Goodbye Panama

It's time to move on to my next destination, Colombia. These two weeks seem to have gone by so fast I can not believe it. It feels like I have been in Panama for such a long time but that could be because I have been busy with different activities and have developed a routine that has given my days some structure.

Today was my last day in class and I felt a little sad because I will miss some of the teachers that I had bonded with and I will miss seeing the friendly familiar faces at school. One thing I will not miss though is having 4 hours of Spanish every morning, that was brutal! never again.

I will miss this pretty path that was really cool to walk along. It's a long pathway and in the evening there would be lot's of people walking, running or biking along it, it was very lively.

I will miss the park near where I live. In the evening and at night the park would come alive with a flurry of activities. It felt good to walk through it in the evening without the brutal heat from the sun. During the day the park was never as busy.

Part of the Panama Canal. It was interesting learning the history of the canal and seeing this great feat of human engineering. I know the picture doesn't look impressive, it only captures a small part of the canal.

I will miss the colorful artifact markets that were always so bright and vibrant. I loved some of the work by the indigenous Panamanians.

Interesting how one minute you can be at a site of historic ruins that date back hundreds of years then the next be in a concrete jungle full of skyscrapers.

I will miss coming to my room every Mon, Wed and Fri after class to find it cleaned up and neat thanks to the cleaning lady at the guest house.

This bread is to die for! I love it. It's wheat bread with raisins and has a sweet taste, this was my breakfast everyday and sometimes also my evening snack. I got hooked to it.

I have said my goodbyes and taken a final walk around my neighborhood. I am now packing in preparation for my trip tomorrow although right now as I write this I am actually taking a break, seriously I hate packing but I am listening to some good Bachata to calm my nerves.

Speaking of Bachata, I will miss my Dominican buddies. Every evening I would pass by their work place and hang out. Thanks to them I got to check out places I never would have known off, I got to really appreciate Bachata and sample some Dominican food (they invited me for lunch at their aunt's place this past weekend).

This song will always remind me of them and Panama.........good memories.

That's it folks! time for another adventure in a different place.........follow me:)

Random Thoughts of The Day:

I have come to realize that I hate goodbyes. The thought of possibly never seeing something or someone familiar is a bit depressing.

I better have lost some weight with all the running around I have been doing plus the healthy diet I have been observing for the most part. Actually yesterday I tried on one of my favorite pants and it fit very well, better than before when I had to squeeze into it. Yay!

I love the abundance of fresh fruits in this city. Everyday I make sure to eat fruits and I have so far settled on mangoes and papayas for additional fibre.

For the most part people here appear to be friendly but the language barrier kind of puts a damper on things. In a few months I hope I will be able to look back at the language barrier now and laugh.

I love people watching here especially observing men's reaction to a beautiful woman passing by. Some almost break their necks in the process of checking out the woman and they don't even hide it. I am talking a 180 degree turn in a bid to get a second glance at the woman.

It's funny how some men express their admiration on the streets. You can pass by a group of men or have a guy pass you on the street and say: Aii! amor, corazon, linda, hermosa. I just smile and move on, it does sound kind of cute though don't you think?

A Funny Thing Called Friendship

I met Jeannie on my first night in Panama. The lady who works at the guest house that I am staying at was showing me around and took me upstairs to where the shared kitchen and social area were. Seated on the couch was Jeannie using her laptop.

Jeannie got up and introduced herself then asked if I would be interested in joining her for a tour of the city the following day. That first night was hard for me and I was in a horrible mood. I was missing all that was familiar to me, the weather was hot and humid, my room was tiny and stuffy and on top of that everything that could have gone wrong during my trip went wrong.

My flight from Minneapolis got delayed and once I got to DC for a connecting flight I realized I had arrived at a different airport than the one I was supposed to depart from. It was a mistake I had made during booking, I wasn't paying attention to the airport details. Anyway, I managed to get a taxi to the right airport which was about 45 minutes away. Thankfully I got there on time but $80 poorer.

At the airport in Panama I encountered a very rude fellow passenger who used some offensive racial reference toward me. I don't like to remember the encounter because it makes me very mad. As if things couldn't get any worse It took me a while before locating the driver from the school. A good samaritan at the airport offered me her phone so I was able to call the driver and meet up with him.

When I met Jeannie that first night, her friendly demeanor helped put me at ease even though I was still feeling moody and out of it. I just wanted to go back home.

Jeannie and I became fast friends. We toured the city together, went for lunches together, met up frequently after class, she was my photographer and humored me in whatever craziness I threw her way. Unknowingly Jeannie had played a part in enabling Panama to grow on me.

