This was a driving day. The drive was estimated to take 7-8 hours, but only took only 6, with an hour for lunch. Julia is a spirited driver and the roads were reasonable. Chac cooperated - we drove through a sunny corridor with clouds from the Caribbean side held back by the mountains to the north and the Pacific clouds stayed over the ocean to the south. (Note: Panama sits East to West.) We lunched at the fanciest restaurant in Penonome -- a Chinese restaurant in a hotel, in a town of 14,000. It was busy, had unsmiling wait staff just like in so many cheap and plenty Chinese eateries. We didn’t take many pictures today.
Finding our hotel in the old part of Panama City (Casco Viejo) had the usual challenges: Narrow, crowded 1-way streets, no signage, etc. Casco Viejo is getting gentrified. Our hotelier was a Wall Street attorney for 5 years before his career change. Tomorrow we take care of business – Porsche dealer, bank, road information for Colombia and car shipping arrangements. The people here are very cordial.
Note: Julia and Carol are encouraging me to write the “19 gates of hell”; about the 19 times we crossed a border. Even the border crossing out of the US involved some border officer asking to see my money. My only question is whether we were still in the USA. Further the signs on the I-5 encouraged motorists to cross at Otay Mesa to bypass central Tijuana. What they didn’t say is that there were no services so that if one needed any compliance, e.g., car permits beyond the border zone, one had to drive back 5 miles in Tijuana to the I-5 crossing. There is more to it. One day, when I am rained out, I will write my recollections & inner turmoil. I am going to minimize them in South America.
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