Presented with the dilemma of the prospect of a road trip for a week with three Germans from the hostel in the opposite direction you had planned to go at the expense of missing out on going to the San Blas Islands....what do you do??? Road trip of course!!!
So the general details are as follows: Sinah has a rented car for a week paid for by her company as she is writing a travel article for a German magazine but has a few destinations that she must visit but otherwise has near complete flexibility; Elisa, a German living in Austria who has travelled with Sinah numerous times and is visiting Panama primarily to surf; and Mauri, an Italian, Salvadorian German guy who doesn't really have a fixed agenda....similar to me I guess.
The itinerary we concluded on was beach, beach, hills to see the indigenous peeps, the coffee producing region, finishing up in Bocas del Toro Islands after which we can all go our separate ways if we choose.
Before we departed I had another matter to contend with which in theory could have made the road trip exceptionally expensive. Flying into countries such as Panama is problematic in that you invariably need to show evidence of your departure out of the country. I'd not thought that this was going to be an issue. It was....again. So I had to buy a refundable ticket and go to the office in Panama City and organise my refund. Given my much shortened stay in Panama due to the road trip I headed to the office first thing in the morning. Yes you can get a refund but you still need evidence of your exit. What? This wasn't a requirement last time. I had also purchase a ticket online at the airport in Colombia from Mexico to the USA but after purchasing in right in front of the check-in staff they told me it wasn't adequate as I didn't have the ticket number (which you don't get until a few days before your flight and I hadn't planned to take the flight for 2.5 months). S.O.B. Long story short, I was running (literally) around Panama City in the heat of the morning between airlines trying to get tickets printed, filling out forms, wishing I spoke Spanish, enjoying the delights of waiting in queues as morons in front of you ask a million needless questions, all with the prospect of losing my money if I didn't get it sorted there and then. Bloody stressful. Got my USD350 back thanks to the lovely lady at the United Airlines office (yes, I did just write that).
International road trips present themselves with numerous challenges that other forms of travelling don't, let alone when you go on one with complete strangers. The frequent bathroom stops (you know who I am referring to!), songs never being played to the end (really dislike that Mauri), the waiting and waiting for everybody to be ready at the same time, the frustrations caused by a GPS that doesn't know north from south nor where the road is at times, extremely poor sign-posting and shitty roads are all more than outweighed by the numerous positives. I learnt many colourful German words, that what appears to be a heated discussion between two Germans about to end in a foxy boxing fight is merely a normal conversation, that it is possible for a petite woman to drink 17L of water everyday and still be thirsty, that being bright red from sun exposure apparently isn't sunburn, that some people actually adhere to the rental car policies, that bread and jam (no butter) constitutes dinner when there is nothing else available, that the general perception of German's being efficient and industrious and proud of their achievements always has its exceptions (thank-you to the cabana owners in Las Lahas for your eye-opening experience, well.... one-eye open).....but most importantly some good friends were made.
The drive out of Panama City was slow.....very slow. Crossed over the Panama Canal but couldn't see much through the wire fencing (the gates are further up the canal) and hit the PanAmerican Highway. Not the highway I expected at all. Two lanes lasted for a little while but then slipped down to one slightly rugged road that was a little too much for our heavily laden Hyundai Elantra.
Our destination was Pedasi, a small (almost) coastal town on the Pacific side where we were to stay the night then continue a further 30km to Playa Venao. We reached Pedasi after dark and decided to just head straight to the Eco-hostal in Playa Venao. A good decision in the end. A great place set 3 minutes walk from the beach.
This is a beach you come to surf. There is little to do in the immediate vicinity other than that. Get here soon before the large resort projects commence construction and ruin the sense of remoteness and tranquillity. The waves weren't the best when we were there....rather small but you can see the potential for decent waves with some more swell.
 |
| Elisa and Maui |
 |
| Elisa, Sinah and Mauri |
No comments:
Post a Comment