Panama City

In Panama City, I continued to sleep with the family. I was allowed to sleep on the sofa while the boys had to sleep on the floor. I felt guilty and wanted to sleep on the floor, but they never allowed it. They also always prohibited me from carrying luggage, saying 'es el trabajo del macho'.

I was really spoiled there. We ate at the best restaurant, El Carribe.

We went on several shopping trips to different malls and watched movies at the cinema (2$ per person).

Maritza took us shopping in the market.

We drove through the different stands in the car and had them load the merchandise.

I have never seen so many different fruits/vegetables before. I didn't even know half of them.

Afterwards, we went to Gorgona for 3 days to a Finca with a pool that belonged to them.

It was beautiful. Elle's aunt came with us and cooked delicious meals for us and entertained us. I learned Spanish well with her.

We had our own pool party, played beer pong, and danced Reggaeton, Salsa, and Bachata.

Sohrob was attacked by a salamander. It fell from the sky out of nowhere and 'bit' him. Now he is 'salamanderman'.

We took the bus to go to the beach. We had to switch buses about 3 times and paid about 1$ for a 20-minute ride. In Panama, there are not many bus stops. You just stand by the roadside, wave at the bus, and hope to be seen in time.

At the beach, we listened to music, drank Malibu, and cervezas.

The journey back was not so easy. Since no bus stopped anymore, we took a taxi that was actually meant for 4 people, but 8 of us sat in the taxi.

We had to quickly pack our things and return to Panama City because Philip's flight was in a few hours.

We took two taxis to a larger bus stop because it was already dark and the buses couldn't see us by the roadside.

I went in the first taxi with Elle, Philip, and Mena. We waited for the others, but when the second taxi arrived, Mena was missing. He wanted to buy something to drink. We were all already on the bus and noticed at the last second that he was missing (he is only 13 years old). I thought the bus would leave even if we weren't complete yet. But it waited for a good 15 minutes until we finally found him.

Back in Panama City, we had super delicious Caribbean dinner again. I also met three girls from Venezuela. They told me about their lives and the situation in Venezuela. I admire these women. They don't have much, but they are still grateful for what they have and don't complain.

After about 3 hours of sleep, we started with Uber (cheaper and safer than taxis) to Panama Pazifico Airport.

They dropped us off at the wrong place first. Everything was deserted and closed. Fortunately, Uber waited for us and helped us finally unload at the right place.

But even there, the doors to the airport were still closed, but several people were already waiting in front of the doors.

We waited for half an hour in front of the airport and another hour until check-in opened. Then we were able to check in our luggage. But we hadn't read the fine print on the flight ticket. We should have checked in online. So we had to pay 16$ for check-in, and we didn't have enough cash, so we had to walk to an ATM that was about 10 minutes away on the other side of a field. We got wet feet crossing the field, but we were in a good mood and completely exhausted.

Off to COLOMBIA!