Goodbye, Metropolis!

Today we said farewell to the skyscrapers of the big city and hello to the Panama’s back country with an eight-hour trek along the famed Pan American Highway, which (except for a small gap in southern Panama and northern Columbia) extends all the way from Alaska to the lower reaches of South America.  I’ve included a map below so you can see just how expansive today’s cross-country voyage really was — more than 400 kilometers (250-ish miles if I did the math right…) climbing over mountains, winding along rivers, and straight through some of the greenest scenery I’ve ever laid my eyes on. This is the Panama I was really looking forward to...

 

 

Our day started at 4 a.m. so that we could catch the early bus from Panama City to David, which is Panama’s third-largest city and the country’s epicenter of agriculture. Thankfully for us, Gen has a freakishly accurate internal alarm clock, because I accidentally set my electronic alarm clock to 4 p.m. rather than 4 a.m. this morning. Unperturbed and heavily caffeinated — and just a tad behind schedule thanks to my blunder — we made our way to the Allbrook Transit Center to purchase our tickets (a bargain at just $15.50!) and board our bus for the day’s ride.

 

Gen and I had been looking forward to riding in “El Diablo,” a red-light party bus, which we thought would be taking us on our eight-hour Panamanian tour today.  Instead, we were pleasantly surprised with a double-decker BMW! We were especially excited to learn of the bus’ air conditioning, because our destination of David is situated in the lowlands of Panama where it is hotter than hell. If I thought the humidity was overwhelming in Panama City, it pails in comparison to David’s lowlands.

 

 

Naturally, Gen and I ran to the top and very front of our autobus so we’d have a birds-eye view of Panama’s picturesque countryside. And we were like a little kids in a candy store, oohing and awing at everything — the multi-colored tropical birds fluttering by, the overhanging plants in every shade of green imaginable, and even a sun-bathing iguana on the side of the road. (I tell myself it was sunbathing, because it’s a lot more pleasant than road kill!)

 

After getting next to no sleep last night and not wanting to miss a blink of action today, I’m beyond exhausted.  It’s time to take a dip in our new hostel’s pool to cool off and then I’m going to make me a rum and coke and lounge poolside for a few hours. Ah, this is the life…