The Last Leg of Central America (Panama)

Holy moly, 8 countries in 2 months. We have been a backpacking machine! As we crossed into the Panamanian border, which is pretty unorganized, and probably screwed us over, claiming that the car insurance we had bought (which states that Panama is included) was not accepted here, Jared reminded us all of the fact that we have done alot of driving and beaching and hiking and everything else we could imagine. It was a nice nostalgic moment for us.
Our first stop in Panama was David, a small town close to the border, where we could refuel and rest after a very long day of driving. The only notable part was the super yummy fish dinner for $3, oh and the increasing annoying guy who kept trying to hitch himself and his friend onto our journey.
The next morning, we headed to Santa Catalina, another surf spot for Jared. Unfortunately for us, the weather was pretty crummy, and one of the resident hostelers and surfers informed us that Jared would not be able to surf that evening, but to fear not, the weather should be good the next morning. After we all napped, we headed out to grab pizza with some of the other surfers and some drinks before calling it a night. In the morning, Jared woke up and headed to the SUPER rocky beach with the other surfers, as the only long boarder. After about an hour, he came back in, getting his fill of a great wave (I´ve learned surfers talk about ¨waves¨in the singular form), and all the rocks...and cuts and scrapes that come with them.
 We had initially planned on headed to a small set of islands on the far side of Panama called San Blas, but after someone told us (incorrectly) that the drive took about 8-10 hours, and we weren´t even ready to go until after 11 am, we decided we would hold off on what would inevitably be a terribly long day of driving, ending with us trying to find out way...to an island...in the dark, oh and the road map showed that there was, in fact, no roads to the island...which there ARE, we just couldn´t find them. ANYWAY, point is, we decided not to go to San Blas, but instead to Panama City for the night, and wake up early to finish the last leg to San Blas. Low-and-behold, the trip to Panama City took about 3 hours (not the 7 we had been told), and we were able to find our hostel in Casco Viejo easily.
 We had been told that Panama City was ¨like every other Latin American city¨. False.

 The downtown metropolitan part of Panama City is more picturesque and larger that most US cities. We are staying in the old part of town, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The interesting thing about Panama City, is that its architecture really is stunning, but some grandiose buildings have been left in a state of such disarray; it´s easy to see, though, the efforts the city is making to restoring these facades. After checking in with some family friends here about getting together for dinner at some point, we headed out for own dinner at Restaurant Coca-Cola, the oldest restaurant in the neighborhood. After, we went to a neat microbrewery, called La Rana Dorada, for the most expensive beers we´ve had since we left the US, but they were yummy! We all returned to the hostel for a quick hangout, and bed.
 This morning (Friday), we woke up...or should I say, we were woken up at 5:20 in the morning when the lights came on and a German couple started yelling at one another...did I mention it was 5:20 am. Ohhh, the life of living in hostels. Anyway, Jared and Nicole weren´t able to fall back asleep, so the two of them woke up for a bit of exercise. When they came back, we packed up my small backpack (ohh, which I have not metioned has been my FAVORITE item on the trip, if you ever do something like this, get a small backpack that can fold into itself, LOVE IT!! I digress...) and grabbed the ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT pancake and banana breakfast at our hostel, Luna´s Castle Hostel. During out meal, we met a nice man, Brian, who was the captain of an adventure sailboat, that took travelers from Panama City to...wouldn´t you know it...Cartagena, Colombia, our first stop in Colombia. Sooo, last minute we changed our plans from hanging out in Panama and flying to Colombia on Tuesday, to hanging out on a sailboat from Monday to Friday and landing in Colombia!! Pretty cool. So our day opened up (oh, the sailboat crossed the Panama Canal and goes to the San Blas islands), so we got to look forward to touring around Panama City a bit!

 We unpacked, and set out to walk Casco Viejo and check out some of the sites. Then Nicole and I headed to the Panama Canal (Jared had been years ago with the military and opted out), which was super interesting! When we returned, we were hungry, so we walked over to the fish market and split a whole fish, with tostones, and a large cup of mixed ceviche, yum!

We came back to the hostel a bit ago, due to the heat and amount of time we had been in the sun. Not sure what the plan is now, but as usual...I´ll keep this informed!