Ahh, yes. The end is near. Allow me to reflect (some more).
To Take Away
There were three things I wanted to get out of this experience. First and foremost, I wanted to improve my Spanish. I had taken 6 years of Spanish in school, and I could hardly speak the language. That was a waste, and I wanted to change that situation. Second, I wanted to experience a different culture. And third, I was hoping that having to do everything in a different language and a different environment would force me to be more outgoing.
The reality of what I will take away is very different from what I had imagined. Yes, my Spanish is better (but I'm still not fluent by any stretch of the imagination, so don't get your hopes up) and I have experienced another culture. (I'm not any more outgoing. I should just give up on that.) But more importantly, I have a totally new level of respect for foreigners, and I have a much deeper appreciation for what I have in my life.
To Sum Up
If I had to sum up this trip in one sentence (Me? Sum up? In one sentence? Yes, this is rare indeed) I would say this: You don't know what you've got 'till you don't got it anymore.
There you go. That is the most important thing I have learned from this experience. Admittedly, it will be hard to apply that in the future because I won't appreciate many of the things I have (unless, by chance, I happen to not have them anymore) , but I hope I can take the time to think about all the great things I've got and truly appreciate them for what they are.
It's weird, but I feel like I've finally gotten used to being here, just in the last month or so. I am still excited to be reunited with home, but it will be weird (but also wonderful) to order food in English and drive my car and do whatever I want whenever I want. It's weird to think that home will be weird to me. That's a lot of weird, I guess, but whatever.
To head off some questions
Since I know it is inevitable that someone will ask, I'll just go ahead and respond...
So, how was your trip?
Err.... how was the last 5 months of your life? Good? No way! My trip was good too.
Say something in Spanish!
Algo.
What have you learned?
See above.
What was your favorite part of the trip?
I dislike this question. How about you go through my blog, pick whichever post YOU like best, and pretend that I told you that that was my favorite part of the trip.
Do you have any regrets?
Regretfully, yes. I wish I had spoken Spanish more often with my grupo buddies. I would be a lot better now if I had. I wish I had chosen different classes -- ones NOT all in the School of Geography. I wish I had gotten to see more of Costa Rica and go back to Arenal Volcano. I wish that I had gotten to go to Nicaragua (for real, not just on the plane). Also, the Panama Canal was cool, but honestly, we have cities in the U.S. I think I would have been better off spending my time enjoying whatever I could of the natural paradise, because we are short on that back in my neck of the woods.
What will you miss the most?
My grupo buddies, for sure.
What WON'T you miss?
Um... let's see here. Waiting for the bus. Finding (and paying for) taxis. Rain. Being served food. Really super noisy trucks/vehicles. The Huevos Man.
Is that really all I can think of? That all boils down to transportation, food, and noise. That's not much at all.
To say...
This is probably going to be my last entry. I suppose I might make a post when I get back about how readjustment is going and to complain about how cold I am, but we'll see. So anyway, here's where I say "Peace out, Costa Rica. Peace out."
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Adventures in Panama
I will say right now that this will probably be long. Sorry 'bout that, although it isn't easy to sum up 5 jam-packed days of Panamanian adventures in a small amount of space (especially not for me).
So, I shall start from the beginning, because this will become important later. The beginning is, of course, buying our tickets for this adventure back in November. Me and the other girl I was traveling with both bought our tickets online, at the same time. We used two different computers on two different connections, although we were talking to each other on Skype to make sure we had the same flights and stuff. We clicked on the 7am flight going there, and the 11am flight coming back. Both of these flights were $34. When we went to check out, the total said $68 for the flight, and $123 or something for the taxes. The total was $191. That was lame of them, but we bought the tickets anyway. We both remember seeing another page that showed different totals ... I remember mine being $90 something for the flight, and then something different for taxes -- but the total was still $191, so I didn't really care. They sent us a confirmation e-mail, but neither of us checked these e-mails because we didn't think we had to. (We won't be making that mistake again.)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4
On the day we left, I woke up at 3:50 am. This was to meet the taxi at 4, pick up the other girl, and get ourselves to the airport by 5-ish (the flight left at 6:55 am). We enjoyed a relatively uneventful flight. Copa even gave us food, although (naturally) it had pig in it that was not pick-off-able. (Jerks.) We landed in Panama City, got off the plane, and looked at each other ... Now what? We didn't have any real plan, other than to take the bus. But of course, we had no idea how the Panamanian bus system worked, where to catch it, or anything like that. So we asked about 10 people, and eventually walked to the correct bus stop. The guy we were talking to at the bus stop said we wanted the Corredor bus -- it costs more, but is faster. The other buses work too, but they take longer. We waited and waited and waited for a Corredor bus, but it never came. Finally we got tired of waiting in the heat (it is HOT in Panama. Think like, end of June in Kansas) and just took one of the regular buses. The guidebook wasn't kidding about the 2 hours part. That bus "ride" was best defined as sitting in traffic, periodically interspersed with small amounts of movement.
Just as we didn't know where to catch the bus, we also had no idea where to get off. Each of the 5 or so people we asked on the bus gave us a different answer. This is just the first of many examples of what I have decided to call the "Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome." We have come to the conclusion that a lot of people don't actually know the answer to what you're asking, so they just tell you whatever they THINK the answer is, which is often wrong and always conflicts with the answers other people have invented. Okay, so anyway, someone who seemed to know what they were talking about told us to get off in the middle of this random street downtown. We had absolutely no idea where we were, or where the mysterious "Plaza Cinco de Mayo" was that we were supposed to be finding. The plan was to take a taxi, because surely the taxi would know where our hostel was. Only thing was, we couldn't get a taxi to stop for us. At least 20 perfectly good, empty taxis refused to stop for us. They would just look at us, shake their heads, and keep driving. After about 10 minutes, we FINALLY got a taxi to stop for us. The other girl was trying to negotiate the price, and I was like, "I DON'T CARE! GET IN! HE STOPPED!" (This is another theory of mine... they don't stop, so finally when someone does, you're so glad they stopped that you'll pay any price).
It was a good thing that the taxis in Panama use a flat rate system in this case, because the guy obviously did not know where our hostel was. This was new to us. In Costa Rica, the taxi drivers always know what you're talking about and can take you somewhere with very little direction-giving on your part. Or, if they don't know where you're going, they say they don't know. But so this guy drove around Casco Viejo (the neighborhood where we stayed) for a good 10 minutes. When he got us to the STREET the hostel was on, he was like, "Okay, you're here." Jerk. So we paid him and had to walk to our hostel from there, although it wasn't that far. We didn't get in until almost 1 (the flight landed at 9 something), and we were too exhausted to do anything else that day except walk up the street a little bit and check out the grocery store/buy pizza for dinner. (The pizza and a drink was like, $3. Food is cheap in Panama.)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5
We started the day off with a hearty breakfast of pancakes, provided by our hostel. (They have a make-your-own pancakes thing for breakfast every day, for free.) After that, we walked outside and spent another 10 minutes trying to flag down a taxi to take us to the Parque Metropolitana. This is a park just north (?) of the city, and it's like a nature reserve. The guidebook made it sound really cool, but they didn't mention the hiking part. (Remember that my definition of "hiking" is somewhat different from most people's). It didn't help that the park ranger led us to the more difficult of the two first trails, and then we wanted to see the viewing area, which involved taking a more difficult trail up, and a more difficult trail down (the reason it's a viewpoint is because it's at the top of a small mountain/really big hill). We took many "nature breaks" (sitting and resting so that we could ... "enjoy nature"). The views from the top were pretty neat, although the whole thing wasn't quite as cool as I'd thought. It also didn't help that it was 900 degrees and 500% humidity. The trees cooled it off to about 800 degrees, but we were still sweaty and gross.
After that, we went to Mi Pueblito. The guidebook says this has an artisan market and life-size replicas of different kinds of historical villages or something. It's supposed to be touristy, but still worth seeing. Of course, when we told the guy at the end of the trail (he was helping get us a taxi) that we wanted to go there, he didn't really know where that was, and we had to explain very carefully to avoid another instance Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome. Once we got there, we wandered over to the artisan market area. This was pretty weak. Maybe there was more that we didn't see, but basically it was a handful of small, totally overpriced shops selling stuff. There was also a restaurant selling food, although $8-10 a plate was way too rich for our meager budget (this ends up being ironic). We walked through one of the villages, although it wasn't very interesting. After that, we decided to go to the mall to enjoy some air conditioning and get lunch.
