David

A new year, a new country. Last night in Golfito I spent many hours at a bar and had a great time - there was not much going on in terms of New Year's celebrations; it was more like a usual crazy Saturday night. On the way to the border, I saw this ice cream vendor:

The other day in an email to my sister I commented on the obvious prosperity of Costa Rica in stark contrast to other countries I passed through. Prosperity is also quite obvious in Panama. (A regular supermarket was stocked with items such as Bitburger Premium Pils and Lindt chocolate.) That said, there is also a high poverty level and Panama has the second most unequal income distribution in Latin America. So I was surprised I didn't see any armed guards outside businesses such as gas stations during daylight hours.