I promised a new friend of mine, Daniel, that I would do this post in Spanish and English, so the Spanish-language translation of this post, and selected ones after, will be available under the new page in the menu, “En Español”.
But yeah, Panama…Panama was a-ma-zing. In order to describe how I feel about this experience, and really how to describe my study abroad experience in general, I have to paraphrase what my sorority sister, Libby, said at our 2010 Fall Rush party:
"I never would have regretted not doing it, because I never would have known what I had missed.”
Nothing puts into words better how I feel about my trip to Panama than that. She said it perfectly. I went into the trip really nervous because I didn’t know anyone, I was completely out of my comfort zone and I had no choice but to just hope for the best. But, I didn’t have to hope for the best, because from the moment I arrived at the university to leave on Wednesday until the moment I got dropped back off there on Sunday, I never once felt unwelcomed, or alienated, or foreign. The other students were all extremely friendly, and helpful, and they included me in everything. I got off the bus on Sunday feeling like I had made some wonderful new friends, and now I’m just that much sadder to be leaving in 3 and a half weeks.
But yeah, the trip. So we left the U at 1 p.m. (ish) on Wednesday and didn’t arrive in Panama City until around 5 a.m. on Thursday. Yes, it is that long of a drive from Heredia to Panama City. Basically, you need to drive through two whole countries to get there because Heredia is sort of north central in Costa Rica and Panama City is south central Panama. And of course, there aren’t any real highways until you reach Panama, so the trip is that much longer. But as you know from my previous gushing, everywhere you drive in Costa Rica is gorgeous so it isn’t exactly a pain to be stuck in a bus for 6 hours of daylight. It is when it is dark out that it is awful, especially for people who can’t sleep on buses (I, however, am lucky because I CAN sleep on the bus. Point for me.)
During the drive, we of course had to stop at the border to go through customs, which was an experience within itself. We couldn’t be in the bus, while it was looked at, so we went to this market where the sales people are worse the Buckle employees when it comes to following you around trying to help you. I don’t know if they work on commission, or if they are just are told to be very helpful, or what, but it kind of creeped me out because they wouldn’t leave me alone even after I told them I didn’t need help and that I was just looking. But oh well, I guess they were just doing their job, which I can’t begrudge them.
So after we finally get over the Costa Rican/Panamanian border, we finally arrive at our hotel, El Euro, around 5 a.m. on Thursday and all of us go to our rooms and crash because we have to be back in the lobby at 9 to start our day. I got random-roommated with two girls, Jennifer and Lorley, who were very friendly in a situation where they didn’t have to be anything other than civil to me, and we were good roommates for each other. We even helped each other pick out outfits (which in girl world, takes a decent amount of trust).
That day we went out to breakfast at a café called Niko’s which was sort of buffet style. I went up to the counter to pay for my food and realized that I only had colones with me. Of course, in Panama they use the US dollar, so I just sort of stood there looking like an idiot and silently panicking until the girl behind me paid for my meal. We became fast friends after that. I ended up having to borrow USD from my professor and I have to remember to pay her back this week. Luckily, Panama is cheap so I didn’t have to borrow much (I had brought $160 in colones, so that is how much she lent me in USD) and I actually didn’t even end up spending it all (I only spent $145). We spent the rest of the day driving around Panama City and shopping. We went to two different shopping centers, one that was like an Outlet Mall called Los Pueblos (the villages), and the Albrook Mall, which is more or less the Mall of America of Central America. According to the Albrook Mall website, in order to visit each of the stores (not including the eating establishments) for 10 minutes, you need about 56 straight hours at the mall. Also, if you do one lap of the whole mall you burn over 204 calories, and you can also fit 5 of Australia’s Sydney Opera House in the mall. Those are just a few ways to describe to you just how massive this mall is. While it takes 86 hours to spend 10 minutes in every store in the Mall of America (according to the MOA website), it is still VERY impressive to see a mall that size in a Central American country, if only because Panama isn’t very big.
Here is a list of everything I bought during my trip (all for around $70)
8 souvenir shot glasses
2 shirts
1 dress
2 pairs of shoes
1 compact of eye shadow
1 bra
1 set of maracas
2 hand-fans (think frilly and colorful, not electronic)
1 bottle of LOVE PINK body spray
1 carry-on sized hair-spray
1 skirt
1 bottle of nail polish
1 post card book for my host family
Yeah. Panama is a shopper’s dream. I found a lot of great deals. Some of the stuff was normally priced, but generally things were cheap. I was very, very happy. I didn’t spend over $11 on a single item. It was awesome.
That first night, we were all pretty exhausted from the drive and from shopping all day. We went to a restaurant that was in Old Panama City and that had a view of the Panama City skyline that was beautiful with all of its lights. The easiest way to describe Panama City is by calling it a small version of Miami; in fact, it is called the Miami of Central America. There are a bunch of tall condo buildings everywhere. But, this only makes the poverty in other areas more marked. As we were driving, we could visibly see the extreme differences between the shacks and the big beautiful high rises. The levels of living seem to be more defined there than in Costa Rica. I think I prefer the more balanced and equal look of Costa Rica.
