Arrival to Panama City
Getting to bed at 12:30am the night before I leave Vancouver, I’m already up again at 4:30am. A breakfast smoothie in hand, I arrive at the airport with plenty of time to weigh my bags, crossing my fingers they come in underweight, that my hula hoop can be allowed as a carry on, and that I don’t get questioned over my donning of my PFD. Turns out they don’t even check my bag for me, let alone weigh it, only telling me to pass it off down the hall onto a conveyor belt. Done deal. Phew! I pull my rain jacket over my PFD to casually hide it. No one notices.
Seated in last row of the plane - great. I’ve got a tight connection of only 20 minutes once we land in Houston and manage to thankfully squeeze my way off the plane past the other passengers, running to my next gate only to find out the plane is late by an hour, as most flights for Panama are late due to weather. My 3 hour wait for Jaime is now only 2 hours, but will his flight be late as well? Hmm.
The ubiquitous airplane sunrise (or was it sunset?) photo
Arriving at Tocumen Airport at 8:45pm and the first thing I do is get to the bathrooms to wash the stinky sticky sweat off me, a much needed freshening up. Feel much better. Sit myself down in baggage claim and get comfortable for the next couple hours with my book, ipod, spanish phrasebook, people watching and an attempt at some shut eye.
10:45pm comes and goes. One plane-load of passengers arrives and I squint my eyes at the distant crowd, worried that I don’t see him, that he might have passed me by, that I forget what he looks like and I’ve missed him.....crap.
I pass the next few hours repeating my routine, pacing, wondering, waiting. Around 12:45am, dos policia approach me. I was prepared for this so I had managed to string together a decent phrase explaining what I was doing. They asked me to wait outside past customs, and that his Taca flight from San Salvador would be arriving in about 25 minutes. Great!
At 3am, I’m now really restless. There’s no internet anywhere, no food kiosks, I’m rationing what little snacks I brought with me from home, and I manage to find some grossly uncomfortable chairs on which to contort my body for a half reclined ‘rest’. Growing increasingly impatient, I can’t sit still. I do some stretching in the empty corridor, and in my forward standing bend I spot some tv screens through my legs, waaay down the hall. Ah! Arrival screens! I finally gain some information about his flight....yes, scheduled arrival 10:45pm. It’s now 3am. New estimated arrival: 5:45am!!!! I’m cursing the airlines in disbelief, shaking my head, turning to walk away only to look back again just to make sure I read it correctly. Arrgh!
After managing about an hour of rest on a couch found in one of the car rental agencies, I awake to the sounds of people stirring in the airport. Yay! 5:40am! I hoist my pack on my back, rub my bleary eyes, and head towards the arrival doors and not 5 minutes later, I see him walk through the doors, laden down with boat, backpack, camera bag....yup it’s really him! I drag myself towards him, so completely exhausted.
“Just drop your gear and kiss me” I tell him.
He doesn’t understand why I’m so exhausted... “You got my message right? Did you get a hotel in town?”
“What! No?!” I reply in disbelief. I’m shaking I’m so tired and hungry.
“Oh. Well I guess you don’t wanna hear where I’ve been then, do you! Have you been in the airport all night?”
Heavy sigh. Can we go now??
*(Click 'play' to see a lil sneak peek at our first video!)*
My first sight of the city in daylight...palm trees, heat like an oven, wild erratic driving, a skyline of high rises (mostly all residential rather than commercial), seaside promenade looking out at fishing boats, a cruise ship or two, and surprisingly clean streets and surroundings....welcome to Panama City!
View from the taxi's darkened windshield with our first sight of Panama City's skyline of highrises - how metropolitan!
Jaime enjoying the heat of the city
Loaded down, as usual
The first of our boats, which Jaime flew with from BelizeJaime and I take a room over in Casco Viejo, the old town full of beautiful colonial buildings being restored one by one. Quite an undertaking with so many underway. This area is now a mix of gutted buildings piled high with rubble inside, while others are finished and looking stately and expensive. Juliette balconies reminding me of Paris with their colourful flowers and greenery, while painted sunny and cheerful Caribbean colours, reminded us both of Antigua in Guatemala. In about 5 to 10 years these cobblestone streets will no doubt be teeming with rich gringos staying in the boutique hotels, and dining at expensive restaurants. I can’t wait to come back and see the progression.
View from the rooftop of our hostel
Cobblestone Streets of Casco Viejo
A seawall promenade
Our Israeli friends Yifat and Gilad (seen to the left of me at the bottom of the steps) joined us for an afternoon of city & park touring
Colours of Casco ViejoWe spend our first day in town, which also happens to be my birthday, mostly sleeping (my god it didn’t matter how hot it was, I was out like a light). That evening was a bit of a gong show complete with a party bus, some dancing, all you can drink, travelers from multiple nations, a rowdy outdoor bar, ripping around town in a local Panama City millionaire's Porsche Carrera looking for joints in which to dance the night away, a strip club, and finally yes, a cheesy latina bar playing passable music to finally dance the night away. Besides the dancing, it wasn't exactly my ideal choice of how to spend my birthday but hey, it was good for a laugh, and I remember we’re only a couple days away from the beaches of Santa Catalina.
The Party Bus of debauchery for my birthdayThe rest of our time in the city was spent taxi-ing back and forth between old town and downtown, barely taking any real deep breaths of clean air (cough hack cough!), finding one tropical park for a moment of respite, taking cold showers in the land of one-tap showers, (I love even when there’s two taps you know you’re not getting any hot water coming out!) searching out the forgotten gear for our camera equipment and computers, (what a headache) tracking down the second TRAK kayak at the FedEx office, dining as cheaply as we could (a cantina meal at $3 for two people is the best we found!) and finding a decent english speaking dentist for Jaime.
Leaving our hostel in search of the FedEx office to pick up the second boat, I get my first taste at how it feels traveling with it in tow
I need a break already.
Yay! We finally track down the second Trak kayak, and we're on our way!Tomorrow - it’s on the bus en route to Santa Catalina via Santiago and Sona. About a half day trip. Beaches and small town living, here we come!!
Check out Jaime's Blog too!
http://worldwildadventureexp.blogspot.com/
Photos and edits courtesy of Jaime Sharp
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