Stu.
We have been to towns and villages, beaches and islands. We started off in Mexico City but since then we have avoided the bright lights and high rise buildings that make cities stand out.
For me a city in Central America is just the same as being in Manchester or anywhere really, there isn't any personality, I want to experience new and unusual cultures. I want to see things that make me stand in awe and take a minute to appreciate them.
I don't want to stand at traffic lights waiting to cross a busy road with heavy traffic just to get to the McDonald's on the other side (although I do love the egg McMuffin mmmm). I don't want to have the only smell be the one of car fumes and rubbish in the street. Like I said, you can get that anywhere in the world, the language is the only difference.
Saying this I was pleasantly surprised when we looked out the bus window at the massive skyscrapers that make the skyline of Panama City. They have hats, highrises and a canal.
We travelled here on mass, Gini and I, Kat and Ollie (Germans) and Kiwi Dave. The bus was nice but really cold, why o why in a really hot country would they feel the need to crank the aircon up so high that everyone on the bus needs to have blankets over them to stay warm?? Go figure?!
Our arrival was a bit of a trial (not much change there then) We headed to the first hostel that was mentioned in "The Book" as a rule of thumb the first mentioned is usually the best, and also the busiest.
Tangent - The phrase "Rule of Thumb" originated back in thon olden days, where it was illegal to beat your wife with anything thicker than your thumb. Nice eh?
Panama, Panama, Panama. Yeah so the hostel was full.
Off we head to another one in walking distance through the "Old town" of Panama, not really a savory area for late night strolls (it was dark by now). Anyway, long story not as long, it was full too but we managed to get all 5 of us and our rucksacks in a taxi, however the boot wouldn't shut so the driver just left it open. We watched all the way to a third hostel sure that our bags would be littering the streets any moment now!
There was room, and it was only $5 each. Score.
OK, there were a few things of interest that happened whilst we were in Panama City, in between the walking around and drinkin beer. First we went to a nature reserve, park thing where we were assured by the literature of the place that there were sloths in the trees and monkeys running rampant.
I wanted someone to say " Hey Stu look, there's a Sloth, oh and there's another one." I'm fuckin sure Sloths are not known for their agility and stealth, they should have been easy to find right? all lazy and shit hangin around in trees. Well they're the connotations that I conjure up when I think of them.
The reality my friends is somewhat different, there are 2 possible scenarios that I have consideded regarding this.
First, Sloths are not the subdued creatures we have seen on TV, they are not synonymous of the word "Lazy" and do not spend their days lounging in trees doing sod all as we have been led to believe. In fact they are quite nimble creatures who wait for gringo's(tourists/me) to come looking for them then they decide to evade said gringo's in a fashion that can only be described as "cat like" in their ability to run and hide, to give the impression that in fact they have never been there at all. They may even wear fashionable black velvet ninja suits to help them blend in with their surroundings and look oh so dapper at the same time.
The second scenario is that there just aren't any.
And as much as I want the first of these scenarios to be true I am beginning to feel that the latter is in fact correct.
We didn't see any monkeys either.
Ollie the German as he became known to us had just finished a year studying "Logistics". I asked him the logistics of what and he looked at me like I'd crawled out from under a rock. Apparently it's the process of commerce from manufacture to sales and includes all the arranging of shipping and transport and stuff, why the hell he didn't just say that I don't know. Anyway he got very excited about Panama, it was the place he was looking forward to most as they have the Panama Canal. (All the wonders of Central America and he was looking forward to a canal.....)
OK I'll admit at first I though "we have canals all over the place in Manchester, how could this be much different?" but then as he explained the canal had been built from the Pacific to the Carribean and saved ships hundreds or thousands of miles of sailing as they now just went through the whole country I was quite impressed.
We went on a trip to see said canal in action but unfortunately when we got there we were told that there wasn't a ship due for another few hours so we wouldn't see one go through the massive locks which is the highlight. I think I might have stifled a giggle at Ollies loss.
I got propositioned by a whore.
Not at the Canal though. Myself and Dave headed out to a club for the evening. Gini was too tired and the Germans had gone somewhere. After a few beers in a bar we went to the club area of town, dodgy and a bit dangerous it was quite a lot of fun. Now throughout the trip there hasn't been much drinking...no thats a lie, there has been constant drinking but not much drinking to excess. So the opportunity to go clubbing was good.
Dave was like a dog on heat, as a single traveller thats his perogative, I was happy to be his wing man. We were told of a club that was apparently full of "ladies with negotiable morals" we weren't interested but were going to go have a look anyway (ho spottin, "theres one, theres another" - that type of thing). Anyway there was a cover charge so we went somewhere else.