Albrook Mall (I'm pretty sure "Albrook" was one of the U.S. neighborhoods in the Panama Canal Zone ... so no, "Albrook" is not a Spanish word) is HUGE, and it also happens to be connected to the Albrook bus terminal. This is the terminal where all the buses end up eventually. The terminal and the mall are both brand spanking new, and a good chunk of the mall isn't finished/doesn't have stores in it yet. However, there are still plenty of shopping choices to satiate any retail therapy needs. The first thing we did was find the food court (which was hard, since they didn't have mall directories anywhere) and get lunch. We ended up getting mediocre mall chinese food (mall chinese food is always mediocre, and I don't know why I am incapable of remembering that). Mine was $6 and the other girl's was $9. (Ironic how we didn't want to eat at the other place because it was "too expensive" eh?) After that, we got our shopping on -- I wasn't expecting to find cheap stuff in such a new mall, but we actually found some good deals. The best was in a store called "El Costo." You know when you go to, say, JCPenney's or Kohls, and they're having a huge clearance sale? And then you have a coupon on top of that? Plus everything is marked down an additional 20%? And you walk out of the store feeling like you stole that shirt for $3? This is what El Costo is like -- except you don't need coupons or clearance sales. I found a bunch more earrings (which I DID not need... I've been earring deprived my whole life, and now that I've figured out I can wear them, I've turned into an earring fiend) for like, $0.79 each pair, plus a few other random little things. This trip was the first of 3 El Costo runs we had while in Panama. When we finally finished our mall run, we were, once again, exhausted, and we returned to our hostel. There was probably additional taxi/bus drama, but I don't remember exactly what happened.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6
PANAMA CANAL, BABY! This was what I had REALLY wanted to see in Panama, so I was super excited. We managed to find the correct bus to take us there, and the bus driver actually told us where to get off (in the right spot, even!) We met two other girls studying in Costa Rica and vacationing in Panama while we were walking from the bus stop to the canal, and we ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the day and on Sunday. Anyway, the specific viewing spot we went to was the Miraflores Locks. They have a huge visitors center set up there, with two viewing decks, and, if you pay for it, exhibits and a film. We got there just in time to watch a ship go though, which was really cool. The film was kind of weak (it could have explained a lot more of the history and stuff), but sitting in cushy chairs in an air-conditioned auditorium made it okay. When we finished at the canal, we went back to the terminal and ate at Niko's Cafe. The setup was confusing for us (it was a giant, multi-part lunch counter) and we didn't really know how much anything cost. My food ended up being about $5, which wasn't too bad.
After lunch, we decided to go to Panama Viejo (not to be confused with Casco Viej0). Panama Viejo is the ruins of the old Panama City -- it was sacked by, if I'm remembering correctly, the pirate Captain Morgan way back when. Naturally, we got on a bus and didn't know when to get off. I saw the ruins as we were driving by them, but I figured the bus driver would stop if that was actually where we were supposed to get off. He didn't, so I didn't say anything. We ended up in the Balboa neighborhood, and we had to take a bus back to the ruins once we figured it all out. This was really cool too, although my camera ran out of batteries and I was exhausted, so I didn't look around as much as I probably should have. There was also another (overpriced) artisan market where I didn't buy anything. We took a bus back to Plaza Cinco de Mayo, which is within walking distance of our hostel. I'm pretty sure that that night I went down to the fish market and got some fish, which I went back to the hostel and cooked. It was pretty good, although it could have used more salt/seasoning (it didn't help that, due to the humidity, all the salt in the hostel was in clod formation). I suppose I should also mention now that our hostel had a big home-made theater, and we watched movies pretty much every night. We had gotten popcorn and candy (snickers and almond Hershey's kisses) at the grocery store, although they didn't have a microwave for the popcorn, so we made a rather unsuccessful attempt to pop it on the stove.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7
We woke up late and took our time eating and getting ready, which meant that we were rushing to get to the ferry to Isla Taboga. Our taxi driver had to ask another taxi driver for directions to the ferry (this was not the first or only time this happened), but he made up for it by speeding like a maniac to get down there. We arrived at 10:29, and the ferry supposedly left at 10:30. It actually ended up leaving around 10:40, but we still just made it. We saw all kinds of ships on the way to the island, and the beach/ocean there was fantastic. It was so hot, but the water was clear and refreshingly cold. I had my snorkeling gear, and I saw some neat fish. We met up with the girls from Saturday there, and we all four ended up talking to an American couple who had a house on the island. Turns out that the oldest church in the western hemisphere is located on this island. We wanted to go see it, but we ended up talking for too long, and we forgot/ran out of time. We ate at a restaurant just off the beach -- I got a fried fish (like, a WHOLE fried fish) and fries for like, $5.
Since the ferry left from the Causeway (a long strip of road that leads out into the ocean, more or less), we decided to do the "rent bikes on the Causeway" thing afterwards. We got bikes for $2/hr, and we pedaled almost all the way down (I think the mouth of the canal was at the very end) and back. My two cents on biking: 1) That seat really made my butt hurt. 2) What? No throttle? Psh. Lame. Still though, it was fun.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8
The day the Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome struck the hardest, with devastating consequences. We had heard about a beach on the Pacific coast called Playa Santa Clara (playa = beach). We had looked up all the necessary bus/transport stuff at the hostel, but of course, it couldn't be that easy. Our directions said to take this one bus, which you can catch at the Plaza Cinco de Mayo. We got to the Plaza and asked around if that bus would come by. We were told it went by the other corner. So we went to the other corner and asked again. They asked where we were going, and when we told them, they said we had to take a bus to the terminal, then take the Ancon bus from there. That wasn't what our directions had said, but we just went along with what they said. (We figured maybe the directions were from before the terminal existed or something).
When we got to the terminal, we asked one person where the Ancon buses were. He pointed down the central area. We walked that way for a while without seeing it. So we asked someone else. They pointed further down the way we were going. We kept walking. When we got to the end, we still didn't see it. We asked another person, and they pointed around the corner. As we were going through the turnstile (you have to pay 5 cents to get into most of the areas where the buses leave), we asked the woman there if the Ancon buses to Santa Clara left from this area. She said yes, and the sign confirmed this, so we figured we were okay. But then we couldn't find the bus. We asked one guy, and he pointed us to the right. We walked that way, didn't see it, and asked someone else. That guy said we had to go around this gate thing. We did that, but it didn't look right, so we asked another person. That guy sent us back the way we came, but we still didn't see the bus. Finally we asked a woman at the ticket counter, and she pointed to a yellow bus with "Santa Clara" written on it. Since it had "Santa Clara" written on it, we figured we were okay. We got seats on the bus (thankfully), although we waited probably about 20 minutes before it left (keep in mind that it was, as always, wicked hot on that bus).
As we're on the bus, it keeps stopping to pick up people. After a while, it gets full ("full" is a relative term). But then, another mile down the road, it stops again, and there are at least another 15-20 people who want on. I was looking at them like, "Sorry, looks like you're out of luck." Except they weren't. They all squeezed on that bus. There were probably about 8 people standing on the stairs/right next to the driver, and there were two guys who each had about one foot on the first stair and were hanging on to the outside of the bus. It was INSANE. Eventually most of them got off, which improved the air circulation situation on the bus. After about an hour on the bus (the trip to the beach was supposed to take 1.5 to 2 hours), the bus driver told us to get off at the next stop for the beach. We got off, and it kind of looked like what was described to us ... I mean, get off, and there's a road, and you go down that road to get to the beach. We asked a girl sitting at the bus stop where the beach was. She gave us a really weird look and was like, "There's no beach here." We asked, "We're in Santa Clara, right?" and she said yes, but that there wasn't a beach there. There was a river, but no beach.
Let me interrupt the story here to say WHAT?!! We most definitely told everyone we asked for directions that we wanted to go to PLAYA Santa Clara. The other girl could pass for a Panamanian, but I look totally gringa. WHY would a gringa want to go to a small mountainside town to swim in the local river? This means that the 3 people we originally asked for bus directions, the 5 or 6 people at the terminal, plus the bus driver all told us the wrong thing. I repeat, WHAT?!! I don't know how you could misunderstand "playa" or the fact that there would be no reason for me to go to some random river, yet somehow, all those people told us the wrong thing. I boil this down (perhaps somewhat unfairly) to Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome.
To resume the story: Since we were already there, we figured we might as well check out this river. We walked to a little store and got directions. There was a local kid there, and he lived near the river, so he showed us the way. Turns out the river is at the bottom of this gigantic hill. We walked down that and got to the river/swimming hole. There was a little waterfall, and a pool at the base of it where two guys were swimming. It looked relatively clean, but I wasn't getting in. I just wanted to go back to the hostel and take a long cold shower, but the other girl wanted to stay a while. She swam for a bit, I dunked my head in the water, and then we left. Climbing back up that hill was horrible, and it didn't help that the two guys there left right after we did, caught up to us on the hill, and then spent the rest of the walk back murmuring piropos at us in a continuous stream while trying to take photos of us with a cell phone. (I did mention that men in Panama are out of control with the piropos).
We got back, I took a long cold shower, at pizza for dinner, and we watched movies that night. I was sad that we'd already eaten all the candy.
I was downstairs reading later, and the other girl I was with was on the computer. At some point, she came down and said, "Um, I just checked the "print your boarding pass" e-mail, and it says our flight is at 8am, not 11." I went upstairs to the computer she was using, and sure enough, it said 8. Then we checked the original confirmation e-mail, and it said 20:38. Turns out we'd read the am wrong ... according to the e-mail, our flight actually left at 8:38 pm. Naturally, we were both confused and kind of angry. We picked the 11am flights so we wouldn't have to take a $30 taxi from the airport to San Jose, but that wasn't an option if the flight didn't get back till almost 9. (There's a time change between Panama and Costa Rica). The other girl tried to call the airline, but nobody answered their "24 hour" hotline. I used their complaint form to let them know what was up. We went to bed not knowing what was going on, although we planned to wake up early so we could call first thing in the morning.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9
In the morning, the other girl finally got ahold of the airline. They told us that we had booked the 8pm flight, and they didn't want to listen to what we were saying about how we had clicked on the 11am flight. The also answered my e-mail and told me pretty much the same thing. They also wouldn't pay our taxi in San Jose, nor refund the difference in money between the flights (the other girl is convinced that the 8pm flight was $124 instead of $34, and we got charged the $124... which is possible/likely, I suppose, but that's not how I remember the breakdown of charges).
