Panamanarama

Panama City was big, busy and bewildering, especially the local buses, which we never quite mastered! At one point a couple of policemen took pity on our confused selves and personally escorted us to the right random street with no name!! There are nice parts to it, the Casco Viejo old town is very quaint and of course we had to go and check out the masssshuive ships crossing the Panama Canal (though unfortunately this looks NOTHING like it did in Team America!!). At one point we were casually looking at a river from a bridge when we noticed a six foot croc skulking around in the murky water- crikey! We now constantly have our eyes peeled for any more lurking crocs (and snakes for that matter!).

Headed into the highlands to Boquete, where it was wet wet wet. Beautiful jungle though, muchos mosquitoes being the downside and some fairly dramatic river crossings! Then to the archipelagos of Bocas del Toro. Awesome place, crystal clear water, big orange starfish everywhere, beautiful empty beaches and $1 beer - mmmmmm. Will attempt to make you jealous when we find somewhere we can upload photos!

The Panamanians are a friendly bunch and we have been getting no hassle whatsoever which is excellent! What little Spanish we learnt however doesn't seem to be understood too much, making travelling around all the more fun!

Next installment...................COSTA RRRRRICA!

Adios USA. Hola Panama!

We have arrived in wet n soggy Panama so thought it was about time to mention our adventures in the u.s of a!

A few lessons we learnt whilst there:
- If you ever find yourself unemployed in L.A, spend your time watching TV sitcom filmings, free tickets, free food, free drinks! what more could you want!
- Matts hand twin is Bruce Willis (Hollywood)
- Mojave Desert campground is scarily remote with lots of deadly snakes, not great for a good nights sleep camping!
- Whoever wrote the mile markers for the hiking trails around the Mojave Desert was very misguided as to how far a mile actually is.
- 55 degrees centigrade is a bit on the warm side for hiking down, let alone up the Grand Canyon!! Absolutely spectacular all the same!
- In Monument Valley every car magically has off-road capabilities......even a fiat panda? I think not!
- Best way to describe Vegas.... Barry Island on acid!

We´ve had a great time so far, and looking forward to the next few months in Central America, hopefully with not a burger and fries in sight!

Arrived!

This is for all you doubting Thomases out there who thought we wouldn't bother blogging til we got home! Ah ha - here is our first blog on the road thanks to a combination of jet lag, free internet and a wierd rule that the front door won't be unlocked unil 8am.... hmmm. Not that we have much to say though!

So we arrived safe and sound - bumped into Johnny Rotten at Heathrow - had to hold back from telling him how sad it was to sell out for butter! Amazing views over the Arctic Circle and between us and our new friend who we sat next to 'in the movie business' we pretty much watched every film Air NZ had to offer. Time well spent.