Panama felt like a return to the western world at first. In fact, it felt very familiar as a government employee to experience complete inability of anyone to sort out the air conditioning with buses, bars and bedrooms all kept at temperatures either below 12 degrees or above 35.
We stayed in a marvellous hostel in Panama City and spent a day wandering around the historic Casco Viejo district; dodging construction vehicles and admiring the photos depicting how amazing the place will look when the restoration work is complete. We made our way out to the canal where once again Kizzy was thoroughly unimpressed by an amazing feat of engineering. Try as I might I could not get her excited at the prospect of visiting the Hoover Dam in July. However, all was not lost: we found a Wendy´s later that day and discovered they serve jacket potatoes with cheese and Kizzy was overcome. Paradise islands and huge canals withered in her memory when presented with her ultimate British food craving.
The rest of our time was spent trying to post all of our warm weather gear back home. This is somewhat more difficult than one might expect. The Panamanian postal system appears designed with the single intention of fulfilling the state´s obligation to have one, while at the same time discouraging anyone from using it.
We discovered that they do not do home delivery in Panama, you have to rent a post box. If you want to send a package, as we did, you have to go to a post office miles from anywhere you want to be. You are required to securely box and wrap the package in brown paper, but such materials are not readily sold within a mile of the post office. In any event you will have to unwrap the whole thing when you turn up anyway so the staff can have a stickybeak inside. You must get your passport photocopied, but they don´t have a photocopier. And of course there are lots of forms to fill in.
By the end of the process we were on good terms with the staff and half a dozen locals undertaking the same routine. We joked that it was a good day for our budget as it had taken up a full three hours and we had missed lunch. Then we paid the postage and sobered up about it quick smart.
Our time in Panama came to an end with a journey back to the Caribbean coast and the islands of Bocas del Toro, where we were treated to even more tropical beaches and the warm welcome of the nicest hostel proprietor in the world.
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