This meant that we had all day to hang around or come up with something to do. We goofed off on the hostel's computers for most of the morning. After that, we went around to take pictures of Casco Viejo, which is actually a really neat neighborhood. A little before noon, we left the hostel for the mall, which I was quite happy about. The mall has AC. We dropped off our bags at the paqueteria (they make you leave all your bags when you go into stores, and they staple your bags of bought stuff shut when you check out ... they're really paranoid about theft, I guess) and hung out/shopped. We went on our 3rd run to El Costo (#2 happened one of the other days at the El Costo location near Plaza Cinco de Mayo), and I got a watch for $4. So long as you don't look at it closely, it looks really fancy and nice.
Around 5pm, we headed through the terminal to find the Corredor bus to the airport. The line was long, but thankfully the buses came quickly, and we got on one by 5:20. It probably took about an hour to get to the airport because of all the traffic, but the lines in the airport weren't too bad either. When we got to the counter, the other girl I was with began to explain the whole fiasco with the tickets. She wanted them to pay the taxi and the difference between the prices, but they kept telling us no, that we had booked the 8pm flight and there wasn't anything they could do. Of course, all of this took 3 times longer than it needed to because we were talking in Spanish, and there was a lot of misunderstanding (or presumed misunderstanding) going on. The airline's version of the story is that we clicked on the 11am flight, got a warning message that the 11am flight was full (although we know that full flights don't show up on their website), and that it told us we'd be on the 8pm flight, and we continued from there. How BOTH of us missed this warning message is beyond me. We still think that it never gave us the warning message, but whatever. The airline refused to do anything about it, so we gave up and went to go wait for our plane.
We were supposed to start boarding at 7:38, but we didn't start until like, 8:10. I was supposed meet one of my other grupo buddies that night to see her for the last time, but I wasn't going to be able to do that if the plane was late. Thankfully, they got everyone boarded, and we left not too late, like 8:45 or something. However, once we got to San Jose, we couldn't land. The plane would start descending, and then speed up and ascend rapidly. We did that about three or four times before they told us that we couldn't land due to "bad conditions" (I think it was fog/clouds) and that we'd either be going back to Panama City or to Manauga (capital of Nicaragua). About 5 minutes later, they decided on Managua. Me and the other girl were pretty ticked off at this point, because we weren't even supposed to be on this flight anyway, and now it was all messed up. But then we started to think about opportunities ... like perhaps getting Nicaragua passport stamps, and visiting the city (or at least stepping outside the airport and then running back inside ... Managua is kind of sketch). But alas, it was not meant to be. We landed in Nicaragua, and they told us to stay seated while they refueled the plane. That took about 40 minutes, and then they said they were going to try San Jose again because conditions were better, and if that failed, we'd go back to Panama City. So I've been in Nicaraguan territory, but I don't really think I can say I've been to Nicaragua since I wasn't even allowed off the plane.
This time we managed to land in San Jose, but it was after 11 at night. At least the line at customs wasn't very long. As an added bonus, the other girl went and talked with someone from the airline, and since we'd been delayed and gotten back so late, they agreed to pay for a taxi for us. Score! I was going to write them a really long nasty letter, but since they paid for the taxi (which is what I really wanted anyway), I'm not going to. Or well, if I do, it will be to chastise them for the lack of vegetarian/pig-free food on their flights (the flight back we had pepperoni pizza, although at least that was pick-off-able).
I didn't get back to my host family's house until 1 in the morning, which meant that I didn't get to see my grupo buddy that night. I was really sad, but thankfully she stopped by in the morning, so I got to talk to her for a little bit before she had to leave. She also brought me a hammock from Nicaragua (she'd been in Nicaragua while I was in Panama, and I gave her money to get me a hammock since they're so cheap there). Note to parental units: This hammock will be hung in one of my two rooms, so I suggest you work on figuring out a way to do that before I come back.
REFLECTIONS ON PANAMA
It's amazing how different two countries can be when they're so close together (and so small) and they use the same languange. Sure, there are similarities -- Costa Ricans have been known to suffer from Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome at times, although the Panamanians win that contest hands down, and the Costa Ricans also do the "leave your bags at the door and let us staple the bag with your purchases shut which will render the bag useless for future reuse because you will invariably rip it when you open it" thing, but there are so many differences too. The Panamanians have a slightly different accent (they don't pronounce their the letter "s" and they don't do the ll=j thing) and their country, their climate, their buses, their taxis, their streets, their buildings, their food .... it's all definitely not the same as in Costa Rica. Even though Panama City is a much prettier place, I prefer Costa Rica/San Jose. Some of that likely boils down to familarity and climate preferences, but I just think Costa Rica is better.
It was weird how by the end of Panama, I was ready to go home... to my Costa Rican home. I never thought I'd feel that way or call where I live in Costa Rica "home," but I guess I've finally gotten used to being here (plus compared to Panama, Costa Rica is much more like home). I mean, it's not HOME home, but it's a home, and that's something. The Panamanian buses and taxis also made me appreciate the Costa Rican buses and taxis, which I've never particularly liked before now. (Once again, you never appreciate what you've got until you don't got it anymore).
Going to Panama made me realize exactly how much help we had and how sheltered we were in the Grupo program. We got picked up at the airport by our wonderful English-speaking program coordinators, our host families took us home and showed us the buses, and we had each other to rely on. In Panama, we walked off the plane and had no idea how anything worked or where anything was. I suppose we could have researched better and known more, but even that wouldn't compare to the support we had in Costa Rica.
So, I shall start from the beginning, because this will become important later. The beginning is, of course, buying our tickets for this adventure back in November. Me and the other girl I was traveling with both bought our tickets online, at the same time. We used two different computers on two different connections, although we were talking to each other on Skype to make sure we had the same flights and stuff. We clicked on the 7am flight going there, and the 11am flight coming back. Both of these flights were $34. When we went to check out, the total said $68 for the flight, and $123 or something for the taxes. The total was $191. That was lame of them, but we bought the tickets anyway. We both remember seeing another page that showed different totals ... I remember mine being $90 something for the flight, and then something different for taxes -- but the total was still $191, so I didn't really care. They sent us a confirmation e-mail, but neither of us checked these e-mails because we didn't think we had to. (We won't be making that mistake again.)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4
On the day we left, I woke up at 3:50 am. This was to meet the taxi at 4, pick up the other girl, and get ourselves to the airport by 5-ish (the flight left at 6:55 am). We enjoyed a relatively uneventful flight. Copa even gave us food, although (naturally) it had pig in it that was not pick-off-able. (Jerks.) We landed in Panama City, got off the plane, and looked at each other ... Now what? We didn't have any real plan, other than to take the bus. But of course, we had no idea how the Panamanian bus system worked, where to catch it, or anything like that. So we asked about 10 people, and eventually walked to the correct bus stop. The guy we were talking to at the bus stop said we wanted the Corredor bus -- it costs more, but is faster. The other buses work too, but they take longer. We waited and waited and waited for a Corredor bus, but it never came. Finally we got tired of waiting in the heat (it is HOT in Panama. Think like, end of June in Kansas) and just took one of the regular buses. The guidebook wasn't kidding about the 2 hours part. That bus "ride" was best defined as sitting in traffic, periodically interspersed with small amounts of movement.
Just as we didn't know where to catch the bus, we also had no idea where to get off. Each of the 5 or so people we asked on the bus gave us a different answer. This is just the first of many examples of what I have decided to call the "Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome." We have come to the conclusion that a lot of people don't actually know the answer to what you're asking, so they just tell you whatever they THINK the answer is, which is often wrong and always conflicts with the answers other people have invented. Okay, so anyway, someone who seemed to know what they were talking about told us to get off in the middle of this random street downtown. We had absolutely no idea where we were, or where the mysterious "Plaza Cinco de Mayo" was that we were supposed to be finding. The plan was to take a taxi, because surely the taxi would know where our hostel was. Only thing was, we couldn't get a taxi to stop for us. At least 20 perfectly good, empty taxis refused to stop for us. They would just look at us, shake their heads, and keep driving. After about 10 minutes, we FINALLY got a taxi to stop for us. The other girl was trying to negotiate the price, and I was like, "I DON'T CARE! GET IN! HE STOPPED!" (This is another theory of mine... they don't stop, so finally when someone does, you're so glad they stopped that you'll pay any price).
