Panama, The Canal and Beyond

Day Seven – 13 Nov 2014

Weather: Gorgeous in Boquete. An oven once we passed David.

A phone woke me up at 5:40. No idea whose phone it was as most didn’t get a wake up. We knew this was possible and most had their alarms set on their phones. I got changed quick and walked up to the restaurant to watch the sun rise. I took a chair from outside the restaurant and sat down. One tourmate glanced out her door and did a double take to see me there, sitting in the pre-dawn light.

Then I realized the moon was directly above me. Cool.

The staff showed up at 6:30 and started serving at 7 am. The girl remembered I had tea and offered one to me before giving everyone a coffee. I was talking to the others and learned the geisha goes for $27 a pound so I decided to pick up a pound. Then I could offer everyone a single cup of coffee as a souvenir.

We were done and down waiting for the bus at 8 and left shortly after. It’s our one long bus day and everyone is ready for it. As we passed David, Gustavo put on a documentary that detailed the construction of the Panama Canal and filled in a lot of holes in what I had learned so far. It showed the map of the area that was flooded to form the lake.

Before.

And after.

We stopped for a bathroom break half way through the film and Gustavo held up a roll of toilet paper and asked that the last person to use the bathroom please bring back the roll. Yes, if you come to Panama, bring tissue.

Back aboard, Gustavo told us we would have to go through a checkpoint between this province and the next. It’s meant to be a buffer between those who might get in from the “country to the west” and the rest of Panama. Kinda like the jungle to the east of Panama City. The Pan Am highway doesn’t cut through there because the Panamanians like the buffer between them and the troubles in Colombia.

As we approached the check point, Gustavo stands up and tells us to remain calm. Then he smiles.

I have to admit, he has to be one of the funniest TDs I’ve had. His English is excellent and he gets a lot of English slang. And is learning more. At one point he said something about folding the rules. We asked twice and he repeated ‘folding the rules’ and then almost all at once everyone got it. Bend the rules! LOL

He said the border guard might come on and say ‘oh, gringos’ and just leave. Which is pretty well what he did. Gustavo said the term gringo can be used for anyone of European descent. It’s not limited to any nationality. Just to Caucasians.

We passed through without a hitch and stopped shortly after so people could visit some stalls along the highway. I went for the walk.

Lunch was in Santiago at a cafeteria type of restaurant and we were limited to 45 minutes so that we could make up some time. We were fine with that.

There was almost continuous construction on the highway from David to Santiago as they were doubling the highway. It’s unreal that there was like almost 200 km of unbroken construction. I imagine being able to work on the road all year round helps.

After lunch we found ourselves on a divided highway and expect this will speed up the second half of the trip. By 3:30, we pulled into a basilica at Nata. The settlement was established in 1515, before Panama City. The Spaniards wanted to settle the area since it was so agriculturally rich and had a lot of wildlife.

We took some pics and were off for the last bit of the long trip. There is some grumbling among the others that we should have flown back to Panama City and that they were more than willing to pay the extra to have that as opposed to a very long day on the bus. I have to agree. And I think the Boquete visit could be replaced with a visit to Colon instead. We went all that way for what essentially was a visit to a horse farm and a coffee plantation. I don’t think it was worth the effort. Instead, since everyone on this tour is fascinated by the Canal, I think taking the Panama Canal train to the Caribbean coast would be the cherry on top of an amazing journey. I would come back to Panama for that.

One thing is certain. This tour gives one far more Canal experience than any cruise could ever do.

For the last two hours of the bus trip, Gustavo put The Bourne Legacy on the tv and that helped the time go by. The credits rolled just as we pulled into the Westin Playa Bonita at 7 pm. The hotel is located across the bridge from Panama City.

And what a hotel. Some people have transfers that leave the hotel at 5 am so they’re not even going to see the view out the window. The view at night is nice and I’m wondering if the lights are the Amador Causeway.

My transfer isn’t until 8 am so I’ll get to see something in daylight.

We get up to our rooms and are back down for our Farewell Dinner at 8 pm. Thankfully, it’s a buffet. No one could face a 2 to 3 hour menu meal. We feasted, exchanged emails and hugs and birthday wishes for one woman. Gustavo got her a cake and gave her and other November babies a gift. It was a nice end to a great tour.