due
to the laundering of this drug money). Maybe it’s true, maybe not but to the
casual traveller or resident you would never know.
View of modern Panama City from Casco Viejo
The number one attraction in Panama is of course ‘The Big Ditch’ or ‘The Panama
Canal’, one of greatest engineering feats of the 20th Century. We
caught one of the famous but soon to be retired Diablos Rojos (‘Red Devils’ – a
chicken bus) buses out to the Miraflores Lock to see what the big fuss was all
about.
Panama City can afford to rid itself of the dangers of chicken buses but
we for two will miss them.
Famous and soon to be gone Diablos Rojos, we saw one with Osama and Obama on it!
We arrived at the lock just in time to catch the
slow process of the last large ship of the day passing through the lock. Slow to look at but a lot faster than
sailing around the tip of South America to get to the Pacific.
Ship passing through the Miraflores lock, Panama Canal
An exciting video of a ship passing through the lock
Although half
the museum was closed it was still a very interesting place and to see the
locks in action was great but it was still not on as epic a scale as we
imagined. At the moment they are currently expanding the canal to take much
larger ships so in the background you can hear the explosions to clear the
pathway for the new canal.
Panoramic view of the Panama Canal from the Miraflores Lock
The next day was March 17th, Paddy’s Day, and we chose to head
out to Paddy Micks pub near the Miraflores lock. Although plenty of
alternatives in the city nearby this was when we wanted to ensure we had a
Guinness or two in the company of a few pale Irish faces. We got what we wanted
with a bowl of Irish stew and a few cans of Guinness!! There was some Irish
dancing (oddly mostly from the Panamanians there who were in the minority) and a
lot of Irish music and singing with a good few songs by Sarah Kenny herself.
After singing the Ferryman with a woman from Kilkenny she was ushered up a few
more times to sing such classics as ‘Galway Girl’, ‘Gypsy Rover’, a few Christy
Moore songs (being a true Lilly White) and believe or not ‘Ireland’s Call’. A
perfect Paddy’s night, spent with about 50 expats and a Guinness or two. All
you could hope for in Panama.
Night skyline of Panama City from Casco Viejo
Sharing our dorm were two guys from America, Tye from Tennessee and Andrew
from Kentucky. Our roommates for Panama City and soon to be ship mates for the
trip to Colombia as they booked the same boat we had that week. Andrew at 6 and
half foot and a former college football offensive tackle liked to party a lot
and would get into a taxi in Panama City and would ask to be taken to the most
dangerous area of the city or as he called it the danger zone. Enough said; a
dangerous guy to party with but constant entertainment all the same.
George Bush voting loving Americans on the Causeway, we wouldn't want it any other way
With the gun loving Americans we headed to Panama Viejo (Old Panama), the
first city to be built that was the gateway for all the gold bullion coming
from Peru and making its way to Spain. All this gold bullion didn’t miss the
attention of pirates and led by Captain Henry Morgan (Previously known to me
and many others by the famous spiced rum of Captain Morgan’s) they plundered
the city of all its wealth leaving nothing but rubble.
Panama Viejo (Old Panama) with the watchtower in the background
The only thing he did
miss was the golden altar with a newfound home in a church in Casco Viejo. As the story
goes, a local priest painted the Golden Altar black to disguise it and told
Morgan another pirate had stolen it and even convinced the Captain to donate
money for its replacement. Captain Morgan apparently said “I don’t know why,
but I think you are more of a pirate than I am”.
The famous Gold Altar that Captain Morgan was tricked with
The guide books undersells
Panama Viejo but the watchtower, museum and grounds are well worth the short trip
out.
View from the watchtower of Panama Viejo (the 1st settlement)
Many of our lunches and dinners were had in the cheap and famous Coca Cola Café,
who can claim Che Guevara as one of their former clientele. I can only assume
it wasn’t called Coca Cola Café when revolutionaries used to stop by and
discuss Marxism and the likes!
The CocaCola Cafe Che Guevara used to eat at
It serves the usual ‘typico’ food at rock bottom
prices for Casco Viejo standards. One night after leaving we noticed a group of
police with a couple of guys on the ground in handcuffs. We started the short 5
min walk back to the hostel when a taxi driver pulled over and told us to get
off the streets as there were men running around shooting guns. Thanks for the
advice but why not offer to drive us back to our hostel! The guy from Boston
with us started to freak out a little but we walked on passing a police station
that had a SWAT team outside getting a briefing. As we continued on we noticed
that no one was on the streets except for police and SWAT teams on all the
corners and that all doors and windows were closed. It was like a scene from a
western when a shootout was about to begin and everyone ducks into a barrel or
closes a window. We made it back no problem and found out no more information
of what was going on that night but could only think what crazy person would
run around Casco Viejo with a gun. The place is crawling with police 24/7 and
has a police station every few blocks.