It was a good thing that the taxis in Panama use a flat rate system in this case, because the guy obviously did not know where our hostel was. This was new to us. In Costa Rica, the taxi drivers always know what you're talking about and can take you somewhere with very little direction-giving on your part. Or, if they don't know where you're going, they say they don't know. But so this guy drove around Casco Viejo (the neighborhood where we stayed) for a good 10 minutes. When he got us to the STREET the hostel was on, he was like, "Okay, you're here." Jerk. So we paid him and had to walk to our hostel from there, although it wasn't that far. We didn't get in until almost 1 (the flight landed at 9 something), and we were too exhausted to do anything else that day except walk up the street a little bit and check out the grocery store/buy pizza for dinner. (The pizza and a drink was like, $3. Food is cheap in Panama.)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5
We started the day off with a hearty breakfast of pancakes, provided by our hostel. (They have a make-your-own pancakes thing for breakfast every day, for free.) After that, we walked outside and spent another 10 minutes trying to flag down a taxi to take us to the Parque Metropolitana. This is a park just north (?) of the city, and it's like a nature reserve. The guidebook made it sound really cool, but they didn't mention the hiking part. (Remember that my definition of "hiking" is somewhat different from most people's). It didn't help that the park ranger led us to the more difficult of the two first trails, and then we wanted to see the viewing area, which involved taking a more difficult trail up, and a more difficult trail down (the reason it's a viewpoint is because it's at the top of a small mountain/really big hill). We took many "nature breaks" (sitting and resting so that we could ... "enjoy nature"). The views from the top were pretty neat, although the whole thing wasn't quite as cool as I'd thought. It also didn't help that it was 900 degrees and 500% humidity. The trees cooled it off to about 800 degrees, but we were still sweaty and gross.
After that, we went to Mi Pueblito. The guidebook says this has an artisan market and life-size replicas of different kinds of historical villages or something. It's supposed to be touristy, but still worth seeing. Of course, when we told the guy at the end of the trail (he was helping get us a taxi) that we wanted to go there, he didn't really know where that was, and we had to explain very carefully to avoid another instance Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome. Once we got there, we wandered over to the artisan market area. This was pretty weak. Maybe there was more that we didn't see, but basically it was a handful of small, totally overpriced shops selling stuff. There was also a restaurant selling food, although $8-10 a plate was way too rich for our meager budget (this ends up being ironic). We walked through one of the villages, although it wasn't very interesting. After that, we decided to go to the mall to enjoy some air conditioning and get lunch.
Albrook Mall (I'm pretty sure "Albrook" was one of the U.S. neighborhoods in the Panama Canal Zone ... so no, "Albrook" is not a Spanish word) is HUGE, and it also happens to be connected to the Albrook bus terminal. This is the terminal where all the buses end up eventually. The terminal and the mall are both brand spanking new, and a good chunk of the mall isn't finished/doesn't have stores in it yet. However, there are still plenty of shopping choices to satiate any retail therapy needs. The first thing we did was find the food court (which was hard, since they didn't have mall directories anywhere) and get lunch. We ended up getting mediocre mall chinese food (mall chinese food is always mediocre, and I don't know why I am incapable of remembering that). Mine was $6 and the other girl's was $9. (Ironic how we didn't want to eat at the other place because it was "too expensive" eh?) After that, we got our shopping on -- I wasn't expecting to find cheap stuff in such a new mall, but we actually found some good deals. The best was in a store called "El Costo." You know when you go to, say, JCPenney's or Kohls, and they're having a huge clearance sale? And then you have a coupon on top of that? Plus everything is marked down an additional 20%? And you walk out of the store feeling like you stole that shirt for $3? This is what El Costo is like -- except you don't need coupons or clearance sales. I found a bunch more earrings (which I DID not need... I've been earring deprived my whole life, and now that I've figured out I can wear them, I've turned into an earring fiend) for like, $0.79 each pair, plus a few other random little things. This trip was the first of 3 El Costo runs we had while in Panama. When we finally finished our mall run, we were, once again, exhausted, and we returned to our hostel. There was probably additional taxi/bus drama, but I don't remember exactly what happened.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6
PANAMA CANAL, BABY! This was what I had REALLY wanted to see in Panama, so I was super excited. We managed to find the correct bus to take us there, and the bus driver actually told us where to get off (in the right spot, even!) We met two other girls studying in Costa Rica and vacationing in Panama while we were walking from the bus stop to the canal, and we ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the day and on Sunday. Anyway, the specific viewing spot we went to was the Miraflores Locks. They have a huge visitors center set up there, with two viewing decks, and, if you pay for it, exhibits and a film. We got there just in time to watch a ship go though, which was really cool. The film was kind of weak (it could have explained a lot more of the history and stuff), but sitting in cushy chairs in an air-conditioned auditorium made it okay. When we finished at the canal, we went back to the terminal and ate at Niko's Cafe. The setup was confusing for us (it was a giant, multi-part lunch counter) and we didn't really know how much anything cost. My food ended up being about $5, which wasn't too bad.
After lunch, we decided to go to Panama Viejo (not to be confused with Casco Viej0). Panama Viejo is the ruins of the old Panama City -- it was sacked by, if I'm remembering correctly, the pirate Captain Morgan way back when. Naturally, we got on a bus and didn't know when to get off. I saw the ruins as we were driving by them, but I figured the bus driver would stop if that was actually where we were supposed to get off. He didn't, so I didn't say anything. We ended up in the Balboa neighborhood, and we had to take a bus back to the ruins once we figured it all out. This was really cool too, although my camera ran out of batteries and I was exhausted, so I didn't look around as much as I probably should have. There was also another (overpriced) artisan market where I didn't buy anything. We took a bus back to Plaza Cinco de Mayo, which is within walking distance of our hostel. I'm pretty sure that that night I went down to the fish market and got some fish, which I went back to the hostel and cooked. It was pretty good, although it could have used more salt/seasoning (it didn't help that, due to the humidity, all the salt in the hostel was in clod formation). I suppose I should also mention now that our hostel had a big home-made theater, and we watched movies pretty much every night. We had gotten popcorn and candy (snickers and almond Hershey's kisses) at the grocery store, although they didn't have a microwave for the popcorn, so we made a rather unsuccessful attempt to pop it on the stove.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7
We woke up late and took our time eating and getting ready, which meant that we were rushing to get to the ferry to Isla Taboga. Our taxi driver had to ask another taxi driver for directions to the ferry (this was not the first or only time this happened), but he made up for it by speeding like a maniac to get down there. We arrived at 10:29, and the ferry supposedly left at 10:30. It actually ended up leaving around 10:40, but we still just made it. We saw all kinds of ships on the way to the island, and the beach/ocean there was fantastic. It was so hot, but the water was clear and refreshingly cold. I had my snorkeling gear, and I saw some neat fish. We met up with the girls from Saturday there, and we all four ended up talking to an American couple who had a house on the island. Turns out that the oldest church in the western hemisphere is located on this island. We wanted to go see it, but we ended up talking for too long, and we forgot/ran out of time. We ate at a restaurant just off the beach -- I got a fried fish (like, a WHOLE fried fish) and fries for like, $5.
Since the ferry left from the Causeway (a long strip of road that leads out into the ocean, more or less), we decided to do the "rent bikes on the Causeway" thing afterwards. We got bikes for $2/hr, and we pedaled almost all the way down (I think the mouth of the canal was at the very end) and back. My two cents on biking: 1) That seat really made my butt hurt. 2) What? No throttle? Psh. Lame. Still though, it was fun.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8
The day the Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome struck the hardest, with devastating consequences. We had heard about a beach on the Pacific coast called Playa Santa Clara (playa = beach). We had looked up all the necessary bus/transport stuff at the hostel, but of course, it couldn't be that easy. Our directions said to take this one bus, which you can catch at the Plaza Cinco de Mayo. We got to the Plaza and asked around if that bus would come by. We were told it went by the other corner. So we went to the other corner and asked again. They asked where we were going, and when we told them, they said we had to take a bus to the terminal, then take the Ancon bus from there. That wasn't what our directions had said, but we just went along with what they said. (We figured maybe the directions were from before the terminal existed or something).
When we got to the terminal, we asked one person where the Ancon buses were. He pointed down the central area. We walked that way for a while without seeing it. So we asked someone else. They pointed further down the way we were going. We kept walking. When we got to the end, we still didn't see it. We asked another person, and they pointed around the corner. As we were going through the turnstile (you have to pay 5 cents to get into most of the areas where the buses leave), we asked the woman there if the Ancon buses to Santa Clara left from this area. She said yes, and the sign confirmed this, so we figured we were okay. But then we couldn't find the bus. We asked one guy, and he pointed us to the right. We walked that way, didn't see it, and asked someone else. That guy said we had to go around this gate thing. We did that, but it didn't look right, so we asked another person. That guy sent us back the way we came, but we still didn't see the bus. Finally we asked a woman at the ticket counter, and she pointed to a yellow bus with "Santa Clara" written on it. Since it had "Santa Clara" written on it, we figured we were okay. We got seats on the bus (thankfully), although we waited probably about 20 minutes before it left (keep in mind that it was, as always, wicked hot on that bus).
