Arrival in Panama City couldn't happen fast enough. Thankfully the flight from Toronto was early in the morning so five hours of sleep was had before getting to Panama. Once here I noticed that English could be overheard and I was slightly less nervous! It's always a wonder when you get to another country if you'll understand what's going on.

My first thoughts of Panama City after landing and getting in the car to drive through town was that there are two parallels. There are towering expensive-looking buildings along waterfronts and barely a few miles later what was seemingly poverty. Oh yeah, and I noticed the heat. It is pretty intense but welcoming while escaping a Canadian winter.

There's some mighty expensive booze at airport duty-free. The best part is that travellers can get samples and essentially do shots at the airport terminal -- free!