Road to Panama, Thursday & Friday, 29th - 30th October

A photo of a carriage in the Boquete town square just to keep the train spotters interest going.

The drive from Boquete to Santa Clara on the Pacific coast was just over 370kms and would take about six hours with stops. Panama looks like a small country on maps but that is deceiving. The proposed drive is a similar distance to driving from London to York and is still 140kms short of Panama City being similar in total to driving from London to Edinburgh and that is only half the length of the country.

Much of the highway No 1 which is also the Pan American Highway was under going widening all along the route from David just south of Boquete to Santiago with new cuttings for the wider road.

 With new bridges being built over rivers, and perhaps they will fill in some of the holes in the existing road. When completed the new road will improve travel times so trffic will speed along this section of road but some of the charm of the journey through jungle will be lost so best to experience  it now before it is changed for ever.

 A view from the cab.

 We stopped in Santiago for lunch and for the windscreen to be repaired after a stone from a passing truck had caused a crack. When leaving there was a great photo of a man working on the many overhead wires..some were telephone but since some of them were electricity, rather him than me!

 Our over night stop and our last camp site was on the Pacific coast at Santa Clara on a nearly deserted beach where a stream empties into the sea and there is a basic beach front restaurant and where we camp on the beach.

 Although there are always new developments such as the high rise condo just beyond the palm frond roofs of the palapas.

 An off shore island opposite the beach camp site.

That evening Zoe got out her violin and played fo the group. Having fallen asleep during previous gigs including D&D where I fell off my chair and hit my head, I was taking no changes and lay down on the beach to listen. Sure enough and much to my disgrace I fell asleep again after the second tune. I had lain down with a drink of Cuba Libre but Zoe got her own back by drinking my cocktail as I slept.

Next day was a short drive into Panama City and we were going to visit the Miraflores Locks on the canal but to get there we had to cross the canal and despite the high fence we got a high level view of the canal.

 On the road side was a cemetery to some of the thousands of workers who lost their lives during the construction of the canal, this one dedicated to to French workers from the late 19th century, some from accidents but a huge number from tropical diseases before the canal was finished by the Americans at the start of the 20th century to open in 1914.

 At last the canal and the visitors centre opposite Miraflores Locks where there is a very interesting museum plus video presentation and of course a great view of ships as they pass through the locks. It is an impressive piece of engineering and I could have stayed all day watching the ships and of course I took hundreds of photos but here are just a couple.

 And not to forget the railway that also takes some of the containers from one side to the other. Both ends of the canal are transshipment points where loads are dropped off and picked up. Ships off load some containers to lighten their loads as there are depth restrictions at the locks so large ships can't transverse the canal fully laden.

Then it was on to our hotel in Panama City which was the end of the trip for some of us whilst others were continuing their trips by flying to Columbia so that evening we were going to a farewell dinner at Casa Blanca restaurant in the heart of the old town.

And a time to reflect. On such a long trip and where we live so close together for so long and really get to know each other well, it is inevitable that there are some tearful goodbyes but the memories will live on for ever. And a personal thank you to my tour leader Zoe and co driver Seb who negotiated several tricky border and police road check moments and kept us safe on some roads where normal driving rules don't apply.

Also thanks to my fellow travelling companions for their thoughts, whether you agree with them or not as it is always useful to listen to an alternative opinion to re-calibrate your own position. Many thanks for some very appreciated advice at moments of crisis or indecision, moments sharing food, beer, lending money and all those other minor moments that actually mean so much and create fond memories.