panama city, panama

9-10 April, 2014

Hola! Como esta? Bien? Bien. So, good news, we made it to Panama! Yes. Although, the journey here was not so bien. It was long, exhausting and sweaty. Thankfully we are now blissfully happy in Playa Venao so we feel emotionally comfortable to dig up the past and talk about our time in and around Panama City. Here goes.

The highlights (lowlights is probably more apt)

• The disastrous 48 hours started when we realised we'd made a data entry error in our mammoth trip planning spreadsheet, resulting in us arriving a day later in Panama City than we'd forecasted (I know, we were as shocked as you are - Damo and Kath? Data entry error? No way). This meant only one night in the capital and a hasty planning session to get ourselves to Playa Venao early the next morning. Seemed easy enough though.
• The taxi ride from our maui hotel to the airport was diabolical - our driver appeared to be both sleep deprived and a lead foot, lethal. Especially around those cliff faces of the island.
• We did have a small win at the airport - we thought Damo's surfboard was going to cost $200 to check in, but thanks to Damo's Mum and the courteous manners she taught him, Damo was able to check the board in for a measly $40! Well done Damo.
• We had an overnight flight from Maui to Denver to Houston and finally to Panama City, arriving the following night. So a good 22 hours of travel. And all three flights were none too shabby. They all left on time so we didn't miss any connections and the best news was that all our bags arrived safe and sound in Panama City, winning!
• We arrived at our hostel at around 9pm. Hostel Siriri. There was a guest walking around in his underpants. I hope this sufficiently sets the scene of how gross it was.
• Due to our dates mix up (the out of character "data entry error" I spoke of earlier), our private room with ensuite was sacrificed. So we had to stay in a dorm. Which we were both totally groovy with. But we didn't realise we would be in separate dorms. Oh. 
• My bunk bed had a fan over the top of it. A fan. I nearly decapitated myself on two occasions.
• We were tired, dirty and had not slept for 36 hours. But because we were off to the remote Playa Venao in just 9 hours from our arrival at the hostel, we had to hit up the supermarket for four days worth of food. It was a long, dodgy and hot walk to the supermarket. We were in that supermarket til after midnight. Good thing it was open 24/7!
• Finally we returned to the hostel to get ourselves clean and bunk bed ready.
• The shower didn't have water. Oh dear.
• And my toiletries had exploded in my bag. Oh.
• And Damo had lost his sunnies. Gah.
• Dirty, tired and cranky we went to our separate bunks for 5 hours of restless sleep.
• The journey to Playa Venao begins! Up at 6am, throw down some oats with banana and march out of the hostel in search of a local bus to the main bus terminal. Chasing buses in 35C heat with two rucksacks, two day bags, bags of groceries and a surf board makes for some interesting comedy watching for the locals. Ha. Especially when we finally got on the bus and it had turnstiles to get through and we had no bus ticket! Thankfully the bus driver empathised and let us muddle ourselves and our 10 pieces of luggage through the turnstiles, free of charge.
• We caught four more buses similar to this over our ten hour journey to Playa Venao. Some buses were full of friendly locals, some were just us, some acquired salesmen to sell us their wares whilst we drove, some tied our luggage to the bus roof or put it in the tray of a ute, and one bus even shimmied a four stove oven onto the roof! Wow.
• The highlight of all these buses however was meeting and chatting with our new friend, young Luc. A med student from Holland, he was bright, cheerful, calm and a pleasure to spend the journey with, and to continue to spend time with at Playa Venao. Lucky us.

The Summary

Weather - Hot. Steamy, sweaty hot.

Surf -  No surf.

Food - We had a luscious late night Mexican taco just near the supermarket.

Beverages - Our first taste of the local beer "Panama" was epic, so tasty.

People - We were out late at night, so people just seemed a bit scary to us.

Accommodation - Hostel Siriri was tired and manky. We also slept in separate dorm rooms. And I was nearly decapitated by my bunk bed roof fan. It was not good.

Budget - Between the cheap dorm beds and the big grocery shop, we probably broke even.
Overall - I'm sure Panama City is a groovy city. But our 12 hour experience in it was far from groovy. We were tired, sweaty, dirty, shaken and cranky. But it didn't bring us down, too much..! Ha.

So, that was it! Now we are living it up in Eco Venao, a sustainable little hostel just off the beach of Playa Venao. Damo's off surfing and I'm chillaxing in the little bar / restaurant sipping coffees with Luc who's practicing his Spanish. Life is great!

Adios,
Kath (and Damo)

Me and my little bunk bed. In my dorm. Separate from damos dorm. 

Watching our last sunset in Maui before our scary taxi ride to the airport.
 

Stop over in houston with some insightful coffee.