Week 10 - Panama City and Isla Grande, Panama
- so a lot of people told me ahead of time that they do not like Panama City ... especially people who live in other parts of Panama ... the capital is too busy, too much pollution, too much traffic, too hot, etc. ... after spending a couple weeks in Panama City, I have to admit that I LOVE the city - can´t say why exactly (maybe it´s the casinos that want your money, or the imported and plastic Colombian hookers that also want your money ... or maybe it´s the 24 hour MacDonald´s) ... whatever the reason, there was a comfort level there, and it just felt like a place one could call "home"
- Ruby and I catch the David-Panama bus, and about an hour and half later, we are let off at a massive bus terminal ... not only is the terminal huge, but there is an entire mall (with movie complex) across the street ... and an entire circus set up at the end of the parking lot!
- we´re in Panama City for about 2 minutes when Ruby says (for the first time, but not the last time), "I think my baby-daddy might be from Panama City!" ... apparently many men here are Ruby´s "type" ... looking at the women at the bus station, I´m wondering why the only attractive people here are men ... turns out there are many beautiful women too - they just aren´t at the bus terminal
- we catch a cab and go to the "best hostel in the city", Luna´s Castle (according to the Lonely Planet ... we later find out the guy who wrote the Panama section got fired for not doing his job properly, and when we wrote about Luna´s Castle, it hadn´t even opened - they just paid him money to say they were the best)
- in its defense, Luna Castle is kinda cool ... decent internet service, help yourself beers, make your own banana pancakes in the morning, and a makeshift movie theatre in the basement! However, the place is PACKED ... like 80 or so beds, and often full ... backpackers everywhere you look, hard to breathe ... and the bedrooms are crap ... no windows, barely functional fans (HOT rooms), noisy bunks, and extremely uncomfortable matresses
- anyway, we chuch our bags in our room, and go outside (in noticeable heat) to check out where we are ... we´re in Casco Viejo ... an older part of town that was a main focus during the days of building the canal, but has since degradated into slums ... and is now being reconstructed to become a tourist attraction
- as such, we witnessed many pretty buildings along the waterfront, and a fantastic walkway that goes over the water and gives a great view of the rest of the city ... but at the same time, there were many buildings in shambles, and there were a few streets we were advised to avoid, especially at night
- after we´d given ourselves a fairly thorough tour of the area, we grabbed dinner and headed back to the hostel ... there we ran into an Irish guy Ruby had met in Honduras ... a group of us played cards for a while, then it was time for bed
- next day comes, and it´s Ruby´s last full day before she heads home ... neither of us slept very well ... and the heat outside is stifling ... we´re head of another (newer) hostel in another part of time that supposedly has enough air conditioning to be nicknamed the "ice box" ... so we pack up and check out
- we catch a cab to the financial district - El Congrejo ... but the Hostel we´re looking for is so new that the taxi driver has no idea where it is (even though we had a street address for the place) ... at one point, he actually tries to drop us off at an entirely different hostel (guess he´s given up on finding the place we´re asking for) ... but after we refuse to get out, he makes one last attempt at magically we find our desired destination - the Jungla House
- the hostel is inside an apartment building ... we buzz in, and take the elevator up to the 5th floor ... there we are greeted by a super friendly Panamanian woman named Rosie ... she shows us around (fantastic balcony area, huge and clean kitchen, dvd viewing area ... Rosie really goes out of her way to make people feel like they are in a home, as opposed to a hotel ... and it all gives off a really good vibe), and we get really good bunk beds (not noisy, and comfortable matresses) in one of their small and welcoming dorm rooms ... the one big negative is that the "ice box" disclaimer seems to be false, and all we get is a ceiling fan (turns out there is a/c in some of the other rooms, but the rooms are MUCH more expensive)
- the other big thing that took some getting used to (mostly because we weren´t really warned ahead of time) is that the bathrooms are "shared" in the sense that they don´t have locks ... but you walk in on one person naked, and you quickly learn that a closed door with the light on means "occupied" ... and another day some newbie walks in on you, and the wheel has turned full circle
- we also meet Randall ... a Costa Rican tour guide who happens to be living at the Jungla House for the time being (apparently he´s moved to Panama City to pursue some much younger woman he claims to be in love with, but she doesn´t seem to be all that interested) ... he´s a nice guy, and his English is decent ... and he LOVES to talk
- after we check in, we go into the heat and check out El Cangrejo ... completely disimilar to Casco Viejo, the financial district is all big and new and gogogo ... after walking about 2 blocks, we run into three big casinos ... then we hit the main street and it´s bank after bank after bank ... we pass many internet cafes and many restaurants (of all types, but predominantly Chinese), and a fairly surprising number of hair salons (not to mention an exotic massage parlour)
- pretty much every establishment we pass is pumping out a/c to the extreme ... making them all seem inviting in the heat ... but we´re on a bit of a masochistic mission - tonight will be Ruby´s last night and she wants to party it up ... we´ve been told that the best clubbing area is along Calle Uruguay, in El Cangrejo ... so right now, we´re determined to figure out exactly where this area is
- we don´t make any wrong turns, but the walk turns out to be a lot longer than we expected ... by the time we get there, we´re tired and melting ... still, we´re able to get a decent feel for the area ... Calle Uruguay is just two blocks long, but it´s just club after club after club ... and then more clubs down the side streets ... good enough, we´ll come back here late tonight (but we won´t be walking!)