As we're on the bus, it keeps stopping to pick up people. After a while, it gets full ("full" is a relative term). But then, another mile down the road, it stops again, and there are at least another 15-20 people who want on. I was looking at them like, "Sorry, looks like you're out of luck." Except they weren't. They all squeezed on that bus. There were probably about 8 people standing on the stairs/right next to the driver, and there were two guys who each had about one foot on the first stair and were hanging on to the outside of the bus. It was INSANE. Eventually most of them got off, which improved the air circulation situation on the bus. After about an hour on the bus (the trip to the beach was supposed to take 1.5 to 2 hours), the bus driver told us to get off at the next stop for the beach. We got off, and it kind of looked like what was described to us ... I mean, get off, and there's a road, and you go down that road to get to the beach. We asked a girl sitting at the bus stop where the beach was. She gave us a really weird look and was like, "There's no beach here." We asked, "We're in Santa Clara, right?" and she said yes, but that there wasn't a beach there. There was a river, but no beach.
Let me interrupt the story here to say WHAT?!! We most definitely told everyone we asked for directions that we wanted to go to PLAYA Santa Clara. The other girl could pass for a Panamanian, but I look totally gringa. WHY would a gringa want to go to a small mountainside town to swim in the local river? This means that the 3 people we originally asked for bus directions, the 5 or 6 people at the terminal, plus the bus driver all told us the wrong thing. I repeat, WHAT?!! I don't know how you could misunderstand "playa" or the fact that there would be no reason for me to go to some random river, yet somehow, all those people told us the wrong thing. I boil this down (perhaps somewhat unfairly) to Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome.
To resume the story: Since we were already there, we figured we might as well check out this river. We walked to a little store and got directions. There was a local kid there, and he lived near the river, so he showed us the way. Turns out the river is at the bottom of this gigantic hill. We walked down that and got to the river/swimming hole. There was a little waterfall, and a pool at the base of it where two guys were swimming. It looked relatively clean, but I wasn't getting in. I just wanted to go back to the hostel and take a long cold shower, but the other girl wanted to stay a while. She swam for a bit, I dunked my head in the water, and then we left. Climbing back up that hill was horrible, and it didn't help that the two guys there left right after we did, caught up to us on the hill, and then spent the rest of the walk back murmuring piropos at us in a continuous stream while trying to take photos of us with a cell phone. (I did mention that men in Panama are out of control with the piropos).
We got back, I took a long cold shower, at pizza for dinner, and we watched movies that night. I was sad that we'd already eaten all the candy.
I was downstairs reading later, and the other girl I was with was on the computer. At some point, she came down and said, "Um, I just checked the "print your boarding pass" e-mail, and it says our flight is at 8am, not 11." I went upstairs to the computer she was using, and sure enough, it said 8. Then we checked the original confirmation e-mail, and it said 20:38. Turns out we'd read the am wrong ... according to the e-mail, our flight actually left at 8:38 pm. Naturally, we were both confused and kind of angry. We picked the 11am flights so we wouldn't have to take a $30 taxi from the airport to San Jose, but that wasn't an option if the flight didn't get back till almost 9. (There's a time change between Panama and Costa Rica). The other girl tried to call the airline, but nobody answered their "24 hour" hotline. I used their complaint form to let them know what was up. We went to bed not knowing what was going on, although we planned to wake up early so we could call first thing in the morning.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9
In the morning, the other girl finally got ahold of the airline. They told us that we had booked the 8pm flight, and they didn't want to listen to what we were saying about how we had clicked on the 11am flight. The also answered my e-mail and told me pretty much the same thing. They also wouldn't pay our taxi in San Jose, nor refund the difference in money between the flights (the other girl is convinced that the 8pm flight was $124 instead of $34, and we got charged the $124... which is possible/likely, I suppose, but that's not how I remember the breakdown of charges).
This meant that we had all day to hang around or come up with something to do. We goofed off on the hostel's computers for most of the morning. After that, we went around to take pictures of Casco Viejo, which is actually a really neat neighborhood. A little before noon, we left the hostel for the mall, which I was quite happy about. The mall has AC. We dropped off our bags at the paqueteria (they make you leave all your bags when you go into stores, and they staple your bags of bought stuff shut when you check out ... they're really paranoid about theft, I guess) and hung out/shopped. We went on our 3rd run to El Costo (#2 happened one of the other days at the El Costo location near Plaza Cinco de Mayo), and I got a watch for $4. So long as you don't look at it closely, it looks really fancy and nice.
Around 5pm, we headed through the terminal to find the Corredor bus to the airport. The line was long, but thankfully the buses came quickly, and we got on one by 5:20. It probably took about an hour to get to the airport because of all the traffic, but the lines in the airport weren't too bad either. When we got to the counter, the other girl I was with began to explain the whole fiasco with the tickets. She wanted them to pay the taxi and the difference between the prices, but they kept telling us no, that we had booked the 8pm flight and there wasn't anything they could do. Of course, all of this took 3 times longer than it needed to because we were talking in Spanish, and there was a lot of misunderstanding (or presumed misunderstanding) going on. The airline's version of the story is that we clicked on the 11am flight, got a warning message that the 11am flight was full (although we know that full flights don't show up on their website), and that it told us we'd be on the 8pm flight, and we continued from there. How BOTH of us missed this warning message is beyond me. We still think that it never gave us the warning message, but whatever. The airline refused to do anything about it, so we gave up and went to go wait for our plane.
We were supposed to start boarding at 7:38, but we didn't start until like, 8:10. I was supposed meet one of my other grupo buddies that night to see her for the last time, but I wasn't going to be able to do that if the plane was late. Thankfully, they got everyone boarded, and we left not too late, like 8:45 or something. However, once we got to San Jose, we couldn't land. The plane would start descending, and then speed up and ascend rapidly. We did that about three or four times before they told us that we couldn't land due to "bad conditions" (I think it was fog/clouds) and that we'd either be going back to Panama City or to Manauga (capital of Nicaragua). About 5 minutes later, they decided on Managua. Me and the other girl were pretty ticked off at this point, because we weren't even supposed to be on this flight anyway, and now it was all messed up. But then we started to think about opportunities ... like perhaps getting Nicaragua passport stamps, and visiting the city (or at least stepping outside the airport and then running back inside ... Managua is kind of sketch). But alas, it was not meant to be. We landed in Nicaragua, and they told us to stay seated while they refueled the plane. That took about 40 minutes, and then they said they were going to try San Jose again because conditions were better, and if that failed, we'd go back to Panama City. So I've been in Nicaraguan territory, but I don't really think I can say I've been to Nicaragua since I wasn't even allowed off the plane.
This time we managed to land in San Jose, but it was after 11 at night. At least the line at customs wasn't very long. As an added bonus, the other girl went and talked with someone from the airline, and since we'd been delayed and gotten back so late, they agreed to pay for a taxi for us. Score! I was going to write them a really long nasty letter, but since they paid for the taxi (which is what I really wanted anyway), I'm not going to. Or well, if I do, it will be to chastise them for the lack of vegetarian/pig-free food on their flights (the flight back we had pepperoni pizza, although at least that was pick-off-able).
I didn't get back to my host family's house until 1 in the morning, which meant that I didn't get to see my grupo buddy that night. I was really sad, but thankfully she stopped by in the morning, so I got to talk to her for a little bit before she had to leave. She also brought me a hammock from Nicaragua (she'd been in Nicaragua while I was in Panama, and I gave her money to get me a hammock since they're so cheap there). Note to parental units: This hammock will be hung in one of my two rooms, so I suggest you work on figuring out a way to do that before I come back.
REFLECTIONS ON PANAMA
It's amazing how different two countries can be when they're so close together (and so small) and they use the same languange. Sure, there are similarities -- Costa Ricans have been known to suffer from Panamanian Invent-an-Answer Syndrome at times, although the Panamanians win that contest hands down, and the Costa Ricans also do the "leave your bags at the door and let us staple the bag with your purchases shut which will render the bag useless for future reuse because you will invariably rip it when you open it" thing, but there are so many differences too. The Panamanians have a slightly different accent (they don't pronounce their the letter "s" and they don't do the ll=j thing) and their country, their climate, their buses, their taxis, their streets, their buildings, their food .... it's all definitely not the same as in Costa Rica. Even though Panama City is a much prettier place, I prefer Costa Rica/San Jose. Some of that likely boils down to familarity and climate preferences, but I just think Costa Rica is better.
It was weird how by the end of Panama, I was ready to go home... to my Costa Rican home. I never thought I'd feel that way or call where I live in Costa Rica "home," but I guess I've finally gotten used to being here (plus compared to Panama, Costa Rica is much more like home). I mean, it's not HOME home, but it's a home, and that's something. The Panamanian buses and taxis also made me appreciate the Costa Rican buses and taxis, which I've never particularly liked before now. (Once again, you never appreciate what you've got until you don't got it anymore).
Going to Panama made me realize exactly how much help we had and how sheltered we were in the Grupo program. We got picked up at the airport by our wonderful English-speaking program coordinators, our host families took us home and showed us the buses, and we had each other to rely on. In Panama, we walked off the plane and had no idea how anything worked or where anything was. I suppose we could have researched better and known more, but even that wouldn't compare to the support we had in Costa Rica.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Lo hace mejor
"Lo hace mejor" -- that's my translation of "Does it better," because I think I need a "does it better" discussion -- Central American style. There are some things Panama does better. There are some things Costa Rica does better. Here's a short break-d0wn:
Panama does it better:
1) Modernization. Panama City is eerily like a lot of American cities. I've actually felt like I'm back in KC a few times (using a little selective perception and imagination, of course). They have skyscrapers, and urban-seeming roads, and decently well-marked street names.
