Panama Part Two: Panama City

Besides the fiasco with Ellen, Panama City was very beautiful and fun to explore.  We stayed at Luna's Castle, a beautiful hostel in Casco Viejo with a great view of the city. 

Unfortunately, there was a LOUD bar below the hostel that played ridiculously loud music till 5 a.m. and taxis that honked every 10 seconds or so hoping to pick up a customer.  And dunk people yelling and screaming blissfully through the night.  The huge windows were wide open and the sounds were so unbearable that at 3 a.m. I found an employee and gave him a piece of my mind, I was so mad!

The employee put me in an air conditioned room with no windows that was much quieter.  However it had just been painted and smelled so fumy I didn't know which room was worse!  I took the quiet room and literally found a tiny hole in the wall next to my bunk that I pressed my nose against to breathe some fresh air, lol!  And then at 4 a.m. people came into the room, flipped on all the lights and a girl asked me why I was sleeping in her bed.  I was not about to give up this bed considering the awful situation so I told her kindly to back off.

This is as bad as it gets with Hostels.  Never again will I stay at that terrible place.

This is what I looked like at 3 a.m. yelling in Spanish at the hostel employee.

Becca and Casey by some miracle were able to sleep regardless of the noise and were ready to explore the next morning.

We walked around through a rainstorm and discovered some beautiful buildings and churches, then went to the Panama Canal.  It was a different experience learning about the Canal while being in Panama vs. the United States.  In the US when I learned about the Canal, it was an incredible feat by our country that we are proud of.  In Panama, the country that built the Canal is irrelevant but the fact that it wasn't given back to Panama till 1999 was very important.  It was a good lesson on perspective.

Church

Casey's first hostel experience!

More angry hostel patrons

The Panama Canal

It was really cool to see the locks fill up and empty with water to accommodate lifting and lowering massive ships. 

Later that day we flew to Bocas Del Toro, our final destination!  We were so happy to have made it to Bocas Surf School and Hostel.   It was one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in! 

 Finally!

Oh, Panama! Part One: Ellen

A few of my girl friends decided to join me on a harebrained idea I had a few months ago to attend a surf camp in Panama!   Becca Jensen, Casey May, and Ellen Yakish and I made the long journey to Panama City to spend the night before flying into Bocas Del Toro, a surfer's paradise.

Ellen was on a different flight because she bought her ticket at the last minute so Becca, Casey, and I waited at the airport for her.  And we waited.  And waited.  We called, texted, and emailed her countless times.  After hours of waiting we took a cab to the hostel hoping she was already there, but no one had heard from her.  So we got dinner and kept waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.  By 2 a.m. I was really worried and spent a lot of the night calling the US embassy, which was closed, and COPA airlines, which confirmed that she had in fact taken the flight to Panama City before having vanished.  I even texted and facebooked her boyfriend and my coworkers looking for any clues as to what could have happened.

I pictured her lying in a gutter somewhere.  It was awful.

At 7 a.m. I finally received an email from Ellen.  She was alive!!  She had been detained in a small cement room at the airport overnight with a bunch of Columbians, and no one would speak English to her.  She had no idea what was going on but wasn't allowed to eat or drink or use her phone or the internet.

I frantically called customs, the US embassy, her airlines, and the airport trying to figure out what the problem was.  And my Spanish is decent for traveling, but very poor for any real communication.  It turns out her Passport would be expiring 3 days short of Panama's minimum required standards for visitors.  So Panama sent her back to the USA!  She didn't even get to step out of the airport.

While I was so relieved that she was OK, I was also very sad that she couldn't join us!  She decided to go to Maui alone rather than return home.  I don't blame her, anyone would need a vacation after a nightmare like that!

This Used To Be Me

Right now I feel huge (thanks pregnancy,) stuck (thanks horrible air quality confining me inside,) and sick (pregnancy again) and I came across this old photo from a trip we took years ago.

This was 30 feet above the jellyfish infested Mediterranean Sea.  I fell into the icy water when I couldn't hold on any longer.  I was so afraid to do this, but I did it regardless.

I have to remind myself that I can be this person again.  And deep down inside, I still am. 

Merry Christmas and New Years and Other Random Stuff

Christmas work party. Sara's a month ahead of me but I'm bigger lol

A and I do lots of Yoga.  We also babysat a dog for a month (see her rump.)

Classic first meeting with Samta photo ;)

A loves these girls

Christmas Morning

              

I've done lots of snow shoeing.  Libby and family came to visit, it was great!

Happy New Year

Ringing in the new year!  2015!

It was colder than it looks...