27 January – 6 February, Bocas Del Toro, Panama City, Panama
Panama, home of sweet hats; the Panama Canal; bananas and the money laundering capital of the Americas.
Panama has a lot to offer on its books, and has luckily been overlooked by the boring classes who go to Costa Rica instead.
It has shot up highly in my book of favourite places in the world. There is more outdoor fun than you can shake a stick at, you can be surfing reefs in the Caribbean one day, and hitting stunning beach breaks in the Pacific the next.
I started in Bocas Del Toro, the most popular tourist destination in Panama. Although a bit touristy, it is a must visit.
Bocas Del Toro
Bocas is a collection of tropical islands on the Caribbean coast of Panama.
It offers beautiful beaches, great breaks for surfers and plenty of coral reefs for divers. Apparently it is the cheapest place in the world to get your PADI open water certificate.
 Heading out for an afternoon surfing. The boat to the reef cost $1.50 and it drops you in the water. Sweeet! |  This is what happens too grommets on the reef. Funnily enough I was one day off being totally healed from my volcano boarding incident. Doh! |
 An awesome day spent bicycling the beaches around Isla de Colon, a must thing to do. |  Working hard to get a perfect cartwheel, only 7.5 from an independent judge. |
 Kiwi KT, part of the Bocas Bulldogs BMX gang. |  Helping the children of the world… |
Bocas was great fun. I stayed at a brand new hostel that actually had hot water and full kitchen facilities. Check out Hosteluego it is great and located just passed the infamous and disgusting Mondo Taitu. Unfortunately my leg got rather yellow and pussy from the reef, and I had to take antibiotics for a week and keep out of the water.
The Panama Canal
The Canal was started in 1884 by the French who got into the war and had to give it up, after that the yanks came in and finished it by 1914. they then proceeded to own the canal as US territory and did not allow the the locals on the land (unless to work as slaves…). They finally gave it back to the Panamanians in Dec 1999 after agreements that stemmed from riots in 1964. Since the millennium, the Panamanians have made more money running it themselves than the total the yanks paid to them over the last 80 years.
The canal itself is pretty rad, it is 25meters above sea level, so those huge ships are lifted up via locks onto Lake Gatun where they proceed across the isthmus via the fresh water, man made lake. Easily one of the best engineering feats ever.
Lake Gatun is also a large nature reserve, I took a day trip out there to find out more.
 Monkeys monkeys everywhere. This one loves peanuts. |  This one is a tiny banana muncha. |
 I got to play with some cool reptiles, this is a boa constrictor, look how it is trying to kill me, cute little bugger. |  ”What are these fuckin' iguanas doing on my coffee table?” |
 Kayaking was also part of the fun. We ended up at a stunning waterfall deep in the jungle. |  Two can plat at this game. LOLZCAT |
The eco tour was great. The tour guide was as much fun as the tour itself. He is an old yank, with a strange slant on life. Lunch included 45usd.
Panama City
There is something strange about Panama city. A city with a skyline similar to Hong Kong, or Bangkok, but a skyline that is dark at night. I couldn’t grasp it, these building are all unfinished apartments, which no-one can afford. They are not being worked on, so what’s going on? The answer is money laundering. There are all the major banks in Panama city, and you can transfer any amount of money in one day for free. No caps of 10,000 which need to be reported in the west.
It kind of makes sense, it is a playground where the suppliers and distributors of cocaine meet, neutral ground, driving amazing flash cars without number plates.
This also is all surrounded by a very interesting political man who is still in the news today. A Mr Noriega. He is Panamanian, schooled in the canal zone by the U.S.A and installed as de-facto ruler of Panama by the CIA. After a little while, he got sick of the yanks and turned his attention to making himself money, the yanks then had to go in and remove him by force. He is currently on trial in France. Why? Someone wasn’t doing what the yanks wanted….maybe.
Apart from that, the city is great. It i the most modern in Central America and full of little strangities…
 Lots of construction going on… |  What to choose, seals milk or ducks embryo's……? |
 Actually this is what I was looking for. |  The beautiful Casco Viejo district. Will be a major tourist attraction in the next 5 years. |
 Hell yeah, what an awesome bus and only 25us-cents a ride. Whoop! |  Helping the children of the world again, so many to help and such a little amount of time. |
Panama is great. Lots of cool history, politics, amazing landscapes and coasts. This country is gong to grow very quickly.
x.b.rad