When we finally got back to the hotel, we all went down to the pool and sat around and chatted. We played the name game, which was fun, we all stood up one by one and said our names, major, where we live, which university we went to or go to (2 of the students were from the ULatina San Pedro, and some were alumni of ULatina). It was wonderful to have that opportunity, because otherwise I don’t think I would have learned so many people’s names or had as easy of a time getting to know everyone. I don’t know if they realize how big of a favor that was to me, but I think everyone enjoyed it. My roommates and I decided to go to bed fairly early, around 1 a.m. because the next morning we had to be ready to go by 8:30 a.m., with breakfast before then.
Friday was a full day; we visited the Bridge of the Americas, the Panama Canal, and stopped at a few different sites in order to take pictures. The Canal was really cool, and we got to see a really, really big boat get tugged through. We also went back to Albrook during the afternoon to kill some time before going to the Universidad Latina – Panama for a small lecture and question and answer session with one of the professors of commerce at the university. When we got there, we all were issued International Student passes on a lanyard which made me feel really official, as silly as that sounds. It made me feel important like ID cards on lanyards usually do. Anyway, the professor talked to us about why Panama is such an important center in Latin America for international commerce, mostly because of its use of the American dollar, the Canal, and its bilingual workforce, amongst other reasons. It was pretty interesting, and I understood about 90% of what was said. When he started using some technical terms, I got a bit lost, but I understood the general concept of everything, which is the goal. I can only expect to understand so much when he is talking about Maritime commerce. I wouldn’t understand most of that if he said it in English.
That night, we all decided to go out (apparently, its rude in Latin America to not take advantage of the night life if you are legally able to…a tradition that I can accept) to this street of bars called Panama Canal Village. Basically, you pay a $2 cover charge to get onto the road (it’s closed off) and then you can enter any of the bars there and you only have to pay for drinks. And of course, since I was with Ticos, we danced. All night, from 9 p.m. until 3 a.m., we danced. Some people danced until later. I just couldn’t do it because my feet were killing me. But it was so much fun. It was one of the best nights that I have had in Latin America. Ticos really know how to have a good time.
So, as you can imagine, everyone was pretty tired on Saturday, but we were all up and moving to go to the ExpoComer 2011, which is this big International Business Expo. It was interesting, a lot of countries were represented, including Taiwan, Korea, most of Latin America, the U.S., France, and many, many more. We got a lot of free goodies from all of the companies and wandered for about two hours asking questions to the people at the stands and learning about different products and services. Then, we were informed (at 2 p.m., mind you) that we weren’t leaving until 9 p.m. and that we were going to spend the next 6 hours in Albrook. Again. For the third day in a row. Yeah. We were all tired and just wanted to get on the bus and go home, but apparently the bus driver need to sleep. But I guess it’s better to have a well-rested and alert bus driver, but we were still kind of like, “what?”
So to pass the time, we ate a really slow lunch and then a group of us wen to see the movie “Hall Pass,” which was actually pretty funny. I do like Owen Wilson. I would recommend it if you enjoy Adam Sandler or Will Farrell movies. It’s sort of like that. Or the Hangover, it isn’t as good as the Hangover, but it is still pretty good. After the movie, we only had about 45 minutes until the bus got there so the movie group sat in the food court to eat. They asked me which country I preferred, Panama or Costa Rica, and I told them Costa Rica, of course. Not that Panama really had a chance, mostly because I had only really seen the Canal and Albrook Mall, but also because I love Costa Rica. It’s hard to explain why, but it’s something intangible about it. Even when I am frustrated with “Tico time” and other small things like that, I can’t help but love this small Central American country.
But yeah, then it was finally 9 and we got back on the bus and headed home. I fell asleep almost instantly, and the bus was generally quiet because everyone was so exhausted from the night before. We reached the border around 5 a.m. and had to wait around for it to open so that we could get our bags checked and cross, so we didn’t end up on the road again until around 9:30. But, while we were waiting, we stopped for breakfast and every single person (including myself, surprisingly) ordered Gallo Pinto, the Costa Rican traditional breakfast of eggs, black beans, and rice, which I am almost 100% sure I have mentioned before. Apparently, all of the Ticos were sick of the unhealthy, greasy, heavy Panamanian food, which was basically American food, so I was right at home, but even by the end of the weekend I was feeling the effects. I guess I have been eating like a healthy Costa Rican for too long to truly enjoy mall food for any extended amount of time.
We finally made it back to Heredia, and after a weekend of speaking all Spanish (with a little random English thrown in for good measure since the Ticos liked to practice every once in a while), all I wanted to do was check my email, charge my phone, and relax. But of course, when I got home the electricity was out and I couldn’t do any of those things except relax and unpack. Which was fine. But I really wanted a good shower and had to settle for a quick and cold one, but it got the job done. It’s pretty hard to feel clean after sitting in a bus for 19ish hours.
So yeah, that was my trip to Panama. It was awesome. I’m obsessed with all of the people I went with. Like I said earlier, I am incredibly sad that I have to leave in 3 weeks since I just met all of these awesome new people.
We don’t have too much going on this week because on Friday we leave for Nicaragua. I know, another big trip, which will also be fun. I’m really excited because I think I’m going to get to see my friend Brigid, who is also a Carthage student studying abroad this semester.
Read about Brigid's semester in Nicaragua.
So, next you’ll hear from me, I’ll have another nice long post about my weekend in Nicaragua!
Until then, Pura Vida.
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