City break - the best city I have visited on this trip

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Me at the Panama Canal.

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Panama is an amazing city - very modern, clean and vibrant.  It was a good change from all the other cities I have been in.  It was also strange being in a hostel which is on the 8th floor of a high rise building in the centre of town.  I flew here from Bocas.

The reason I stayed in the city for longer than expected was that I wanted to travel to Colombia by boat.  However, due to the holiday season and the pacific winds making the seas very rough, most of the boats had been anchored until mid-January at least.  I checked and called every possible option in the city and, over the weekend, left the city for 3 days to go and find a boat from other port towns.  I went to a towns/cities called Portobelo, Colon and Coco Solo but in vain.  I was thinking of getting a flight but that was an expensive and unadventurous option.  Read on to Colombia to find out how I did it in the end.

A ship passing through the canal at the Miraflores locks.

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As I spent so much time here, I will mention only the highlights.

1.  THE FAMOUS PANAMA CANAL - One of the most breathtaking and interesting pieces of human achievements of all time.  It was great seeing how the landscape of the country has been changed by the connecting of the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic ocean via a lake.  I had the chance to see various ships cross the canal, and got to see just exactly how the locks worked in order to transport the shit from the areas of high water to those of low water.

2.   PARTYING IN TOWN - One of the best party cities I have been to.......a City that never sleeps.  Panama City has numerous bars, clubs, casinos etc that one would find it hard to get bored.

3.  THE COLONIAL PART OF TOWN - The colonial architecture and amazing views of the city made this a very worthwhile trip.

The view of the city from the Colonial part of town.

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4.  HINDU TEMPLE - Panama has a large Hindu community.  This community has built one of the prettiest structures in the city.  Set atop a hill, with amazing views of the whole city, this temple is magnificent.  The priest was a Gujarati man, with whom I talked for a long time.  The caretaker was also a Guju and I had a good tome connecting with my people after so long.  In the evening of the day I visited the temple. I also met up with an Indian guy I had met in Costa Rica, and his very wealthy Panamanian business partner (who is one quarter Indian), and chilled at his top-of-the-range penthouse for drinks, before heading off for an Indian meal.

5.  HIKING THROUGH A RESERVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY - Panama is the only city in Central America with a protected reserve in the city.  Though I didn´t spot many animals and it rained for a while, it was worth a check out.