“Oh wie schön ist Panama” is a popular German children’s book about little bear and little tiger who live in a house by the river. One day, a wonderful-smelling crate floats past them, with the word PANAMA written on it. Little bear and little tiger decide that Panama must be the land of their dreams, and set off on a quest to find it…  A touching story about learning to appreciate what you have.

While bear and tiger never actually make it to Panama, this is already my third visit here, though a short one – just two days. From San José in Costa Rica I took the Ticabus to Panama. It was supposed to take 15 hours, which is quite comfortable when you travel first class. No comparison to the Greyhound buses in the United States. The border crossing, however, took over three hours because nobody seemed to feel responsible to stamp our passports or check our luggage. They could put up a sign saying “We are sorry, you can leave the country only during our opening hours.” After 16.5 hours the bus eventually arrived in Panama City. The climate here is quite hot in comparison to San José. I was proud to make my way to the hostel with public transportation, which is amazingly cheap. I had a window seat in the bus; the traffic can be crazy and when a taxi got so close that I thought it would hit the bus, I got scared and winced – much to the amusement of the Panamanian girl sitting next to me…

Grungy: Panama City

The Mamallena hostel in Panama City is among the best I have seen in Central America. It’s owned by a retired world traveler (these guys just know how to properly run a hostel) and the first rule is: There are no rules; just respect the others and use common sense. When checking in they couldn’t find my reservation. No wonder as I booked the wrong two days. What a classic Splette situation: I never book ahead and once I do I get it wrong and of course they were booked out. But they offered me a mattress on the floor. Great, that’s all I needed. The atmosphere at Mamallena was great. And the showers were funny: barbwire & too many buttons.
I came to Panama to visit an old friend. It’s always nice to meet friends along the journey. But less than 48 hours later I was sitting in my plane to Bogotá, Colombia. Again, a Panamanian woman was sitting next to me. This time she had the window seat and crossed herself as the plane took off and I was the one smiling…