Helping Scotland Yard

The journey from Panama to Colombia is notoriously dangerous by land, through the Darien gap. So, being a safety-first kind of girl, i´m gonna avoid the guerillas and go by sea instead :)

The Captains that sail the boats from Panama to Colombia, however, are generally a bit dodgy. This guy has been recommended by a few people and has connections with the hostel where i´m staying in Panama City.....but just in case i get tipped overboard halfway down, i thought i´d make the investigation a little bit easier ;)

Loner

Both Sally and Derek are back in sunny London now....i wish i could come back, hang out a while, and then come back here.... I miss you guys!!!

Me and Sally on Sally´s last day of holiday:

Panama Canal

Pretty flipping awesome sight to see. After several hours of Canal history museums, i can tell anyone anything they want to know....almost. Will leave it for future dinner parties though.

Here are some pictures of a Chinese ship passing through the Miraflores lock to whet your appetite ;) : And a picture of my Canal Buddies:

Contrast

I love the contrasts we´ve found so far in Panama. There´s the Garifuna Carribbean culture on the Bocas del Toro, quiet highland towns like Boquete, hot and dusty transport towns like David, Cowboy country on the Peninsula de Azuero and the modernity of Panama City.

Even in Panama City itself, each district throws up a completely different perspective. From the highest point in Panama City, Cerro Ancon, you can see as many sky scrapers (it seems!) as Hong Kong, the ruins of Panama Viejo - the original city that was destroyed by Henry Morgan, the wonky charm of Casco Viejo - where the city was rebuilt in the 1600s - and a queue of immense cargo ships waiting out in the Pacific to enter the Panama Canal and the Miraflores lock.

It´s a crossing point for people too....there are ex-pats from everywhere here, though predominantly from the US. There´s a whiff of scandal from the slick looking guys in their fancy E-type jags and a story of money and intrigue to imagine for the immaculately groomed lady sipping coffee in the square.

There´s poverty too though. The hostel we are staying in (Luna´s Castle) has a view on one side of the business district and the bay, while on the other there are people PACKED into houses that look like they´re about to collapse. These are the people that the city government is trying to move on, and out of their homes. They´ve realised the value of the old part of town, but it´s just a little too close to the poor part of town for comfort.

A Man, a plan, a canal Panama

It reads the same forward and backward! Favourite thing learnt about Panama so far....

National Geographic submission

Yes, you can be assured that Sally and Derek enjoyed hanging around for 5 hours while i waited for a nice picture of seagulls.

More beach shenanigans

Rodeo

The music was good in cowboy country, but as you can probably imagine, Sally and I were less than impressed by the bullfighting. Fighting small bulls, with no horns, pitted against 6 or 7 teenage boys with sticks and excess testosterone, does not a happy lady make.


They have very cool hats in the Panamanian countryside, though not so impressive on presidential candidates....really should pick something more statesman-like.

Pretty Colours

Mmmmm....Coffee!

Eco-lodge

We stayed a night in an eco-lodge in the Chiriqui highlands, getting to which involves a long walk up and down a mountain.

This is Sally having just made it to the bottom on the way down. On the way up, she managed to persuade an elderly gentleman to carry her bag....am getting concerned for the welfare of old people in the countries that Sally visits. There's an old lady in Vietnam that is still recovering from Sally's last trip....

Snorkelling and Sunbathing in Bocas del Toro

Conscious that I will risk Sally's wrath for too many early-holiday bikini shots....

Yay! Sally has come to visit!

Trying to get to Sally

Argh! Soooooo much panic!!!! I am in Costa Rica, Sally is due to arrive in Panama...the border between Costa Rica and Panama is flooded and closed....ARGH!

Luckily, the day before I was supposed to meet with Lovely Sally Apple, the border reopened....though the road isn't quite rebuilt yet:


And there is a fairly long walk between countries (see weary, tired face for more information):

Tent City

Good idea for camping I thought....why has no one thought of putting campsites indoors before?!

I Love Dominical!

Dominical is just a little beach town on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. There's not a whole lot going on but beach, surf.....and a whole lot of relaxing. The hostel i stayed in was pretty flipping disgusting and dirty, but the people there were brilliant.

This is the disgusting hostel....doesn't look too bad from the outside does it!!?



These are (some of) the brilliant people (Me, Derek, Glen, Ryan & Andy):



And this is my favourite cafe (Soda Narayoa)....ate there 5 nights out of 7!

Forgotten Entry...

I forgot to add this from Nicaragua...thought some people might find it interesting from a design perspective?

The building in the pictures is called an 'Earthship'. It's built from recycled materials like old tyres packed with earth and held together by Adobe, with recycled plastic bottles to let light in (and decorate!)

It's apparently quick to build (16 days - albeit with a fairly large team) and looks pretty impressive. Renewable sources of energy are used where possible and the houses are planned to minimise energy usage.

Interesting project and ideas. I have some questions over the degree to which the communities where these houses are built will continue using the construction principles. They've been using plain old Adobe for thousands of years with pretty consistent success. Collecting thousands of tyres and packing them with earth may lose it's appeal once the western volunteers have gone home.