Homeward Bound

               For our last night in Panama City, we went to Crepes & Waffles, or "cray-pays and waff-lays" as Cadena, our prof., tried to translate for our Panamanian bus driver, for dinner. This woman apparently has a Colombian husband who speaks fluent Spanish, her daughter speaks fluently, she has Rosetta Stone at home, and has been leading this trip to Panama for eight years!  How do you not know a lick of Spanish with all of that exposure?  Has been a thorn in my side for the last three weeks, had to rant a little :).
Moving on, dinner was delicious and we were able to stay in a renovated dorm in the City of Knowledge which had air conditioning, cable TV, and lukewarm water (at least it wasn't freezing cold).  Not a bad way to end the trip.

Dessert crepe - Nutella, strawberries, coconut ice cream :)

The next day, only 2 trips to the airport were included in the bus contract: one at 4am, and the next at 9:15.  Or, we could hang out and take a $30 cab ride from downtown  - I opted to use the time at the airport to do homework.  I found out when I got there that the people from Spirit don't arrive until 11pm because they only have one flight leaving from the Panama City airport at 2am.  I had plenty of time to kill and the only thing on this side of security was a 24 hour cafe, so it really was a productive afternoon!  I also ended up meeting a girl in the Peace Corps in her second year in Paraguay.  She does agricultural work with the people there, showing them how to farm, rotate crops, compost soil, etc.  She had visited a friend in the area of the Comarca that we had been working in over the last three weeks, so we talked a lot about that. There was also a giant group of missionaries from Orlando, FL in fluorescent green T-shirts so I at least had some good people watching while I waited :).
               When I finally got to check in for my flight, they informed me that there was a delay and I would miss my connection in Fort Lauderdale.  When was their next available flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa?  8:15 in the evening when my flight was arriving more than 12 hours prior and I had just spent an entire day in an airport.  So, I bit the bullet and spent the extra money to hop a bus at 8:30am  to be home by 2.  I suppose this just proves that all things come full circle - I have issues with my airline leaving the country and again coming back home.  At least I got to spend most of Father's day with  my Dad, and man, it's good to be home :).