Bus-ted

The journey actually went like clockwork but my poor butt ached by the end of the day.
My BnB hosts had my empanada breakfast ready earlier than usual so that I could make the 9:00 bus from Boquete to David. In fact I made the 8:30 bus allowing me to make the 10:00 bus from David to Panama City.
I was amazed that the road between Boquete and David was smooth 4 lane asphalt all the way. The same was true of the entire 7 hour trip onward to Panama City. The speed limit was 80 km/hr and both busses did not exceed it. The first bus was an up-to-date comfy coach but the long distance double decker bus to Panama City was a brand new giant with “attendant” offering food for purchase. Imagine Air Canada +.
All the way south from David we drove along in the blazing sun with mountains in the distance on our left covered by a solid blanket of cloud.
Just after 1:00 the bus wheeled into a cafeteria where many passengers bought lunch, visited the banos and stretched their legs. It was our only stop.
Within 50 km of Panama City the highway turned into 6 lanes and we crossed the Panama Canal with a view of the city’s modern skyline in the background.
Upon leaving the highway at 5:30 pm we ran into the Friday rush hour and crawled the rest of the way to the main bus terminal.

I decided that after so much time on those 2 busses and uncertain of the local transportation I would take a taxi to the hotel.
Steeling myself for taxi negotiations, I strode confidently up to the row of waiting taxis outside the bus station. The first guy wanted $20. I offered $5. He laughed and I walked on to the next group of taxis confident that I was zeroing in on a reasonable fare. The next guy asked for $12. I told him “$10 and we have a deal.” And he agreed.

The hotel turned out to be only 4 km from the bus terminal but the traffic was so bad that it took over a half an hour to cover that ground. It was after 7:30 pm when I finally checked into my room.

What a long day!Read more