2) Character. It's amazing to see how much the history of a country affects what it looks like today. Costa Rica was spared a lot of the colonial nonsense because (if I'm remebering correctly) it was so inaccessible and didn't have a lot of gold or indigenous peoples to exploit. Panama, on the other hand, has a long rich history -- we went to the ruins of Panama Viejo, which was sacked by pirates way back when. Old buildings in Costa Rica just look old and run down. Old, run-down buildings here look cool and have character.
3) Road quality. The roads are a lot better here than in Costa Rica. They're still not quite up to US standards in some places, but overall, they're quite good.
4) Bus system. This is different from buses (see below) because I am referring to the routes and schedules. In Panama, the buses all go from whichever part of town their route covers to the Albrook terminal. From there, you switch onto whichever other bus you want to take. Costa Rica has no such central terminal. If you're switching buses, you have to know where to get off one bus and where to get on to another, and that can be really confusing.
Costa Rica does it better
1) Buses. I never thought I would be complimenting the Costa Rican bus system, but here is just one more example of how you don't realize how good you've got it until you don't got it anymore. Panamanian buses are basically old school buses. They're painted and pimped out (which is cool), but they only have one door. This means that people in the back have to squeeze past everyone in front of them to get out. Also, the aisles are smaller, which makes it even harder to get out. The seats are 3 on one side and 2 on the other, but they're bench seats, and you end up being really squished. Costa Rican buses have defined seats for each person, wider aisles, and two doors. As crowded as I've seen Costa Rican buses get, I've never seen one as crowded as the Panamanian bus we took the other day. It was literally stuffed full of people, and then there were two guys who each had one foot on the step by the door, and then they everything except that foot was hanging outside the bus. INSANE.
2) Taxis. I don't know what it is about taxis here, but we CANNOT catch one to save our lives. A lot of times they'll already have people in them, but we've had at least 20 empty taxis drive by us and just kind of look and shake their heads and keep going. It is SO frustrating. Also, taxis in Panama are flat rate. You add money if you go through more than one zone, or if you have more people, and to some parts of the city it's more. Of course, being foreigners, we don't know how many zones we've been through and we keep getting conflicting information about how much certain areas should cost, so we get ripped off a lot. Costa Rican taxis use a meter, so they really can't rip you off.
3) Piropos (catcalls). Piropos in Panama are out of control. Completely out of control. It's seriously like every 15 seconds we're outside, we have some guy tsking or whistling or honking at us or saying stuff. In Costa Rica, there are some guys on the corner by where I live who will usually say something, but that's about it. San Pedro is mostly students, and they know better than to say stuff, and in downtown San Jose, everyone is too busy trying to get places and/or not get run over while crossing the streets to be making comments to women. I understand it's a cultural thing and I shouldn't be offended, but it's hard. I consider comments like that to be completely disrespectful, and there are times I really just want to go slap some of these guys.
4) Climate. Yeah yeah, it isn't through any great act of the Ticos that they have a better climate (in the central valley, anyhow) but I'm going to include this anyway. Panama is hot. Like, ridiculously hot. I have been sweating nonstop ever since I got here. It feels like the end of June in Kansas, except it's December. This is not going to do good things for the process of reaclimatization. I can't wait to get back to the nice 70-degree weather of San Jose, instead of this cursed 90-degree, 100% humidity stuff here in Panama.
Anyway, I'm trying to get us out of the hostel so we can head to the terminal (there's a huge air-conditioned mall next door) before our flight leaves. We booked the 11am flight, but there was a glitch in Copa's system, and they think we booked the 8pm flight. We called them to tell them, but they didn't care, and they won't even pay for our taxi from the airport in Costa Rica to where we live (if we'd gotten back at 12 pm like we were supposed to, we would have taken a $0.50 bus instead of a $30 taxi). So for anyone reading this, please never use Copa Airlines, because they suck. I'm going to write them a nasty letter later, and I'll also write another entry telling of my Panamanian adventures.
Panama does it better:
1) Modernization. Panama City is eerily like a lot of American cities. I've actually felt like I'm back in KC a few times (using a little selective perception and imagination, of course). They have skyscrapers, and urban-seeming roads, and decently well-marked street names.
2) Character. It's amazing to see how much the history of a country affects what it looks like today. Costa Rica was spared a lot of the colonial nonsense because (if I'm remebering correctly) it was so inaccessible and didn't have a lot of gold or indigenous peoples to exploit. Panama, on the other hand, has a long rich history -- we went to the ruins of Panama Viejo, which was sacked by pirates way back when. Old buildings in Costa Rica just look old and run down. Old, run-down buildings here look cool and have character.
3) Road quality. The roads are a lot better here than in Costa Rica. They're still not quite up to US standards in some places, but overall, they're quite good.
4) Bus system. This is different from buses (see below) because I am referring to the routes and schedules. In Panama, the buses all go from whichever part of town their route covers to the Albrook terminal. From there, you switch onto whichever other bus you want to take. Costa Rica has no such central terminal. If you're switching buses, you have to know where to get off one bus and where to get on to another, and that can be really confusing.
Costa Rica does it better
1) Buses. I never thought I would be complimenting the Costa Rican bus system, but here is just one more example of how you don't realize how good you've got it until you don't got it anymore. Panamanian buses are basically old school buses. They're painted and pimped out (which is cool), but they only have one door. This means that people in the back have to squeeze past everyone in front of them to get out. Also, the aisles are smaller, which makes it even harder to get out. The seats are 3 on one side and 2 on the other, but they're bench seats, and you end up being really squished. Costa Rican buses have defined seats for each person, wider aisles, and two doors. As crowded as I've seen Costa Rican buses get, I've never seen one as crowded as the Panamanian bus we took the other day. It was literally stuffed full of people, and then there were two guys who each had one foot on the step by the door, and then they everything except that foot was hanging outside the bus. INSANE.
2) Taxis. I don't know what it is about taxis here, but we CANNOT catch one to save our lives. A lot of times they'll already have people in them, but we've had at least 20 empty taxis drive by us and just kind of look and shake their heads and keep going. It is SO frustrating. Also, taxis in Panama are flat rate. You add money if you go through more than one zone, or if you have more people, and to some parts of the city it's more. Of course, being foreigners, we don't know how many zones we've been through and we keep getting conflicting information about how much certain areas should cost, so we get ripped off a lot. Costa Rican taxis use a meter, so they really can't rip you off.
3) Piropos (catcalls). Piropos in Panama are out of control. Completely out of control. It's seriously like every 15 seconds we're outside, we have some guy tsking or whistling or honking at us or saying stuff. In Costa Rica, there are some guys on the corner by where I live who will usually say something, but that's about it. San Pedro is mostly students, and they know better than to say stuff, and in downtown San Jose, everyone is too busy trying to get places and/or not get run over while crossing the streets to be making comments to women. I understand it's a cultural thing and I shouldn't be offended, but it's hard. I consider comments like that to be completely disrespectful, and there are times I really just want to go slap some of these guys.
4) Climate. Yeah yeah, it isn't through any great act of the Ticos that they have a better climate (in the central valley, anyhow) but I'm going to include this anyway. Panama is hot. Like, ridiculously hot. I have been sweating nonstop ever since I got here. It feels like the end of June in Kansas, except it's December. This is not going to do good things for the process of reaclimatization. I can't wait to get back to the nice 70-degree weather of San Jose, instead of this cursed 90-degree, 100% humidity stuff here in Panama.
Anyway, I'm trying to get us out of the hostel so we can head to the terminal (there's a huge air-conditioned mall next door) before our flight leaves. We booked the 11am flight, but there was a glitch in Copa's system, and they think we booked the 8pm flight. We called them to tell them, but they didn't care, and they won't even pay for our taxi from the airport in Costa Rica to where we live (if we'd gotten back at 12 pm like we were supposed to, we would have taken a $0.50 bus instead of a $30 taxi). So for anyone reading this, please never use Copa Airlines, because they suck. I'm going to write them a nasty letter later, and I'll also write another entry telling of my Panamanian adventures.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Done
I'm done.
There you go. That's all the enthusiasm I can work up right now. I have never been so burnt out in my life.
It's a good thing I've got a month and a half of traveling (first) and then relaxation at home (second) before I have to go back to school.
My test today wasn't that great. As I expected, 3/4 of it was about the presentations we had that I didn't pay attention to. I tried to study yesterday, but I couldn't focus and I didn't care. So naturally, I had some issues answering a lot of the questions. I just repeated the few things I knew over and over. My teacher already e-mailed me a break-down of my grade... here, let me copy and past for you:
IEXA IIEXA LABS GIRA TC ASIS NOTA NOTA FINAL
20% 20% 40% 10% 5% 5% 100% 100%
15,5 16,6 37,6 10 4,5 4 88,2 90
If anyone wants to tell me what my grade is, that'd be great. Honestly, though, I don't really care anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with a C, and I will almost certainly have at least one or two B's. But like I said, I'm so burnt out right now that I just don't care.