- we walk back to the hostel, and it´s time for a midday shower ... it doesn´t take long to figure out Panama City is a 2 to 3 showers a day type of city
- once refreshed, we try to make the most out of Ruby´s last day but hitting one of the city´s tourist destinations ... no time for the canal (but Ruby insists that´s okay, because she WILL return to Panama City someday - especially since she´s fairly confident her baby-daddy is here) ... we settle for the Causeway ... it´s a 2km strip of road that connects four small "islands" to the rest of the city ... it´s also the first/last bit of land the big ships see when entering/leaving the canal
- we catch a cab to the beginning of the Causeway, and get dropped off at the bicycle rental shop ... we´d read that we´d be able to rent a two person (side-by-side) bike that we could use to cruise the length of the strip ... turns out EVERY two person bike they have is broken!! Not cool.
- we have to settle on walking the entire strip ... in that same intense heat ... so much for shower #2! ... after what seems like an eternity, we come across the first island (Noas) ... but there doesn´t seem to be much to see there ... so we trek on to the second island (Flamenco) ... and here we find a few restaurants - salvation!
- we sit down on the outside patio of the first restaurant, and everything instantly gets better ... the wind picks up, the sun starts to set ... the music is good, and the drinks are cold and refreshing (I get a guanabana batido - soursop and milk - delicious!)
- the prices aren´t too bad, and we haven´t eaten in ages, so we get dinner there too ... my corvina (sea bass) was excellent
- fed and refreshed, we were content with the overall Causeway experience ... we caught a taxi back to the hostel (another adventure for the taxi driver, but we were able to at least help find it this time) ... the sun had set, and it was getting to be time we figured out a plan of action for the rest of the night
- back at the hostel, Ruby blurts out to Rosie, "Rosie, I need a Panamanian boyfriend!" (in Spanish) ... this sends Rosie into a laughing fit ... but next thing we know, Rosie has made a few phone calls, and we need to hurry to get ready, because we´re being picked up by some of her friends, and there is a guy she thinks Ruby will like!!!! Maybe I should ask Rosie for a Panamanian girlfriend! Or maybe I should wait to see how the rest of the night unfolds first.
- so shower #3, and then it´s time to dig through the backpack to find clothes that adhere to the Calle Uruguay DRESS CODE (the code it simple enough ... pants and closed-toe shoes for men ... women have no dress code at all ... there are also cover charges to many of the clubs ... for men ... even if the women get a cover charge, it´s almost always cheaper that what the men have to pay) ... jeans and sneakers may sound comfortable enough, but the night has probably "cooled" down to about 30 degrees outside, so wearing socks, shoes, and long pants all sound like horrible ideas
- Ruby takes extra time getting ready ... dolling herself up for her blind date ... by the time she´s ready, there´s a car downstairs that has been waiting for us for at least 15 minutes
- we enter the car thinking we might be meeting her new dream-guy, but it turns out to be other people ... Carlos is driving - he is Panamanian who run a Spanish school ... goes for the ultra macho combined with pretty boy look and manages to pull it off ... in the passenger seat is his girlfriend, Evelyn - a gorgeous, friendly German who met Carlos when he was promoting his Spanish school ... she signed up for classes, and now she´s officially moved to Panama to be with him ... both are very nice people, and they speak fluent English ... it´s great that they are willing to show us around and try to make sure we have a good night out
- we drive to Calle Uruguay, and the transformation from the daytime is impressive ... not just lights and music everywhere you look, but people - so many people (and it´s only a Thursday!) ... a lot of the women are wearing eye-popping outfits ... but there is a good mix of this and that, so there´s no need to feel underdressed
- first stop is a bar called Prive ... you walk in and it´s all white, and some sort of electronica is playing ... the bar itself is a huge rectangle and it takes up the majority of the place, with seating areas off to either end ... we get a couple of bar stools, so some of us sit and some of us stand at the bar
- we get a drink, and then Miguel shows up ... how to describe him ... Ruby takes one look and nearly passes out ... her first thought is this guy really may be her future baby´s daddy (and this is the guy Rosie wanted her to meet) ... they talk for a little bit, but his English isn´t great, and Ruby´s Spanish is only so-so ... that isn´t the real problem though ... Miguel is constantly heading outside to smoke ... Ruby is not into that, so it doesn´t take long before that potential all fizzles into nothingness (at least they make you smoke outside in Panama)
- some local Rapper enters the bar with an entourage holding fancy cameras ... no one knows who he is exactly, but he´s there doing some sort of promotion ... just in case he is (or might become) famous, Ruby makes sure she gets a photograph with him
- next stop is a place called Chocolate ... unfortunately, it´s pretty much empty ... so we basically just pop in and pop out
- next we head to Pure ... supposedly one of the best dance clubs in the area ... only problem is, they have a $10 cover charge for men and for women ... this turns most of the group off, so we all head back to Prive instead ... it´s not as packed as it was when we were first there, and the crowd seems to be thinning out ... apparently, it´s a good bar to start off at, and then people typically head out to the bigger/better dance club type places
- once the crowd starts to feel non-existant, we head upstairs to a different bar, called Seis ... this bar has a 70´s disco atmosphere, with the walls and the lights ... but the music is definitely salsa ... we hang out here for a while, mostly watching how the locals can all dance to salsa - incredibly close and incredibly well ... I´d call the moves a "four-step", but there is a LOT of simultaneous hip action on both sides
- eventually, Carlos tells us he and Evelyn are going to call it quits for the night (Miguel has long since disappeared) ... Ruby and I decided to stay out (it is her last night after all, and we´re having a pretty good time), so we say goodbye to them
- Ruby really wants to dance, but she´s craving hip hop ... so we venture out and find club Guru ... two problems ... first is the cover is $20 each, and second is that that music blasting out from the entrance is NOT hip hop (the club was written up as the only hip hop club in Panama City)
- so we backtrack to Pure, and pay the $10 entry fees ... we walk in, and the lighting around the bar is so white, it looks bleached ... it´s hard to focus on anything, it´s so bright ... and the music is LOUD and obnoxious ... and there are only like five people inside ... did we just get scammed??
