A Man without a Plan in Panama
I arrived in Panama City around 10:30pm or so on Saturday, a little late because the flight had to go around the hurricane in Nicaragua and there was some passenger manifest issue. Going through customs and passport was pretty painless, and then I got a cab, or rather I let a taxi cab driver convince me to go (after not getting an answer, calling a hotel from a guide). Not a good idea in general, but a strange thing occurs when I go without sleep for very long, I get to be super-talkative and can't shut-up, and revved up in general, and so I took it as an opportunity to blabber on in Spanish for thirty minutes as we went to whatever hotel was giving the taxi driver a cut. Pretty wretched place, but I needed to get to sleep as soon as possible so I could wake up and decide what to do.
The taxi driver, 50-something, said that although Panamanians like Americans, they don't like the U.S. government, although I didn't pay much attention to his elaboration. It's been interesting to see the nationalism on display, as the "independence" day celebrations are tomorrow (102 years ago Panama seperated from Colombia). Also, W. visits on the day that I'm leaving, and I heard a waitress spout off about his visit at breakfast today.
On Sunday, after walking around wherever the taxi winds had taken me, and seeing that it wasn't all that a pedestrian-friendly city (at least in that area, still have no idea where I was) I decided I would go ahead and take a flight to Boca del Toro in a prop plane. I had a good 3 dollar breakfast of Jello, fruit and these chicken empanada pastry things that I so love, at a supermarket cafeteria. I'm going to try to find a more interesting area to stay in when I go back on Friday, even if I have to pay a fair amount. I've decided it's not a good sign when your hair starts to itch after you stay at a junky place. To say the least. Generally, takes more time to find cheap, clean lodgings than I have when it's only a week's trip.
It was cool flying in a prop plane, because it flies lower and you can see more of what you are flying over. I took some airborne pics that will hopefully come out. I was excited to be able to see through the water and see the coral as we were landing in the airport in the town of Boca del Toro on the Isla Colon. My first impressions was that I could kick back here indefinitely. I feel my blood pressure has dropped twenty points just with the ambiance. Which is kind of strange, as it's a party town (nothing else to do) and I don't know the meaning of the word party. I seem to have more people-watched.
Course, always out of synch, I've been studying amidst the carnival. Earlier this week, I had been studying for my advanced open water certification, which I successfully completed today. The dive center has thrown in two free tank dives tomorrow, which means I need to wait 24 hours before flying again, hence leaving on Friday.
I'll relay my diving exploits once I see if the underwater photos I took come out. But, truthfully, diving here was a bit of a let-down, in the quantities and quality of sea-life (although to give them the benefit of the doubt there could be a seasonal quality to it, e.g. sometimes there's turtles). I almost was debating whether I would take the dive center up on the free dive offer, but decided I needed the practice since it may be a few months before I dive again.
The taxi driver, 50-something, said that although Panamanians like Americans, they don't like the U.S. government, although I didn't pay much attention to his elaboration. It's been interesting to see the nationalism on display, as the "independence" day celebrations are tomorrow (102 years ago Panama seperated from Colombia). Also, W. visits on the day that I'm leaving, and I heard a waitress spout off about his visit at breakfast today.
On Sunday, after walking around wherever the taxi winds had taken me, and seeing that it wasn't all that a pedestrian-friendly city (at least in that area, still have no idea where I was) I decided I would go ahead and take a flight to Boca del Toro in a prop plane. I had a good 3 dollar breakfast of Jello, fruit and these chicken empanada pastry things that I so love, at a supermarket cafeteria. I'm going to try to find a more interesting area to stay in when I go back on Friday, even if I have to pay a fair amount. I've decided it's not a good sign when your hair starts to itch after you stay at a junky place. To say the least. Generally, takes more time to find cheap, clean lodgings than I have when it's only a week's trip.
It was cool flying in a prop plane, because it flies lower and you can see more of what you are flying over. I took some airborne pics that will hopefully come out. I was excited to be able to see through the water and see the coral as we were landing in the airport in the town of Boca del Toro on the Isla Colon. My first impressions was that I could kick back here indefinitely. I feel my blood pressure has dropped twenty points just with the ambiance. Which is kind of strange, as it's a party town (nothing else to do) and I don't know the meaning of the word party. I seem to have more people-watched.
Course, always out of synch, I've been studying amidst the carnival. Earlier this week, I had been studying for my advanced open water certification, which I successfully completed today. The dive center has thrown in two free tank dives tomorrow, which means I need to wait 24 hours before flying again, hence leaving on Friday.
I'll relay my diving exploits once I see if the underwater photos I took come out. But, truthfully, diving here was a bit of a let-down, in the quantities and quality of sea-life (although to give them the benefit of the doubt there could be a seasonal quality to it, e.g. sometimes there's turtles). I almost was debating whether I would take the dive center up on the free dive offer, but decided I needed the practice since it may be a few months before I dive again.
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