The same thing forward, the same thing backward…a palindrome. We had finally made it to the Panama Canal.
Arriving in Panama City at the crack of dawn presented a new problem for us. Usually when we arrive at dawn we walk into a hotel and sleep for a couple more hours. This time we walked to six different hotels before finding one (which ended up being the most expensive thus far of the entire trip) that didn’t want to charge us by the hour. Things were really going well.
As one of Spain’s first settlements in the Americas, Panama City has tons of old Spanish ruins. To be honest, these weren’t particularly special but what was interesting …

We made it to Boquete, Panama in time to kayak the next day with Boquete Outdoor Adventures–. Having emailed every rafting company we could find in Central America as we moved south, it was a relief to find one that actually offered whitewater kayaking trips. Even better that the rafting group we were supposed to go down the river with canceled so we had the trip all to ourselves.
Driving to the put in my stomach was in knots. If you remember the last time we went kayaking, I got thrashed so I was more than a bit nervous about hitting the river again. In fact, I was petrified. Karma though had a different plan for …

Up at 4:30 am to catch a 5:30 am bus from Quepos to San Isidro. If we missed the first bus, no getting to Panama in time to kayak the next day.
Costa Rica immigration was easy, we got our exit stamp – no fees – and continued on our way. Upon reaching Panamanian immigration we were accosted, truly that is the only word to describe it. One man grabbed my passport, put in a sticker and demanded $1. No explanation. The immigration official on the other side of the glass, who had Jillian’s passport merely nodded and told her she needed the same. Another ayudante (helper in spanish, but they generally are anything but) grabbed …