After our peaceful crossing from Costa Rica, we suddenly found ourselves in Panama! We had been waiting so long! Panama, the home of the Canal we had read so much about, and the jumping off spot for our entry into South America. We were truly excited.
And again, as in Costa Rica, we were immediately struck by how much more modern this country was than what we had been seeing closer to Mexico. There were stripes and white sidelines on the highway! Billboards! Regular trash pickup in all the towns! Very sophisticated clothes! Regular laundromats! Bagels in a Jewish bakery! Stores closed on Sundays! …..you get the picture. The stores were carrying more and more food we recognized, and we had been told you could buy “anything” in Panama. The change was quite remarkable.
Something else: we were receiving by far the most sophisticated appreciation of the Tiger we had gotten since we left the States. In the less developed countries, people would stare as we drove by, mostly because they had not seen anything quite like us. But here, and also in Costa Rica, they know motor homes well; it is not uncommon for someone to stop to chat and they either have/had one themselves, and understand why we are small, and like the 4-wheel drive and the diesel, and appreciate our lifestyle. It’s lots of fun.
Well, we don’t want to live here, but we have visited some mighty fine places, particularly in the western part. We’ve tried to stay in the mountains (mountains? in Panama? yup) because it’s cooler. By now it’s the end of April, and really hot. But we crossed into Panama in the mountains, and so were able to pick out some spots to see that were still nice and cool. (That spine of the Continental Divide we talk about actually goes all the way through the country, but gets lower and lower as you get further east.) I know, we keep talking about east and west now. You thought Central America was to the south. But by the time you get to Panama, it definitely east and west. Your geography lesson for today….
The east side of the volcano is a little drier and more developed, and most activity is centered around Boquete, a charming mountain town we really liked. Developed enough to have a couple of good restaurants already, it is poised to become a major tourist attraction. We felt we could have been happy settling there if we were to do it today, but five years from now would be much less interested. The countryside is lovely, and Boquete is in a beautiful mountain valley fed by a stunning river; a really nice spot. We spent several days camped by the river and really enjoying ourselves.
We finally decided to move on; we had a tentative arrangement to ship La Tortuga and needed to get to Panama City to talk to the shipping agent. So we dropped down out of the mountains, knowing that was it for cool weather until we were in the mountains of Columbia! Yuck! It got really hot immediately. We were back on the Pan-Am highway, and Panama’s portion of that road is not so good – sections with big holes in the pavement – so we resumed playing dodge ball along with the other drivers. But we persevered and finally got to the big city.
One weird thing happened along the PanAm Highway: we were cruising through the large burg of Santiago. Suddenly, around a corner I saw truck that said Truly Nolan Pest Control. Now Truly Nolan is a huge outfit out of Texas. What the hell is he doing in Panama? (And isn’t that the most bizarre name you’ve ever heard?)
We’re on Eastern standard time now (they don’t do Daylight Savings time down here), at about 8 degrees above the equator, and sleeping under a strange starry sky. Panama is a real combination of the familiar and the foreign. While waiting to talk to the shipping agent, at one point it was 105 degrees and about to rain. That wasn’t fun. But the women in this city are quite sophisticated and they dress very provocatively; I think they look trashy but Rick is in 7th heaven. I compensate by realizing how handsome the men are, and how the older ones really seem to appreciate me! So we’re both happy…..
We expect to ship the rig about the end of May. We will have to leave it in Colon a couple of days before it departs, and then fly to Cartagena to pick it up, hanging around a hotel while it is in transit. It will be very exciting, as the method of transport we are using involves loading the coach onto the flat bottom of a rack, having it strapped down, and then watching it be lifted into the air, over onboard, and then lowered onto the top of a stack of containers. If I can keep Rick from having a heart attack during all this I will consider the project a success. We are both nervous, but that’s how it’s done.
For our report on our shipping experience, go to our Shipping page.
Click here to see more of our pictures of Panama