David without Goliath

From Panama City, we travelled seven hours by bus to the third largest city in Panama, David. Named after the biblical King David, the city of around 150,000 is a popular stopover for travellers going between Costa Rica and Panamá. During the journey, the bus was stopped twice for inspection by immigration and the Panamanian army requesting to see our passports to ensure we weren't illegal immigrants. Both the immigration officer and the army officer had problems trying to find the Panamanian immigration stamp in our passports amongst all the others that we've collected over the past nine months.

We arrived in David and quickly realised that there was very little to see and do in the town. But at least we weren't down and out in David or had to battle Goliath to pass through to our next destination. The Old Town had been abandoned many years ago and only a few colonial buildings, a church and a park remain. The park, whilst being an important historical site where the first battle of the Thousand Day war broke out, is now a rundown park away from the main commercial part of the city. Fortunately, we were kept entertained by the hotel owner's daughter, who now lives in Quebec but returns home a few times a year to help her elderly mother. It made up for the dingy accommodation and the screeching parrots that woke us at the crack of dawn. Parrots might be pretty but we wish they could keep things to themselves at least until a reasonable hour. Luckily, it was only one night to break up the journey as we continue through Panama and onto Costa Rica.

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