Hotel California Air Guitar

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So its Thursday night at midnight, and I'm sitting in a bar in Panama City listening to a band play Hotel California and watching everyone sing and play air guitar. I had just finished watching everyone sing all the words to the Toto song “Hold the line.” You know the song “Its not in the way that you hold me, its not in the way that you say that you care..... Hold the line, love isn't always on time, oh oh oh.” (I remember thinking Funk would love this place). Anyway I'm here at midnight, after planing on just one drink, but then the Balboa beer girls showed up and well how can I tell a scantily clad Panamanian hotty that I don't want another beer. We did get our picture taken with them. I've decided that I'm going to try and get pictures of me with beer girls in every country, everybody needs goals.

That still doesn't explain why I'm in Panama City and not ATL.... but Wilma does.
Want to here the story of Panama City? Wrote a song about it, here it goes:

I arrived in Panama City with the same tour operator I had met the day before and a group of 5 backpackers that had just sailed into Porvenir from Cartagena. They had to pay for their airline tickets in Panama City because there wasn't time to pay for them in Porvenir. The tour operator convinced me that I was better off dealing with immigration in the National Terminal as opposed to International, so I settled in with the backpackers to get that funny stamp. Turns out the fee is $15, $5 for the little form that they make you fill out on the plane and $10 because we didn't get the stamp where we entered the country. Now was is really weird is we don't pay in the airport. They take us in a car off the airport to another building that is in an old supermarket where we can pay.

But after about an hour or so, I'm legal, now off to the other airport. Its $20 to go across town in the taxi. I had a great taxi cab driver and for an additional $10 he took me out to the MiraFlores locks to watch the morning ships go through. What the hell I've got all kinds of time, I don't leave until 2.
It was pretty cool to watch a tanker and 2 sailboats go through the locks at the same time. That canal is a real marvel.

So I watched for awhile and arrived at the airport around 10:30 to find out my flight was canceled because my plane wasn't there. Apparently MIA had been closed for a couple of days. The morning flight went out because that plane had sat in Panama for 2 days unable to go anywhere.

At this point I run into Ben, well actually he finds me. We are both in the same boat, other than he had been here since Monday waiting to leave. I have no idea where to stay and he doesn't want to stay back downtown. So we get in a cab promising to take us to a cheap hotel close to the airport. What a scam. After about an hour and $15 poorer we are on the bus back to the Hostel downtown.

So now I have an afternoon to kill in Panama. Ben suggests that I go and see Casa Viejo, which is in the old city and where the Presidents palace is. So I'm off to wander and find a cab to this place. Its now that I run into Ricardo, who I think is a cab driver. Nope but he agrees to show me how to get to Casa Viejo, and proceeds to walk with me. Now I'm sort of skeptical. But the guy is doing a good job of pointing out restaurants and saying, this is a good place for you at night and this isn't. It was good to get the walking tour, until after we went through the fish market. Now we are in a part of old town, where it doesn't feel as safe. I'm now informed that this is mostly the black market. At this point I'm real nervous but I figure I'm still safe. Maybe I'm going to get rolled but probably not killed, there are too many people around and I can yell. Of course I'm reminded about something a friend said about me one time, “Farrell is the guy that would walk down a dark alley with men sharpening machetes and ask them to go and get a beer.” That was how I felt. But it all worked out. After seeing the presidents palace we decide to get a cab for the rest of the tour around the old city. I'm informed it because it wouldn't be safe for us to walk around these neighborhoods. I now feel much better about my guide. He also takes me over to see Noriega's house. Well really the wall surrounding the house because you can't see in. Did you know he gets of of jail this month or next month?

Now its back to the Hostel to hang out and contemplate dinner, which of course then leads to lets get one beer, and then to listening to Hotel California, but what can I say.

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