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.

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.

Panama at last! Tuesday & Wednesday, 27th & 28th October

Todays plan was to take the road from Manuel Antonio and cross the border from Costa Rica into Panama. This is the tenth country since starting in June and the last border crossing.

The road to the border was through palm oil plantations and along the shore although there were always trees between the road and the beach so no good shots.

We arrived at the border and had to pay an exit tax. We were directede to the back of a minibus and it looked so dodgy that we walked on by. It turned out that this was a temporary office and would take our $7 and the receipt would prove that we had paid and therefore we could get our exit visa. I handed over my $10 bill and got $2 change so the tax was $7 and a dollar for 'admin' .

Getting into Panama wasn't easy either as we needed to queue for a stamp then complete a customs declaration and the jobs worth official insisted that we complete the form with all the letters inside their respective boxes without any crossings out or mistakes. It took some of us three attempts before our forms passed the test. At last we were on the open road again.

We headed towards the Highlands and Volcan Baru, at 3.475m, Panama's highest point near Boquete in cloud forest and a well known activity centre and a free day.

There was no chance of a lie in the next morning as the local school was practising their band playing and marching ready for independence day at the weekend.

Out hotel was lovely place and I had the day free so I started by taking a few pictures.

The stream at the side of the hotel.  

One of the cabanas on site.

Some members of the group relaxing under a tree.

The activity desk complete with Halloween decorations.

A general view of the hotel and garden.

Communal area.

Not the bat but the communal kitchen with walls made out of bottles recycled as building materials.

A view of the hills around town, partially obscured by clouds.

As Halloween was approaching many of the houses and shops were suitably decorated.

A distinctive bridge in the centre of town. Other than this it was a fairly non descript place, no architectural masterpieces, functional but no old buildings to speak of.