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!