I still need to go pack and get organized for Panama, and I need to make lists of what I want to do there and when I get back to Curri. I should also figure out my financial situation, and do a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. But at least I'm done with school.
There you go. That's all the enthusiasm I can work up right now. I have never been so burnt out in my life.
It's a good thing I've got a month and a half of traveling (first) and then relaxation at home (second) before I have to go back to school.
My test today wasn't that great. As I expected, 3/4 of it was about the presentations we had that I didn't pay attention to. I tried to study yesterday, but I couldn't focus and I didn't care. So naturally, I had some issues answering a lot of the questions. I just repeated the few things I knew over and over. My teacher already e-mailed me a break-down of my grade... here, let me copy and past for you:
IEXA IIEXA LABS GIRA TC ASIS NOTA NOTA FINAL
20% 20% 40% 10% 5% 5% 100% 100%
15,5 16,6 37,6 10 4,5 4 88,2 90
If anyone wants to tell me what my grade is, that'd be great. Honestly, though, I don't really care anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with a C, and I will almost certainly have at least one or two B's. But like I said, I'm so burnt out right now that I just don't care.
I still need to go pack and get organized for Panama, and I need to make lists of what I want to do there and when I get back to Curri. I should also figure out my financial situation, and do a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. But at least I'm done with school.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Apathetic rage-guilt
I have spent sooo much time daydreaming about this time of the semester, imagining just how incredible it would feel to be practically done with classes, looking forward to glorious traveling, and then returning home. You know what though? It really isn't that great. I stopped caring about classes after I turned in my last big project, and I've been enjoying the (relatively) stress-free life since then. And then I got sick, and all that made me want to do was go home. And now I just don't know.
For the most part, I don't really care. I have one more final, then I am done. I'm looking forward to Panama, but I'm not like, 5-year-old-night-before-Christmas excited. I had my second-to-last final tonight in Environmental Management. I would be lucky to get a 50% on it. I can't pretend like I studied very hard for it, but I was prepared to respond to a test similar to the last test he gave us. This one was completely different, and, despite the fact that his lead-up to the test said that it wasn't about memorization, it was totally memorization. We were supposed to know which part of the laws in Costa Rica mentioned specific terms, terms which were supposedly "instruments of environmental management." Yeah, I had no idea what those laws were, and it isn't even like I've been hearing about these laws all my life like the Ticos so I would be able to just invent something that sounded correct. I randomly wrote down names of laws that I remembered, but I have no doubt I got them wrong. I think a lof of people in the class didn't remember either though, so perhaps he'll curve it and I'll get like a 55% instead of a 30%. I'm obviously mad about this test, because I wouldn't be writing about it if I weren't, but I also don't care. It's over. It's done. It is what it is.
In good news, my Geography of Costa Rica teacher has officially told me to "not worry about the final" in her class. What, precisely, that means, I have no idea. I'm trying not to worry about it, except that I need something in that class to bring my grade up. I probably have a C, and that is not acceptable. I am not going to mess up my GPA over a class I have no use for and does not count for any of my required classes. I AM WORRYING. Here's the worst part, though: I should be very, very happy that I am getting out of this final. Am I happy? Yeah, I guess. Do I feel totally guilty? Very. When we called the professor to find out what she wanted me to do, it sounded like (my program director was calling, I listened) she was letting me out of it because she felt bad for me and because she wanted to make sure I was better instead of stressing more about tests. (Well, part of it was because she talked with my Cartography teacher and decided that I'd been a good student all semester, and that helped her decision, but still). Okay, I'm not like, 100% better or anything, but I'm planning on going to Panama in two days. If I'm well enough to do that, I'm probably well enough to do a final for her class. So now I'm feeling guilty about being well enough to go to Panama but not well enough to take a final for her. I just can't win.
All I have left for this semester is my Cartography final, which we have determined is on Wednesday at 9am. I NEED to do well on this. I've gotten out of two finals, and bombed the third. I need to do well on one so I don't come home feeling like a complete and total scholastic failure. I WILL study tomorrow. I WILL study tomorrow.
... except that I'm going to spend at least part of the day taking photos ("A day in the life" kinda thing) and figuring out what I'm doing in Panama. I also need to go buy a bag in Hipermas, and I need to go back to the hospital so I can talk with a doctor about my blood test results.
About the blood test today... Nice doctor told me what I was supposed to do regarding the blood test as I was leaving on Saturday. He even told me in English (parts were Spanish, but the majority was English). Somehow, I managed to completely forget his directions. So today was interesting. I remembered that I was supposed to go to the emergency area and talk to them, at around 3:00. I did this. They sent me to the lab. The lab people eventually figured out why I was there, and they sent me somewhere to pay. But they wanted to know if I had an appointment with anyone. Err...? I had no idea. So we (my friend came with me, and thank goodness too, because I had no idea where I was going), wandered around for a while looking completely lost. Then I called my host mom to see if she knew anything about any appointment, but she didn't. So we went back to the emergency people to talk ask if I had to talk to my doctor. They said that when the results were in, my doctor would go over them with me. But it would take 2.5 hours to get results, and we had a final in like, 1 hour. So we asked if I could come back tomorrow, and they said we could. But throughout this whole time, I was asking for medium-nice doctor. I'm almost positive that Nice doctor wanted me to get the hospital people to call him so he could talk to me. So now I don't know what. I guess tomorrow I'll bring all my paperwork and say that I think Nice doctor wanted to be involved in the reviewing-of-the-bloodwork process... Is anyone else confused?
Obvious statement of the day: It's December. HOW IN THE WORLD IS IT ALREADY DECEMBER?! I swear just yesterday I was writing about spending Halloween on black sand beaches... and that was a WHOLE MONTH AGO! I feel like I've been here forever, but I also feel like time has flown. Where did it all go? My friends and I have already figured out the last times we're going to see each other, and it's horrible. I mean, obviously we'll still talk to each other online, and we're going to come up with excuses to see each other later if it kills us, but still, saying goodbye to people who have been what truly made this experience enjoyable for me is so ridiculously hard. I want to go home, but I don't want to leave my grupo buddies. I guess I can't win on this either.
For the most part, I don't really care. I have one more final, then I am done. I'm looking forward to Panama, but I'm not like, 5-year-old-night-before-Christmas excited. I had my second-to-last final tonight in Environmental Management. I would be lucky to get a 50% on it. I can't pretend like I studied very hard for it, but I was prepared to respond to a test similar to the last test he gave us. This one was completely different, and, despite the fact that his lead-up to the test said that it wasn't about memorization, it was totally memorization. We were supposed to know which part of the laws in Costa Rica mentioned specific terms, terms which were supposedly "instruments of environmental management." Yeah, I had no idea what those laws were, and it isn't even like I've been hearing about these laws all my life like the Ticos so I would be able to just invent something that sounded correct. I randomly wrote down names of laws that I remembered, but I have no doubt I got them wrong. I think a lof of people in the class didn't remember either though, so perhaps he'll curve it and I'll get like a 55% instead of a 30%. I'm obviously mad about this test, because I wouldn't be writing about it if I weren't, but I also don't care. It's over. It's done. It is what it is.
In good news, my Geography of Costa Rica teacher has officially told me to "not worry about the final" in her class. What, precisely, that means, I have no idea. I'm trying not to worry about it, except that I need something in that class to bring my grade up. I probably have a C, and that is not acceptable. I am not going to mess up my GPA over a class I have no use for and does not count for any of my required classes. I AM WORRYING. Here's the worst part, though: I should be very, very happy that I am getting out of this final. Am I happy? Yeah, I guess. Do I feel totally guilty? Very. When we called the professor to find out what she wanted me to do, it sounded like (my program director was calling, I listened) she was letting me out of it because she felt bad for me and because she wanted to make sure I was better instead of stressing more about tests. (Well, part of it was because she talked with my Cartography teacher and decided that I'd been a good student all semester, and that helped her decision, but still). Okay, I'm not like, 100% better or anything, but I'm planning on going to Panama in two days. If I'm well enough to do that, I'm probably well enough to do a final for her class. So now I'm feeling guilty about being well enough to go to Panama but not well enough to take a final for her. I just can't win.
All I have left for this semester is my Cartography final, which we have determined is on Wednesday at 9am. I NEED to do well on this. I've gotten out of two finals, and bombed the third. I need to do well on one so I don't come home feeling like a complete and total scholastic failure. I WILL study tomorrow. I WILL study tomorrow.
... except that I'm going to spend at least part of the day taking photos ("A day in the life" kinda thing) and figuring out what I'm doing in Panama. I also need to go buy a bag in Hipermas, and I need to go back to the hospital so I can talk with a doctor about my blood test results.