This post is dedicated to Jeannie. I am glad I met you and I am grateful for your kindness. The funny thing about friendship is that it's the unexpected people who end up surprising you.

PS: This is the message I got from my mum on my birthday and I thought how appropriate for this post. "Age is just a number, it is the wisdom that comes with every year that counts. That wisdom shows in the way you deal with people of all walks of life...the old, the young, the rich, the poor, the disabled and people of all races. When you have mastered all these traits then you are wise..."

We decided to swap hats for this photo.

A Year Older In Panama

Today is my birthday and I am glad that I was able to maintain my personal tradition. I have to say that I had a pretty good day, Jeannie my friend surprised me with lunch at this really good Panamanian restaurant that we frequent then later on treated me to some really good ice cream. I thought it was really sweet of her to do that and I did not expect it at all. We spent the day together in Casco Antiguo, the historic district of Panama and had a really good time despite the brutal heat (my poor skin).

March 2014 - 34th birthday in Panama

These are some of the pictures I took during the day at Casco Antiguo.

I came to the realization that I already got the best birthday gift I could ever ask for, the fact that I chose to leave everything behind and take a leap of faith in doing what I have always wanted to do, that in itself is the best gift I could ever have asked for. I am grateful that my dreams have come true and that I did this for myself. I am very content.

I am in love with life:)

Random Thought of The Day:

I am beginning to notice a certain dress code in women around Panama City, tight pants that leave nothing to the imagination and small tops with push up bras. Actually some of these push ups are extreme that I often wonder how the women breath, it just looks so uncomfortable.

Speaking of dress codes, women here seem to love showing off their curves and I can not even count the number of shapely behinds and voluptuous tops that I have seen being proudly displayed. Even I have taken double takes on more than one occasion. Did I ever mention how the mannequins on display at shops even have certain body parts enhanced?

I find it so cute when my Spanish teacher calls me Amor or Cariño in class then gives me a hug at the end of class for a job well done. How cute!

Drivers in Panama City are very aggressive and scary. Whenever I seat in the front when taking a taxi I am always holding my breath because of how close I think we are to an accident. They seem so unfazed and some even laugh at my nerves. Today I actually got so scared that I grabbed the arm of a taxi driver, he just laughed it off.

It's funny and kind of weird watching some American shows that have been translated to Spanish on
TV especially cartoons. Imagine Butt or Homer Simpson speaking Spanish.

Pollera Conga Festival

Today I attended the Pollera Conga Festival in Portobelo, the festival celebrates the culture of Afro Panamanians. It was amazing with all the colors, drums, music and people of course..........I will not even try to describe it; instead, I will let some of the pictures I took do the work. Enjoy!

Waiting for the water parade to start.

The little girl below was too cute in her beautiful clothes and was dancing the traditional Conga dance as spectators cheered her on.

The women wore bright clothes as you see below and the men wore clown like costumes and had their faces painted black.

Dancers at the festival assembling for a group shot.

The boat procession was about to start with dancers about to get on the boats.

The street parade followed the boat parade.

This is the stage where the dancers ended up after the street procession for the grand finale.

Salsa And Stuff

Last evening I decided to attend one of the cultural activities being offered by the school so I headed to a salsa class.

I was all excited about dancing and I was enjoying the music as I checked out the steps that the students were learning. The steps were pretty basic so I was waiting for when the class would be broken up into different levels of advancement and I would head to the advanced section. As the class got broken up, the instructor shifted his attention to me and started heading toward me looking all serious and a bit intimidating.

He pulled me aside to test my dancing skills and to cut a long story short, he only teaches LA style of dancing and dismissed my style of dancing entirely. C'mon, as a salsa teacher aren't you supposed to know the different styles of salsa and not dismiss one style just because you don't dance or teach it? what makes LA style of salsa the ultimate judge of whether you know how to dance salsa or not? I don't get it.

Last picture before sneaking out of the class.

I just ended up leaving the place after like ten minutes. On my way to the guest house I passed by this bar & restaurant that I hardly ever notice and this guy who works there started chatting me up. Before I knew it I was being invited to go salsa dancing with his friends after work. 

We ended up at this "hole in the wall" type of club that had the best salsa music ever. It was so much fun and to make matters better they all thought i was a pretty good dancer. Ego restored! hehehehe actually at first I was hesitant to go on the dance floor but once we started dancing I realized that they danced the same style I did. They are Dominicans and they were telling me that their style is different from what they have seen in Panama. 

Very cool and friendly people not to mention good dance partners.

