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Published: March 9th 2006
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Hotel Ikuptupu
Actually the dining room......and mola salesroom FINALLY Panama.
This is the day I turn my life over to a tour guide for the first time ever. For you oh intrepid traveler who travels when and where on a whim--as I have up to now--you may sense how I feel as I wake that morning in Houston to cool and windy weather. What have I gotten myself into??
Our group consists of Kate, our 43 year old lawyer daughter, her husband Chris, their 17 year old German exchange student Nadette, and 74 year old me. Extreme Panama has sent no information on anyone else or even if there is anyone else on the tour. Nadette worrys she won't like them. Frankly, we all probably do. It would be nice if the tour would tell us but oh well, this is Panama. No problem.
Kate took care of the boarding passes yesterday on our etickets. It still worries me not to have something tangible in my hand but she travels that way all the time. No problem. This morning
I made sure I had a protein fuelup by making an omelet of last night's leftover asparagus and ham. Biscuits from a tube works good when I am in someone
san blas backside
Maybe the only boat without a Yamaha attached. Looks like a bunch of teenagers hanging out else's kitchen. I left a loaf of the homemade wholewheat bread for Mont to eat while we are gone. He got his final instructions on dog,cat, horse care and where the leftovers are in the frig. (Sounds like when we said we would leave cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer)
Mont hates to drive in Houston. He did enough of that when he owned a semi and leased it to Hill and Hill down there years ago so my brother Paul, who is down from Wisconsin for a few months and is camped not too far away, drove us to HIA way early. Good thing because there was a delay with Nadette's visa--not very long but just enough to be glad there weren't a couple hundred people waiting behind us. We were through security by11:30AM. Did I mention that I have two artificial hips? They don't get as excited at security as they did a few years ago tho.
Then it was a short walk down to E-12 and wait. I practice trying to use the binoculars Kate put in my bag and if a bird is as big as an airport signboard and sits that still I might be able to line it up. Wow. Might be a waste of my 12 pound luggage allowance.
Now we watch CNN until Kate deciphers what they have been announcing (good thing they weren't depending on me-- I heard NADA NOTHING ZILCH) we were supposed to be standing in line to buy a tourist card!!! By this time, the Elite ticket group (that is us???) is supposed to load so Chris is given our passports to stand in line and we go go go.
Does this sound like a loooooooong explanation of boarding a plane? So be it. If you get the feeling that time is moving slowly and nothing will ever really get done, you have caught the sensation of hurry up and wait.
Then quickly we are on board. Short of having to find a few volunteers to stay behind because the flight is overbooked, things go smoothly. Chris comes onboard with the news they ran out of tourist cards and we will need to buy them ($10) when we deplane. No problem.
Takeoff is right on time at 1:35. Weather beautiful clear to Panama. I watch the monitor. Ground speed now 540 mph at 245,810 feet.Estimated flight time 3 hours 20 minutes. 33,920 feet and ground speed 530 mph. Wind speed 128 mph and outside temp 41...is that a mistake??
1612 miles Houston to Panama City. Just a little farther than Wyoming to Houston.
Then they put on a movie, feed us a turkey sandwich, and freeze us to death. Everybody fights for the nonexistant blankets until the flight attendant felt sorry for us and turned up the cabin temp.
My seatmate just came back from Singapore. I asked him if he would be insulted if I put on my viral-filtering mask!! He said he wore one all the time he was in Singapore and so did everybody else. He customizes drilling equipment in Houston for a Canadian outfit I think he called Akita but he is with ROWAN. Our geophysicist son would know more what that all meant. His wife,in the meantime, raised the big male cougar that is in the Panama city zoo. She was a vet tech assistant when they lived in Balboa.
We land on time at6:40 Panama time and then it's they old hurry up and wait. I have no checked luggage but have to wait with the rest of the group for theirs. I know I have to pack my own bags so I REALLY packed light. In an hour we are through customs and immigration.
At 7:20 we are outside where our tour guid Luis, holds the FUTURA sign. And, guess what, there are two others on the tour and they were on the plane with us. That doesn't happen very often, Luis said.
We drive to the motel and checkin. Nadette and I share a room with two double beds. I am immediately hit with the odor of carpet fragrance. Turn on the AC and leave for getacquainted dinner and hope for the best. Dinner was wonderful and I now know I will eat corvina whenever possible. Ceviche was good too. In bed by 10:15
Now just a little note. I have no intention of critiqueing motels nor restaurants unless something is REALLY bad or really good. If you want to know more, email me personally and I will tell you details. Suffice it to say that Extreme Panama is a young twosome who try their best but they are at the mercy of motels that still don't understand the fine points of tourism.
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