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Published: January 25th 2009
That's because Panama hats are really made in Ecuador
After the cold of New York, walking outside of the airport and finding warm sunshine was really welcome! We took a taxi to our hostel with the taxi driver giving us a tour in broken English and Spanish, pointing out the president's house, the main churches and the likes. It was really good and I think we instantly liked Panama. For want of a better way of describing it, we just got a good vibe from the place.
Our hostel wasn't amazing but it was clean and had a fan in the room and staff that spoke no English. We felt like such idiots but I did become something of a pro at explaining myself without using words!
The old town was beautiful, like what I imagine Cuba looks like. Half of the buildings were falling down but that only added to the charm. Richard and I spent a very pleasent afternoon strolling around, looking at the old town and sitting down and watching the ocean. All the locals were so laid back and music was blaring from everywhere.
We made friends with a local niña and
she cycled around our bench for about twenty minutes while we pratised our limited Spanish! We walked some more and could see all the big ships heading for the canal and then decided it was time for food.
We ate in this fabulous restaurant near the water and had amazing dinners. I got some red fish and Richard had some sort of pasta dish that came out in tinfoil shaped as a swan. How very random. It's three weeks since we left Panama now and looking back it seems crazy that we spent so much money on one dinner, around $50! Believe me, we haven't been that silly since! The next day we had a massive lunch of chicken and rice from a little place where all the locals ate for about $2 each.
We had a lazy day the next day, reading, strolling around the old town and checking our emails. The locals were all friendly to us and always said hello so it was a bit strange when I read that area where we were staying was really dangerous. Just before we got a taxi to the airport, Richard spoke to a British guy in the
hostel whose friends had been robbed at gunpoint the evening before. So many of these stories in Latin America.
We got to the airport an hour and a half before our flight but still nearly missed it. The queues were massive and when we got to the desk, I wasn't booked on the flight. Stupid STA. The Copa Airlines lady was really nice though and moved things around and got me a seat on the flight, thankfully. I think we were the second last people to get on the plane.
I sat beside a lovely Ecuadorian lady on the flight who was about seventy and although neither of us really spoke the other's language, I still managed on filling out the forms to get into Ecuador for her. Communicating with people through gestures is a new found talent of mine, I’m going to kick ass at charades from now on!
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anonymous
non-member comment
Pictures look amazing, I love broken down towns. Which is a good thing cos I think Claremorris is heading that way soon. Can't believe you paid $50 for dinner, you're such tourists. Haha. That's nice that they didn't want to rob you, you seem to do well living in dodgy areas - Ballymun, Clonlif Rd, Santry, Killester (super valu). xxx