Fare Thee Well Panama.....

We haven't posted for a while so I will try to finish-up talking about Panama by memory before commenting further on our more recent travels.

Our next stop after Boquete was Panama City, a fine city (the biggest in Central America??). We were able to find affordable and safe accommodations just outside the central city in the old U.S. military base Fort Clayton near the Miraflores Lochs. Panama city is the most modernized place we have visited on the whole trip. We did some shopping at the mall, considered going to the cinema (in English), and procured genuine Toyota replacement parts while there. We also ate some wonderful sushi - and we didn't skimp on the saki either!
While in the megalopolis I made good on the opportunity to purchase a new latch for the rear gate. It had been acting up by not wanting to latch and randomly popping open while in transit, so I said "enough is enough" and popped for the $100 part. It proved to be a real bear to swap out since the bolts securing it were loc-tited in....and there was no torch anywhere to be found seemingly in the whole country. I broke two of the three bolts while removing them, but was able to have one of the broken studs removed by a mechanic in the next town we stayed in, David, Panama.
The highlight of Panama for me was probably the Canal. The scale of the operations and the overall hugeness of the project was awe inducing. The French began digging the Canal in the late 19th Century and the operations were overtaken and finished by the Americans. Thousands of people lost their lives for the cause - more due to disease than to unsafe construction practices. Anyhow, not much can match the feeling of seeing a cargo freighter heaping with containers being lifted 27 feet in less than five minutes - it is simply amazing. This process is repeated to lift the ship a total of 54 feet for it's sail across the Continental Divide. It's a lifetime must-see for the engineering types amongst you...
Earlier in our Panama stay, at the hot springs near Boquete where Steph got her leaches, we had met up with the proprietor of a hostel and befriended him. He invited us to stay with him if we ever passed through David, and on our way back to Costa Rica we took him up on the offer. The only thing that made our private room with A/C better was the pool in his garden. It was a welcome reunion. The restaurant next door provided us with dinner both nights we were in town - tipicos plates and ceviche for less than $2 a plate! The conch ceviche was a real highlight.
As I mentioned earlier we had a mechanic attempt to remove the broken tailgate latch bolts while in town. He was a very friendly guy with scripture written on his shirt - and he made sure that both myself and "my sister" knew Jesus before he would turn his attention to our vehicle. Since a torch could again not be found anywhere in town the mechanic resorted to grasping at the end of the broken end of the bolt with a channel-lock pillars (why didn't I think of that??? LOL). He did not seem to have the same fear of rounding off the remaining nub of a bolt like I did (perhaps since it wasn't his truck??), and simply reefed at it for a half an hour or so; progressively rounding the bolt down to almost nothing. As I was telling him to quit - that the bolt just would not come out and I would have to deal with that (in an attempt to save something to grab should I ever find a torch to break the thread locker loose) - he got it to budge and eventually got it out. Central American mechanics - cheap rates, but be very careful because you certainly get what you pay for....
And that pretty much wraps up our stay in Panama, but.....

While I am certainly no “expert” on Central America I have now spent some time in all of it’s countries save for Belize. Panama is far-and-away my favorite country. Why is Panama my favorite country in Central America? I’ll tell you.

The topography of Panama is absolutely beautiful. It is similar to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. There are rolling hills and mountains everywhere covered with lush green vegetation. Waterfalls and streams are abundant. The majority of the country is either rural or wild.
The roads in Panama are the best in Central America. The Panamerican Highway is a divided highway the whole way to Panama City facilitating direct and hassle-free driving. Even the secondary roads are maintained in great condition allowing quick and easy access to either coast.
Panama is clean. There are very few roadside garbage fires – certainly not the norm for Central America. The tap water is potable in all but the most remote locales – meaning salads and ice may both be enjoyed without risk of unpleasant gastro-intestinal conflicts.
Good rooms with air conditioning (essential near the coasts), cable TV (a nice luxury we don’t even have at home), and WiFi were both readily available and within our budget. Prior to Panama the internet accessibility had been slow when available – in the overpriced tourist mecca that is Costa Rica the internet service is terribly slow.

Panama gets two thumbs way up!!!!