- turns out there is an outside section, past the bar ... we head out, and the patio is pretty spectacular ... a laser light show is going off on the far back wall, there is water cascading down side walls and running into mini pools ... bars are off to either side, and there are little cushion chairs scattered to the back ... and the rest is just people, people and more people ... all dancing, all having a great time
- next thing you know, we´re catching a cab home and it´s about ... 3:30am ... good times, good times
- a couple of hours of sleep later, Ruby is hugging me goodbye ... she´s off to the airport, heading back to Minnesota ... and I´m officially travelling alone (but only for four days)
- Isaac emails and informs me he is sticking with Doro, and he is going to take another week of homestay Spanish classes ... so I shouldn´t expect him for (at least) another 11 days
- hrm ... decisions, decisions ... should I stick around, or should I push forward to Colombia on my own ... I start to look into boat trips to Colombia, along with other Panamanian destinations I might be interested in
- at the same time, I´ve barely checked out El Cangrejo, and I can definitely use a bit of down-time ... I head out to find a good internet cafe, and start to catch up on things like this blog
- I also walk through the biggest of the casinos in the area ... evil temptation ... I do love blackjack ... I resist the temptation though ... for now
- I get back to the hostel in the late afternoon, and I start talking to the only other two guests staying there ... there is Pauline is from Holland, and we´re sharing a dorm room - she´s been in Panama City the same about of time as I have, but her next stop is to Boquete to work (and make some cash) for about a month ... and then there is Sachin - born in India (and tanned way darker than I am), but raised in North Carolina ... he´s just graduated from UNC and lives in Chapel Hill (good connection to have!!) ... he´s in town for one day/night only (he was travelling in South America), catching a flight back to the U.S. the following day
- Pauline was planning on a fairly quiet and relaxed Friday evening ... I didn´t have any plans, but after the previous night with Ruby, I wasn´t really thinking about partying ... HOWEVER, Sachin was all about making his last night a big night out (same attitude as Ruby´s) ... so he kept looking to Pauline and me to go with him
- being the team player that I am, I flat out stated I would go out ONLY if Pauline came out too ... utter blackmail, but next thing you know, we´re all getting ready to at least go out for a few drinks at a bar down the street
- first stop is the gas station (less than 2 blocks from the hostel), for 50 cent cans of beer ... we start drinking them as we walk down the street, en route to a bar
- along the way, we stop for Sachin to get money from an ATM ... this gives the street police a chance to spot our open beer cans and give us a hard time for drinking in this neighbourhood (we never were told drinking outside is illegal, but we were told we couldn`t have open containers of alcohol because there were apartments around, or something like that)
- so the fuzz starts lecturing us and Pauline (who speaks the most Spanish by far) doesn`t say a word (partly because the cops decided to only address the men) ... Sachin, on the other hand, starts rattling off all 20 words of Spanish he knows - OVER and OVER again ... I`m somewhere in the middle, speaking infrequently, but always apologizing, saying we didn`t know, and asking if we can just throw away the beer and walk away
- eventually, we get to the real reason we`ve been approached ... the notion of $30 per person comes up - of course! they just want money ... we play dumb brilliantly, and they eventually give up ... the cops dump two half beers on the ground (and they just litter the empty cans), but they are kind enough to let us keep our two un-opened beers.
- our brush with the "law" was over, and our night was off to a great start ... we find the first bar, and it`s a total dump ... people are drinking outside, so we see our opportunity to finish our unopened beers ... after that, we keep walking to the next bar ... which again gives off a vibe of "no thank you"
- the evening is feeling more and more like a bust, so I throw out the idea of Calle Uruguay to try to salvage the night ... we hop in a cab, and 5 minutes later, everyone is much happier
- we start off at Prive ... and the crowd is good, the music is great ... we even find a corner where we can dance a bit ... when the crowd begins to thin, we decide to move on to the next place ... we try the upstairs bar, but tonight there is a significant cover charge, so we head out onto the street to find somewhere else to go
- we head over to Pure to see how bad the cover is ... it`s worse than the night before, so that`s a no-go ... a big Israeli guy starts telling Pauline she should come inside Pure, and when she tells him we`re going to look for another place, he leaves his friends at Pure and starts following her around like a puppy dog
- we wind up in front of a bar called PEOPLE (each letter is a massive statue in front of the bar) ... there is a cover for men only here ... we stand outside debating whether or not to go in ... eventually, a group of German girls walk up to the bar and start talking to us, asking us if this is a good place to go
- turns out this Colombian guy named Alex is watching us the entire time from the upstairs balcony of People ... he seems to have a thing for Pauline, so he comes down and tells us he can get us all in for free!