The streets of Casco Viejo
Another attraction was to cycle the Causeway
which runs parallel to the entrance of the canal. Deciding to walk rather than
fork out more money we bumped into Tye and Andrew cycling around in circles
drinking a few cans. Later we went to the ‘Nacional Teatro’ the well restored theatre
and after paying $1 had the place to ourselves.
View from the stage at the theatre in Casco Viejo
We could go anywhere including
onstage and backstage so we messed about taking advantage of the lack of
security.
Sarah conducting at the theatre in Casco Viejo
Other than a couple of cinema visits we had pretty much done most of the touristy stuff to do in City and it was time to get to the Atlantic side for our
boat trip. Our mode of transport was to be for the first
time a train that runs once a day to the horrible town of Colon. A bit of a
tourist trap, you can ride in the glass roofed carriage parallel along the
entire canal and enjoy the views and passing ships. I would say it was worth
the price and definitely makes a nice change from the Diablos Rojos (although we still love them). On Panama City, we both said that we could see ourselves living there for a
couple of years so no higher praise could be said for the City.
All abord the Panama Canal Railway with Tye and Andrew
Our journey to the Panama Canal Railway station
was more adventurous though thanks to our idiotic taxi driver. Now I will begin
to bore you with the details… We asked for the train station and he said no
problem but started to drive towards the skyscraper part of the city. I thought
he was heading for the highway that runs through but to be sure I took out the
map and pointed to the train station and again said we wanted to go there. He
said yes but continued on passing the highway out of the city. At this stage we
were heading in the completely opposite direction towards the fancy hotels in
the centre. A couple more times I said train station, we are going to Colon
etc. etc. He finally said ah yes sory, my mistake but for some reason still
drove us to the place he originally thought we wanted to go, the Trump Tower
hotel, probably the nicest most expensive places to stay in Panama City. Why he
thought this after we just left a cheap hostel I have no idea, he must have
thought I said Trump instead of “la estación de tren”!! We already agreed on the
fare so made no sense. With 5 minutes to spare and a few traffic violations we
made it onto the train and after an hour or so of scenic canal views we made it
to city of Colon.
Sarah and a Diablo Rojo (Red Devil) our ride to the town of Portobelo
From Colon we would get a bus to the port town of Portobelo,
our final destination in Central America and our boats departure port. If you are
ever in Colon just get out as quick as you can. On the 2 minute walk to the bus
terminal from the train two police pulled us over and told us not to wander off
to the right and to only stay on a straight path to the bus station as we would
pretty much be robbed of everything and maybe be killed within a few minutes.
We didn’t stray : )
We arrived at Captain Jack’s hostel in the nice
port town of Portbelo and stocked up on supplies for our four nights at sea. In
our next post we will write about Portobelo, the beautiful San Blas Islands and
the joys of sailing to Colombia on the catamaran Fritz The Cat. Its goodbye to Central America for now, you
will be missed! I hope anyone that reads this blog will decide to travel to
this part of the world as the people, activities and the natural beauty should
not be missed.
Unfortunately I chose to do this blog on Google Blogger which sucks for many
things but mainly because it limits the number of photos we can put up to 1GB.
This might seem a lot but we have hit the limit (in fact some old photos have
been deleted by Google to make space for newer posts) and I am not paying
Google for more space. This means we will probably move to a new blogging site
for South America but I will send out the links to everyone when we have moved
it over.
Massive fish at the fish market in Casco Viejo
Chopping up some Octopus at the fish market
Some vendors in the main square
It's true, we love Casco!
Entrance to Canal
Ship passing throught the lock, Panama Canal
Sarah at the Miraflores Lock
View from the watchtower of modern Panama
Panama Viejo (Old Panama)
Panama Viejo (Old Panama)
The watchtower at Panama Viejo (Old Panama)
Spiral builiding in modern Panama City
View of Panama City (and an artistic boot) from the Causeway
Cycling the causeway on the lads bike
Old Church Ruins
Casco Viejo
The theatre in Casco Viejo
The ceiling of the theatre in Casco Viejo
Piano auditions at the theatre in Casco Viejo
Backstage at the theatre in Casco Viejo
Sarah at the entrance to the Panama Canal for ships on the Pacific side
After our long wait at the border we were finally on our way to the Island
of Bocas Del Toro. A sick inducing van journey and a bag full of sick (I won’t
say who the culprit was but it wasn’t me : ) ) later we arrived at the water
taxi dock which was full of dodgy characters trying to fleece anybody. Before we
had a chance to get out they had the boot open and were already holding our
rucksacks. Being used to these attempts of robbery (where they try to overwhelm
you and take stuff from you or your bag) from several border crossing we
quickly got out and grabbed our bags back and told everyone to feck off! Sarah’s
side pocket had already been open in those few seconds but it didn’t matter as
everything was secured away in the main part.