About the blood test today... Nice doctor told me what I was supposed to do regarding the blood test as I was leaving on Saturday. He even told me in English (parts were Spanish, but the majority was English). Somehow, I managed to completely forget his directions. So today was interesting. I remembered that I was supposed to go to the emergency area and talk to them, at around 3:00. I did this. They sent me to the lab. The lab people eventually figured out why I was there, and they sent me somewhere to pay. But they wanted to know if I had an appointment with anyone. Err...? I had no idea. So we (my friend came with me, and thank goodness too, because I had no idea where I was going), wandered around for a while looking completely lost. Then I called my host mom to see if she knew anything about any appointment, but she didn't. So we went back to the emergency people to talk ask if I had to talk to my doctor. They said that when the results were in, my doctor would go over them with me. But it would take 2.5 hours to get results, and we had a final in like, 1 hour. So we asked if I could come back tomorrow, and they said we could. But throughout this whole time, I was asking for medium-nice doctor. I'm almost positive that Nice doctor wanted me to get the hospital people to call him so he could talk to me. So now I don't know what. I guess tomorrow I'll bring all my paperwork and say that I think Nice doctor wanted to be involved in the reviewing-of-the-bloodwork process... Is anyone else confused?
Obvious statement of the day: It's December. HOW IN THE WORLD IS IT ALREADY DECEMBER?! I swear just yesterday I was writing about spending Halloween on black sand beaches... and that was a WHOLE MONTH AGO! I feel like I've been here forever, but I also feel like time has flown. Where did it all go? My friends and I have already figured out the last times we're going to see each other, and it's horrible. I mean, obviously we'll still talk to each other online, and we're going to come up with excuses to see each other later if it kills us, but still, saying goodbye to people who have been what truly made this experience enjoyable for me is so ridiculously hard. I want to go home, but I don't want to leave my grupo buddies. I guess I can't win on this either.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Happiness, redefined
I am out! I am free! I have been liberated!
(I would go do cartwheels right now, but I'd probably hurt myself, and that would be majorly counterproductive).
This afternoon, my host mom and dad came to visit. They said that the nurses told them I was there till Monday, which is what mean doctor was saying. And of course, I do not take this news well (I've already spent pretty much the whole day being a sobbing, emotional, completely and hopelessly depressed mess). But when I mentioned that all the doctors were giving me different stories, we made a bunch of calls between host mother, program director, and doctor, and came to the conclusion that I COULD LEAVE. That right there is quite possibly the new winner of the best moment of my life. It took them forever to get their acts together, and I put a ridiculous amount of money on the credit card (although the insurance should pay that back ... "should" ) but here I am, sitting on a bed in a room I never thought I could be so happy to see. I. AM. THANKFUL. After 5 days of going crazy from being alone in that hospital room, I was beginning to think I'd never be happy again. But here I am -- happy once again!! Yay! Happy!
Here's the other good part: I asked nice doctor what he thought about me going to Panama. He didn't have any problems with it (so long as my bloodwork on Monday still looks good and all). So I don't have to cancel the Panama flight and come home early. I think I'm going to skip Nicaragua, though -- 10 hours on a bus is a lot for me to handle. There was a lot of stuff I really wanted to do there, but at least this way I have a lot of time to hang out here and get caught up with my buddies before I head home. I think I kind of like it this way better. Heck, maybe we can even spend a day or two in Manual Antonio -- a beach I've missed going to twice now because I haven't felt good (we were supposed to go this weekend). Did I mention I'm happy?
I can say one thing, though: You don't know just how good you've got it till you don't got it anymore. (Yes, that was horrible grammar on purpose). I've spent a lot of this experience missing home and wondering about all the things I've missed out on: spending time with my family and friends, riding/fixing mopeds, moped rallies, fall, the first snow, Thanksgiving (I pondered that one a LOOONNNGG time), black Friday, the holiday bustle and cheer .... watching U.S. TV in a hospital room for many many hours brings you back to all the things you're missing kind of the same way a slap in the face catches your attention. I'm not ready to come to a final decision on this experience, but I know better now than ever before that I've got it good. And to repeat: I am thankful.
(I would go do cartwheels right now, but I'd probably hurt myself, and that would be majorly counterproductive).
This afternoon, my host mom and dad came to visit. They said that the nurses told them I was there till Monday, which is what mean doctor was saying. And of course, I do not take this news well (I've already spent pretty much the whole day being a sobbing, emotional, completely and hopelessly depressed mess). But when I mentioned that all the doctors were giving me different stories, we made a bunch of calls between host mother, program director, and doctor, and came to the conclusion that I COULD LEAVE. That right there is quite possibly the new winner of the best moment of my life. It took them forever to get their acts together, and I put a ridiculous amount of money on the credit card (although the insurance should pay that back ... "should" ) but here I am, sitting on a bed in a room I never thought I could be so happy to see. I. AM. THANKFUL. After 5 days of going crazy from being alone in that hospital room, I was beginning to think I'd never be happy again. But here I am -- happy once again!! Yay! Happy!
Here's the other good part: I asked nice doctor what he thought about me going to Panama. He didn't have any problems with it (so long as my bloodwork on Monday still looks good and all). So I don't have to cancel the Panama flight and come home early. I think I'm going to skip Nicaragua, though -- 10 hours on a bus is a lot for me to handle. There was a lot of stuff I really wanted to do there, but at least this way I have a lot of time to hang out here and get caught up with my buddies before I head home. I think I kind of like it this way better. Heck, maybe we can even spend a day or two in Manual Antonio -- a beach I've missed going to twice now because I haven't felt good (we were supposed to go this weekend). Did I mention I'm happy?
I can say one thing, though: You don't know just how good you've got it till you don't got it anymore. (Yes, that was horrible grammar on purpose). I've spent a lot of this experience missing home and wondering about all the things I've missed out on: spending time with my family and friends, riding/fixing mopeds, moped rallies, fall, the first snow, Thanksgiving (I pondered that one a LOOONNNGG time), black Friday, the holiday bustle and cheer .... watching U.S. TV in a hospital room for many many hours brings you back to all the things you're missing kind of the same way a slap in the face catches your attention. I'm not ready to come to a final decision on this experience, but I know better now than ever before that I've got it good. And to repeat: I am thankful.
And the new winner for the worst time of my life goes to...
RIGHT NOW.
I know I said at least once during the month of October, "We'll know by the end of this experience if too much work can kill you." Well, this experience is almost done, and here I am, alive. So I guess too much work can't kill you. HOWEVER, too much work can make you very, very sick (I'm blaming this all on too much work, FYI). Being very, very sick leads to hospitals. And in hospitals, they fix bodies and destroy minds. When I left Kansas, I left a little part of my soul there. I would like to say that some part of my soul will probably stay in Costa Rica too, but considering the rate at which this hospital is destroying it, I'm not sure I'll have any left.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to sit in your room, alone on thanksgiving, knowing that everyone you care about is celebrating the holiday together? Your family is together. Your friends are together. And you are alone, in a foreign country, strapped to an IV in a hospital. You can't even forget the fact that it's Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving and Black Friday ads are all all over the TV and internet. Welcome to the worst Thanksgiving of my life.
And so, here I am. Two days later. Still in the hospital. Going insane. I have 3 doctors. Doctor 1 ... I don't know what he does. But he's medium-nice. Doctor 2 is a surgeon (?) and he's not very nice. Doctor 3 deals with infections, and he's really nice. Doctors 1 and 3 want to let me leave. Doctor 2 thinks this is a bad idea and wants to keep me for two more days. Doctor 2 has also forbidden me from going to Panama. Well, great. If I can't do anything fun here, why even be here? I just want to go home. Like, HOME home. I want them to let me out of this hospital. I will rest and study until my final on Monday. I will take that final and wrap up a few loose ends around the university. I will take my other final Tuesday. Then I will go home and pack and fly home Wednesday. Or at least, that's how it works in my head. I'm not going to trust how things work in my head anymore, though, because this glorious reality of the end of study abroad was not how it worked in my head either.
I know I said at least once during the month of October, "We'll know by the end of this experience if too much work can kill you." Well, this experience is almost done, and here I am, alive. So I guess too much work can't kill you. HOWEVER, too much work can make you very, very sick (I'm blaming this all on too much work, FYI). Being very, very sick leads to hospitals. And in hospitals, they fix bodies and destroy minds. When I left Kansas, I left a little part of my soul there. I would like to say that some part of my soul will probably stay in Costa Rica too, but considering the rate at which this hospital is destroying it, I'm not sure I'll have any left.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to sit in your room, alone on thanksgiving, knowing that everyone you care about is celebrating the holiday together? Your family is together. Your friends are together. And you are alone, in a foreign country, strapped to an IV in a hospital. You can't even forget the fact that it's Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving and Black Friday ads are all all over the TV and internet. Welcome to the worst Thanksgiving of my life.
And so, here I am. Two days later. Still in the hospital. Going insane. I have 3 doctors. Doctor 1 ... I don't know what he does. But he's medium-nice. Doctor 2 is a surgeon (?) and he's not very nice. Doctor 3 deals with infections, and he's really nice. Doctors 1 and 3 want to let me leave. Doctor 2 thinks this is a bad idea and wants to keep me for two more days. Doctor 2 has also forbidden me from going to Panama. Well, great. If I can't do anything fun here, why even be here? I just want to go home. Like, HOME home. I want them to let me out of this hospital. I will rest and study until my final on Monday. I will take that final and wrap up a few loose ends around the university. I will take my other final Tuesday. Then I will go home and pack and fly home Wednesday. Or at least, that's how it works in my head. I'm not going to trust how things work in my head anymore, though, because this glorious reality of the end of study abroad was not how it worked in my head either.
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