Sunday 6 May 2007

PANAMA´s locked

.....Bocas del Toro´s fire station rang to the sound of one banana, two banana three banana, 4 as locals sucked on beers at a Blue Moon party. Men wobbled up to the keyboard king swaying into stumbles, arms held aloft gently, wobbling on one leg before turning thumbs up towards their friends. I had arrived at the beginning of low season and the locals were getting absolutely destroyed. Further down the street a big truck played RAGGATON (jasper and ciaran, if you two guys know this music and like it, do not inflict it on anyone else, it´s pure evil) where the children of pissed men were not so innocently rampantly attacking anyone of the opposite sex. I wandered around through the carnage with Trevor and eyed the crowd with amusement and nerves. This was my introduction to Panama, which after 5 other countries looks the same as the rest has the most American influence. Pure sh..........
........Panama City is in stark contrast to the rest of the country. Its skyline stretches upwards in a most American way. It is the most modern of all the cities I´ve been to on this trip. Banks infest the city and the expat community gives it a cosmopolitan feel. It is in short a place awash with money, new buildings are growing at an incredible rate and local yacht clubs are full to the brim of rich folk. Only twenty minutes from here there is poverty but this bubble concels it...
.......the canal, a feat of human engineering is pretty much just a big canal. Its function is simple but it is hardly a tourist attraction unless you are an engineer. I am not. I appreciate its functionality but thats about it. Even so I went along to see this modern wonder and was immensely underwhelmed. There is a small visitors centre with the history of the canal. It was interesting but dull. Other people thought not and took photos of the explanations beneath pictures (now why the f...). But there is one thing about it thats cool. Its got some great locks, not unlike myself.........
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Juan : You know the camp guy at reception.
ME : I don´t think I´´ve met him.
Girl : Well, gay men have more female hormones than male so they could be considered women.
ME : Emmm, no I have not MET him.

Champions Man Utd, granted but what a lesson Milan gave them.
Adios.

No comments: