LA to Miami; Miami to Panama City; Panama City to Santiago

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Our plane from Los Angeles to Miami was very different from our first. We felt like we were flying through space in our own hotel room. Spacious, clean, complimentary blankets, and an amazing view of night lights scattered over miles. There were screens on the plane, but they were wasted on Adam Sandler’s new movie, Blended… Rachael enjoyed it, and I’m sure Belinda will reply to this post in defense of Adam Sandler. You two are only encouraging him. And they played a disgusting skit from Jimmy Fallon in which he and the celebrity guest played forest rangers that spat food violently when they talked with each other.

Rachael: It was funny at first but was way too much as it went on.

In the middle of the red eye flight, Rachael barely had the strength to wake me up and say she felt really sick, like she was going to faint. I got the blankets off of her and called the flight attendant over to get her some ice. The flight attendant asked if Rachael felt like she was going to faint. Rachael said, “Yes.” (That must happen a lot.) She immediately helped Rachael to the back and gave her some water and crackers. I tried to go to the back with her; but at that exact moment, everyone on the plane decided they had to use the restroom. Thankfully, after a few minutes of me panicking, she was back and said she felt much better. It turns out she had only been overheated, which happens a lot because they keep the plane warm. And we finally got a drink on the plane like we’ve always wanted to, but only to discover I’m not a big fan of Bombay Sapphire and drinks on planes are just as overpriced as food in airports. We got to keep the cute little bottles as souvenirs though.

Rachael: Yeah $7 for a tiny bottle of liquor. And the ice tasted funny. I thought I might be dying of ebola when I almost passed out, but later I realized it totally wouldn’t make any sense. But you know. In the moment.

I loved the Miami airport! The fresh, cool air and sea animal pattern on the floors made it feel like an aquarium. I wish our layover in Miami could have been a week or two, so I could enjoy the nice weather and scenery. Rachael: He wants to move there. To the airport. But we stayed in the airport for fear of having to get through security again before our flight. At least I got to see an awesome shoreline and coral reef as we flew off in the morning. I’ve never enjoyed the view out of a plane window so much: Islands and jungle and color variation in the warm ocean. Rachael was asleep.





Immediately after getting off the plane, you can feel the intense humidity of Panama. I’ve said, “It’s like a sweat lodge out here,” many times before… But I’ve never meant it literally before Panama. It was enjoyable though, almost like a welcoming.

The airport was very different. There were hardly any lights in the building. It relied on the sun through the glass section of the ceiling. The people were different, the restrooms were different, (Rachael: for example…you have to wipe and throw your poo away in the trash can😉 the signs were different, even the English translations under the signs were different. It’s refreshing! (The label for the flat escalator belts read, “Walking Fasters.” What do we call those in the US?)

I caught a glimpse of our bags after wandering for a few minutes, looking for baggage claim. I rushed through a side lane in order to get them, but was stopped by an airport employee. He simply said, “No,” and put his hand out to stop me. He pointed to a sign that I had missed and Rachael wasn’t able to bring to my attention fast enough. It read, “Panamanians only.” I’ve never been made to feel like such a child and a foreigner as the way I was treated at that airport. And I always feel like a child and a foreigner in Oregon.

The woman that checked us through airport customs was funny. When we arrived at her counter, she scowled then went back to whatever she was doing on her computer without a word. She had the hardest time giving us directions once she lifted the shun. She was a mumbler in Spanish and hardly legible in English; she used no more than one or two words at a time in her instructions. It was always after the third time we asked her to repeat that she said them loud enough to hear. I felt bad for her, having to go through that with foreigners every day. But we got through it eventually. All that was left was picking up our bags.

Pens must be a delicacy in Panama. We needed to fill out our information to receive our bags, but no one wanted to lend us their pen! The mumbler refused and said we could fill it out after her stand. Another employee passing refused and pointed us to another employee. We finally snatched one from said employee, but he went through great lengths to make sure he would get it back.

When we picked up our bags, the station attendant mistook me for Rachael’s brother… Ryan Richards warned me that would happen often.

When we got to the entrance of the airport, Noemi, a sister from Panama City Sign Language, was waiting for us holding a recent picture of us on her phone. She hugged us on sight and helped us take our bags to her car. She has a nicer car than us. It was so refreshing to be kindly treated. We’re so glad that we are JW’s and have friends waiting wherever we go. As we were bringing our bags to her car, it started pouring pouring pouring rain. I couldn’t hear anything Rachael shouted to me, just a couple feet away.

The traffic in Panama City was just as expected, chaotic. Frequent honking in Panama is not impolite, but necessary. I really enjoyed looking out my window. The city reminded me so much of the movie, RIO. The feeling of being somewhere completely different than what I’m accustomed to is so fun and interesting. She picked up another sister, Jacky, on the way to the bus station and we chatted a while. And by, “we,” I mean Rachael and the two sisters. They were a cute duo, those sisters. Rachael: Jacky is an interpreter at a local news station. I think I remember seeing her on TV last time we were here.

They helped us purchase our bus tickets and took pictures with us and gave us hugs goodbye before boarding the bus. It was purple and had fringed curtains over the windows. I felt like I was riding on a magic carpet. The jungle out my window was so awesome. Rachael was asleep again. Rachael: But for the moments I was awake, I had “A whole new world!” stuck in my head. =)

Finally, we made it to our stop in Santiago. A young sister, Lessly, greeted me while holding up a recent picture of Rachael and me. She and her mom, Maria Luisa, helped us to their car. They also have a nicer car than us. They took us to a nice little restaurant and paid for our food to go- the deep friedness begins… They took pictures with us before we left the restaurant to where we would be staying.

After 32 hours of travel, it was really nice to be home. You’ll all be happy to know that we have a locked gate entrance to our yard. The windows of our TWO BEDROOM HOUSE have bars and so do the screen doors in front of our locked doors. Rachael and I have never had such a nice spread. Tile floors, art hung on the wall, an automated febreeze freshener, matching curtains, a washer, two flat screen televisions that we have no idea how to work, and a surround sound system.

If our laptops had HD capability, we could hook these TV’s up to project our computer screens. We are really behind the Panama scene. So we hooked up the surround sound to our laptop, (since we can’t work the television). We’ve really enjoyed our first night and day in the house. The birds here have a very relaxing hoot, a contrast to the birds we have in Oregon. They make the same sound certain talented people are able to make by flicking their cheek while rounding out their lips. Sort of like a drop of water.

It looks like the mornings and afternoons will be sunny and the nights cloudy and rainy, which is perfect. Rachael has already found a hammock, so she’s happy. We took a walk and ate at a restaurant just a couple hundred yards from our house. I never thought I’d be one of those guys that takes out a handkerchief and wipes his forehead in public, but I had to bring one with me. We picked up umbrellas and a 5 gallon tub of sterile water, which I carried on the walk back. Rachael: Which upon speculation, we waaay overpaid. We paid 14 dollars which is exactly how much money I had in my purse (how did he know!?) and later when we went to the supermarket 99, we saw the same size jugs of water for $5. Hah, sometimes its better to wait…but at least we have water. =)

We look forward to the meeting tonight. Lessly is going to pick us up. We have to remember to ask for our house owners’ contact information to ask for the internet password and directions to the nearest super market to buy toilet paper. D=

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Comments

[Lisa Pier]

Cute
Love your cute little house!!!! Rae....can't believe you almost fainted....just over hot?...usually its cold on the plane!!! Did you take a pic of that guy on the bus because it looks like dad??!! Or did dad stowaway in your suitcase???!! That pic from your airplane window looks like a China Dragon!!! Love, love you guys....your already having fun on your great adventure!!