- in we all go ... the downstairs has a tiny dance floor and a large sitting area ... but everyone is dancing, so it`s more like a huge dance floor the music is "ecletic" (i.e. it`s all over the place with no consistent style) and it`s LOUD
- we hit the bar, we hit the dancefloor, we all have a blast
- the Israeli gets the cold shoulder from Pauline, but he`s quick to recover and throw himself and any and every German girl he can isolate from the rest of the pack
- eventually, Sashin and I are ready for a new venue, but Pauline isn`t anywhere to be found ... we head upstairs to the "VIP" area (another bar, more lounging, less dancing) and we find our girl out on the balcony, having a conversation with Alex
- she seems happy to see us (as opposed to the potential "go away boys, I`m working on something here" look), so we stroll over to say hello ... turns out she`s ready to go too, and Alex is quick to join us on the way out
- we stop for some street meat ... a burger for me, some taco thing for Sachin, and a meat skewer for Pauline ... in retrospect, we all agree that Pauline got the best food (and it was the cheapest) ... Alex tries to get us in to Pure for cheap (if not free), but even though it`s crazy late at night, they refuse to change the price ... guess his connections don`t work at all the bars (maybe just at People)
- we decide to call it a night and head home ... Alex offers and gives us a ride ... guess he really liked Pauline ... however, Pauline is pretty tall, and Alex is VERY short ... so he never stood a chance
- we buzz in to the hotel at around 4:30am, and a pattern of late nights and not much sleep at the Jungla House has already been established
- next day, we say goodbye to Sachin, and Pauline and I check out the Panama Canal ... I wasn`t all that keen to go, but it turned out to be pretty cool ... it`s especially neat to see how high tech it all seems considering it was created about 100 years ago
- we watched a couple boats pass through the lock system, and then we watched a short movie about the canal, and then we walked through four floors worth of a museum ... what I found most interesting in the new additions they are making to the canal ... a 55 billion dollar project to put in new locks, to allow bigger boats, and also to make better use of the water when raising/lowering the locks (right now, only 14,000 boats a year can cross through the canal, simply because that`s all the water they get from rainfall in a year ... each time a lock empties, the water is wasted out to sea)
- we get back to the hostel, and Carlos and Evelyn there ... turns out Evelyn is heading back to Germany the next morning (returning permanently in a few weeks), and Carlos will be driving Pauline to Boquete (she`ll be helping out with his Spanish school for the next month)
- Carlos and Evelyn say goodbye, and they go out for a last dinner together before she leaves ... Pauline and I contemplate another night out, as it`s her last night in Panama ... but neither of us have it in us, so we stay in and hang out on the balcony with Rosie and Randall (something that happens for part of almost every night really)
- Rosie`s neice, Madeline, is staying with her for the weekend, so we also join her to watch a dvd ... eventually the movie ends, the chit chat on the balcony ends, the music out of the stereo reception ends, and we all call it an "early" night (probably like 2am)
- next day, it`s hugs good bye to Pauline ... I`m now the only person staying at the hostel!
- I head out for a $2.50 huge plate of local food, served at an outdoor "restaurant" that only has a roof over a few chairs, and is only open for breakfast/lunch (I wound up going there for my first meal fairly often)
- next, I hit the nicely air-conditioned internet cafe for a couple of hours, then I go to the casino and play some blackjack ... I only put down $20 ($3 minimum bets), and HOURS later, I`ve never gone up more than $9 and I`ve never gone down more than $12 ... I eventually get tired and hungry, so I walk away having broken even - not bad at all!
- I get some cheap and tasty Chinese food for dinner, then head back to the hostel ... much to my surprise, it has gone from empty to nearly full!!! a group of 9 Israeli`s show up ... it would seem they are returning after a few days in the San Blas (which were fantastic) ... luckily, none of them are in my dorm room, so I have it all to myself!
- I wind up reading a book for most of the evening, but I do wind up hanging out on the balcony with Rosie and Randall for a bit
- next day, I find myself back at the casino (mayday, blackjack can be an addiction!) ... I put down $20 again, and it disappears in like 10 minutes (I actually wound up putting down $21) ... so I do the smart thing and walk away ... no actually, I throw down $100 (anyone know the phone number to Gambler´s Anonymous at Panama?) ... and I play two hands at a time, $6 bets each ... not even an hour later, I`m up $125 ... problem being I won the money too fast, so I`m not quite ready to leave ... luckily, I have other plans in the back of my mind, so I cash in, and walk away up a net of $104 dollars :)
- next, I catch a $0.25 bus ride to the bus terminal ... then I walk over to the mall, and treat myself to a movie - Wolverine ... loved it! The movie ends, and it`s still fairly early ... so I figure why not watch another movie! This time I see 17 again (was the only real option I had, given the start times and the desire to see a subtitled movie) ... it was entertaining enough, but I wouldn`t exactly recommend it to anyone
- I contemplate taking a taxi home, but I`m confident that if I take the same bus that I took on the way in, it will eventually circle around and drop me off where I caught it in the first place (long story short, there`s a big one-way street near the casino that makes it easy to catch buses to the terminal, but there`s not easy way to get back)
- so I get on a bus, and about 30 minutes later, it dawns on me that I`m headed to the airport on the outskirts of town ... oops ... well, okay cool ... I get to see the airport, and the area of "Tacumen" ... will add over an hour to my trip, but I don´t exactly have anywhere else to be anyway
- we pass the airport and everything is fine and dandy ... and then a few minutes later, everyone has gotten off the bus, and I`m the only one left ... the driver pulls into a gas station and starts yapping to me to get off ... I explain to him that I want to return to the city, to be let off on that main street ... to which he replies this is the LAST STOP OF THE NIGHT, and there are no more buses back into town until THREE AM (it`s about 11pm, and we are in the middle of nowhere, as far as I can figure)
- so I pay my $0.25 (pretty cheap to get stranded in the middle of nowhere) and try not to freak out
- there is a grocery store across the street from the gas station ... I head over there, and they are closing down ... I ask if I can call a taxi, and they point to a security guard outside the store ... I try to explain my plight to him, and he basically tells me I`m screwed (at least, he doesn`t really do anything to help me)
- just as I`m starting to wonder if I can possibly hang out on the streets until 3am, a taxi pulls up to the store to get an end-of-day beer ... I tell him I need to get into the city, and he has to think about it for a bit before agreeing to take me ... I´m expecting him to charge an arm and leg, but he only charges $20 (I say "only", because any taxi to the airport is always at least $20)
- so this taxi saves the day, and drops me off by the casino ... I pop in to apply to be the new GA spokesperson, and I instead walk out up $30, making my next for the day $114 (taking the cab fare out of my winnings)
- I head back to the hostel and call it a (very fortunate) night
- next day, I leave my big bag with Rosie, and I take my day pack with me back to the bus station ... there, I get a ticket on the express bus north to Colon (the port city to the north, aka the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal ... it seems small, very busy, and not at all pretty) ... the ride is an hour an a half, and about 45 minutes into it, the girl beside me wakes up and discovers she`s slept through the arrival and depature in Panama City!! Much to her chagrin, she`s on her way BACK to Colon!!
