Farewell, Till We Meet Again
Day 100
We were up and had the car packed up by 9am today after a quick breakfast. It was tough to leave Santa Clara but I was excited about the prospect of figuring out the next phase of our trip. Unfortunately all the emails I had received back from ship captains or a hostel that helps organize sailings have been negative. No boats till the seas calm in late March and stories of boats capsizing were not instilling me with much confidence. Anyway that would be something we would figure out in the coming days. Before that we needed to get the parents back to Panama City as they fly home early tomorrow morning.
The drive back on the Panamericana was easy and driving into Panama City I felt like I knew the exact way to where we wanted to go. No wrong turns and no u-turns, we easily found our way to the city centre. Of course I scarred Norm a few times but that usual meant I was just driving like the locals. Try to blend in right? We decided for this night we should stay in the centre as its near all the restaurants and amenities. After some searching we found the Hotel Marabella, an OK place with clean rooms in a great location. At $66/night it was way over our budget so as Norm and Vikki went to shop for cheap liquor and souvenirs we headed out to find a hostel for the rest of our time in Panama City.
Panama City is always hot but it seemed to somehow feel even hotter now than when we were here before. The temperature pushed over 35 Celsius and the humidity was oppressive. A short walk from the Marabella Jordana and I found the Voyager Hostel on trendy Via Argentina. $20/night and a/c sold us right there and we reserved a room for the morning. We walked back to the hotel and found Norm and Vikki cooling off in their room. We had a quick drink and snack and talked about where to go for dinner. In the end we decided to finish the trip where we started and walked back to the Spanish restaurant from our first night.
Dinner was once again great. The restaurant has a great atmosphere with live music, it was a good last dinner with the parents. After dinner we talked about going for drinks but with a 6am taxi coming to pickup Norm and Vikki it wasn’t going to be a late night. Before we headed to bed though there was one thing I wanted to do and thought they may be interested in. A casino! Casino’s are all over Panama city and some are quite large places where you even get free drinks while you play. Just like Vegas baby! We entered the Wyndam Grand Casino and I was shocked at the size of it, not exactly Vegas but large nonetheless. Slots, tables of all kinds and even sport betting, it was all here. I sat at a slot machine called “Sea Monkeys” and deposited $5. I figured I could afford to lose that, at least I would get my free drink. First pull and I win $8!! That may not sound like a lot to you but we can buy a nice dinner for that here. OK, let’s try this again. Next play, over $9 more! I never have any luck gambling, this was great, over $18 won in less than 1 minute. And with that I cashed out, I said beforehand that if I win anything no way I’m playing more. I didn’t even have time to get my free drink. Vikki decided to have a go at a slot machine which was very short lived and with the gambling out of our systems we returned to our hotel and I thought finally our luck in Panama was beginning to change. $18.20 won tonight, almost pays for our room tomorrow.
Back at the hotel we sat in Norm and Vikki’s room and drank one last beer and glass of wine. We talked about how great a trip it had been and then said our tearful goodbyes . In the end everything went better than I imagined and I think everyone had a good time. We really enjoyed showing Norm and Vikki a little of what its like to live our life right now and I think they enjoyed taking part in our adventure for 2 weeks. This was such a nice treat to be able to see family from home on a long-term trip. It was tough to believe that our time together was up and tougher to once again say bye to each other.
Tags: Panama
Michael Coroneos
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