Woody's

One of our favourite places to go for a beer is at a beach bar called Woody's, next door to the Decameron.  It changed hands shortly after we were here three years ago.  We met the new owners, Vern and Debbie, who are from Toronto.

Beaches

We revisited some of our favourite beaches. 

        This marina in Santa Carlos was in the construction process 3 years ago when we were here.  It is now complete.

                                           Santa Clara beach

                                       
 Rio Mar.  We found this beach has changed quite a bit.  When the tide comes in, the water claims most of the beach.

Banana House, Coronado, Panama

We spent one night in Panama City, in the Albrook area, rented a car the next day and left the city for the beach.  We found an AirBnB in the beach community of Coronado.  It was a three bedroom house, and because we were the only guests we had the whole house to ourselves!!  Tom, the host, stays in a small apartment at the back of the property. 

Panama Canal Train

We took the train from Colon to Panama City which runs parallel to the Panama Canal linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.  The route stretches 77km across the Isthmus of Panama from Colon, on the Atlantic side to Balboa, near Panama City, on the Pacific side.  It is operated by Panama Canal Railway Company, which currently runs both freight and passenger service.  It was a very comfortable journey that lasted one hour and gave us beautiful views of the canal.

                                         Gatun Lake

Colon, Panama

We cut our stay in the Puerto Lindo short.  We found it to be very beautiful, but the beauty was lost to a huge garbage issue.  The area is quite raw, with very few amenities.  Restaurants are limited, as is wifi,  and there is little to do.  While here we were able to get our land legs back after our boat trip, relax, read, and do a bit of exploring.  After a week of this, we had our fill, and felt it was time to move on.  We thanked Sylvia for our wonderful stay, said our goodbyes, and hopped on the chicken bus to Colon.

Colon is not a city you want to spend time in.  It is a port city located on the Panama Canal's Caribbean side.  It's colonial grandeur is crumbling and its neighbourhoods' marginalized.  There are huge poverty issues which is accompanied with gangs and crime.  We probably have more valuables in our backpacks then can be found in the majority of homes in Colon.  The bus was suppose to take us to the bus terminal, but everyone got off at the market, including us!  Not wanting to walk around, at the risk of being robbed, we hailed a taxi, and it whisked us off to the train terminal.  I guess you can call us big chickens!!