Dia 105

Amanda reporting, I apologize on my late post I know a few of you readers have been anxiously waiting for it. I have had the opportunity to visit Diego a second time on his journey, this time in Panama.

Diego and I spent our first afternoon walking around in Panama City. Diego picked out a hotel located in perfect location, 2 minutes from the bay, which had a walk way along it connecting the old (Casco Viejo) and new city. It’s a weird feeling standing at the bay when you can see the beautiful historical colonial Casco Viejo which blends into more of a typical Central American city. Then you turn to the other side and you see a bunch of sky scrapers and you think you are looking at a major North American city.

The next morning we planned on getting up super early so we could see some birds and monkeys in the rainforest along the canal. However we failed at this, Diego thought we could rely on his “very accurate” internal alarm clock. By the time we got to the rainforest we were told we probably won’t see anything but we still had high hopes....by the end of our walk we got the authentic rainforest experience by getting soaked from a long rainfall, saw some ants carrying huge pieces of leaves (I found this more exciting than Diego) and I saw some kind of rodent that was about 6 inches tall. Later we went to a National Park where we walked to a mini rainfall which we were able to climb.  We ended the day by stopping at the Miraflores locks along the canal.  They need the locks to raise the boats 26 meters to reach the height of  Gatun Lake which is the source of water for the canal operation and then lower them back down to 26 meters to reach sea level.

Day 3 of our trip we drove to the Caribbean side of the country where we stayed on the outskirts of a town called Portobelo. Which was a Port town that used to be the place where a lot of gold and other goods had gone through on the way  to Spain.  There were a few ruins still remaining of what the town used to be.  We spent the afternoon lounging at our motel which had a dock full of hammocks and lounge chairs on the ocean.

Day 4 we journeyed to a place called Isla Grande, the Big Island, in hopes to find a beautiful Caribbean beach and a nice surfing spot. Unfortunately these did not come together and were found on opposite sides of the island....so no surfing for Diego, and I was too chicken to try anyways.  The water was crystal clear, it was so nice that it was easy to ignore all the litter along the edge of the beach.

Day 5 we had the mission of having our feet in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in one day. We started in Portobelo, Atlantic, drove along the canal, passed through the edge of Panama City, drove along the Pacific coast for a little bit and landed at Gorgona beach, Pacific Ocean, we spent the afternoon relaxing at this beach watching many fisherman bring in their catch. Diego had the genius idea of buying some fish off of one of these fishing boats. We bought 2 filleted fish for 6 dollars! It was probably the best fish I’ve tasted in a while...thanks to it being fresh and Diego’s expertise with breading and frying. That night we also decided to be extra adventurous with our cooking and bought these sausages made of corn meal, we saw these things in every grocery store and looked kind of tasty.....Diego loved them and said it reminded him of these Italian things he`s eaten back in Argentina (sorry Amanda, this is me interruptimg in your blog just to add that what it reminded me of is ''Polenta''), I thought they were dry and flavourless, this would have been a time when ketchup would have saved the day.

Day 6 Diego convinced me that these corn meal sausages can be tasty by smothering them in cheese when he cooked some up for breakfast but everything tastes better with cheese.  We spent the morning at the beach and headed back to Panama City.....word of advice to all, never book a hotel with hoteles.com the same day you want the hotel.  No worries though,  we found a room at the neighbouring hotel. It was my last night in Panama and we wanted to go out on the town by going to Pizza Hut, it was sooo good. We also wondered onto this Calle Uruguay which is supposed to be the big party street of Panama City, but don`t worry you are not missing anything this street is  as big as downtown Guelph.

Day 7= Last day in Panama. This day was spent trying to find last minute souvenirs, which were difficult to find outside of Panama City. Unfortunately it was a holiday for Mother`s day that day and most of the shops were closed. So I tested Diego`s shopping patience in the mission to find something that was open, which there was.  We ended the day by saying our goodbyes at the airport, which was emotional but we also knew that in a couple months we will be together again in Argentina.

I wish Diego all the luck in getting to Colombia!



Casco antiguo de la ciudad de Panama.
Old Panama CIty




Panama nuevo.
New



Casco antiguo.
Old




Parque nacional Soberania.




Soberania




Soberania, caminando bajo la llubia torrencial.
Walking under heavy rain.




Colibri en Soberania.




Soberania




Compuertas de Miraflores, canal de Panama.




Barco viajando de Atlantico a Pacifico, bajando.
Ship going down, from Atlantico to Pacific.





Puente de las americas, cruzando de Sur a Norte.
Americas bridge, crossing from South to North.




Colectivo local, son apodados ''Los Diablos Rojos''.
Local buses, called Red Devils.




Portobelo, mar caribe panameno.



 


Perro del hostal admirando el atardecer, un romantico.




Cruzando a Isla Grande desde Portobelo.
Crossing from Pb to IG





Amanda y su primera leccion de surf, esta vez sin olas.




Isla grande. Miren el color del agua! y era tibia, si no fuera por el miedo a los tibu estaba como para nadar y nadar hacia adentro.





Habia varias embarcaciones ancladas que parecian abandonadas. Algunas, como esta, undidas. Embarcaciones grandes y algunas con varias banderas o leyendas que hacian suponer que terminaron abandonadas aca, luego de alguna larga travecia.
There were some old boats that looked like abandoned and some were sunk like this one. Big boats with seberal flags and sayings that made them look like this was their sad end after a big adventure.



Esperando que el botero nos venga a buscar para cruzar denuevo a Portobelo.
Waiting our ride back to Portobelo.



Playa Gorgona, Oceano Pacifico, Panama. A 2 horas de Ciudad de Panama.




Pescadores en Gorgona.





Cuando regresaban de la pezca, primero se acercaban despacio a la costa y bajaban un poco de la carga y uno o dos tripulantes, Luego regresaban mar adentro, unos 300 metros y encaraban hacia la costa a toda velocidad, llegando al arena, levantaban el motos y deslizaban por el arena seca como 10 metros.





Angel de arena.





Motin en el bote, los pajaros al mando.