Two guys out on the Penninula…

So I am sitting in Salt Lake City Airport on a 5 hour lay-over. This place is cold, my jean jacket is in my checked baggage, and I can just imaging what Edmonton will be like. At least I can get my jacket out of my bag once I get there.

Yesterday, thinking I would just be taking a bus into the city sometime that day, not looking forward to it too much because of all the extra baggage I am now hauling around, I found that other people had begun making plans on my behalf. Now, admittedly, I didn’t have any sort of formulation of a plan in the first place, so maybe that was part of the magic.

It turns out that Pete and his wife Nora (a couple that own a place down the beach where we would go to play dominoes now and then) were returning to the city the very time I was. The question was asked on my behalf, the offer made, and off I went with Paco (one of the co-owners) allong for the trip. He hadn’t been in the city for a while either, so it was just an excuse to get away for a bit.

So, a free ride into the city, and right to the front door of the hotel, I might add. We went out for some food, got propositioned by the front door pimp half a dozen times (I guess we looked lonely or something), were honoured by the exquisite sullenness of Panamanian hotel staff, got rained on at the roof pool of the hotel, and ended up back at the room where the AC was churning away.

We battled with the front desk staff again to place a call to Pablo, one of Jays’ good buds who came by the house all the time, and met up with him later that night. Not knowing where to go, we left it in his hands, and were sequestered to the far reaches of The Causeway. The Causeway is where the US had all their military personnel and “special people” while the canal was still under occupation, and has since been turned into a nice strip of schmantzy restaurants set next to the boat moors. These are half-million dollar boats bobbing up and down, all in a line, like so much spare change…

Anyways, the food was good, the scenery was awesome (I’m not talking about boats now), and then along came Terry. Terry is a woman, another visitor of El Refugio, a real-estate developer, and just about the last person any of us expected to see walking up the ramp like she was expecting us there. Panama City is well over a million people, y’know. Small world…So she joined us for dinner (drinks), and went on her way.

In the morning, Pablo gave me a ride out to the airport, meeting me at 5 in the morning on a day that he didn’t have to work, and, had I waited, would only have asked for gas money. I gave him $20 – the standard taxi fare. He also offered to let me stay at his place, instead of a hotel, when I return next year. I just amazes me how easy it is to make friends down here when you stay in one place for a bit.

I guess the real point of this is that I had just expected to take a bus into the city, spend a night in the hotel, and catch a cab to the airport in the morning, with AC and cable TV being the highlight. Instead, my last night in Panama was one of the better times I have had.

I don’t complain about it much, but travelling by yourself can be a bit of a drag at times, but none of you pansies will come with me and I’m not one for waiting. It was nice to have some company for my farewell.

Now, I have people down here I can call on to do things when I return, and that is such a nice change from travelling solo all the time.

I have another hour to kill before the last leg of my flight home and I am in a reflective mood. This trip has been an animal of a different colour. I came down with intentions of making it all the way to Guatemala and returning, but found I rather liked staying put here and there, not so intent on filling a blog with pictures, but building a base and getting to know Panama and her people a bit better. My time in Costly Rica was long enough to be my last, unless I need to renew a visa, that is, and outside of David (Panama) people are a whole different flavor (with a few very notable exceptions). Just about the friendliest people I have ever met.

And I’ll be back again…and again…