Oh my god .... I've never been to Georgia or California, never romped in the son with a preacher's son but bloody hell I've been to paradise !! Sorry Carly Simon for nicking your song .... Loads to update you on ..
It's Wednesday today and I'm back in Panama City, last time I reported we were still in David. On Saturday we headed out to the Golfo de Chiriqui on the Pacific Coast, got a bus from David to an intersection on the Interamerican highway and jumped in a taxi to get down to the village from which we would get a water taxi to Isla Boco Brava (angry mouth ??!). The taxi was in fact a pickup truck so I opted to sit out at the back and enjoy the scenery, it's simply gorgeous, everywhere I've seen from Almirante across the Chiriqui highlands and over to the coast in my opinion is the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen.
We jumped into a water taxi and headed to Isla Boca Brava to see if we could do some snorkelling. It's only a 10 minute ride over there but it's a beautiful island, unfortunately I have no photos as my memory card was full but Tamara got some for me so she can email them to me. Once again our snorkelling adventures were thwarted as they had no equipment for hire so we hiked to a beach (deserted apart from a balding guy who was sunbathing nude at one end of the beach and who Tamara got talking to later on, when he was wearing something I should point out, who turned out to be a real life US Bounty Hunter !!).
Really nice beach again, we were saying that we have been to the sorts of beaches that we dream about or have drooled over when you see them on tv at home and now we're just like .... "yeah, nice beach".
Heading back to David the taxi picked up 2 guys who sat with me in the back of the pickup, turned out they were heading back to David aswell. They were both about 40 ish, very gruff and cowboy looking and they were so sweet ! When the taxi dropped us all off back on the highway we had a 15 minute wait in the sweltering heat with no shade anywhere, so they stood up on the bank of the road so they could create shadows with their bodies for us to stand in !
On arrival back in David (which both me and Tamara have fallen in love with, the city and it's people) we were heading back to the hotel through town and a street vendor shouted to me, "hey, you from Canada ??", I shouted back, "no, Inglaterra", he then asked me where and I said near Newcastle (saying near Middlesbrough just results in blank looks over here but unfortunately most people have heard of Newcastle) and then he's saying "Tino Asprilla !!" - bizarre ! Everyone is just SO friendly. That night we decided to have a look in one of the casinos (so many over here), it felt strange being back in that sort of environment but while Tamara was playing Casino Stud whilst drinking the most outrageous looking pink cocktail I wandered over to the bar to get myself a Cuba Libre and this guy insisted on buying my drink. He hadn't spoken to me before that and he didn't seem to want "anything in return", he just came over to the bar when the bar tender handed me the drink and insisted on paying, smiled and said "de nada".
So Tamara did ok on Casino stud and I got a free drink, not a bad night in all !
So, Sunday we took the bus to Panama City, the landscape really changes and becomes a bit flatter. Panama City is like a Western / US city, high rises etc. Bit of a culture shock actually. Arriving quite late we checked into quite possibly the worst hotel ever. It reminded me of a bail hostel, not that I've ever been in one but ....
The light bulb in my room had the power to light the area within one inch of the bulb itself, the glass slats in the window were mainly missing, the guy who seemed to be living in the alley outside my window spent all night coughing up phlegm and I had Colin the Cockroach to keep me company. Lovely. I don't think that part of the city is the nicest but the business district is way too expensive.
Anyway, we spent the next day sitting in a tourist agency office. Well, we didn't spend the whole day but it bloody felt like it. We wanted to splurge a bit and book a couple of tours, one to the Archipelago of San Blas and another to take a tour of the Panama Canal. Lovely guy in there but, my god, it was a painfully slow process. When he was finally issuing us with our tickets (A4 pieces of paper) I don't think it's possible to fold a piece of paper in to 3 any slower than he did, Tamara caught my eye and we both struggled not to burst into fits of laughter probably through sheer frustration !
So, on Tuesday morning (6:30am - ugh) we got a taxi to the domestic airport and caught our plane to San Blas - or paradise. The San Blas Islands are a group of islands under the control of the Kuna Yula tribe, although in Panama borders they control themselves. Most of the islands are uninhabited. We were staying on El Porvenir and when the plane landed well, we looked out of the window and saw our hotel and we both thought "shit, our hotel is on the bloody runway" ... then we got off the plane and realised that the island is, in effect, the runway and the hotel ! It was heaven, just 7 of us staying on there. I realised why I had received a strange look from the guy back in Panama City when I asked if we get picked up from the airport or do we get a taxi to our hotel .... he just said the Senora Oti would be there for us, he didn't explain that she would walk 5 feet from the hotel and across the runway to welcome us !
They took us on a boat to another uninhabited island called Isla Perro (dog island) and honestly I can't think that there can be anywhere else in the world that is more paradise-like. I just kept taking photos because I couldn't believe I was there and also so I could make my mum jealous ! The water was heavenly, the sand was white powder, the sun was bloody hot and I spent a day in heaven. I've actually been on one of those tiny islands (you can walk the circumference of the island in a leisurely 5 minutes) that you see in pictures and never think you'll be there.
Later that evening we were taken over to a couple of the inhabited islands to have a wander about, when we saw their flag flying over the island Thomas (guy from Switzerland), Tamara and I all just gaped with open mouths, I think from the photos you'll see why, the two Argentinian girls we were with didn't seem to understand what we were astonished at. Then we spent the rest of the evening chilling out in hammocks back on El Porvenir. I am so happy I went there.
We flew back into Panama City this morning, found ourselves a better hotel and tomorrow we're doing a trip on the Panama Canal - yay !!
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