"Having reached Panama on a special cheap return flight from the UK, it had been my original plan to travel up the Pan American Highway as far as Guatemala, then return by much the same route for my flight home a month later. With this plan in mind and keen to be on my way, I only had the one full day in Panama City, leaving early the next morning on the bus for Costa Rica, content in the thought that I would be able to see more on my return. In Costa Rica I did much the same, spending only three nights in the capital, the time I needed to obtain my Guatemalan visa from their Embassy in the city. Visa obtained it was back on the bus, first to Managua in Nicaragua for two nights, then onto Honduras. On reaching Tegucigalpa, the capital, I took the opportunity to call at my airline's office to check on my return flight. To my surprise I was told that with my ticket I could return if I wished from Mexico city rather than Panama. The idea of being able to just keep going north seemed far more preferable to having to go back over old ground, so I changed to Mexico. As  result I did not see as much as I would have liked on this first part of the trip, but as I had not felt particularly safe in either Nicaragua or Panama, not having to return to these countries came as a bit of a relief. With my sights now fixed on only having to go forward I felt, from this point, I could relax and take things as they came.
 
As my flight did not arrive in Panama 'til 1 am, rather than try and find a hotel at such a late hour, I decided to sit around the airport 'til sunrise then take an early bus into the city, giving me pleanty of time to look round and find a place to stay. At least on this occasion I did not have the problem I have experienced in the past when encountering a country at an unsocial hour, that of trying to change money, Panama only uses the US dollar, the currency I had brought with me. The so called Grand Hotel where I finally finished up staying, was in the old Spanish part of the city known as San Filipe, and like most of the buildings in this area, was run down and looked as if it had seen better days. Apart from being an interesting old building the hotel's only real asset was that it was handy for an early bus out the following morning." - MH