We're Off to Panama!

I've picked up the travel journal I used when we went to Costa Rica in 2000. The black cover is a bit worn but the tortuga is still bright and glossy.... I managed to keep a couple of days running and then got distracted with the beauty and heat in Costa Rica in the summertime. I did manage to keep a list of "firsts," though. And lots of blank pages!

America West has terrific fares from San Diego to Costa Rica, so we're heading off to Panama to check out land for investment/retirement. I'm a typical American... unsure of what I'll find in a post-Noriega Panama and wondering if the O. Henry depictions of the "land of the lotus eaters" still holds true. How much is the same in the Caribbean of the United Fruit Company of the 1890s and how much has changed?

I've changed. In the 5 years since my Kiwi mate and I set off for Costa Rica, I've gone from a super organized, must-have-a-detailed-itinerary person to a "Well, we know we have round trip tickets and that's about it.... if the surf stinks or it rains, we can go somewhere else." So off we go through Phoenix to San Juan, Costa Rica (SJO if you're looking for fares) and then a bus to Sixaola (pronounced "seeks-a-ola") and a walk across the border to Panama and on to Bocas del Toro, the province and islands where the surf, snorkeling, diving, and people are supposed to be some of the best in the world.

We land in San Juan late at night and need a hotel. Lonely Planet's Costa Rican guidebook from 5 years ago is our bible.... and a taxi driver, too. So we pick a hotel and he says "No, senor, I have a better one for you." Of course he does! They all get a "commission" for bringing you to certain places and the ones we've suggested aren't on his list. Or more to the point, he's not on theirs. So we drive around and find a place we can all (me, the Albatross and the driver, of course) agree on called Hotel Venezia. Word of caution - it bears absolutely no resemblance to anything Venetian except for the smell of mildew in the halls. But it's cheap, clean and reasonably quiet and only 5 blocks to the bus stop.....

So what if the tiles are incomplete in the shower? Who cares if the curtains are made of bed sheets and cover rusty wrought iron bars? No bugs, but skimpy towels. Skimpy towels are to be the norm during this visit and there is a very good reason. Any plush, deep, large, fluffy towel will not dry in the tropics! We of course find this out the hard way as we and our fluffy, large, Costco beach towels soggily wend our way through Central America.