ups & downs - Panama to Nicaragua

The old original part Casco viejo, Panama city

overlooking the modern part, Panama city

Plaza de la independencia, Panama city

So I did meet my brother and we did made it to Panama city but it was far from as easy as i had hoped. After waiting for my brothers flight for about 3 hours i made the conclussion that he wasn´t on the flight... Helpful airport staff toled me he got stocked in Colombia because his lack of a ticket out of Panama (which neither of us had) but got on the next flight tomorrow morning. As the time was pretty late by now and Panama city is not the safest for a blond single girl at night i decided to spend my 13h on the airport sitting in one of the uncomfortable, unsleepable chairs...

I really liked Panama city. The contrast between the modern buildings and the old colonial settlements, the excellent food stands and the very helpful inhabitants made it a pleasant stay.
We explored the canal during one day and got the luck of seeing a ship passing through the locks, pretty cool! You could tell the canal has made Panama city richer since US pulled out 1999, the city is booming and people are smiling!

The busride from Panama to San Jose in Costa Rica was okey but not great. The border crossing went over all expectations and in 2 days we made it through Costa Rica to Nicaragua and Isla de Ometepe. I can say this much after travelling with my brother Philip for about 5 days. He wants to see as much as possible on as little time as possible and it should cost as little as possible. I do prefer this way of travel and admire his energy (he has done this for about 6 months now) but have to put down my foot at some point when we haven´t eaten in 9h or are planing to sleep on a busstation in one of the most dangerous cities in central america...

Costa Rica is the richest and most americanized country in Central Amerika, with other words the most expensive . Nicaragua might be the poorest of the 8 but from what i´ve seen with happy and very friendly inhabitants. It doesn´t hurt that it´s very cheap too...

So, we will climb one of the volcanos on this twin volcano island in the middle of the country(!) tomorrow. The plan is to stay here 3 days before heading to Granada north from here.

If everything goes as planed i´ll be writing from there or possible Honduras next time.
(I will upload photos here when i get back to Houston)