A bit bigger than the Grand Union....
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2010
1
21
41
Trip End
Apr 30, 2010
Panama City, Panama
Saturday, February 27, 2010
We drove through the suburbs of a city which felt, to me, far happier and more vibrant than San Hose. The colourfully painted buses and pimped up Chevvys exuded a positive and confident air, everyone seemed to be moving with a purpose. As we drove the 40 or so kilometres to our next hotel in the Gamboa Nature Reserve, the sky turned from azure blue to black in a matter of seconds and the heavens opened. This rain made the rainforest weather seem like a spring shower - unrelenting torrents of water streamed onto the concrete road. However our driver was undeterred and he carried on regardless, with no reduction in speed or lessening of dodgy overtaking manouevres. Luckily the storm was shortlived and ended as we booked into our room and explored the Gamboa Hotel and its surroundings.
We spent the next few days in the lap of luxury, walking in the forest, paddling kayaks across the lake (we're old hands at canoeing now) and cooling ourselves in the pool. For me the highlight of our stay was a cable car ride up above the forest canopy to a look-out tower that overlooks the Gamboa Lake and the nearby Panama Canal. The views were amazing, particularly as we watched a large freighter being tugged Northwards towards the sea. It was a great afternoon and gave us a foretaste of the Panama views yet to come.
