BASICS - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 38

Travel CUTS Canada 800 667 2887, travelcuts.com . Canadian youth and student
travel firm offering discount flights and several trips combing Panama with Costa Rica and
other countries in Central America.
Tucan Travel UK 020 8896 1600, tucantravel.com . Award-winning small travel oper-
ator offering Panama in combination with Costa Rica and other Central American destina-
tions on some of their adventure overland tours.
< Back to Basics
GETTING AROUND
Panama has a fairly comprehensive and very efficient bus network, used by the ma-
jority of the population, which will get you around most of the mainland, though the
level of comfort varies enormously. Along the western section of the Interamericana -
the Panamanian section of the Pan-American Highway - luxury vehicles with reclin-
able seats, air conditioning, nonstop videos and on-board toilets speed along for sever-
al hours for a handful of dollars, while at the other end of the scale chivas - conver-
ted pick-up trucks packed like the proverbial sardine can - grind their way up twisting
mountain roads to remote villages for not a lot less.
There are many good paved roads in central and western Panama, even to small villages up
in the mountains, and dirt roads are also generally well graded, though in the rainy season
they can soon become a quagmire. East of Panama City there are few roads of any descrip-
tion.
For the longer trips from Panama City - over the Cordillera Central to Bocas, deep into Dar-
ién or to the more distant islands of Guna Yala - an internal flight on one of Panama's two
domestic airlines will save a lot of time. Indeed with only one road - sometimes impassable
in the rainy season - into Guna Yala, climbing aboard a plane is sometimes the only way into
the archipelago. And to hop from island to island in Guna Yala or ease upriver to visit Em-
berá villages in the Darién, the main mode of transport is a motorized dugout or cayuco .
While Panama City has a comprehensive bus system, it can be interminably slow on some
routes, so taking a taxi is often easier and is inexpensive. In the other towns and cities, most
places of interest are within easy walking distance though a taxi - rarely costing more than a
couple of dollars - can save you from melting in the heat.