There was a live band and a girl started dancing next to us, I obviously directed her towards Dave who started with his Kiwi charm, the lady in question was insistant that she wasn't a prostitute. I ignored them and went back to watchin the band. I happened to glance in the direction of the bar and happened also to catch the eye of a girl on a stool there. Now there was a row of girls on stools, it was like a pic and mix! I didn't have any doubts about what they were there for but couldn't resist a friendly smile as she caught my eye. (which is perfectly acceptable, I am friendly with everyone and this in no way can be seen as anything seedy on my behalf!! I keep telling myself )
Lo and behold (or should I say Ho and behold?) a minute later said girl (who was attractive in her own way but obviously not a touch on Gini who I love very much...) comes over to talk to me! The conversation went something like this,
Her "hey baby, where you from?"
me " England, where are you from?" I'm being polite right?
her "Columbia, your beautiful"
me "thanks, your not too bad yourself. I'm travelling with my girlfriend who is at my hotel" This is said as an explanation more than anything. And I must say I appreciated her direct approch.
her " Not tonight then?"
me " no, not tonight" by this I also mean not any night obviously!
In Panama "Columbian" is code, it means whore.
I left the bar before Dave and walked home, leaving him to work on his lady friend. He got back about 20 minutes later claiming he thought she was definately "Columbian" despite her attempts to hide it. It was a good night.
There are some Islands to the North of Panama called the San Blas. They are reputed to be some of the nicest in Central America and a must see. The jeep to get there was $25 for the 3 hour ride. Now you must remember we have been paying about $1 per hour on most forms of public transport till now, and we are all tight bastards when travelling, trying desperatle to stick to the "Budget".
We took the alternative option and went by bus. It meant a change of bus en route but would cost much less.
Oh how we can laugh about it now. We took a bus to Colon, which is truly the arse of the world. The plan was to get off before Colon and get a second bus but the bus driver failed to let us know when we should have got off. It was a 2 hour ride.
As we alighted the bus we were herded by the army to one section of the bus terminal. Which in itself was a bit strange. "Where's your Bag?" Gini asks me, "what bag?"I reply as I had my rucksack and a plastic bag, it was then I realised I also have a day bag that I had left on the bus with my MP3 player and other stuff in it. The bus had driven away. Shit....wait no this is it driving back down the road, I started to run after the bus with a soldier chasing me waving his gun in the air. Apparently Colon is so dangerous for tourists that if you walk the streets in the middle of the day you will be robbed. I got my bag back and then we found out there was a bus strike. We would have to stay in Colon for a while, the army didn't know when the buses would be running again.
We got back on a bus to Panama City.
Took the $25 jeep the next morning.
We have been to towns and villages, beaches and islands. We started off in Mexico City but since then we have avoided the bright lights and high rise buildings that make cities stand out.
For me a city in Central America is just the same as being in Manchester or anywhere really, there isn't any personality, I want to experience new and unusual cultures. I want to see things that make me stand in awe and take a minute to appreciate them.
I don't want to stand at traffic lights waiting to cross a busy road with heavy traffic just to get to the McDonald's on the other side (although I do love the egg McMuffin mmmm). I don't want to have the only smell be the one of car fumes and rubbish in the street. Like I said, you can get that anywhere in the world, the language is the only difference.
Saying this I was pleasantly surprised when we looked out the bus window at the massive skyscrapers that make the skyline of Panama City. They have hats, highrises and a canal.
We travelled here on mass, Gini and I, Kat and Ollie (Germans) and Kiwi Dave. The bus was nice but really cold, why o why in a really hot country would they feel the need to crank the aircon up so high that everyone on the bus needs to have blankets over them to stay warm?? Go figure?!
Our arrival was a bit of a trial (not much change there then) We headed to the first hostel that was mentioned in "The Book" as a rule of thumb the first mentioned is usually the best, and also the busiest.
Tangent - The phrase "Rule of Thumb" originated back in thon olden days, where it was illegal to beat your wife with anything thicker than your thumb. Nice eh?
Panama, Panama, Panama. Yeah so the hostel was full.
Off we head to another one in walking distance through the "Old town" of Panama, not really a savory area for late night strolls (it was dark by now). Anyway, long story not as long, it was full too but we managed to get all 5 of us and our rucksacks in a taxi, however the boot wouldn't shut so the driver just left it open. We watched all the way to a third hostel sure that our bags would be littering the streets any moment now!
There was room, and it was only $5 each. Score.
OK, there were a few things of interest that happened whilst we were in Panama City, in between the walking around and drinkin beer. First we went to a nature reserve, park thing where we were assured by the literature of the place that there were sloths in the trees and monkeys running rampant.
I wanted someone to say " Hey Stu look, there's a Sloth, oh and there's another one." I'm fuckin sure Sloths are not known for their agility and stealth, they should have been easy to find right? all lazy and shit hangin around in trees. Well they're the connotations that I conjure up when I think of them.
The reality my friends is somewhat different, there are 2 possible scenarios that I have consideded regarding this.
