Arrival and the first days in Panama

For a long time I had been looking forward to this day, despite all the confinement at home these days. But well, I will do everything I can to make this new journey bring back a little bit of the feeling of freedom.

Not only for me, maybe also for all those who will follow me here in the next few weeks.

So, I packed my overly full backpack again and set off. But it already got bumpy at Frankfurt airport. The airline had only one person available for the entire check-in. That was funny, or actually not, because I was still standing in line with my luggage one hour before departure.

Then came the security check where you thought that 4 processing counters out of at least 20 available ones would be completely sufficient. Eventually, I looked at my ticket more closely and saw boarding time 11:20 a.m., now on the watch... it was 11:25 a.m. and there were still at least 10 people in front of me.

I got nervous! The subsequent walk to the departure gate was fortunately short, but there was also a long line and at the front again that one person who handles all the processing. The flight left on time, a miracle.

The layover was in Madrid and I only had 60 minutes again. So I walked and walked and walked, the terminal seemed endless, at least it felt like I walked 2 km, then we went downstairs and took a train to another terminal, arrived there, passport control, then quickly looked for the gate. When I arrived, boarding started immediately. Goodbye Europe.

For me, the flight was one of the longest direct flights so far, a whole 11 hours. Even the sunset lasted over 3 hours, we flew with the time.

At 9 p.m. we arrived in Panama and the arrival went smoothly. I left the airport and took a taxi to Clayton, a suburb of Panama City. It quickly became clear to me that I was not sitting in an original taxi, but it was not a crook, the price was right and I arrived at my guesthouse unharmed.

Panama City

The sun beamed into the room, past the curtain, tropical sounds penetrated the room, the chirping of exotic birds. At the latest here I realized that new adventures awaited me out there, Panama awaited me out there. I left the bed and after a light breakfast, I couldn't wait any longer, I had to go out.

I walked to the nearby bus stop, but I didn't have a rapid pass yet, a card that you need to use the entire metro and metro bus system of the city. The driver immediately took out his and scanned it, I gave him a dollar, the local currency. Normally a ride costs 0.35 cents.

After only 10 minutes of driving, I stood at the huge international bus station. From here the buses go to all corners of Panama, even to Costa Rica, and even the distant destination Mexico is possible. If you cross a bridge over a highway, you also reach the city's metro.

I took it for one stop and then walked for 10 minutes to the beautiful old town of Panama City, which was founded by the Spaniards in 1671, with the name 'San Felipe' or 'Casa Viejo'. Very appealing here are the old colonial buildings that have only been renovated recently or are currently being renovated.

In the afternoon, I immediately walked through the modern city center with the big skyline that can already be seen from afar.

Panama Canal and Miraflores Locks

The next day I went to the Miraflores Locks, which is also perfectly located for my guesthouse. I just had to take the metro bus in the other direction, change buses at the terminal or walk one kilometer. I did that and walked along the street. At some point someone shouted at me from afar, it was the gatekeeper to the entrance of the Miraflores Locks, and he wanted me to walk on the sidewalk, not on the street. Afterwards, he was friendly.

Arriving at the locks, it was said that the last ship had just passed through, and I should come back in the afternoon. So I came back in the afternoon and was thrilled, you walk through 3 floors of a quite interesting museum about the history and construction of the canal, which began in 1881. It is about 82 km long and about 13,700 ships pass through it every year.

When you reach the 4th floor, you are on a large terrace from where you can watch the hustle and bustle. It gets funny when a cruise ship passes by, then they cheer each other on.

So Panama City is a pleasant city and the Panama Canal is really interesting.