Corfu - the island of the peaks

To get to Southern Albania, as was my main goal, we took a TUI flight to Corfu - Kerkyra airport. The trip made much more sense than flying directly to Tirana North Albania, where Albania's only airport is situated. I would've been happy with just a 1-night stay, but Mom, who was a little apprehensive about Albania wanted to spend more time in the civilized Corfu LOL

Even though the weather was warm enough when we left Finland, the real tropical warmth was balmy to my heat-craving body. The arrivals - part of the airport was small, and we quickly got out to hunt for taxis to take us to the hotel. 

The airport of Kerkyra is close enough to the city, so we could've taken the bus, but as we weren't quite sure where the hotel was, taxi was a better choice in the middle of the night. The driver took us to the hotel for 17 EUR, which I think was rather hefty, but beggars can't be choosers. 

The taxi driver took us to the hotel, not the friendliest driver possible, but he knew the hotel. Hotel Europe was one of over 70 EUR a night, and I guess by Corfu standards, it was fair. At such a late booking time, I wasn't able to get a better price at any of the better hotels by the port.

But, if you want a hotel by the port (to catch the ferry to Albania), don't choose this hotel. It is very old and dated, and VERY noisy. However: credit to them; Mom had left some of her clothes in the closet when we left, and I had left my coat... They had held on to them, until I was able to pick them up on our way back to the airport, some 2 weeks later.

Oh, and an important reminder: DO NOT throw toilet paper down the toilet!! I guess it's one of the rules for visiting Greece. Well, the only other time I visited Greece was in Crete, so I don't know about the mainland. 

We were exhausted after the journey, and looked forward to a restful sleep, which didn't come. In my desperation, I had to resort to borrowing earplugs from Mom, that's how bad it was. The hotel didn't offer breakfast, but the older lady at the reception was kind enough to show us to the nearest cafe about a block away. Due to her kindness or the difficulty of speaking English... The cafe/bakery seemed to be mostly frequented by locals, as was the area of the hotel. Lucky for us, they spoke and understood good enough English so we could get our order in. For about 8 EUR we got a coffee, tea,  sandwich and a pastry. 

Our hotel was better situated for the port, and not the Old Town. It was about a 20-30 -minute walk to the Old Town by the seaside road. The difference in time was due to mother being a bit slower. She insists she walks at a normal pace, it's the others (myself included) that are walking unusually fast. I do have to give her props, never did she complain it was too hard on the uneven cobbled stones, or that we walked too much throughout the trip. She is a real champ! 

So our daily trek to the Old Town took us by the seaside/harbour, until we hit the New Fortress.

To us it looked mighty old, but it appears there's a fortress that's even older, hence the name. (Never got to visit the "Old Fortress".) Finally, turning to walk along the fortress, we came to the streets of the Old Town and all it's shops and restaurants. There were lots of touristy shops abound, with souvenirs, spices, woodwork, soaps and so on. 

We wondered around quite a bit every day, and after each day, weren't quite sure how to get back to the hotel. We knew that if we saw the fortress, we could find our way back, but it was more difficult than one could imagine... On the first night, we accidentally managed to find our way back, but on the second night we were totally lost. We asked lots of people, with the help of the map we had acquired from the hotel, and everyone gave us different directions. The GPS on my mobile didn't seem to be much help either. I guess google wasn't too familiar with the the zigzagging streets. We picked up a better map at one of the ferry offices, but that was when we were about to leave already.

Finally, a guy in a restaurant told us to forget about the map, and just listen to his directions. And just like that, we had a clear view of where to go. Just go to the main shopping street, take a left turn after M&S and follow the street, you'll soon see the fortress. In any case, I now definitely know who I've inherited my sense of direction from. Or the lack thereof. 

Trip to the Devil's Beach

One weekend, we set off in our car to check another beach on the Caribbean side of Panama, to see if it would suit our purposes.

To get to it, we had to drive the only road from us to the Caribbean side; the freeway to Colón. This time, we actually had to cross the Panama Canal in order to get to the other side. At the time we hit Gatun Locks,

There were already a couple of ships waiting to pass, so we had no other choice, but to wait.

Finally it was our turn to drive through the locks. 

Once we passed through them, we continued on a decent road through the jungle,

 until we hit what we took as a National Park. The attendants said Playa Diablo, where we were going was closed, but we saw a few cars parked in front of its gates, so we decided to chance it.

The car was hot, so as soon as Kaleb was released, he headed for the waves. I wasn't too excited about the wave action; having had enough of being in the washing machine of Nicaragua's waves, so I just let Kaleb get himself wet.