- in Colon, we all get dropped off at the bus terminal, and I immediately hop on a chicken bus marked Costa Arriba ... apparently there is only one such bus every two hours
- the bus takes off and about thirty minutes later, we are travelling east along the Caribbean coastline ... passing Pilon and Portobelo and Puerto Lindo, all en route to the end of the line, La Guira ... from here, I take a 5 minute water taxi over to my actual destination ... Isla Grande
- Isla Grande is NOT that big ... in fact, it´s very small ... Little Corn is much bigger ... the island is also very dead ... possibly because the rainy season has started, but more so because the island apparently is more of a weekend destination (and I´ve arrived on a Tuesday) ... most of the restaurants are closed, and I see maybe a total of 10 other tourists the entire time I´m there
- still, the place is pretty, and the weather isn´t horrible ... I check in at the hotel right by the dock ... the price is fair, and the room is decent
- I go for a walk north, and I run out of real estate in about 10 minutes (if even) ... then I take the south path, and I stop about 15 minutes later (once the path becomes dangerously rocky)
- by now, the sun has set, and I try one of the four open restaurants for dinner ... I get the sea bass (corvina) ... it´s fairly cheap and very tasty ... the fish is served whole, with head and tail attached ... something that seems to bother a lot of people, but I kind of like it :)
- not much else to do on the island, so I head back to my room and read until I´m ready for bed
- next day, the sun threatened to make an appearance, so I headed to the north end, where there is a bit of a beach ... I got some sun (through clouds), and took a dip in the water ... and then it started to rain ... and it kept raining ... I took shelter under a hut (aka an empty bar patio), and that pretty much spelled the end of my quest for a sunny day at the beach
- when the rain lessened, I headed back to my room, and read/napped until it was time for dinner ... by then, the rain was gone for the most part ... I tried a different restaurant, and got red snapper (pargo rojo) ... slightly more expensive than the sea bass, but definitely worth it ... the fish tastes as good (if not better), but it also comes off the bone much nicer ... making it easier to eat with much less mess
- after dinner, it´s back to the hotel for more reading until bedtime ... I went to Isla Grande to get some sun and beach, and instead, I´m mostly just bored
- EoWWeek 11 - Panama City, Panama
- next morning is very cloudy, and rain looks imminent ... so I decide to call it quits, and head back to Panama City ... turns out I got up too early though, because no bus shows up to take me back to Colon until the afternoon ... at least there is an express bus ready to go as soon as I get to the bus station in Colon
- the ride back to Panama City is uneventful, and the sun was out when we arrived at the bus terminal ... so I decided to head back to the mall and watch another movie ... Star Trek had opened since I was last there, so I decided to check it out ... loved it!
- after the flick, I wisely took a taxi back to the hostel ... when I got upstairs, I got a big hug from Rosie (awwww) ... all the Israelis were gone, so the hostel was down to me and a family of three American who were only in town for a couple of days ... however, a couple of guys were renting the private room on the 2nd floor, which meant that Randall was moved into the dorms ... so I no long had "my" dorm to myself ... Randall, Rosie and I hung out on the balcony for a bit, and then we called it a night
- next day I got my haircut at one of the million nearby salons ... I lucked out with a girl from Miami (i.e. she was fluent in English), but then again, she did a fairly crap job of cutting my hair (didn´t really take much off, so I´ll probably need another one in a week or so) ... then I went for a pretty long walk, hitting the drugstore for refills in some necessities (in particular, a new inhaler for my asthma ... a) the further south I travel, the more I seem to be needing to use it and b) is seems to be easy and straightforward to get a new one in most of these countries ... just show them your old inhaler, and then give you a replacement for fairly cheap ... no prescription necessary) ... I then checked out a couple of bookstores, settling on a couple of cheap English books I found through some pretty slim pickings
- by the time I got back to the hostel, most of the day was gone ... after I grabbed some dinner, I wound up watching a dvd with Rosie (sort of ... whenever she tries to watch a dvd, she either falls asleep, or gets called away to work ... the movie was Rambo, First Blood ... Rosie claims she has tried to watch it like 10 times, and has never actually seen it) ... tried to watch another movie after that, but the dvd player died ... so that was the end of that night
- next day, Rosie was all nervous and excited, because her boyfriend was coming in from Boquete ... Ryan is from Colorado and he´s been living in Central America for about 5 years ... while Rosie´s been running the Jungla House in PC, he´s been running their hostel in Boquete ... but today, he´s coming to Panama City longterm, partly for their relationship, and partly to implement a few changes at the Jungla House
- I headed out for my normal routine of cheap brunch, internet and casino ... this time, my $20 lasted my quite a while, so when I lost it, I simply got up and walked away (still up $94 overall)
- back at the hostel, I met Ryan as well as a new Israeli couple ... Gali and Tomer ... they were very friendly, and it appeared we were the only three backpackers at the hostel ... but a couple of hours later, most of the original group (3 girls, 2 guys) of Israelis returned (this time from Bocas del Toro, where they too got rained out) ... turns out they knew Gali and Tomer through a mutual friend, so it was a bit of a reunion for them
- then again, when the big group arrived, the vibe was different than they were expecting ... instead of hugs from Rosie and the same beds that they always had, Ryan took over the check in process, made them dig out their passports, and assigned them to a new dorm ... this seemed to be the start of implementing new procedures at the Jungla House
- the new procedure with the biggest impact was posted later in the evening ... the Jungla House would not buzz anyone in between 2am and 7am (3am on Friday and 4am on Saturday) ... the attitude being that they aren´t going to pay someone to work the graveyard shift, so if you are out that late, just stay out until the morning ... remembering my 3:30am Thursday night and my 4;30am Friday night, I instantly see a potential problem here
