Because of yet another miscommunication (I asked if anyone checked into my room and if there was any message for me from Jennifer Steele - both "no's" even though/because she'd already checked into a different room) we didn't find each other for two hours although we were 3 rooms apart. Rough start aside, we decided to walk around the neighborhood and eventually found a wonderful little Mexican restaurant.
Casco Viejo was a very bad part of town but has recently been under renovation in the hopes of increasing tourism. The tourist police are there to make sure us white folk (locals are predominately black and/or hispanic) don't get lost or robbed. Mostly they stand around with their huge guns looking bored until we stopped, stared at my notebook, and talked between ourselves. Then they would come over, all smiles, and inquire about where we wanted to go. They then proceeded to tell us all about the area, their life history, and were genuinely interested in our life history. They really liked to talk and were the friendliest, most helpful people I've ever met. If you ever go to Panama, stop by Casco Viejo and say hi. They'd love it.
We also spent three hours in the Panama Canal museum which was in a huge building and covered everything from the native peoples of Panama to the present day status of the canal. It was very informative.
To complete our day Jenn talked the bus driver of a restoration workers' shuttle into giving us a free ride to Panama Viejo, the original Panama City until it was sacked by pirates in the 1600s. All that remains are stone ruins surrounded by soccer fields and the poor district of the city but it was still beautiful.
For our final night together we went to a restaurant featuring live entertainment in the form of traditional dancing. I saw more white people in that restaurant than I had seen in one place since I left the States. The food was good and the dancing was wonderful. It reminded me of Ballet Folklorico, a Mexican type of dancing I learned, but with slightly different costumes and some variations in the footwork.
The next morning we were due to part ways, me back to college and Jenn back to the Peace Corps in Honduras. I was going to take a hotel shuttle to the airport but there was yet another misunderstanding and 20 minutes later I hailed a taxi instead. I missed the check-in time for my flight by 15 minutes. Long story short I spent an extra day in Panama City but eventually got back to California. I've definitely learned a lot about traveling in foreign countries.
Two days after I returned spring semester classes began and I gradually melded back into my previous life but I will never forget Panama or my experiences there.
The canal was impressive and we got to watch two ships pass through. It was amazing to see the water level in the locks rise so quickly and lift the gargantuan ships to the level of the next lake. There was also an interesting museum covering the history of the canal, what makes it tick, and even a bit about the native flora and fauna.
When we got back to the hotel we rested a bit and then took a taxi to the north end of the city to see the Parque Metropolitano (City Park). We followed a trail through the rainforest that first passed through the potted forest (hundreds of trees in pots, presumably soon to be planted), bordered a pond filled with turtles, and then entered true rainforest where the path inclined steeply up a hill.
We passed numerous lines of leaf cutter ants carrying their dime-sized burdens away from trees that looked like someone had taken a hole-puncher to its leaves. When we reached the top of the hill we were able to see the entire city spread below us. It was beautiful. On our walk back down we heard monkeys (unfortunately didn't see them) and saw two agoutis. Agoutis look like a cross between a gerbil and a rabbit. I was thrilled to see them outside of a zoo.
Dinner this night was at a Middle-Eastern "fusion" cafe where we had a hard time reading the menu because it was the Spanish version of Arabic words. Jenn was a great help in figuring out what everything was and we had a lovely meal.