We arrived in Panama city at an old military airport. We'd made sure to get good seats so that we could clear customs as soon as possible. This done, we then had a long wait instead for the baggage. At least they let us into the country. So far, with no entry fee to pay.

We took a taxi to the city . On the way, we crossed the 'Bridge of the Americas', a bridge spanning the Panama canal. We headed to a hostel named in the Lonely Planet, and checked in. The hostel had good information (so we thought) and a backpacker vibe. It definitely wasn't cheap or the nicest we've stayed in, and the internet and electricity supply was rubbish, but it served it's purpose. We had high hopes of doing an activity in the afternoon, but were both cranky from lack of sleep and hunger. So we made our way to a vegetarian place for cheap, good quality grub, and take stock. We knew we wouldn't enjoy the sights if we did anything big (too tired) so instead decided to wander the city, marvel at the myriad of skyscrapers, look at the Pacific longingly, and drink coffee. We also managed to find some replacement electronics for those which had been literally melted by an adaptor. After failing to find the post office (this was becoming very common for us) and the supermarket, we headed back to the hostel to get out of the sun. It was ridiculously hot . Ken later managed to find a corner shop that would sell us what we needed. We hid from the mossies in our room, which was still amazingly hot until the air conditioning was turned on at 9pm.

On Tuesday 16th, Ken was not well. We took our time in the morning, and checked out of the hostel. The plan was to get organised with our bus ticket out of Panama City, and go to see the Panama canal. We needed to get to Albrook bus station, the main terminal, to purchase our ticket. We were advised to go early, to make sure that there would be a seat available for us. After having to return to the hostel for Jayna's passport, we managed to purchase our ticket for Bocas del Toro, leaving that night.

Panama City has a metro card system for the buses and underground. Despite a sign saying that we could get a metro card at the hostel, we couldn't. Other information we'd been told by the hostel about the metro card system also turned out to be wrong . The card cost $2, and there was not already $1 on it. The bus journey from the hostel to the bus station cost $1.25, not $0.25. Noone could tell how to get from the bus terminal to our hostel. And when we were ready to go to the Panama canal, noone could tell us where to get the bus from within the terminal. Seeing as hundreds of people must do this journey every day, it beggared belief that we were given misinformation so many times. After an incredibly frustrating hour of being told different things, and none of them turning out to be correct, with a complete lack of signage, we found the right bus to get us to the canal. Panama has a long way to go to get it's tourist information correct and up to date.

When we did arrive at the canal, we made our way into the Miraflores Visitor Centre. Here, there was a museum spread over four levels, giving information about the canal, the history of it's construction, the uses of the canal, the current expansion project, and the surrounding protected countryside . On leaving the museum, we were left in an empty corridor, which was a little odd. We made our way upstairs to the viewing platform, where crowds were gathered to watch the ships traverse the Miraflores Lock. This is one of the three locks that the boats have to travel through when transiting the canal, and is the closest to the Pacific ocean. In the morning, boats travel towards the Atlantic, and in the afternoon, boats travel the other way, towards the Pacific. We waited a while until the first boats of the day arrived to head to the Pacific; a pleasure boat, and a huge ship carrying cars, bound for South Korea. It was pretty ace watching the locks open and close, discharging 100 million litres of fresh water into the ocean each time. The canal is called an engineering marvel for good reason, as the whole operation is pretty impressive.  

After we'd had our fill of boats, we headed downstairs to watch a 3D film which was not 3D (this function was broken). Instead we watched a 2D 10 minute long film, which was basically a promotional video for how awesome the canal is. We were a little disappointed by this. We then got the bus back to Albrook, and a taxi back to the hostel (we still couldn't figure out that leg of the bus journey) for our bags. We headed back to Albrook for the fourth time that day, grabbed some dinner, and prepared ourselves for the next long bus ride to Bocas del Toro!