The Nomads

We left Penonomé about nine o’clock and had hardly gassed up and got rolling when we had to stop and put on rain gear, Cloudbursts plagued us off and on most of the way but as we were making good time we drove out of most of them in short order.

It seemed that the closer we got to Panama City, the worst the roads got. There were many vicious holes and broken pavement narrowly and hair-raisingly avoided. By the time we got to the “Bridge of the Two Americas” my knuckles were white and my hands and shoulders were so cramped that I could hardly hold on!

Once across the bridge we rolled for miles through some of the most desperate looking slums and “barrios” to get to “El Centro”, and twice had to ford foot deep water for twenty feet or more in the low lying roads right in the city. It rains a lot in Panama City! So much so that the 52 million gallons of fresh water required for each ship that passes through (today 13,100 annually and rapidly growing) is readily available from the main reservoir of the canal, Gatun Lake, which also supplies all the drinking water for the city!

We decided on the Hotel Parador in the Cangrejo zone of the city, and after a few minor glitches were settled in by five o’clock, had dinner in their restaurant and a bottle of overpriced Chardonnay to celebrate the turn around point.

I don’t recommend their garlic chicken; it kept me running all night and half the next day!

Kilometers - Daytrip: 155km total: 13,943

Gas: $ 30

Lodging: Hotel Parador $ 85

# posted by Richard and Susie @ 5:03 AM