Panama Update #114
January 9, 2009
Yesterday was definitley a full day. The owner of the apartment we are renting and a friend had some business to do in the remote Darien Region of eastern Panama. They were researching some land for a farm they want to buy and they asked me if I wanted to come along. Some pictures are posted in the entry that follows. We left at 5:00 AM and got there about 10:00 AM. We stayed only for a short time and returned by 4:00 PM. It was about 9 hours of driving time. The road was OK but had a lot of bumps and rough spots, which is typical of the highways here. They don't seem to put a lot of money into the infrastructure, which I don't understand since better roads would be a bi boost to the commerce in the country. There were some small towns along the way and a couple of nice scenic spots, but other than that it was pretty remote and deserted country.
A half hour after returning a friend picked us up and brought us to a town north of the city called Gamboa. We went to a geology lecutre that Nikki wanted to hear and then had dinner. It was late so we stayed the night and took an eary bus back at about 6:00 AM. They had a nice guest room for us with a folding futon couch. Gamboa is a small town of about 3500 located right on the canal at Gatun Lake. It was built by the Americans and is very quiet with a lot of vegetation. People seem to really like it there although it is a long commute (about 40 minutes) to get to town, so you need a car if you are living there.
