Panama City

We were up early for a 7am breakfast of granola and melon, took a group photo (sadly not a jumping off boat one as weather was lousy...again!) and then boarded our speed boat to the Panama mainland. After a half hour boat ride - slightly damp from the rain - we were put into Jeeps and driven 2 hours of crazy winding up & down roads through the jungle to Panama City. PC's traffic lived up to expectations - really busy and slow!

We checked into Hotel Avila ($55), a bit more expensive and fancier than planned but nice luxury after the salty, sweatbox of the boat. We ate our peanut butter sandwiches that Rose had made us - aww! After a short rest we got the metro to the bus terminal (35c per journey, uses oyster card type system but can share one card). We bought our bus ticket for tomorrow, then got the metro one stop and walked to Casco Viejo, the old town. It started to rain, heavily with thunder and lightning, then eased up but continued to drizzle - my umbrella got it's first outing and Anna looked fetching in her yellow poncho.

The old town looked beautiful despite the rain, all colourful, colonial buildings in various states of repair, churches, unused tram lines and narrow streets. After wandering around a while, we headed back and stopped for dinner at the fisherman's market, a huge area of plastic chair seating with pumping music and locals kicking back - I think we were the only gringos. They were seafood eateries so I ordered stuffed plantains and coconut rice. The rice wasn't all that though did come with beans. I failed to ask what the plantains were stuffed with stupidly - turns out it was all sorts of seafood so I couldn't eat them! D'oh. Anna ate most of them plus her calamari, which she says was the best she's ever had by a mile.

Finally it stopped raining. We wandered back to our hotel along the boulevard of the Pacific coast (we've done both the Caribbean and Pacific coastlines in one day!) which was full of lit-up high-rises. Then we indulged in our first hot showers for 2 weeks and made full use of the free toiletries - we often get free shampoo but never before have we had conditioner as well.

Our first impressions of Panama are good and exceeding expectations! Shame about the weather...but at least it's not stiflingly hot.Read more