Panama City

Twas the night bus from hell - windy mountain road, lights off at 8pm and no iPod. So the Irish Trio were left betting on the outside temperature gauge (an ever present LED display at the front of the bus) and how low it would go. I won with a risky bet of 20c. For good measure we threw in a Mexican wave for every hour we completed. Then it was on to the name game and a couple of rounds of trivia. By the time we got sleepy at 2am the driver pulled in and decided it was time for dinner. Nothing for it so we procured a small bottle of rum to take the edge off and propel us into the arms of morpheus. The plan didn't work as by the time we were back on board we were giggling like school girls as we smuggled our contraband onboard in plastic cups. Another round or two of drunken trivia and we finally got to sleep around 4am.

Which was indeed perfect timing as the bus arrived in Panama City at 4.30am. We took a taxi to a recommended hostel only to find that reception didn't open till 8am. So we scoured the (very dodgy) vicinity to find anywhere open. As luck would have it there was a Panamanian version of KFC open so we huddled in, ordered some coffee and started to play shithead. What we didn't know was that this venerable establishment was also the central meeting point for all transvestites in the city. So by 5am it resembled a Thai disco, with more large adam's apples than you could shake a stick at. We managed to kill the 4 hours only to find that the hostel had no room when it opened up.

So into a taxi and onto hostel recommendation nummero dos. After a while finding the general area our hopes soared as we found the building. But they were soon to be dashed after finding that the hostel had closed down months ago. Slight aside: Avoid the Rough Guide to Central America like the plague. Next we just asked the taxi driver to take us somewhere cheap and central, which he did a fine job of.

Panama City is fun and the Panamanians are extremely friendly (even by high Central America standards), so we spent a couple of days here soaking up the atmosphere of the Calle Uruguay and the Casco Viejo which is definitely one of the most up and coming places I have seen, with nearly every building being renovated.

At the end of Central America with the impeneterable Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia we searched for a yacht that would take us to Cartagena. The search was quick and we found a lovely 50 footer that was leaving in 2 days. Onward ho.

Photos here