Panamonian...

 am finally in Panama in my brand (not so) new hostel. Its ok..nothing special, but for $7.50night who cares! Again the ride for the airport and back will cost me more than all three nights accommodation in Panama ($30 taxi here and back). It is so damn hot here. Arrived at 7pm, stood in the longest Immigration queue known to man, and finally walked out into the stifling heat.

Tomorrow I am going to take a ferry to a small island just off the coast of Panama city. Here I hope to get in a bit of Snorkeling, and the Hostel man has told me that for $5 I can go in to the big Ritzy hotel there and use their all their amenities and pretend that I am rich for the day....so I think I shall go and buy a cocktail and then sip it by the pool! Sweet! That`s it for now. Time to go back to the Hostel and read up on what else I can cram into the next 2 days before I join the tour in Cancun. In the end the weather was pretty crap in Panama, so about the most exciting thing I did was to visit the famous Panama canal...I never thought I would have found this as fascinating as I did. I stood there for ages watching the boats go through the water lock elevators that raise and drop massive ships in no time at all. (about 8-10mins per lock) Got to the airport in Panama, boarded the plane, then wait....wait.. Wait some more. Finally they announce something...but in Spanish so I have no idea what they say, everyone gets back off plane, I of course follow...a little confused to say the least. I had been seated briefly next to an Italian man who lets me know the flight has been delayed 5 hours as there is a problem with the one we were on and we have to wait for a new one to come....Oh Joy. Enzo was a remarkable man (...way to old so don´t worry Bri!) He lives in Costa Rica but has family in Mexico so travels between the two a lot...Anyway he is part of the police security team that protect the CR Prime Minister and he also used to work for Interpol...Very Interesting man. He owns a restaurant and hotel in Costa Rica as well, so I am going to go there for a feed with my tour group on our last night, where Enzo has said it is ´No problem - he will look after his new Aussie friend and her friends too´ Great! I was very grateful for his company at the airport and the airline shouted us all lunch in the restaurant there...which made the delay bearable.

Arrived at 7pm, stood in the longest Immigration queue known to man, and finally walked out into the stifling heat.