Panama

After a very long and grulling coach journey (16hrs) , including being turfed off the coach for 1 1/2 hrs at the border at 5.30am....we finally made it into Panama City!!! Being completely knackered we took the easy option and opted for the free taxi to the hotel these girls were selling....of course we didn't go for their 1st offer and did get them down to 15$ a night for the room for both of us (from 22$) a different hotel - the only difference being no crappy restaurant!! The room however was luxary for us....aircon, cable tv and our 1st hot shower for over 1 month!!!! We have since looked elsewhere and decided this is by far the best deal in town....the hostels want to charge 9$ per person in a dorm!! (Di it´s called Residence Texas).

We have spent the last few days trying to sort out the boat trip to Columbia...we have a few leads but still nothing definite! So we contiune to explore this very american city....big high rises, posh cars, expensive brand shops, and of course the canal!! Don´t fret though w´'ve still been keeping it cheap...searching for clothes for about 3$ (Chris wants another vest...turns out he's quite a fan of the old wife beater!!!), meals for $1.50 each from grotty looking old school diners, and we got our enterance to Canal for free off couple we'd met who'd been there in the morning and seen bugger all - we however got to see at least 2 super-sized container ships pass through!!! Very Cool - or at least Chris thought so!!

Weather is fantastic still...in fact the humidity has gone down so we get to enjoy long, hot sunny days without the sweat element!!! Pictures will come soon...but not every computer seems to let us download them...keep the comments coming!!!

More adventures in Panama...having done the canal and shopping, we looked to see what other attractions Panama has to offer! We opted for the Causeway....a 2km road connecting 3 small islands to the coast (supposed to have lots of shops, bars, and nice beach). Well after hassle of getting there (no buses as it was referendum day in the city - voting as to whether to enlarge the Canal!), we were most dissappointed to discover it was a ghost town (all the bars and shops closed / shut down permanently; and the beach covered in litter!). So we took the opportunity for a walk and decided to make our own way home...however got caught up in some political rally, lots of people, grotty estate....about to get a taxi and get the hell outta there! when a military policeman ushered us into the back of his police pickup and gave us lift to safe part of town, having advised us we shouldn´t be there, not safe!!! - free taxi!!! (and my first trip in a police vehicle - probabaly not Chris's!!). After all that a cold beer was definitly in order....until we discovered that as part of this referendum no alcohol can be served in shop or bar from saturday noon till monday noon!!! - so bang went our big night out on saturday!!! Oh well just have to save money and stay in watching cable!!!

We are desperately running out of things to do now here so we deceided to go and see some old town ruins, exciting stuff eh!!! But it was crap so we left straight away and that sums up Monday!!!On Tuesday we opted to go to the inner City rain forest where there are apparentely loads of animals,birds etc but again it was CRAP!! saw loads of trees and Ants and then it pissed down on us wow another excitng day killing time waiting for this knob of a captain to surface... (this is Chris´s 1st attempt at blogging, so appologies for the language!)Found cheap boxed wine in the supermarket though so not all bad $1 a litre bring it on.... (appears life in the evenings is very similar to southampton now - cheap wine and TV!!) oh and a diet of cold baked beans as the restaurants all shut about 4 oclock in the afternoon, now what f***ing use is that??

Sorry about the language....I´m back now!!! We have had an e-mail from our captain AKA Lord Lucan, who want to leave tomorrow, thurs 26th, so looking hopefull....although just tried phoning him and he didn´t bloody answer!!!! So hopefully the next time you hear from us will be from Columbia, with amazing pictures of our sail through the carribean, via San Blas islands (apparently very pretty, lots of fish and seafood, and they have no monetary system and barter with coconuts - we shall see!!!!)....watch this space