Middle-aged flash packers

Two things of note happened after I had posted my blog yesterday.

Firstly, we went to an Italian restaurant across the road and while we were eating, there was a bit of a kerfuffle with staff taking photos and being photographed with a good looking man. Assuming he was some sort of sports or film star I asked the waitress who he was and turns out he was the Vice-President of Panama.

Secondly (and Steve would say more importantly) it transpires S has been hosting two hungry tics. Yours truly spotted the first one and you can take it from me, it was really gross. Tics can carry some fairly nasty diseases here so they were removed carefully with a tic remover and a precautionary dose of doxycycline was given. We always carry doxycycline with us now as it’s a very useful antibiotic and it was needed when I got a spider bite in South Africa.

Excitement over and done with, it was time to move on from PC and head for the resort of Playa Blanca on the Pacific coastline.

We drove along the iconic PanAmerican highway. I remember reading about people doing road trips from America to Buenos Aires and thinking how exciting that would be. The only sticking point in the route is of course, Panama – the Darien Gap to be precise. The Darien Gap is the stuff of legends. One of the rainiest places on the planet, it is also full of outlaws and not somewhere you would wish to visit in a hurry.

Our road trip took us 2 hours out of Panama City. The PanAmerican highway is showing its age. Full of pot holes, it struggles to deal with the number of vehicles that use it everyday. There are signs of expansion everywhere but none of the new roads are ready yet, so everyone limps along on the original route.

Our lunch and coffee stop was at the Boar’s Head in a brand new shopping mall. One wonders how on earth they decide upon these names. The Boar’s Head was not some down-at-heel lairy old pub but a very clean and wholesome bakery. Whoever decided on that name is going to have a shock when they visit England.

On arrival at Playa Blanca, we had to jump through many hoops to pass the test of respectability in order to be allowed into the resort. It’s a strange place. A mixture of tower blocks, a massive pool and a few villas make up playa Blanca. There is not much else and it felt quite depressing after the hubbub of Panama City.

We decided that as we had cooking facilities we’d eat in while we were here and headed off to Super99 to stock up on provisions. The selection was eclectic and geared more to the American market than anywhere else. We did our usual zombie wander around the shop, looking for tasty delights that didn’t exist, eventually ending up with some chicken and burgers. (And wine.)

We spent the rest of the afternoon having a wander along the beach and a swim in the pool.

S was on cooking duty and ended up getting very cross with the cooker which is gas fired and took ages to heat up. We opened the red wine but it was so revolting it got poured down the sink immediately. Not a great start.

However, the view from the balcony is lovely and what’s not to like about sitting outside at night in a balmy 25 degree heat while in the Uk it’s freezing?