Farewell to Panama via Portugal, Saturday - Monday, 31st October -2nd November

It was an early morning start after the farewell dinner the night before. The sunrise over the roof tops of Panama City.

After saying an emotional goodbye to many friends at 7am who were flying to Colombia it was a free day. It was also my last chance to say goodbye to Betsy who had taken me from Anchorage in Alaska all the way through western Canada and some of the lower forty eight states to Mexico and through central America and ultimately to Panama.

She had had several oil changes, new windscreens, had problems starting on slopes facing uphill (so she had to be parked facing downhill which involved several interesting manoeuvres before parking up for the nigh), and loads of work under the bonnet but she had made it (with loads of help from Seb). Now Seb was going to drive her back to Flagstaff in Arizona for a refit.

Another small group left at 10am and another farewell meeting which left the rest of the day for me to explore Panama City before my flight in the evening.

Some of the ships waiting for their position in the queue for the canal.

 Views from the shore of a 4kms stretch of water front between the new centre with its high rise buildings and the old centre with church spires peeking above the low rise old town buildings.

 The old centre of town

Many of the buildings are oofless but the walls are still standing waiting for a major refurbishment.

 The central plaza of the old town.

The Casa Blanca restaurant, the scene of the previous nights farewell dinner and entertainment laid on by some dancers in the main square.

 More pictures of the old town.

Seb collects licence plates so I thought of him when I found this shop. Here was a store that sold plates in a tourist shop but I am sure that Seb always got better deals from garages en route.

 The partially restored cathedral in the old town.

Another shot of the square.

 Many of the building in the old city are mere shells as the facade has been preserved but the innards still need to be created to return the building to a functioning part of the old city.

 The clouds had drifted in and it was about to be a torrential tropical downpour in which I would get very wet.

 Some of the old buildings in the centre and decorated for Halloween.

There was a torrential down pour so I settled into a micro brewery pub for an hour and it is the best place to drink in Panama City, El Rana Dorada, or Golden Frog.

On the way back to the hotel to collect my luggage there was an opportunity to take photos of a few chicken buses but none were as colourful as those in countries further north that I had travelled through just weeks before.

And then it was sharing a taxi with Alex and Nollaig for the ride to the airport and I never said a proper goodbye to them as I hoped to see them on the far side of customs but never bemped into them again.

I took off for the nine hour flight to Lisbon which was uneventful except for a brilliant sun rise over the Atlantic.

I had a while in Lisbon but it was cold wet and windy and after the Central American heat and humidity, this felt like winter. Whilst planning my trip I had forgotten one travellers rule. Most museums and galleries around the world seem to choose Monday to close and true enough, some places were shut and some had closed early on Sunday afternoon so I plenty of time to catch up on sleep and not fell guilty about wasting time and FOMO (fear of missing out).

My final flight back to London was delayed by fog and disruption and my flight circled above Brighton for at least four circuits waiting for its landing slot. At last I was back on the ground and I was home within half an hour of touching down.

It is great to be back home and everything that comes with it, ...taps that work, hot water from the hot water tap, throwing toilet paper down the bowl instead of piling it up in a bin next to the toilet, police that don't expect to be bribed, smooth tarmac, traffic that obeys traffic rules, no snakes, no mosquitoes or other biting insects, But I will miss the people and I have a stack of memories.