The Great Divide

As you can see we are still in Panama City, since it is rather like hotel california… we just haven’t been able to get out of this place. We tried taking a boat – but no one ever got back to us with prices and times. We booked a ticket to Quito online, but there was a problem with the credit card (or more likely the site we were booking through) and the site requested us to send copies of passports, credit cards and all sorts of other details to an unknown fax number, and couldn’t confirm that the price of the tickets would be the same as the day we actually booked the flights since they had taken 2 days to tell us how we could actually pay for our flights. By the time they told us what to do, which sounded dodgy enough, it was 3 hours before take off. Needless to say they have received a stinky dissatisfied customer email. Failing that, yes we did consider more or less swimming out of here, but the water is a very nasty shade of grey and smells rather like raw sewage, which put us off. Yesterday we gave up on the budget travel thing, went to an agency, and found out that the cheapest flights were to Bogota, but that we needed an exit ticket too. We now have a ticket to Bogota tomorrow (wednesday) and an onward ticket to Quito for the 30th May. That should give us enough time to trek around Columbia or take Spanish lessons, whatever seems more viable when we get there.
Over the last 2 weeks we have got cabin fever and then gone a step further. When you find yourselves playing headlamp tag (you both wear headlamps, lie down on the bed and then try to “tag” the other beam of light with your beam of light. Its quite a neck workout…) you know it is bad. When it is too dangerous to go out at night, the restaurant downstairs serves meat that has gone off that wasn’t what you ordered in the first place, and the only people on the street are prostitutes (more on that later) and you can’t walk 2 blocks, you know it is time to leave.
We have tried several different hotels during our stay. We arrived at 3 am so went to the hotel that was suggested by the cab driver. That was fine, but we found a cheaper one next door. After being in the hotel for a bit, we looked out the window and found it strange that there was a red light outside it. Later on we discovered that we were spending our first night ever in a very pinky red room that was in a sort of bordello hotel. Also, we encountered an indigenous prostitute. This made a change from your average lady of the night who is generally scantilly clad in PVC, leather, latex or something similar. This particular lady was probably about 40 years old, and was in the indidgenous dress from this area. Calves wrapped in beads, patterned – very designer – and printed cotton cloth wrapped around to form a long skirt, and a cotton printed blouse and head scarf. From the number of times we saw her with different partners, it would seem that she was a very popular choice!

The difference between the rich and the poor here is just astounding. Earlier this week we decided to visit the Casco Viejo (old town) by foot, but it was such a ghetto that we really didn’t feel safe. Since then, we have met up with a friend of Fab’s from college and he and his girlfriend have been wonderful, showing us around and being perfect hosts. They took us back to the Casco Viejo, and once you get through the ghetto gauntlet, it is really beautiful. We went there again for dinner last night (no chicken and rice!!) Also, they introduced us to “VIP cinema” – a concept that would definitely take off in Geneva. You have a huge leather couch for 2 people, which reclines all the way back. If that weren’t good enough, there is a little button in the arm rest that sends a hostess to you to take your order for anything from drinks and popcorn to crepes. Very very good idea. The film – clash of the titans – wasn’t all that great, but the cinema was well worth it!
We also finally made it out to the Panama Canal. This is one thing that is really worth visiting in Panama. We could sit watching the massive cargo boats and oil tankers and the occasional passenger ship going through the gigantic locks. Plus, by 2014 they are building even bigger locks to take even bigger boats.

Today we are just trying to cancel the TIKA bus tickets that we had to buy when we entered Panama, since we now have an onward ticket out of the country. Getting here by bus was a pain. The bus arrived at the border from Costa Rica at about 11 pm, and we had to get out of the bus and walk across the border, dealing with both exit and entry procedures. When we found the entry border, after waiting in line, we were told that we couldn’t enter without an exit ticket, hence why we have tickets back to Costa Rica.

We are really looking forward to getting to a place that actually has some culture still. Panama is just either dirt poor and scraping by, trying to survive, and is just dangerous, or else it is rich and you may as well be in the states. The malls look the same, have the same stores, the food is the same. It is a great shame that Panama City doesn’t have more to offer the non-business tourist other than lots of noise, crazy traffic and a (very impressive) canal. They are trying to make an effort (for example rebuilding the old town) to attract other types of tourism other than business, but it has a long way to go. Perhaps other parts of the country are more interesting, but from what we have heard, eco tourism is but a name, and most tourists who love the country do so only because they can drink all night and surf all day (for example in Bocas del Toro), which isn’t really our thing. We can’t wait to get out of here finally!

Thanks for all the votes! And who told us to walk across the Darien Gap??!!! Crazy nut… 🙂

Bisous,

Faboli xxx