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Published: June 20th 2010
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So my dad is always telling me that I must never write about partying on my travel blog because I know that my family reads it. Well, here we go, I'm going to write most of an entry about how hard I partied on my very first day in Panama!
Allie and I flew out Friday night. Our first flight out of SF was delayed, but it didn't put us behind for the other flights so the trip was fairly uneventful. We both slept a decent amount which was nice and would serve us well for our first crazy day here.
Kendi, Aunt Trudi and Uncle Don picked us up at the airport and took us back to the apartment that the family had rented for our time in Panama City. It was very nice. Downstairs is the living room, dining room, kitchen and 1/2 bath and then upstairs there are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is the perfect set up for a group our size. We had space to ourselves, but also lots of living space where we could hang out together. We had an extra room so some of Kendi's friend from Michigan stayed with us
as well.
We had no sooner walked in the door of the apartment than we were handed USA futbol jerseys to put on as the US was playing their first world cup game. Miguel had gotten them for all of us!
I had totally planned on getting to the place and napping until it was time for the party, but Elissa and Jeff were taking the boys on a walk up the hill the apartment is on to see the views and I just couldn't pass it up. I'm glad I didn't because after we crawled through a hole in the chain link fence to get in, it was a very pleasant hike and boy did it feel good to move after so long on the plane.
We saw some animals along the way and there were lots of cool benches painted in random ways. At the top you could look out over the city and ocean on one side and the canal on the other. They were both very interesting views. On the way back down we heard what sounded like frogs, but it turned out they were toucans in a tree. We watched a few
fly to another tree and realized that that one was full of them. At least 10 or 15. It was cool to watch them through the binoculars and see them hop around from branch to branch.
Back at the apartment I did manage to squeeze in a little nap before having to start getting ready for the reception. Miguel wanted to take Nathan and a cousin of his, Paolo who is the same age on a limo ride to tour the city and end up at the hotel. There were a couple of extra seats so Allie and one of Kendra's friends went along too.
Aunt Trudi was feeling sick, so she slept until the last minute, but Elissa, Heather (a Michigan friend) and I headed over to the hotel with what we thought was plenty of time to help Kendi get ready. We were there before 8 and the party didn't start until 9. We took all that time and then some to get her hair in order, bustle the wedding dress and do make-up. Good thing Kendra and Miguel didn't have to make and appearance until 10 (Miguel was concerned that we weren't even going to
make that time frame). It always takes us longer than we think it will to get ready!
The reception was beautiful. Miguel's cousin did the MCing and there was lots and lots of dancing to a live band. I hate to say it Walkers, but the Panamanians danced us under the table! After dinner, which was served at 11 or 11:30 we went back upstairs with Kendra and she put on the red dress. Now it was time for the parade!
Kendi and Miguel came into the ballroom in the front followed by a band and everyone had crazy hats, beaded necklaces, masks and whistles. They came in and everyone joined in behind them, parading around the dance floor and ending up in complete, insane, loud chaos in the middle.
The hotel had the best waiters in the whole world, they kept the glasses full and you had more alcohol before you even realized that you needed it. Elissa says that one time she went out to use the bathroom and when she came back the waiter handed her a new glass of rum and coke as she walked back through the door. It was good. By
the end of the night we'd all made it out to dance a bit (or more).
A little before 3 am we decided that we were done for. We gathered up Aunt Trudi who was sleeping upstairs (during which, Allie accused us of having drunk too much and not being able to make the key card work, but she couldn't get it to open the door either!) and headed back to the apartment.
We were, surprisingly, no worse for the wear Sunday morning! There is lots more to come, but I am behind as usual.
I should note that the pictures on here are from everybody's cameras. They are not all mine. We've been photo dumping so that we can share pics at the end and I decided to take advantage of that.
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