We danced and listened to music until 3 am then everyone headed to their respective homes. The club is within walking distance to my place so It was very convenient. We are going out again tonight so I am excited, I love it when I end up making friends with people that live locally because then I get to discover places that tourists would normally not know about. 

Here is to new Dominican-Panamanian friends:)

Random Thoughts of The Day:

I got to practice my Spanish with the Dominicans I met last night and I am proud to say that i could understand quite a bit of what they were saying if they spoke slowly in Spanish. The conversation part on my end is a big challenge but the best way to improve is to practice without feeling self conscious.

I find that I am less intimidated to go to a store to buy something if there are less customers around because then i don't feel this intense pressure to express my self fast and not hold any line up.

Sometimes you have to stop listening to outside voices trying to dismiss your travel style or choices. I don't know why some people think that just because you chose not to rough it on your travels then that means you haven't earned some badge of honor or something. It is not a competition so no thank you, I will not rough it if I don't want to. Thank you very much.

I really don't understand why some people insist on talking to me about: genocide, poverty, dictatorship and war when I tell them that my nationality is Kenyan. Yes I grew up in Kenya, East Africa and no I did not experience all those negatives things you have watched on TV about Africa. I had a normal childhood, sorry to disappoint you. 

My face appears to be breaking out because of the heat and I think i am getting heat rash or something, my poor skin. Speaking of skin and heat, while i am sweating like a pig outside and constantly trying to control my shiny face, Panamanians are walking around looking so fresh and don't seem to even break a sweat. 

I love talking to taxi drivers. I always sit in the front with them and strike a conversation showing my interest in knowing about their work and what they think of the city they work in. I usually end up getting very good tips and some will even extend their generosity by showing me around the city and pointing out what I should watch out for and which places to check out. I have learnt a lot from those taxi drivers. 

Forming A Routine

I have noticed that I have been slowly forming a routine that gives my day some sort of structure and  gives me something to look forward to.

In the morning I wake up an hour and a half before class and after breakfast I rush through my homework before heading out to school. The walk to school is less than 10 minutes so that's convenient for me.

School ends at 12:30 pm and I usually get lunch soon after before heading to my room to drop off my school stuff. I don't like staying in my room after school because the heat can tempt you into taking a siesta and I feel like since I have limited time in Panama, I have to be on the go to maximize my time here so no siesta for me. Sleeping during the day messes up my sleep at night anyway.

Everyday since getting here I have had activities that have kept me busy and I like it that way.

Yesterday I went to check out Amber's apartment as she invited me to go hang out. Her apartment is really pretty and not too far from where she lives, there is a nice path for: walking, jogging and biking. Every evening the parks and walking paths are usually full of adults working out and kids playing. The heat is usually bearable in the evening so it does feel good to be outside.

Today after school I went to Albrook mall which is the biggest mall in central America and walked around window shopping, I love shopping so I was curious to see what Albrook mall had to offer. Thank God I was able to control my shopping impulse even though I saw so many things that i liked.

Later on I went to check out the highly recommended Parque Omar (Park Omar) for some recreational activities. The park is pretty and ideal for walking, running and working out with machines. There is actually a small gym within the park where you can work out with weights and they have these fun and cool aerobic type equipments out in the open for the public to freely use.  Came across some cool art work too.

I headed home after walking around the Park and by the time I got to my room i was all sweaty, sticky, hungry and ready for a good long shower. Speaking of rooms, the director of the school I attend managed to get me a bigger room which is way better than the original room I had been given. Ladies and gentlemen, I present............my room. Simple, clean, full of natural light and comfortable.

That's it folks, I better do some homework before I head to bed because i have a lot and I haven't even looked at it since I got out of class.

Random Thoughts of The Day:

I get the impression that Panama City is full of young new money and this young new money is more than ready and willing to spend big.

I really need to be practicing my Spanish but it's a bit hard because after school I hang out with English speaking folks so that doesn't help me much. Usually it's other students from the school. I try to practice more with taxi drivers and some are actually very friendly and patient enough to humor me.

In Colombia I will get better opportunity to practice since I will not be surrounded by English speaking folks.

Many taxi drivers here will give you their name and phone number after they drop you off so that you can use their services again. I think that's nice because if you get a good driver you can always reach out to them for rides and avoid some of the hustle of dealing with some sketchy drivers who try to over charge you once they realize you are not Panamanian.

I had an unexpected personal conversation with one of my teachers in class and I have to say, never judge a book by it's cover. She told me some things about her life and I shared mine and at the end of the conversation I saw her with a different set of eyes........I am glad we had that conversation.

Panama is slowly growing on me.