We were travelling with two Argentineans guys from the border and one of
them had his Blackberry out as we arrived for everyone to see. Two minutes
later inside the water taxi office he realised his phone was gone, no surprise
there. I forgot to mention that at the border they asked if they could travel
with us to make things cheaper and we thought to ourselves great, “a native
Spanish speaker can do the price negotiating and talking” but how we were
wrong. They were like fish out of water for some reason (had probably never left
the rich suburbs of Buenos Aires) so we had to find the transport, talk to
drivers and get the good deals as they stood there looking lost. Same again at
the water taxi desk!
Boat to Isla Bastimentos from Bocas
Anyway Bocas Del Toro (Gringo Town) is an overbuilt, over populated island and
from what we saw full of the same people drinking in the same bar every
night. It would be ok for a night or two but not what we were looking for. One night there was all we needed to decide to get a short water taxi to
the close by but altogether different island of Isla Bastimentos. The tiny town
of Old Bank on Bastimentos had no bars, 3 family restaurants and one path so it
was exactly what we were looking for to relax. On the other side of the island
there were several beaches, half of which were isolated and all of which were
beautiful. Our first day there we hiked to the highly recommended Mantis restaurant
but as it was closed we opted to continue on to the hippie family run ‘Up on
the hill’ café, one of those places where everything is organic, lemongrass tea
is the drink of choice and people working there finish sentences by saying “love
and light to you”, you get the picture. Not my scene although Sarah seemed at home : ) We topped off the day by buying a few
Guinness cans in the local shop and drinking them in the hammocks at the end of
our pier as a rain storm can thundering in. Guinness for 50c on a
small island like this, what a find! It’s not draught but best we’ll do.
We had to buy them, 50c cans of Guinness in the middle of nowhere in Panama
It's not always Paradise living
It did rain nearly the whole time there but as this is the wettest part of
Panama I don’t know what we were expecting, maybe the sun Google Images
promised us. The next day we hiked back up to Mantis to make a reservation for
that night (apparently one was needed for a restaurant a hike away in the
middle of a jungle with only a couple of hundred people on the island!). The Scottish
chef/owner is a little odd, maybe he has been at the ‘Up on the Hill’ café a
few too many times and has ordered off some special menu, but my god does he
know great food! Having travelled around the world working on yachts as a chef
he took up a friends request to help set up the Thai restaurant Mantis and
somehow he has come to running and owning it. The views are also amazing as you look out from the jungle towards the water but it won't last for long as the everything downhill of the restaurant has been bought up for a new resort development, pity.
View from Mantis Thai restaurant in the jungle on Isla Bastimentos
Despite the reservation we were
the only people there and he sat down and chatted with us for a while asking us
what food we don’t and do like as there is no menu, he just makes a call on
what he thinks you would like. I still can’t explain how a starter with vegetable,
nuts and a dressing served on a banana leaf could taste so delicious. He made up
a couple of cocktails for us “to make us feel like a tree”, seriously this guy
had a screw or two loose but who cares with this food. For mains we had amazing
noodles and chicken, again simple in writing but amazing to eat. At one point I
was worried how much this was going to cost us because as I said there was no
menu. When I asked he just kept saying don’t worry about it I’ll take care of
you. Being Irish and not staying in the resorts on the other side of the island
definitely helped when it came to paying the bill as it was only $15 each which was
great value for a starter, full course and two cocktails each. From the prices he was telling
people who arrived after us he charged us about half of what he was charging
them, nice!!
We had planned to hike to one of the beaches on the other side of the island that were
more isolated like Wizard Beach but during heavy rains the 1 hour hike can
apparently turn into a 10 hour hike so we opted to get a water taxi to the more
popular red frog beach. We got some sun in the morning but the rain soon took
over so we went to a view point to watch the crazy waves.
We chose to look at the waves rather than get in them
We finally hunted
down some poisonous red frogs as well and saw the ass of a wild sloth asleep in
a tree! Our taxi boat never arrived to take us home but luckily there was
another boat there willing to take our $3.
A couple of posinous red frogs at Red Frog Beach!
Having had enough rain we decided to take a bus to the town of David, a stop
off point on the way to the mountain town of Boquete. Once we crossed the mountains
half way through our journey the weather changed to clear blue skies so we were
very happy with the pool that was in our new place, Chambres De Ville. And now
we meet the crazy old drunken American couple….
