Remember the tour I’ve been writing about where a local person shows you around Panama City and takes you to try different food and drink on a walking tour that is PAID? Well, the tour guide hadn’t shown up 20 minutes AFTER our scheduled start time so I went back to my hotel and requested a refund from the company. The owner is in Colombia starting a similar business and his backup tour guide was just running late. They both asked me, rather profusely, to please join the tour but I was mentally not in the right state of mind to walk around with a stranger (other tour guest) and someone who “stood me up.” I received my refund and both owner and guide kept apologizing. At least they saw the error on their end. On a suggestion by the owner, I went to Pedro Mandinga rum bar for $5 mojitos and they were amazing! Best way to turn a crappy evening into a pleasant one. The tour guide even met me at the bar and I walked around on the informal tour he was conducting (free of charge!). Honestly, I’m glad I didn’t pay because I don’t think I would have gotten my money’s worth and I’m not quite sure if the other tour guest was satisfied.
Coincidentally, the tour guide’s friends were seated at the bar several stools away from me and so I got to meet some really cool people and practice my Spanish. All agreed that my Spanish is “really good.” Heart flutters because I would rather hear that constantly than the “you’re pretty” commentary. Overall, I’m glad I went out and I’m even more thrilled I didn’t have to pay for it.
Today is my last full day in Panama and I thought I should see the Panama Canal. I didn’t book a tour to go through the canal, just took an Uber to the visitor center. Multiple reports I had read said to get there before 10am so I timed it to be there at 9am. And I just missed a boat going through at 8am. It takes about an hour for each vessel to go through the locks and there’s a time during the day (from 10a-2p) where no boats go through. And I didn’t want to wait 4 hours at the visitor center. So I drew a boat on this picture I took. That will have to do.
The visitors center is really well thought out and is 4 floors high. There’s clearly a lot of history and information to share about the canal.
My Uber driver on the way back was really nice and switched to English when he saw me struggling. I was grateful for that and we had a nice chat about the different forms of Spanish you can find in South and Central America. He agreed with me that the way Colombians speak is the easiest to understand. He told me, “its because they don’t eat the “s.” I had never heard that before but I laughed so hard because it’s true. Panamians don’t like to pronounce the “s” in words. For example, “esta” is more like “eta.” Difficult for a foreigner to understand when the full word isn’t pronounced.
The last thing I wanted to see in Casco Antigua (the old quarter) was the Golden Altar. Legend has it that a pirate came looking for it and the priest had concealed the altar by covering it in mud. The pirate, none the wiser, believed him and it was saved from being looted. It’s really pretty but the most interesting thing inside the church was a really big nativity scene that shows the birth of Christ. It’s a whole town and required a panoramic photo just to capture everything that was on display. There was even running water in the nativity scene so I feel like some people need to step up their game.
Tomorrow is an early day – the airport shuttle comes at 3:40a so I’m packing and will get to bed by 8p tonight. Tomorrow, is also another country. Any guesses?? Hint. It’s in Central America. 18 days left and I’ll get to be with my Loly Pot Pie!
There She Goes... 