Farewell Costa Rica, Hola Panama

Once more I find myself killing time at an airport. This time at San Jose, Costa Rica waiting to catch a flight to Panama; Balboa Panama City to be precise. 

Much of my wait time has been spent trying to communicate with the hotel in Panama about my pre-booked airport collection. I hope the hotel isnt as useless as their receptionist but I guess I will find out soon enough. I only rang to ask what the pickup point was and despite the fact that she spoke pergect English the electrodes did not appear to connect. Eventually I gave up and cancelled the ride. I’ll get an uber!  

Just as well as when I checked in I realised I was going to the old Panama Airport and not the new one. No big deal I thought. Both same distance from the city. 

Boarding announcements are being made around me. In usual style most are so muffled I can’t even tell if they are speaking Spanish or English. 🤣🤣

Well it didnt seem to matter which airport I arrived at until I arrived. Balboa, Panama airport is not really an airport as we know it. Judging by the landing I assume that the runway is rubbish. We alight onto the tarmac and go into a room with a long queue waiting for immigration. An hour later I had my stamp and went to another room where bags waited. That’s it. No loos, no ATM,s no nothing. 

Grabbing a cab from outside was easy and the ride was uneventful but we drive through some really sleazy areas . Rubbish was piled high on the streets, some disgusting looking apartment buildings and in the distance the tall  spires of modern towers. 

By this stage Im starving and intending to eat in the hotel before my tour this avo. Oh! The restaurant is closed!  Ok. 

I’ll sort out the final details of my tour and then go out for food. Except that took ages as they only respond    to questions in byte sized pieces and it was like getting blood out of a stone. I sort of hoped they might cancel and then I could just take off by myself and grab food while exploring. Oh well lets see. 

And the driver did arrive. A lovely guy called Nevil and he drive me round the city stopping every now and then to take pics. High rises have only been allowed in the city for the last 25 years and there are some magnificent looking buildings here now. I had the impression that I was coming to a characterless space but that is far from reality. The downtown is stunning.

Nevil was full of information which was so nice having not heard much about other places I had been.  

We drove over roads that had been built from rocks that were once where the Panama Canal is, wide and beautiful avenues. 

In contrast we then went through the El Chorillo neighbourhood, a sleazy, dirty, barrio where it is not safe to walk around. The barrio was established to house people that were working on the building of the canal and they were provided with many benefits so laziness has taken over until now it is the most dangerous part of the city. Its gross. 

The impoverished area is the hometown of Manuel Noriega and was heavily damaged during the United States invasion of Panama in 1989.^[2]Other former residents of note include boxer Roberto Durán^[3] and poet Hector Miguel Collado.

But a short drive further on we entered the old city. Not the Old Old City which is now in ruins but the ‘Old City’ or Casco Viejo a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has been restored beautifully. We just took a quick walk around but if I had time I would love to go back to explore. It was beautiful. 

The modern architecture came back into view and Nevil pointed out the zip line (the diagonal red line on the top of the building) across the top of this building. Really!  That’s one for the crazies

Further on we did the tacky tourist sign thing before driving on to the fish markets. Literally dozens of small restaurants all serving seafood dishes. Once again I had a ceviche and once again it was wonderful. This time even better at $13.50 for two ceviches a beer and a bottle of water. 

I. Need. To. Go. Back. There. 

Tour over Nevil dropped me to my hotel and pretty soon it will be lights out for me. Going up the canal tomorrow and can’t wait.