Panama City, Panama

Folks,

Well, here I am. Final week. It's hard to believe. I'm now in Panama City, and it's been so hot the last couple of days that I'm happy to be hiding away in my hotel room with the air conditioning on. The hotel is called Hotel California, and the mat outside the door actually says, Welcome to the Hotel Calfornia.

The pic of the week shows the financial district (El Cangrejo) from the old city (Casco Viejo). I'm not sure what I expected of Panama City, but it wasn't this. It's like Manhattan on the Pacific.

Leaving Ometepe
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I had a really early start on Monday, taking the 5.30am ferry from Ometepe. They gave us life jackets when we got on, and I put mine by my side on the seat. Of course, the next minute I moved and off it went into the lake. A major rescue operation ensued as they scrambled about to recover the lost jacket. And they were ultimately successful.

The journey, while still a little bumpy toward the end, was a lot less rough than the way over, and I had time to enjoy watching dawn rise over the volcanoes.

Transit through Costa Rica
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My bus took me to San José, where I had an evening in the city before getting the 11pm bus to Panama City. It was great to be back in San José and knowing where everything was. I was able to go to a good restaurant and then pop out to a cinema. Having started on Monday at 5.30am, I arrived into Panama City at 3pm on Tuesday.

Panama City
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As the bus comes in through the city it looks really beautiful, and unlike any other place I've been in Central America. There are big architected buildings with columns and lawns. And the financial district is full of high-rise banks and apartments. There are a lot of banks.

Just as I arrived news broke of the John and Anne Darwin case, the canoeist who faked his death. She had just moved here, and I was never so aware of the city in the news.

However, now I'm here a while and have had a chance to explore I have to say that there are extremes. In the wealthy areas I saw more Lexus cars than anywhere else I've ever been. But in the poorer districts you could be anywhere in Central America, and the wealth doesn't seem to have made any transfer.

The Canal
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Of course, the centre of the whole Panamanian economy is the canal. You cross it on the Puente del Las Américas when you come into the city, and although I saw ships out in the ocean there were none in the canal. I thought it would be choc-a-bloc all the time.

But they actually have the flow of traffic north (Pacific to Atlantic) in the morning, then let it clear out, then route the southern traffic in the afternoon. At night smaller vessels go in both directions.

I went to see the operation of the Miraflores locks on Thursday. To build the Canal they created a large artificial lake that stretches from the pacific side to the centre of the country, which is 84 feet above sea level. Then they they cut through the mountains (The Culeba Cut) between the lake and the Pacific. Three massive locks near each coast bring the massive ships up the 84 feet and back down again.

Because of the shape of Panama (like an S on it's side) the canal actually runs from the northwest (Atlantic) to the southeast (Pacific). So the Pacific entrance is actually east of the Atlantic!

The Canal was only handed over by the Americans to Panama on 31 Dec 1999. There was concern that Panama wouldn't be able to run it. But in the 7 years they've increased the transit rate, and have begun construction of new locks which will almost double the capacity and allow much larger ships use it. This extension was approved by referendum last year.

The size of the ships going through is amazing. The largest are called Panamax, and are built to exactly the maximum dimensions of the Canal locks. And they're massive. They pay around $250,000 to cross. And the extension will allow a whole new generation of even larger ships to use it.

Mother's Day
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I dropped my clothes to the laundry on Friday, and they were to be ready Saturday. However, when I went to collect them the whole centre was closed. It turned out 8 December is Mother's Day, a Bank Holiday. Although what bright spark came up with the idea of celebrating Mother's Day on the feast of the immaculate conception I don't know!
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Well, that's it for this week. I take the 11pm bus overnight to San José. I'm in Heredia for a couple of days, and then fly to Shannon through Newark on Thursday, arriving Friday morning.

So, until next week,

Slán go fhoil,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Prensa: 'Obedience due' in Institutional Protection Service regulation (I haven't a clue what it's about either)

Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua

Folks,

I'm now on Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua. I have come to realise that I do seem to be drawn to little islands. Maybe it's because I'm from one.

The pic of the week shows some kids in the town of Altagracia on the north of the island that insisted I take their photograph.

León
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There was no direct bus from Tegucigalpa to León, so I had the driver drop me off at the crossroads, where I got a hugely overcrowded bus for the last few hours travel. Lots of the local buses in Central America, often called chicken buses, are old US school buses. This one even had a sign up telling us to protect our riding privileges by observing the same conduct as in the classroom.

I had been told that León was perhaps the most beautiful colonial city in Central America. But, for me, it didn't beat Granada which I love. However, it does have a magnificent cathedral, which is the largest in Central America.

Granada
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I had been in Granada before, back in March. You may remember that it's where I lost my wallet. As I walked down to the lake I remembered the last time I'd taken that walk, and I could recall so clearly the rising sense of panic as I realised it was gone. And when I got to the bench I had last sat on before I realised the wallet was gone I could remember that the book I had been reading was 'The Secret Life of Bees'.

It's a beautiful colonial city, and I was delighted to have the chance to get back there before leaving Central America. There were processions and bands every night while I was there, because it's the festival of La Purisma, the 10 days leading up to Immaculate Conception.

Ometepe
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Lake Nicaragua is huge. When you're on the shore it stretches beyond the horizon, and it feels like you're on the coast. In fact, before the Panama Canal was built many people preferred Nicaragua as a location. Because the Río San Juan is navigable and links the Caribbean with the lake, and then there is just a narrow stretch of land between the lake and the Pacific.

Ometepe island is created by two volcanoes that rise up in the middle of the lake and are connected by an isthmus between them. It takes an hour to sail over, and it was a really rough crossing. In a lake!

It's beautiful here, but most of the activities centre around hiking up volcanoes, or horse-riding. So way too energetic for me. I've been taking it easy, and exploring just by taking the local buses.

Mobile
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I still have my mobile phone from Ireland. It's my calendar, organiser and alarm. But in my two and half years plus in Costa Rica it never operated as a phone; it never connected to the cellular network because there was no roaming agreement. I was quite surprised when I turned it on in Guatemala at the beginning of my travels and it leapt into life and delivered me a text message. I was then able to use it throughout Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Belize and Honduras, but after crossing the border to Nicaragua it lost the Honduran signal and I've had no coverage.

So I was amazed on the boat to Ometepe for it to beep with a text message received with a special offer from O2. I wondered where it was getting the signal from, and saw that the network was none other than ICE, the Costa Rican phone company. So just as I'm about to leave they've obviously started allowing roaming!
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Well, that's it for this week. I'm going into my last full week in Central America, and I have my ticket to get a bus directly through Costa Rica and into Panama for 5 days, before returning to Heredia next week for my last few days before flying home.

So until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Wednesday's Headline in La Tribuna: Ortega gives Assembly an ultimatum.