The Land Between Two Oceans

THE LAND BETWEEN TWO OCEANS

For information, photos and travel costs, see my website

25/12/2006 – MILAN MXP – ATLANTA (USA) – PANAMA Today is Christmas. Tradition would have us stay at home and devote ourselves to the generous dishes of Emilia's custom. Instead, this Christmas we'll spend on a Delta Airlines plane, crossing the Atlantic, to make a stopover in Atlanta and reach Panama City after 15 hours of flight (+4 hours stop in Atlanta for the plane change makes 19 hours). Why Panama of all places? First of all because our craving for the sea is incurable and in Panama there are even two oceans. Then because from our research it seems there is still a lot of unspoilt nature, as well as a great variety of landscapes. And finally, but no less important, it's a destination still untouched by mass tourism. Italians still turn their noses up at this place, all the better. There isn't even a guidebook in Italian: the Lonely Planet, our bible, is in English.

No problem, we translated it ourselves. On Amazon we found a 1:480,000-scale map from International Travel Maps: laminated, gob-proof, detailed, a spot-on purchase. We land in Panama City when it's already the dead of night. Good thinking, that of booking a hotel near the airport online from Italy, which is also closer than we thought: 2 minutes by taxi. And tomorrow we'll go and collect our car, waiting for us at the airport.

Keep reading on my website