I was excited about Panama city because of the canal. I got a cool hotel room in a historical ancient hotel with high ceilings with my room facing the historical plaza. I found it strange that one of the cheapest hotels to stay in in the entire city was also the most historical and right on the historical central plaza next to all of the historical landmarks. I spent a day there riding my bike around the city center that had a lot of modern sky scrapers. Panama has a nice pedestrian mall that is an experience in itself because you can see just how cosmopolitan the place is. Is was like a picture from a science fiction movie where all the races of the world live together harmoniously in their traditional garb. I saw East Indians with their garb all over the place, West Indians such as Guatemalans in their traditional cloths, blacks, whites, middle easterners, everybody. Clearly the canal had the obvious effect of mixing the place up, but in a very powerful and interesting way. I also rode my bike out to the edge of the peninsula along a nice bike path that was shared by a lot of vacationers and exercisers which offered a nice view of the impressive Panamanian skyline.

I rode out to the gates of the canal a few kilometers inland to do the tour. I had to pay a few bucks (which is the money they use there) to get in and sit on a platform where they explain what is going on over loudspeakers. They have those gates to control the flow of water through the canal because one side in like fifty feet above the other. The boats go in one side and then are raised or lowered in a tub and then let out on the other side. After seeing the gates I rode through a huge park and up to the top of the local hill and enjoyed a great view of the city.

While I was walking downtown I bumped into Monica, the German girl who I met on the boat in lake Nicaragua. She was hanging out with some Columbian guys who where living there and invited me to party with them in their apartment. They were really cool and played Shakira for us, who I wasn't aware of at the time.

The next morning I set off to ride my bike to the airport and I saw an indian guy all decked out in cycling gear riding a road bike and asked him where the airport was and he told me. When I got there they didn't let me put my bike right on the plane, I had to pay like twenty bucks to have it wrapped in plastic like twenty times. Then I was off to Ecuador.