Well we are now in David and I already think I'm in love with Panama ! Well, Panama mainland anyway. We left Bastimentos yesterday morning and I have to say I was quite pleased to leave, there was no good vibes on that island ! Funny though, on our last night we were walking along the path and a woman grabbed my arm and said "do you remember me ?", to be honest I didn't have a clue and then I realised that she was staying at Kap's Place back in San Jose when I was there !!! Small world indeed !
We headed back on a boat to Bocas and then another boat to Almirante. A great journey back across the water, so smooth. From Almirante we caught a bus to David.
It seems that most of the buses here in Panama are sort of mini buses, 24 seater ones. At one point I counted 36 adults and 4 babies plus one very cute puppy. When we stopped for a "comfort break" I noticed a guy sitting having some lunch and thought he looked familar but then dismissed it ... 5 minutes later he comes up to me and said, "hey, it's me from Liberia !" - we chatted over breakfast when I stayed there, he lives in Montezuma, CR but was doing a bit of travelling - even smaller world !
The journey was quite simply stunning, from what I've seen so far Panama is absolutely beautiful. The people are so friendly and it's interesting but they even are looking more like South Americans. I haven't been to South America yet but from photos there is a definite "look" - I can't think of a single bad thing to say about it here.
Anyway, we have found an absolute gem of a hotel, right on the Parque Central, 25 quid for 3 nights and for that I get a double room with bathroom and a tv - bargain !!!
Today we took a bus up to Caldera to the natural hot springs, proper natural ones not like the 5 star variety me and Dermot went to in La Fortuna. We had to hike about 3k's in sweltering heat to get there, absolutely no other tourists around which is such a relief after CR. The place was amazing, so rugged, the guy who owns the land just asked us for a dollar (the currency here is the US dollar, how weird is that ? I would hate to have another country's currency as my currency) so we could enter his land. The springs were just "there" with a few rocks placed around them and MY GOD THEY ARE HOT !! We estimated the air temperature was about 35 sweltering degrees anyway but the water was scalding ! It was just so beautiful there and tranquil.
We headed back to hike back up to the road and catch a bus to a waterfall back near David we'd heard about, that was a real find too. Lovely cool water river, great for swimming.
So far Panama and it's people get a great big THUMBS UP from me - let's see what tomorrow brings - the Golfo de Chiriqui !
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