Panama

Our last stop in Central America, Panama, has been fantastic - I know we say that about every place but when we first arrived in Panama we spent 6 days on the islands of Bocas Del Toro which is the no.1 tourist destination in Panama. It was nice but we weren't overly impressed and thought if this was the best Panama had to offer we should stay a while. Anyway the beer is so cheap and food so good on Bocas so we didn't mind. We spent the days as usual on the beach, playing chess (check out the new scores - I am catching him) and just really taking some time out from moving around all the time. After 6 days though we got itchy feet again and needed to move on.

We headed to Boquette which was voted as the best place in the world to retire in some old folk pension magazine (who reads that stuff??) Anyway obviously North Americans do because the place is fill with retirees. Doesn't sound very exciting but actually the place is so beautiful you can see why people settle there. We did a good days hiking and went to Alice in Wonderlands garden which was a garden filled with lots of quirky bits. We also went to a animal rescue and got to see and play with monkeys and some beautiful birds- a black squirrel took a liking to Greg, jumped on his shoulder and wouldn't get off (Greg was screaming like a girl again! This time I have the video to prove it).

From Boquette we took the 7 hour bus journey to Panama City. Now this is a City, parts are surprisingly ultra modern with such a good vibe. But more on that later as we only spent one night there before heading to the San Blas Islands.

The San Blas Islands. W.O.W. I think this has been my best experience on the trip so far. The San Blas islands are inhabited by the Kuna Indians who still live like their ancestors millions of years ago (except they have mobiles). Although they are a part of Panama the Kuna are allowed to run the islands their own way and differently to Panamanian law. They don't pay tax, no foreigners can own any land, actually all the Kuna own all the land of the San Blas islands and only the coconut trees are individually owned. They are said to have the most advanced political system in the world which I am not going to get into but basically they all make the decisions about their welfare together. We decided to pay them a visit and went to stay with a host Kuna family. We stayed on the main island in the family's house which was very modest and basic. i.e bucket and coconut shell for a shower and the toilet was a fenced off area over the sea. The family was lovely and they cooked fresh fish for us everyday and took us on their boats to explore the other islands. There are over 400 islands. Some deserted or with only 1 hut on them. The one island we went to called Dog Island was paradise, exactly like a postcard of those deserted islands you see everywhere. There was also a ship wreck we got to snorkel.

Getting back from the San Blas was not so fun. The night before we left it rained like it can only rain in the tropics so hard solidly for 12 hours. The road was flooded so the 4x4 couldn't get to the port to pick us up so we had to go upriver with a boat we came round a bend and a tree had fallen across the river so the boat had to be pushed over the sand. We eventually got to a road where the cars could get to and our 4x4 had broken down. Finally we got it fixed, we were travelling back with 2 Israeli girls who were so rude and didn't want to pay the full price for the transport so were having a fight with the driver in the streets of Panama City. I just wanted a shower....

Eventually we got to our beautiful hostal overlooking the whole city right next door to the President's house. We have spent the last 3 nights in Panama City and of course took a trip to Miraflores Locks yesterday to watch the ships coming through the Canal. It was very interesting to learn about the Canal. The ships are huge and just fit through the locks (they are built specifically to fit in the Canal) - they pay on average $200,000 to pass through and it takes about a day. They are actually in the process of widening the Canal so bigger ships can fit through.

We are off to the United Stations again tomorrow. We fly into Miami and will be with Nick in Fort Lauderdale for a while before heading out on our road trip to Dallas.

Really bummed to be leaving Central America it has been such an experience and they are all such lovely countries. One observation we have made throughout Central American, on the zillions of buses we have caught you usually get someone who gets on with a charity box for some charity or another and everytime we are so surprised that nearly every single person gives some money and these people are really poor. You also won't ever see an old person or pregnant person standing on a bus....not like another place I know!