3/26/13
Conrad drove Elisha and I to the airport at 4 am for an early start to a long day. We then flew from Spokane to snowy Denver where we used one of our free lounge passes to enjoy the first class lounge at DIA. We then flew to Newark and on to Panama. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours out of Newark, so we arrived into Panama City just before midnight. We shared a taxi to the center with a nice german fellow that we met. We stopped at our hostel first. A supposed quiet and relaxing place. Indeed. It was completely closed up, so we continued on with the German guy. His hostel was full, so after a few calls we found a hostel that had space and we headed there, making it to sleep around 3am. Luckily there was only one other person in the dorm, so we didn't bother too many people as we settled in and unwound from the long journey.
3/27/13
We slept in and did some initial "chores"that we needed to do upon arriving (like paying our deposit for our boat at a different hostel). We then got a panamanian lunch from a local place and headed to the bus station to buy an overnight bus ticket. The line was incredibly long (nearly 2 hours) as people from the city were lining up to leave the city for the long Easter weekend. I convinced Elisha we should buy the ticket then and wait in the line instead of doing it later. It ended up being the right decision bc when we came back later, the line was 3 times as long and wrapped around to the outside of the huge terminal.
After spending forever in the line to buy our night bus ticket to David, we took a bus towards Gamboa (famous for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Centre on the Island of Barrio Colorado) and got off at the Miraflores locks. It was exactly 5pm when we got there and the viewing dock for the locks, one of the locks on the Panama Canal, was just closing. We were kind of bummed thinking we wouldn't get to see the canal after all that effort to get there. We walked around a bit trying to find a place to see when we discovered a loophole. The restaurant was still open and you could see from there. We went up to buy a Pepsi or something, but it turns out the lady seemed to understand the plight of the backpackers who probably didn't want to buy a 5 dollar Pepsi, so she just let us up to hang out. We watched a couple of boats go through the Miraflores locks as they made their way through the Panama Canal. On the way back to the bus stop, we ran across a little family of Capybaras, the world's largest rodents munching on grass beside the water.
That night we got on an overnight bus heading to David in Northwest Panama.
3/28/13
When we arrived into David we caught an early morning bus up to tiny Boquette which sits at high elevation at the base of a volcano in the cloud forest among fruit and coffee plantations. It was a perfectly cool temperature compared to steamy Panama city. After walking around the town a bit, the owner of our hostel (a graduate of CU!) recommended a cool 3 waterfall hike into the cloud forest. It was beautiful and the waterfalls very impressive. It did rain on us at the end, but a very nice hike in the cloudforest.
On the way back down towards the town, a car stopped in front of us and asked if we wanted a ride since it was raining. We of course accepted. It was a canadian couple, Darren and Miranda from Saskatchewan. They were staying in the same dorm room as us but had the luxury of a rental car. They invited us that afternoon to head to some hot springs with them that would have been a pain to get to via bus. We were excited to be invited and said yes.
The hot springs were pretty neat. It was an undeveloped springs a short walk from the road adjacent to a crazy farm with peacocks, goats, ducks, and a monkey. The hot springs was actually quite hot, and I preferred it down by the river where it mixed with the colder water. Around dusk, we headed back to the car and drove back into town for some panamanian food.
Conrad drove Elisha and I to the airport at 4 am for an early start to a long day. We then flew from Spokane to snowy Denver where we used one of our free lounge passes to enjoy the first class lounge at DIA. We then flew to Newark and on to Panama. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours out of Newark, so we arrived into Panama City just before midnight. We shared a taxi to the center with a nice german fellow that we met. We stopped at our hostel first. A supposed quiet and relaxing place. Indeed. It was completely closed up, so we continued on with the German guy. His hostel was full, so after a few calls we found a hostel that had space and we headed there, making it to sleep around 3am. Luckily there was only one other person in the dorm, so we didn't bother too many people as we settled in and unwound from the long journey.
3/27/13
We slept in and did some initial "chores"that we needed to do upon arriving (like paying our deposit for our boat at a different hostel). We then got a panamanian lunch from a local place and headed to the bus station to buy an overnight bus ticket. The line was incredibly long (nearly 2 hours) as people from the city were lining up to leave the city for the long Easter weekend. I convinced Elisha we should buy the ticket then and wait in the line instead of doing it later. It ended up being the right decision bc when we came back later, the line was 3 times as long and wrapped around to the outside of the huge terminal.
After spending forever in the line to buy our night bus ticket to David, we took a bus towards Gamboa (famous for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Centre on the Island of Barrio Colorado) and got off at the Miraflores locks. It was exactly 5pm when we got there and the viewing dock for the locks, one of the locks on the Panama Canal, was just closing. We were kind of bummed thinking we wouldn't get to see the canal after all that effort to get there. We walked around a bit trying to find a place to see when we discovered a loophole. The restaurant was still open and you could see from there. We went up to buy a Pepsi or something, but it turns out the lady seemed to understand the plight of the backpackers who probably didn't want to buy a 5 dollar Pepsi, so she just let us up to hang out. We watched a couple of boats go through the Miraflores locks as they made their way through the Panama Canal. On the way back to the bus stop, we ran across a little family of Capybaras, the world's largest rodents munching on grass beside the water.
That night we got on an overnight bus heading to David in Northwest Panama.
3/28/13
When we arrived into David we caught an early morning bus up to tiny Boquette which sits at high elevation at the base of a volcano in the cloud forest among fruit and coffee plantations. It was a perfectly cool temperature compared to steamy Panama city. After walking around the town a bit, the owner of our hostel (a graduate of CU!) recommended a cool 3 waterfall hike into the cloud forest. It was beautiful and the waterfalls very impressive. It did rain on us at the end, but a very nice hike in the cloudforest.
On the way back down towards the town, a car stopped in front of us and asked if we wanted a ride since it was raining. We of course accepted. It was a canadian couple, Darren and Miranda from Saskatchewan. They were staying in the same dorm room as us but had the luxury of a rental car. They invited us that afternoon to head to some hot springs with them that would have been a pain to get to via bus. We were excited to be invited and said yes.
The hot springs were pretty neat. It was an undeveloped springs a short walk from the road adjacent to a crazy farm with peacocks, goats, ducks, and a monkey. The hot springs was actually quite hot, and I preferred it down by the river where it mixed with the colder water. Around dusk, we headed back to the car and drove back into town for some panamanian food.
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