Adios Panama, Bienvenidos Columbia!
We are now in Cartagena, Columbia, waiting for our car to arrive. We spent our last week in Panama doing typical American things: going to the shopping malls, movies, gym, swimming pool, Blockbusters, Hard Rock Café and even the horse races. The highlights of our last week are:
1. Being VIPs at to the movies: for twice the price of a regular ticket, you can go to the luxury theater with full reclining chairs and supposedly, menu service (although Quinn pressed the service button repeatedly and no one came). We watched the “A-Team” in pure comfort and felt like royalty!
2. Horse races: lots of fun! We were the only gringos and a bit of a novelty for the locals. People told us which horses to bet on, brought horses to “meet” us and explained the betting process. Connor won 3 of 5 races; the rest of us did not win any.
3. Seeing our friend, Luis, from Guatemala: Luis came for dinner at the apartment, then we went to the Hard Rock to meet his brother’s family. It was great to see a familiar face! Paul, Luis and his brother went to the casino after the Hard Rock, but Paul will need to tell you about that….
We also spent a lot of time watching the world Cup games, which are televised live at 6:30am, 9:00am and 1:30pm. The World Cup fever is crazy here! Cars with multiple flags from the World Cup teams, people wearing jerseys and vendors selling gear everywhere. Of course, we do not find anything with US insignia…
Columbia has a completely different feel than Central America. I suppose that Columbia is not as Americanized, however, we did find a McDonalds and Blockbuster. Our rental apartment is interesting – in a building one block from the beach, decent amenities, 16th floor with a great view, but sketchy elevator and hallway, and no hot water!
On our first day here, Paul is sick with a bad head cold, so I take the kids to the old town, a walled city with colonial buildings dating back to the 1500s. We see thousands of well preserved gold pieces from 2000 years ago at the Gold Museum and learn all about the native culture. In a nutshell, the rich wore gold, the middle class – bronze and the poor – shells. We meander around town, then Connor says that he does not feel so well and needs a bathroom. Lo and behold – a Hard Rock right in front of us! We then stumble upon a Naval Museum; the model ships, weapons and dioramas fascinate Quinn. We walk along the thick outer walls of the old town, which took over two centuries to construct. Yet, what Quinn will remember most is our pizza dinner near our apartment – the restaurant has a play structure with trampolines, balls, climbing wall, slides, etc. He has a blast!
On our second day, we go to the beach. We rent a tent and then the swarm starts: “masaje?”, “boat trip?”, “ceviche?”, “cerveza?”, “jet ski?”, “t-shirt?”, “pretty necklace for you?”. A bit overwhelming, but nevertheless, lots of fun. Connor gets a relaxing foot massage ($2.50) and knock-off Aviator sunglasses ($5). I make arrangements for a boat tour to Isla del Rosario on Saturday, hoping Paul will be better by then. Quinn mistakenly rents a boogey board, but I refuse to pay when the guy comes to collect money, explaining that Quinn thinks the board is a gift. Lesson learned – never accept anything – nothing is gratis! All of us nibble on chorizo skewers with hot sauce and lime ($1.50). All in all, a great introduction to South America!
The minivan is supposed to arrive today – more to come about the cumbersome shipping process in the next blog…
Tags: Columbia, Panama
hwy1alltheway
Congratulations on making it to Columbia! Hope your rendezvous with the minivan goes as smoothly as possible. Judi and Felix send their hellos too 🙂