Alastair Simpson Zoe Bowden Travel Blog (Home)

Our mere 18 hour journey to get to Panama City went like this:

- 9am very dusty local bus to the border from Costa Rica - 3 hours

- Walking across the border which consisted of a VERY rusty old bridge - 1 hour

- Lying to the border guards about our flight schedule from Panama (We dint actually have one) - 5 minutes 

- Minibus ride to the closest border town - 1 hour

- Local minibus to the town of David on the Pan America Highway - 4 hours

- Waiting - 1 hour

- Night bus to Panama City - 7 hours

The last bus was officially the coldest we have ever been on our trip, worse than the snow in Patagonia, the winds of Ushuaia and Torres Del Paine, all due to the ridiculous air conditioning on the bus….

Panama City though is cool, the old town being very similar to Havana Cuba, contrasting with the new commercial centre of town. 

Our room in Havana had a stunning stunning balcony with views over the city.  Keeping things cheap we ate peso pizza most days, many murals of the Revolution heroes remain, just slightly more crumbly nowadays…. 

1950s American cars mixed with 1970s soviet ladas, yugos and modern day Korean motors….handball games in the street, brightly coloured UNESCO heritage buildings and random 1960s theatres bizarrely called “America”…. 

“Cretins Corner” containing, Batista, Reagan, Bush and Bush Senior….Its safe to say that Cuba, former dictators and America don’t get on very well…..

Ah rum and beer….the first time I have ever seen a giant test tube of beer, self cooled with a tube of ice….we also probably drank about 139 mojitos and 63 Cuba Libres, but when a bottle of rum is about $5 it seemed a shame not to….we also spent a day at the forts of Havana, roaming around and helping out in the port office…

1950s Buicks, Fords, Chevrolets everywhere, crumbling buildings, restored buildings, beautiful plazas and our very good friend Wojtek who came to see us in Cuba from Canada to be our personal tour guide and keep us away from the dodgy cigar salesmen, Cuba has it all….

For some amazing photographs of Havana taken by a good friend of ours and professional photographer, head here: http://www.singlemaltstudios.com/distillery/one-week-in-havana/ Wojtek was good enough to show us around Havana for 5 days, he takes better pics than us, you won’t regret it….

Warning, the first of many Cuba posts as we took over 1,000 pictures…oops….so many amazing cars, buildings, mojitos, culture, people to capture….like a living breathing museum, a fantastic place to visit….

For some amazing photographs of Havana taken by a good friend of ours and professional photographer, head here: http://www.singlemaltstudios.com/distillery/one-week-in-havana/ Wojtek was good enough to show us around Havana for 5 days, he takes better pics than us, you won’t regret it….

For the next few weeks we will be in Cuba, with our good friend Wojtek, devoid of easy internet access as its a security risk don’t you know….but here are some pics to give you an idea of what we will be up too…..