- better still, Ryan was planning a big night out for everyone ... his first night back, Saturday night, an American from Colorado was due to arrive any minute, if was the last night for the two brothers staying in a room on the 2nd floor (Nelson and Mike, from Portugal, living in NYC, both graphic designers, one for Macy´s, the other for the Onion ... in Panama City to buy property, and turn it into a rental home) ... many reasons to entertain and party it up ... Rosie even dresses up to come out with us (which is big news, because Rosie has been asked to come out several times and has always declined, saying maybe another time)
- next thing we know, there are like 13 people drinking on the balcony, rocking out to the music on Ryan´s laptop, pumping through the stereo ... the bars on Calle Uruguay don´t really get going until 11pm or so, giving plenty of time for a "pre÷party"
- the guy from Colorado shows up from the airport, has a couple of beers and disappears ... Rosie has a rum drink (good time to point out the Ron Abuelo Añejo 7 Years is by far the best and cheapest rum we´ve encountered so far on this trip), and she´s disappeared into her bedroom ... apparently booze puts her to sleep, so we´ve lost her for the night ... a beach ball goes over the edge of the balcony and is never seen again (luckily Ryan kicked it over, so no one has to feel guilty about it
- eventually it´s time to hit the clubs ... we wind up heading out in three groups ... four in one cab, four in another, and I stay with the brothers ... we walk to a restaurant beside the big casino, because a friend of theirs has just flown in with his dad and his little brother, and they´re having a quick bite to eat
- we find them at the restaurant, and they quickly ditch their dad at their hotel around the corner ... that leaves five of us walking to Calle Uruguay ... the weather is cooler (or maybe I´m finally aclimating), and the walk isn´t too bad
- we meet the others at People ... Ryan knows the owner and has gotten everyone in and upstairs for $5 (supposed to be $10 to get in and another $10 to get to the VIP upstairs) ... I wonder if Ryan and Alex know each other ... but there´s no sign of Alex tonight
- the brothers buy a bottle of vodka for the group, and we take over a big part of the VIP section ... the real party seems to be downstairs though, and the music isn´t great ... still, we make the most of it, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves ... eventually, Gali and Tomer call it a night ... not long after, some of the other Israelis leave ... and then the rest leave, and the only ones left are Ryan and our walking 5
- we bail on the club, and we say goodbye to Ryan as he heads down the street to get a taco (ironically, he gets home at about 4:30/5:00 in the morning, breaking his own curfew ... but he has a key)
- Mike and Nelson know of a caberet show they think we´d all enjoy, so we catch a taxi there ... turns out it would have been about a 5 minute walk, had we known where we were going ... we get inside, and the show is over ... the curtain in drawn on the stage, and the place is just full of drunk guys at the bar and at some tables, with a bunch of women all wearing the same white caberet/thong outfit ... most of them keeping a man company ... "seedy" describes the feel of the after÷show aura
- we have a beer, then walk back towards the hotel of the other÷brothers ... we drop them off, and then Mike and Nelson want to check out the casino ... of course I´m game for that!
- we head in, and see the Israeli guys playing roulette ... we hit a couple of differnt blackjack tables ... and Mike starts winning immediately at his ... Nelson changes tables after some bad luck, and has more bad luck at my table ... I put down $20 and next thing I know, I´ve worked my way up to nearly $150 ... when I call it quits, I´m up $125, putting me $229 net ... the brothers are impressed, and I´m pretty content
- we walk out of the casino, and it´s daylight ... ouch ... was not expecting that ... heading back towards the hostel, we see the guy from Colorado ... he´s just woken up and is heading out for the day!! When we get to the Jungla House, it´s 7am ... but even though that´s the new official time they open, no one is answering the door
- luckily, the brothers have a key (as they are staying on the 2nd floor), and better yet, there is an unused dorm room there ... so I crash on a bed there for a few hours
- 11am comes, and I can hear one of the brothers talking on his phone ... definitely not enough sleep, so I head upstairs to my bed, and I try to sleep some more ... but when the sun and heat take control of the day, sleeping is just no longer an option
- I spend the remainder of the afternoon blogging, then I get myself some Chinese food for dinner
- after the food, I return to the hostel, and I wind up playing cards with the Israelis for a couple of hours ... then they all want to head out, but everyone knows there is no possible way they will be back before 2:30am ... I'm not all too keen to go out myself, so I offer to buzz them in when they get home ... so I spend the rest of the night just relaxing and/or drifing in and out of a nap ... eventually the others get back, I buzz them in, and head straight to bed
- next day is more of the same ... food, internet (finally get a week's blog written and posted), and playing cards with the Israelis until the evening comes
- I see Ryan at some point in the afternoon, and he comments he hasn't seen me since he left to get a taco two nights ago ... pretty funny ... he spends most of his days shopping for the hostel and then placing everything he's bought ... one of his first purchases was a new dvd player
- I wind up going to the mall with the Israelis ... it's their last night in Panama City, and they want to see Angels and Demons ... the movie is decent, but they're mostly interested in seeing the female lead, as she is from Israel
- we get dropped off near the casino, so while the others head back to the hostel, I go play a bit of blackjack :)
- a couple of hours later, I've won like $20 (net $249), and it's getting late, so I head back to the hostel ... as I get to the front door, I run into Tomer heading out ... he wants to go to the casino ... so naturally I join him! ... and so begins the inevitable losing streak ... I lose $40 without any effort (as do Tomer), and we decide to bail on that casino and go look for the other Israeli guys, and they too are out gambling at another casino
- we find one of them at a blackjack table, and he is all alone ... and losing ... so Tomer joins him ... the losing continues, so naturally I jump in ... I drop $80, and we've all busted broke before we've blinked ... I'm now down $100 for the night, but still up $129 overall
- we watch some crazy high rollers throw thousands away on baccarat (another day I saw a guy playing about $700 worth of chips on every roulette wheel spin) ... it's crazy to watch that much money come and guy like that
- eventually, we head back to the hostel, where everyone is staying up all night, because some of them leave at 4am, others at 5am
- the girls are all watching a season of Gossip Girl on dvd ... I've never seen the show, but I get sucked in and join them until it's time for people to start leaving
