Day 17 - Travel to Panama

We left Villa Blanca at 5.15am.  It was raining heavily.  We were collected by minibus with a driver and guide.  The first 10km are down a very narrow and bumpy road which we knew about from when we arrived.  It was raining and very misty so the drive was very slow.  After about 15 minutes another tourist bus was coming in the opposite direction and both buses had to go onto the grass verge to pass.  Our bus got stuck in the verge and was on the point of going into a ditch.  The guide was trying to push the bus and Paul asked if we could help which seemed appreciated.  So the 3 of us were trying to push this very heavy bus off the grass but, after several attempts, it was just not working.  While we waited on the road, the driver and guide decided to reverse the bus backwards to try and steer it onto the road which did eventually work but I was worried that the front wheels would go in the ditch.  So we continued and joined the Pan America Highway but before long the traffic slowed down again.  Apparently there had been a serious accident and the driver decided to make a detour to avoid it - more bumpy roads.  We arrived at the airport with just over 3 hours before the flight and checked in for our flight with Wingo Airlines!!

 

Wingo got us to Panama in less than an hour and our guide, Jose,  was waiting for us.  It took about 15 minutes to get to the hotel which is in the centre of the New Town.  We have a great view over the sea where there are some islands.  It was 35C at lunchtime so we spent the afternoon in the hotel.  On unpacking our luggage, everything felt damp so we are trying to dry them out and will pack everything that we wont need again.  We were very tired and had been advised not to go out until later afternoon because of the heat so we caught up on some sleep and went to explore the area at about 4pm.

There is a good walking path following the coast.  Being a Saturday lots of locals were out with their families.  There were a few souvenir sellers and drinks sellers but they didnt pester us.  Some of these are people from one of the many ethnic tribes in the country.  The ladies were dressed in traditional clothes.  There has also been a Festival in the city recently which I think is to celebrate Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.  It is called the Palau Festival.

The Panama City skyline is huge with many modern high rise builddings, being a mixture of apartments, hotels and offices.  This is the "new" part of the city.  The old town is made up of red brick houses.

 
City taken on journey from airport.
Old Town in front of New Town

 
Some of the skyline taken from the promenade


 
Tethered balloon used during the festival

 
Religious figure in the park

 
Flower bed clock (over 2 hours slow).

We went to the Fishmarket which is a large restaurant area next to the harbour where the fishing boats arrive with their catch.  Each restaurant tried very hard to get you to eat there but as neither of us are keen on fish (and the menus seemed to be fish only) we just looked around and left.

 
The Fishmarket

 
Harbour next to fishmarket where boats arrive with freshly caught fish

 
Fishmarket restaurant area

We didnt expect to see much wildlife but to our surprise we were suddenly confronted by a raccoon who was very tame and appeared from behind the sea wall.  After a while we were seeing them everywhere.

 
Raccoon

 
Raccoon

I noticed a Frigate Bird in the sky over the sea.  There were also Pelicans and a Magnificent Frigate Bird.

 

 
Black Vulture

 
Laughing gull (very like a black headed gull

 
Magnificent Frigate Bird

 

 
Brown Pelican

 
Brown Pelican

 
 
Pelican fishing

We ate at a local restaurant and then had an early night as we are extremely tired.  We are cruising the Panama Canal tomorrow and I really do not know what to expect.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 12 - Tortuguera to La Fortuna

Image
I got up very early to have a walk around the grounds as it was getting light  As I was getting dressed the whole lodge must have been woken up by Howler Monkeys.  There were a few other guests wandering around but it was much quieter at this time of day.  I didn't see a lot but did find some huge spiders.  One had built a web right across the path and the spider was in the middle at my head height.  I took some photos and went back without disturbing him.  There was also a butterfly - the first I have been able to photograph here.  We have seen some enormous ones including one that is lilac in colour but they flitter about without stopping.   Butterfly   Common Black Hawk   Spiders and their webs   I went to check out before having breakfast and had a long wait at reception.  While there I heard our guide saying that there was a boa constrictor sleeping in a nearby tree.  I went down and sure enough it was very still and ...
Read more

Day 9 - Poas Volcano and Doka Coffee Plantation

Image
After a lot of confusion about which bus we needed to be on, we finally left for Poas Volcano just after 8am calling for the 2 ladies, who are in the upgraded hotel, en route.  There are a lot of "accidents waiting to happen" on the pavements and roads in San Jose.  There is either a deep and wide gully between the kerb and the road or there is a drop from the kerb down about 9" and then the road tarmac slopes up to the roadside.  I suppose it stops cars from trying to park on the pavements.     Mind the Gap The traffic was horrendous and we arrived 35 minutes after our check in time.  We then had to wait in a queue of cars and tour buses to get into the Poas National Park.  We had a safety briefing and were given hard hats and then  walked the 800m up to the volcano viewing area.  I had expected to be able to walk around the crater a little bit but it was just a smallish area but plenty of space for everyone to see.  The volcano e...
Read more

Day 19 - Panama Old Town and Canal Visitor Centre

Image
This morning we had a walking tour of the Old Town or Casco Vieja which is the original site of Panama City which was founded in 1519 by the Spanish.  Gold, stolen from other Spanish conquered South American countries (in particular Peru), was transported through Panama from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea.  This area was almost completely destroyed when invaded by the pirate Sir Henry Morgan and his 1200 man army in 1671.  Some of the ruins can be seen today but much of the town has been redeveloped.  It is a UNESCO Heritage site so any redevelopment must be in the colonial style. The Old Town is situated on a small peninsular.  We visited The Church of San Jose.  The exterior of this church is nothing spectacular but inside the altar is made with the original gold which wasnt plundered by the invaders as it had been covered with mud and black paint to cover up the gold. There was an enormous nativity scene in a side room which covers about 16 events fr...
Read more