First, Sloths are not the subdued creatures we have seen on TV, they are not synonymous of the word "Lazy" and do not spend their days lounging in trees doing sod all as we have been led to believe. In fact they are quite nimble creatures who wait for gringo's(tourists/me) to come looking for them then they decide to evade said gringo's in a fashion that can only be described as "cat like" in their ability to run and hide, to give the impression that in fact they have never been there at all. They may even wear fashionable black velvet ninja suits to help them blend in with their surroundings and look oh so dapper at the same time.
The second scenario is that there just aren't any.
And as much as I want the first of these scenarios to be true I am beginning to feel that the latter is in fact correct.
We didn't see any monkeys either.
Ollie the German as he became known to us had just finished a year studying "Logistics". I asked him the logistics of what and he looked at me like I'd crawled out from under a rock. Apparently it's the process of commerce from manufacture to sales and includes all the arranging of shipping and transport and stuff, why the hell he didn't just say that I don't know. Anyway he got very excited about Panama, it was the place he was looking forward to most as they have the Panama Canal. (All the wonders of Central America and he was looking forward to a canal.....)
OK I'll admit at first I though "we have canals all over the place in Manchester, how could this be much different?" but then as he explained the canal had been built from the Pacific to the Carribean and saved ships hundreds or thousands of miles of sailing as they now just went through the whole country I was quite impressed.
We went on a trip to see said canal in action but unfortunately when we got there we were told that there wasn't a ship due for another few hours so we wouldn't see one go through the massive locks which is the highlight. I think I might have stifled a giggle at Ollies loss.
I got propositioned by a whore.
Not at the Canal though. Myself and Dave headed out to a club for the evening. Gini was too tired and the Germans had gone somewhere. After a few beers in a bar we went to the club area of town, dodgy and a bit dangerous it was quite a lot of fun. Now throughout the trip there hasn't been much drinking...no thats a lie, there has been constant drinking but not much drinking to excess. So the opportunity to go clubbing was good.
Dave was like a dog on heat, as a single traveller thats his perogative, I was happy to be his wing man. We were told of a club that was apparently full of "ladies with negotiable morals" we weren't interested but were going to go have a look anyway (ho spottin, "theres one, theres another" - that type of thing). Anyway there was a cover charge so we went somewhere else.
There was a live band and a girl started dancing next to us, I obviously directed her towards Dave who started with his Kiwi charm, the lady in question was insistant that she wasn't a prostitute. I ignored them and went back to watchin the band. I happened to glance in the direction of the bar and happened also to catch the eye of a girl on a stool there. Now there was a row of girls on stools, it was like a pic and mix! I didn't have any doubts about what they were there for but couldn't resist a friendly smile as she caught my eye. (which is perfectly acceptable, I am friendly with everyone and this in no way can be seen as anything seedy on my behalf!! I keep telling myself )
Lo and behold (or should I say Ho and behold?) a minute later said girl (who was attractive in her own way but obviously not a touch on Gini who I love very much...) comes over to talk to me! The conversation went something like this,
Her "hey baby, where you from?"
me " England, where are you from?" I'm being polite right?
her "Columbia, your beautiful"
me "thanks, your not too bad yourself. I'm travelling with my girlfriend who is at my hotel" This is said as an explanation more than anything. And I must say I appreciated her direct approch.
her " Not tonight then?"
me " no, not tonight" by this I also mean not any night obviously!
In Panama "Columbian" is code, it means whore.
I left the bar before Dave and walked home, leaving him to work on his lady friend. He got back about 20 minutes later claiming he thought she was definately "Columbian" despite her attempts to hide it. It was a good night.
There are some Islands to the North of Panama called the San Blas. They are reputed to be some of the nicest in Central America and a must see. The jeep to get there was $25 for the 3 hour ride. Now you must remember we have been paying about $1 per hour on most forms of public transport till now, and we are all tight bastards when travelling, trying desperatle to stick to the "Budget".
We took the alternative option and went by bus. It meant a change of bus en route but would cost much less.
Oh how we can laugh about it now. We took a bus to Colon, which is truly the arse of the world. The plan was to get off before Colon and get a second bus but the bus driver failed to let us know when we should have got off. It was a 2 hour ride.
As we alighted the bus we were herded by the army to one section of the bus terminal. Which in itself was a bit strange. "Where's your Bag?" Gini asks me, "what bag?"I reply as I had my rucksack and a plastic bag, it was then I realised I also have a day bag that I had left on the bus with my MP3 player and other stuff in it. The bus had driven away. Shit....wait no this is it driving back down the road, I started to run after the bus with a soldier chasing me waving his gun in the air. Apparently Colon is so dangerous for tourists that if you walk the streets in the middle of the day you will be robbed. I got my bag back and then we found out there was a bus strike. We would have to stay in Colon for a while, the army didn't know when the buses would be running again.
We got back on a bus to Panama City.
Took the $25 jeep the next morning.
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