- a couple rounds of hugs goodbye, and then everyone is gone (except for one girl who is staying for one more day ... I never had any chance of pronouncing her name properly, but Hally was kinda sorta pathetically similar) ... off to bed around 5:30 am
- next day, they sun insists I get out of bed by 11am ... I end up lazing on a couch, watching Gossip Girl with Hally (turns out it's her dvd)
- a few hours later, I've completely zoned out into the la-la-land of an entire season of a show on tv ... when suddenly a large group of people check in ... a group that Isaac met on his 16 hour bus ride from San Jose, Costa Rica!! He officially had to say goodbye to Dora, as she was staying in Costa Rica for weeks ... so after weeks of travelling apart, we were once again back on the same path
- after greetings and introductions, those who just arrived from Costa Rica crashed out from fatigue (Isaac was out for hours, which started a pattern that led to several people saying they've never seen anyone sleep so much) ... Hally and I finished the dvd and played some cards ... we also briefly met Anne ... a German who just checked in ... Randall (who has been in and out all this time ... haven't seen him too much, but he's still the only other person in my dorm room) was so pleased to meet someone else who speaks German - so the two of them took off to see the city
- evening arrives, and Isaac wakes up in time ... we take Hally out for a belated birthday dinner (her birthday was yesterday, but her friends weren't up for going out to dinner that night), then we head back to the hostel and Hally goes to bed, as she has to be up early to travel tomorrow (and she barely slept last night)
- Isaac and I get some rum, and we hang out on the balcony, catching up
- next thing you know, it's about 5am and we're LOADED ... we decide to go out, knowing that the 7am rule won't be a problem
- we hit a casino and promptly each lose $40 (now up net $89) ... then we hit a restaurant for breakfast ... and we wind up back at the hostel at 8:30am!! And off to bed we go.
- next day, I ignore the sun until noon, before it finally kicks me out of bed
- I get up and Isaac and I go for a bit of a tour of the area, and we grab some lunch
- then it's back to the hostel, and Isaac again crashes out for several hours
- in the meantime, I hit the casino for a bit of retribution, and I win $20 (net $109), then I return to the hostel and watch a couple of dvd movies with Anne and Randall
- evening comes, Isaac wakes up, and we get some dinner ... then it's back to the hostel for more balcony and rum
- Ryan winds up hanging out with us for most of the evening, drinking, talking and listening to his wide collection of music
- Rosie hangs out with us too, but after one drink, she gets sleepy and goes to bed
- meanwhile, Ryan busts open his liquor cabinet and asks us what kind of shots we want ... translation - we're in for another bumpy ride!
- 2am arrives, so it's obviously a good time to once again go out and break curfew ... Ryan comes out with us (so getting back in isn't a problem) ... we're walking down the street, and suddenly the police come up to talk to us!!
- turns out, Isaac was walking with a beer in his hand ... deja vu!!!
- this time, Ryan does all the talking (as he can speak Spanish) ... but the routine is very similar ... they want money, they don't get any, they leave us alone after the beer has been dumped
- Ryan takes us to a 24 hour diner, and we get "4th meal" ... then we head back to the hostel to call it a night ... 4:30am
- next day, Isaac gets up and heads out for a haircut and some other errands ... then he comes back to the hostel and crashes out again
- meanwhile, I hit the casino, because I'm on a mission to lose all my money ... I throw down $100 and play two hands (really, I just prefer two hands at a time it just happens to be much more expensive to play that way)
- the problem is, I'm stuck in the last two spots on the table, and it's full of locals who think they know everything about blackjack, yet they all do some of the most retarded moves anyone can ever do (examples ... hit on 13 when dealer shows 6, or stand on 7 ... the list goes on) ... they also all lose their money all the time (I've seen almost all of them lose over the last couple of weeks) ... the PROBLEM being, no matter how stupid their actions are, and no matter how consistent my actions are, they will always look at what the dealer gets, and then look at my cards ... and then add up what the dealer would have had if I did or didn't take another card ... and whenever they all win, they don't think twice about it ... but when they all lose, and there was a chance they would have won if I did/didn't take another card, they all blame me for not knowing what I'm doing!!! It's just the worst position to be in when the rest of the table doesn't know what they're doing ... they honestly would get mad at me for hitting on 16 one time (dealer showed 10), and then NOT hitting on it another time (dealer showed 3)!! It's as if I'm supposed to magically know what the next card will be, and anytime I don't get it exactly right (i.e. so that they win), I'm to blame. The worst part is they are all going off about me in Spanish, thinking I don't understand ... but I know exactly what they are saying, my Spanish just isn't good enough to talk back to them
- so I sit silently, and everyone eventually loses all their money ... meanwhile I fare better than all of them, only losing about $25 even though the dealer has hit 21 over and over again ... literally 10 times in about 25 hands
- the table thins out as people go broke ... and the dealer stays hot ... eventually it's just one on one, and I wind up unable to afford two hands anymore ... and eventually I get down to my last chip ... I'm able to win and rebuild ... SLOWLY ... about an hour or so later, I've worked my way back to $25, and I walk away
- the experience with the locals completely ruined the gambling for me ... I play because I have fun when I play, and if I lose money, then I'm simply paying for the entertainment ... today was no fun at all ... so just like that, my addiction ended, and I was completely done with the casino ... meaning that after several trips to casino and several hours of gambling, I ended up winning a total of $34 ... I am happy with that
- I head back to the hostel and Isaac is sleeping ... Anne and I are both hungry, so we go out for dinner
- her dorm room faces the balcony at the hostel, and it turns out we've been keeping her awake with all our last night festivities! I apologized, but I also gave her a hard time for not coming out and joining us
- we return to the hostel, and two other German girls (that she met in the morning, Ozlem and Cordula) come by to pick her up to go out and see the nightlife
- we all wind up on the balcony having a few drinks, and I give them a few recommendations of where they probably want to go ... eventually, we all decide it's better if I just show them
- all this time, Isaac is still sleeping!!