Chuck really liked the beach, but I wasn't as happy with it, because of the waves (swimming would be difficult) and its proximity to the Canal, and its high traffic.

On out way home, we passed through an former US military base, Fort Sherman. 

Nice views for army barracks.

There were also some hotels and restaurants built on the side of the Canal, but we decided to head home.

To the Mountains we go

One weekend we thought we could try a change of scenery, and decided to explore the nearby mountain town, El Valle. The town itself wasn't much to write home about, very touristy, but the scenery leading up to there was pretty. This post is just for some pictures from the trip.

The air was balmy, not as hot and humid as down by the sea-level. It was quite possible to drive with the windows open, which we had to do since the car overheated going up and down the mountain roads.

Chuck likes the mountains, whereas I prefer the ocean, but we reached a compromise and will look for a little finca (farm) up in the mountains too, where we can grow apples and berries we can't grow down in the tropical zone.

This last picture should show the ocean shimmering far in the background...

Congratulations to the new President of Panama

Last night, there was a general election in Panama and a new President was chosen for the country. The voter turnout is usually 70 - 80 %, which means that most of those who can do vote.

The banners and ads were out in full force at least 3 months before the election, when we moved here in February.

On the Saturday, before Sunday's election, stores stopped selling alcohol at noon, and restaurants stopped serving it until the election was over. The stores must've been busy before the noon deadline... On election day, the buses were free, and there were no tolls collected on the roads. 

There are 3 major parties in Panama, and none of the parties have been in power more than 1 term in a row since Noriega. It is perceived that Panamanians don't want any party to rule beyond 1 term... or there is a danger of dictatorship (somehow I'm reminded of Nicaragua, go figure.)

So it came to be that a center-rightist Juan Carlos Varela was elected President by a 7% margin. 

Jose Domingo Arias, despite being backed by the incumbent President, spending lots of money, and having the president's wife as the vice-presidential -candidate, lost.

In general, it's not expected that a lot will change with the new president, and why would it? Things are going well for Panama, with the growing economy.  However, in the local congress, the new president-elect's party has only a minority of representatives. This means that he must seek to cooperate with the 3rd party, in order to get anything through the congress. He cab't go to Arias's party, because being the former vice president, and later falling out with the president doesn't grant him a warm welcome there...

Our first trip to the Caribbean Panama

Last weekend we made our first reconnaissance trip to the Caribbean side of Panama. Panama has two coastlines; one on the Pacific side (where we live now), and one on the Atlantic side. The distance between the 2 coasts is 50 miles at its shortest. So we headed off towards Colón on Corredor Norte. Driving in the shadows of the jungle made us happy it was daytime, especially with the car's tinted windows.

Colón is the biggest city in the Caribbean side of Panama. It's got a big port, and it's a hub for commerce. They have tried to get rid of its seedy reputation by adding tax-free incentive zones and a huge tax-free shopping area. We didn't go there, but approaching Colón we could see all the different ads for the stores. (many pics here, but not all...)

Our intention was to drive around Colón, but with our less than accurate GPS, we ended up driving right into it. Luckily we were able to skim through the outskirts of the city, and not into the inner city that all guide books and forums warn you about. We did, however, notice how run-down everything was, and by the looks of all, I was glad it was daytime.

Finally, getting past of Colón, we continued our journey east, with the intention of reaching the town of La Guaira with its beautiful beaches. On the way there we stopped to enjoy the scenery here and there. The ocean breeze was warm and refreshing, and we started liking the coast very much...

The Easter weekend (Semana Santa) is one of the biggest holidays in the Latin America, and all the beaches were packed, like the small town of Portobelo, we drove through on our way. 

There's also an ancient fortress right as you drive into Portobelo, where you can still see the cannons lined up. The area was very popular with the pirates, and it's said that some of them might even found there last resting place in the town.

As we continued on our way, we were flanked by the palm trees and crystal waters of the Atlantic on one side, and the rolling hills of the inland on the other. 

When we got to our destination, we found that there were so many people packed in the beach that we couldn't even find a parking spot. With one last look, we decided to head back home and try again another time. I did manage to snag a few pictures of Isla Grande tho, a very popular holiday destination for many Panamanians with it's beautiful white sandy beaches.

On our way back we saw an interesting looking "Castle" on top of a hill. El Castillo is apparently a hotel, and its commanding presence overlooking the sea and the road made it intriguing. Like a toy castle.

Also looked like the CIA had a branch here. The Caribbean way.

So, we never got to splash around in the water, but we felt strongly that the Caribbean side was where we wanted to set up our place at. They seemed to have wi-fi in many places, so it wasn't as technologically challenged as we first thought either. We'll be back!