Monday, February 13, 2012

It's always a good idea to check the traffic before you leave...


Yesterday I had big plans. We were going to get up early and hike Campana. I got up at 6:30 and made sandwiches and packed the cooler. I got everything else ready and somehow we were out the door and on our way at reasonably early hour to get some hiking in before it got too hot (under normal driving circumstances Campana is about an hour from Panama). My kids weren't very into it, but I was mostly ignoring them and hoping for the best.

The first clue that things weren't going to go as planned came when we found out the bridge (Puente de las Américas) was closed for the Ironman race. No problem, we would cross at the other bridge. Now I knew the Ironman was happening, and I knew that they were crossing that bridge, but I hadn't realized that the highway was completely closed all the way to Chorrera. This meant that once we crossed the canal, we were stuck in traffic for almost two hours as police directed cars onto a narrow, winding detour. It was 11:30 when we approached Campana--way too late (hot) for hiking.

We didn't go up the mountain. We drove straight to the beach. I was disappointed because when we hiked Campana last year, we didn't make it to the summit because we took the wrong trail. We'll just have to try again another day. We were rewarded at the beach though. There was almost no one there and the weather was spectacular. We had a great day and frankly, my kids were relieved that they didn't have to hike.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Laura,

    I came across your blog while doing some research for a new HGTV show I am working on for Debbie Travis and thought you might be able to help me out.:)

    It's a new home makeover show for Canadian and American expats who have recently moved abroad (within the last six months). We are looking for families, couples, or individuals who have recently moved, or are about to move, and whose new home needs some "love" or to be "done up". A purchased property is ideal, but we are open to looking at rental situations as well.

    From what I've seen on your blog you have been living in Panama too long for our purposes, but we're also offering a finders fee of $500 to anyone who refers someone to us who is chosen for the show. So I thought you may know, or run into, some other expats in Panama (or elsewhere) who fit the bill.

    Here is a link to the casting call website: http://www.debbietravis.com/debbie-travis-casting-call-page


    Thanks for your time - any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Kind regards,
    Linda
    Montreal, Canada

    ReplyDelete