Panama Overall

So with all of the highlights about Panama done, what do I think about the country itself?

1. The country is a source of contradictions. When we we left the airport and headed for the hotel, our taxi driver drove like a race car driver, and the police did nothing about it. The speed limit was clearly marked, but people seemed to treat it more like a suggestion than a rule. The layout of the city itself is a contradiction. As you drive through the downtown, you will see amazing sky scrappers worthy of New York or London, however if you look closer you'll notice that all of these buildings are surrounded by slums. A real tale of two cities.

There and Back Again

On Saturday morning, we woke up early once again to go on our voyage through the 99 year old Panama Canal.

Our voyage was on the 43 year old Pacific Queen, an old passenger ship which was previously used in Scandinavia (Some the compartments has Swedish writing), before being bought by the tour company a few years ago. For a 43 year old, the PQ was not a bad ship at all, the furniture is a little dated, but it was comfortable to ride on.

The cruise itself is eight hours long, going from Panama City on the Pacific Coast, to Colon on the Atlantic Coast. After arriving in Colon, the tour company sent us back to Panama City on a fleet of fancy buses similar to the Diversified buses (without seat belts) back home.

Sorry

I need to go to bed early tonight, but I will soon have a piece on the highlight of my trip, a voyage though the Panama Canal to the Atlantic Ocean and back.

The Pearls

So I hear that one of the most popular attractions in Panama are the Pearl Islands. So against my better judgement, we bought passage to the Island on Contadora and set out.

We woke up at 5:30 in the morning, and made our way to the pier for 7:00. At exactly 7:00 (I checked), a guy brought out a table and slowly began the check in process for the journey. (I think the staff came at the same time as us...) After an hour of this, we boarded the catamaran and sailed for Contadora.

Along the way we were joined by an old woman from Oregon at our table who now lives on the island. To be honest, I felt like she talked too much for me, but overall she was very pleasant. She told us quite a bit about the place, and her life on the island.

When we arrived, it turned out that the island has no dock, and we had to transfer to smaller boats similar to the launchas we use in the Rio. It was no big deal for me since I'm now used to boats, however I can imagine it would be very difficult for the elderly or physically handicapped.

Condo

I'll just leave these here.

Executive Class

For the first time in my life, I flew on first class when going to Panama. After flying like that, it saddens me to think that after the return trip, I probably won't fly like that again for a very long time.

On the plane I wasn't called sir or you, I was always referred to as Mr. Ingram. How often does your flight attendant refer to you by name? Never happened before for me.

You know how on the plane they give you that stupid bag of nuts that nobody can open? Well, you don't get a bag nuts, no. You get mixed nuts in a real porcelain plate. I also don't really like assorted nuts that much, however these had the perfect amount of salt. Not too salty, but salty enough for flavor.

There's also no plastic plates, cups, or cutlery. My coke came in a real glass, my lunch (which was awesome for airplane food) came on a real plate and tray, and my cutlery was good stainless steel. Who would even think that such a thing would be allowed on a post 9/11 plane?

Finally the seats speak for themselves. They're a nice size, and there's plenty of leg room. The guy across the aisle from me was even putting his feet up. If even just once, you must fly first class on airplane.

West Side is Best Side

The eastern side of Guatemala is all jungle and plantations. I was expecting the western half to be pretty much the same, however I was presently surprised to find out that this was not the case.

Western Guatemala is a fairly arid and forested region. In fact you cut the area right out of Guatemala and place it into Canada without anyone noticing. The climate is also about ten degrees cooler, imagine Edmonton during May, however May never ends. I can't deny that I really liked being in the west, it was the first time since leaving Canada that I felt at home.