Backpacking in Pananma

So my school has a week off this week. They are taking the students to Southern Nicaragua and Northern Costa Rica. At first I wasn't sure what I was going to do during my break, because the school was going to be closed. So I had three options. Every option was clouded by I need someone to come with me. Obviously, I could have stayed home and just explored Puntarenas. (I didn't really want to do this, as I have been doing this for a month and there isn't much. Although we did leave in the mist of Carnivals!! :) But I none of my friends were going to stay in Puntarenas so I decided to leave. My next option was to follow the school to Nicaragua. I want to see historical places and my school is going on water slides and horseback riding. That sounds fun... but it’s not very Nicaraguan. On the flip side I would be traveling with a large group and would know exactly where I was going and what I was going to do. My last option was to travel anywhere, and figure something out. Students started asking around to see who was doing what... and I found Madeleine. She was pretty certain that she was going to leave the country. So, we began to do research, and we decided on going to Panama.

Our plan is to go to Bocas del Toro (here Madeleine can get here scuba diving license and continue teaching me to swim :). The scuba diving class is very well known, cheap, and will last approximately 3 days. Then we are heading to Panama City where we can see the Canal and Casco Viejo: is the old Spanish colonial town. We decided on Panama... backpacking style to save money, Our only obstacle is time, Panama City is far by bus. I am not sure, but I have heard anywhere from 9 to 19 hours. So we may not go... it depends.