August 19th Tuesday

I usually don't write travelogues day-by-day but also I don't usually go away for two weeks. So, it seems easier to keep track of events by day. What a luxury to be traveling for two weeks! I haven't taken a two-week vacation since I was at the Bank where it was required that officers be away for two weeks at a time every year (supposedly so they could see if we are cooking the books).

However, for this trip, I'm so far behind in journaling but here are some impressions.

Okay, it's not fair to judge a whole country after only 30 hours in its capital city. And, maybe I had high expectations based on a small sample size. How many Panamanians do I know? More than enough so that I can confidently make some generalizations -- warm, friendly, competent, courteous, suave (hmmm, now that I think about it, all my Panamanian friends are men!).

Maybe that's why the women we met in Panama are so surly -- they think that all the best men have left their country! Well, that's not true. The men we have encountered here are very nice, warm, friendly, helpful, etc.

We arrived to check in at the hotel a little after midnight. The clerk wants to charge us for three nights if we stay two nights because we arrived after midnight. What!!?! But, she will only charge us for one night if we leave by 3 pm. It doesn't make sense but we gladly decide that one night is enough at the Hotel Parador.

Anyway the food is good. Vegetarians can do fine in Panama even if the restaurant claims not to be able to have vegetarian food. We enjoy the rice, beans, picante sauce, veggies, fruit, etc.

The old city in Panama is beautiful. Like anyplace going through a rebirth, there are not so pretty and/or safe sections abutting the restored areas. The architecture is beautiful, a little reminiscent of New Orleans.

We were able to get a double room at a hostel for the second night. This is great because the van will pick us up here early tomorrow to take us to San Blas.

I couldn't help getting taken in by the travel talk by the wizened backpackers at the hostel. There was a fellow who had just made the reverse trip (from San Blas to Panama City) and he was full of horror stories -- slogging over unpaved roads in the rain, having to get out and push the van up the muddy hills, etc. I can't wait. As we crowd into the old truck, I'm not sure that the other women in flimsy flipflops or some of the unbuff men are going to be much help.

Apparently, the driver had been told that there was a mother and daughter traveling together. We were pulled out of the back and given seats in the cab. Thank goodness, I was very claustrophobic in the back not able to really see out the little windows. But, the cab was no bargain. Not much room for three people. Oh, hey, there's no glass in the side windows and it's raining. And, the door in warped so it doesn't close all the way. Hmmm, who needs to have a door handle since there's a hole to stick one's hand it to lift the latch?!! The mud quickly covers the windshield since there are no wipers. But, the driver seems competent and he weaves in and out of traffic.

Kuna Yala (San Blas) is an autonomous territory on the northeast coast of Panama. It consists of a narrow slice of land on the coast and about 350 islands -- most of which are uninhabited. How civilized! The Kuna people wanted to have their own government and so they do. The Panamanian (and the US) navy does not dare encroach their boundaries.

We'll be entering the world without an Internet connection, no newspapers, radios, etc. We're out of touch on what's going on at the Democratic National Convention. But, the Kuna people don't appear to be any the worse for it. I think we'll survive very well also.