A New York couple in their 70’s had been hanging out drinking all day in the
common area as we ate breakfast, lounged by the pool and came back from dinner,
pretty much knocking back the Abuelo (rum) and vodka all day. They were in
Panama for a month scouting out a town to retire to in a couple of months. The
only thing they seemed to be scouting was the drinks on offer but they were old
and to put it bluntly and to paraphrase from them they did not give a shit what
anyone thought, they had done their hard time and were now doing what they
wanted. So much so they told us stories of going to the jungle in Thailand to
smoke opium and how they loved it so much that they would be back. Listen to your elders eh, depends which ones I suppose?! We got on
pretty well with them, even got an invitation to come stay in their big Greenwich
Village owned apartment that unfortunately they would be soon renting to pay
for their retirement (they bought about 50 years ago so the place is probably
worth a couple of million now). After a couple of fights between them and a guy
from California we decided to call it a night. As a typical New Yorker the wife
certainly went to town on letting the Californian guy know that she didn’t like
him, his jokes, or the way he looked. I had to carry the husband to the bed the next
night as he was too drunk, much to his drunken wife’s annoyance (she gave him a
hypocrite’s earful for being drunk). Nothing to be said really, no changing
their ways now.
We headed for the mountain town of Boquete to see
what was on offer on the healthier side of things. The town itself is pretty
and quiet with its fair share of retired Americans and Canadians in keeping
with the trend of nice Costa Rican and Panamanian towns. We opted to do a short
hike up to a place called El Explorador, gardens that are meant to be like Alice
in Wonderlands world. As the only people there, we spent a couple of hours
hanging around looking at the odd sculptures, trees and other trippy stuff.
El Explorador gardens
El Explorador gardens - This guy is loving it!
El Explorador gardens
After
I got beard number 3 shaved off from a barber I would have guessed had never
cut a head of hair in his life by the way he went about it. Luckily it’s
hard to muck up a 4 back and sides and cutting a beard off although I was a
little worried when the raw blade came out. No arteries were cut so the journey
continues. The next day we went to the Posas de la Caldera thermal baths to
fill in the day and scored a free taxi back that saved us an hour’s uphill hike.
Thermal Baths in Boquete
To break up our journey to Panama City we decided
to stay in the town of Santiago that is split by the Pan-American Highway. On
the way we noticed that at certain points the local indigenous populations all
out and remnants of blockades around them. The month before the border to Costa
Rica was closed for a couple of days due to these blockades and violence had kicked
off as government troops came in the clamp down and if I remember correctly a
few people were killed. Back then the government reneged on promises they had given
to sit down and talk. Last we had heard the government had agreed to again sit
down and talk with them over their concerns about mining, dams and other
issues.
In Panama the indigenous communities (Ngobe I think) have a sizeable
population so have the ability to have their voices heard with protests but the
government don’t seem to take them too seriously as all traffic came to a
standstill that day. It appeared that the blockades were coming up again and we had been
caught between two of them. Everyone was off the bus and some people
(remembering the length of previous protests) started to walk towards and
hopefully past the blockades after an hour of waiting. The truck drivers seemed
a lot more pissed off (probably lost a lot of business the previous month) and
were talking of driving through the blockade. We were slightly worried as we
had too much to carry a couple of miles and more importantly what could we say
to get past the blockades if we made it. Just when we started talking about
alternative plans, an old indigenous man on a horse was coming from the
blockade direction telling everyone it was ok and to carry on, sorted! People started
walking back and the bus set off and there were no problems in passing the
blockade of burning tyres. I never found out what happened to cause a temporary
blockade but maybe they were demonstrating the havoc they could create to
ensure they get their promised talks. Hopefully it works out well for everyone in the end as it's creating mayhem for every Panamanians day to day living.
Two hour delay on our bus from David to Santiago due to Indigineous protester blockades
We arrived in Santiago, a town that clearly
no backpackers stop off in but a decent one to break a journey up all the same.
And who would not want to spend a night in an odd looking steel tree house with
a bath but no toilet.
Our odd room in Santiago, had a bath but no toilet
Our odd room (corrugated steel treehouse) in Santiago. Definately a new one on us
The next morning we got a four hour bus to Panama City crossing
the Bridge of the Americas that spans the Panama Canal and connects the north
and south American land masses. It is to be our last city in Central America
and only a week left before our boat takes us from Panama to Colombia and our
South American trip begins.
Bridge of the Americas - Connects North and South America land masses
Red Frog beach on Isla Bastimentos
The Red Frogs are tiny so hard to find
Rough seas at Red Frog Beach
Hammocks good for the rain too! Sarah hiding from the heavy rains
El Explorador gardens - Swing set all to ourselves, what a day!
El Explorador gardens
El Explorador gardens
El Explorador gardens
El Explorador gardens - SuperSarah
El Explorador gardens - Princess Mark
View from El Explorador gardens
Picked up a Panamanian lady
The poor pet bird getting a lot of abuse from the little girl on the chicken bus
