After an
overly air conditioned 17 hour bus ride (including a several hour long wait at
the border for customs to open) from San Jose, Costa Rica to Panama City,
Panama, we arrived in late afternoon. On
the bus we met a girl from Switzerland who was also staying at our hostel, and
she told us that cab drivers sometimes have a difficult time finding it so we
ought to use the Four Point Sheraton as a landmark. We made a quick pit stop and headed out to
the cab line – one stopped us, asked us where we were going, we told him
(specifically mentioning the Sheraton), settled a price, and climbed in. Our driver talked at length about all of the
construction going on in the city and how bad the traffic was today, and even
stopped for gas while we were still in the car.
About 20 minutes later, he pulled up to a hostel which was not ours, and
stops and says “okay.” I explained that
we are staying at another hostel, gave the name and the name of the nearby
hotel, and he still had no idea where we are supposed to be going. We
had to go inside, log onto the other hostel’s computer to look up the address,
write it down for him, and get back in the cab.
Eventually, we made it to the Villa Vento Surf hostel in Marbella (a
neighborhood of Panama City).
Elizabeth,
one of the girls from USF was already there as she had arrived the day
before. The other three girls she
traveled with were on some day tour to a volcano and would be back later, at
which time we could all go out to dinner.
We asked around, but no one really had any great recommendations for
places to eat, so we decided to walk around near the hostel and until we saw
something that looked good. Jenn,
another of the new arrivals, is a Rays fan and wanted to watch the game. They were playing the Sox, and considering
how well they’re doing at the moment I could have passed on the TV, but we
found a few places that had TVs, outdoor seating, and reasonable prices. We opted for a Lebanese restaurant because it
had the best food prices and enough options to satisfy everyone. Liz was also able to negotiate some drink
specials for us which was even better!
What we did not realize, however, was that about midway through our meal
there would be live entertainment – belly dancers and a DJ – and loads of
teenagers smoking hookahs and drinking beer which we are not used to seeing in
the states. Unfortunately the Sox
lost, but ultimately it was a very entertaining evening!
* My phone, which I'm currently using for a camera, was dead so I don't have any pictures of this part :(
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