- I wake him up, and we all head out to Calle Uruguay
- Prive is so packed there isn't even room to get in past the door ... but we're able to go upstairs to Sies, and we get a table on their outdoor balcony
- a few drinks later, everyone is having a blast, but it's time to get up and dance ... so we head off to People ... I guy calls down to me from the balcony, and it's Alex! ... he comes down and gets us in for free again (it's good to have local connections!)
- we go up to the VIP area, but again it's fairly dead compared to the downstairs ... so we head back to the action, and the music is way better than last weekend, and we stay and dance for quite a while (and then the music turns to crap again)
- I say goodbye to Alex, and we head out looking for another place ... we check out Pure, and the entry fee is once again ridiculous ... so we start checking out every bar on that street, looking for cheap entry
- we get to a place called Sahara, and it's free to go in ... it's more of a bar, but it's fairly empty ... and there is a live band ... locals for sure, but doing English cover songs ... next thing you know, five of us are dancing on the small floor in front of the band, having a blast
- eventually the music stops, and the band thanks us for supporting and enjoying their music ... then the bar closes, and we're back on the street ... only Ozlem and Cordula immediately have to catch a cab to their hotel, because they have a flight in 2 hours (it's like 5am)!! Crazy girls ... they were a lot of fun ... hugs goodbye and the cabbie takes them away
- the three of us left start walking home ... we're all hungry, so we decide to get something to eat
- we check out one diner, but nothing on the menu appeals to anyone, so we get up and head to the 24 hour diner that Ryan had shown us the night before ... but again, the menu just wasn't working
- next stop was the 24 hour MacDonald's, but they were only serving breakfast at that time of day, so we once again left ... next stop was the restaurant that Isaac and I had eaten at in the early hours two nights ago ... only they didn't open until 6:30am (it's 6am now)
- so now we're frustrated and we can't even head home (silly curfew!)
- we walk around, and see this underground place ... we poke our heads in, and it's small bar that's still open! a few locals are dancing, and there are no tourist there at all ... so obviously we go in!
- the beers are super cheap, the local atmosphere is pretty fun, so we just sit and people watch, killing time, but totally enjoying ourselves
- 6:30am arrives, and we leave the bar (still open, people are still dancing) ... we open the door to get outside, and it's bright from the sun - HATE that (and it's the third time it's happened to me in Panama City)
- we head to the now open restaurant and at last get our food ... by the time we get back to the hostel, it's almost 8am
- next day, I'm up at 11:30 ... which is good, because Isaac and I have a meet-and-greet with a boat captain ... his name is Fabian, and he is one of the most recommended captains for sailing from Panama to Colombia ... Ryan was able to get a hold of him on his cell phone, and he had booked us for his next trip out, which happens to be tomorrow!!
- this is all really excellent news, because from the sounds of it, the first boat we were going to catch was probably going to be a much worse experience
- Fabian shows up at noon ... very nice and friendly guy from Colombia ... he speaks excellent English ... he brings out a laptop and shows us a bunch of pictures of what to expect on our trip ... the pictures are amazing, and we get very excited about going
- it's also the first time Ryan and Fabian have met ... so we become the first official Jungla House representatives on Fabian's boat ... if all goes well, it could be the start of a good relationship between Jungla and Sailing Koala (the name of Fabian's business)
- the rest of the day flies by as we try to get things sorted for the trip ... laundry and packing and errand running
- last night at the Jungla house, we're chilling with Anne, Randall, Ryan and Rosie
- we have to leave at 7am the next morning, and I think I've had about 10 hours of sleep in the last week ... so we're not planning a night out at all ... BUT ... not only is Ryan going out, but so is Rosie!! (definitely this time, no flaking out) ... and so is Randall!!! Neither one of them has gone out with us the whole time I've been at the Jungla House, so this just feels too much like an event not to be missed
- we all head back to Calle Uruguay ... but the energy level is low (i.e. Anne's, Isaac's and mine) ... first stop is Chocolate, but we don't stay too long and it's fairly quiet again
- next stop is some bar where you can sing karoake ... we stay for a while, and rumour has it Randall is going to get up and sing ... but the waiting list is long, and the fatigue is kicking in
- so the three of us say goodbye to the others (a final goodbye, as we know we won't seem them in the morning) ... big big big goodbye hug to Rosie ... I will miss her a lot
- Ryan gives me a key, and we get back to the hostel and have our goodbye hugs with Anne ... we get to bed EARLY ... 3:30am ... in just a few short hours, the next big leg of our journey begins ... a weeklong sailig trip through the San Blas islands ... destination Colombia!
- EoW
