Colon, Panama. All the puns, and sadly it lives up to its name, it’s a bit full of poo… there’s some good stuff but you’ll have to look for it!

If you stop here on a cruise they say the coast to coast train tour and the Indian Village tours are amazing

Of course if engineering and shipping is your thing there’s the locks, the canal and the mighty bridge

Or if you just need a few essentials, a potter round some shops, there’s a few grotty ones at the port and a couple of places to grab a drink but to go further than that walking simply wasn’t an option for 2 ladies!

Not Safe! Was the universal cry when we wanted to walk

So we took a taxi, so we could see the Atlantic and the Pacific at once, drive across a big scary bridge twice and see the first lock. We were actually lucky enough to see a cruise ship going through the canal. The driver was great. He also took us to a canal & bridge viewing point (yes really) and he stopped on the big bridge to let us take a quick photo

We then went to the shopping centre! Not my usual port attraction, but it was amazingly good value and as I was in Panama I felt duty bound to buy a hat, for a whopping $4.

Leaving the shopping centre we met the drivers Nan, a stunningly good looking woman with well cut steel grey hair and red lipstick against her flawless dark skin. It was just really nice to bump into her doing her shopping and be introduced. We were very comfortable walking round the shops, locals were friendly and helpful if a little amused by us, but as we got back into town the driver steadfastly refused to let us out to walk round shops there, insisting it was unsafe

He did stop to let us out at the Cathedral which was still beautifully decorated for Christmas and drove us around several other Churches before heading back to the ship

We paid our driver the agreed amount and he openly asked for a tip before we had time to even think about it. For fifty bucks plus tip, we had a decent enough day in Panama