Panama: Day 1

I don't think that I'll ever have a job as conducive to traveling as teaching at Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology. It was ridiculous. Because of that, I'm not going to be taking nearly the sorts of vacations I took back then, and of course, the Peace Corps doesn't exist for us to take vacations-but we are given some vacation days. So, although I could write up the trip to Panama in one post, I'm going to string it out into many posts. Also, I have a feeling that some other Peace Corps Volunteers might want to go down there on vacation, so I'll mention restaurants, etc. by name.

The trip down was a 16 hour bus ride, but since I've already been on one of the worst bus rides ever, it was a breeze. Due to all sorts of plans getting changed and ticket purchasing complications-I ended up traveling down with Eric, Liz, Elena, and Katherine, all fellow volunteers. We traveled with TicaBus, in the 'executive' class, which meant they gave us snacks and meals-which I thought were delicious, but I also haven't ever been disappointed with airline fare. The seats reclined and were reasonably comfortable, although I had already seen Taken on a plane, I watched it again. I don't know how in the world two separate travel providers have thought this movie appropriate for traveling, but they have, it blows my mind! They keep the bus super cold, so that if you can't sleep, at least you'll go numb. A fun anecdote was that, at 23:25, for our bus that was to leave at 23:00, when I went out to ask if this was the right bus and everything was okay, the other guy that had gone out to ask the same thing was also American. We left 40 minutes after official departure. No one apologized or said anything. C'est la vie.

(Panama City skyline seen from Casco Viejo)

The border opened at 6:00. We arrived at the border at 4:40. We stood in line, there were some bench like opportunities and plenty of curb to sit on. The British spell curb "kerb." This is only slightly less mind-blowing than the fact that a company that drives buses to Panama every day has its passengers wait at the border for almost an hour and half. And imagine if we had left on time! I can't think of a good reason why this happened, yet I'm open to suggestions. I am proud to say I was the first person to get out of line, cross the street, and sit down at the restaurant that opened at 5:15, and had a nice breakfast of gallo pinto and eggs.

The rest of the trip went very smoothly. Literally, the highways in Panama are significantly, noticeably, considerably better than those in Costa Rica. They're almost exactly the same as American highways. There are certain downfalls to having the U.S. all up in your business for the better part of a century, but certain benefits-like nice highways. Another novel concept in many of the towns where we stopped were pedestrian overpasses. In much of Costa Rica, and the entire region where I live, after you get off the bus, you wait for it to pass and then cross the highway. A student from my high school was hit by a car and killed this way this year. Pedestrian overpasses, on the other hand, either Panama or their American friends, figured out, avoid this problem.

 (Casco Viejo district-where I stayed)

Panama City also has something amazing (number three so far, for those of you keeping score): a central bus station. Yes, one bus station where all the long distance buses stop, and many of the city buses as well. It's also right next to the airport. Amazingly convenient. The bus to our destination didn't seem to come too often, so we taxied into town, got to our respective hostels, washed up, and had a delightful dinner, and I had my first Panama Beer-amazing creativity in that name! We ate at Pedro's, which was kind of an imitation sports bar (emphasis on boxing)-good pizza, good salads, but there's better at other places we went.

Oh, at the border I had to change my watch, which brings up the fourth thing that I instantly loved about Panama, they use Daylight Savings Time. It doesn't make as much sense here as it does in places farther from the equator-but-hey Panama isn't quite there, so it still makes sense. And, well, additionally, I'd much rather have the sun go down at 18:30 than at 17:30!

*There are some pictures from past day one, forgive the inconsistency, but there are lots of pictures I'd like to put up, Panama City is quite photogenic.