Arrival in Panama
“What led us to Panama?” you might ask. Jim’s first job at Reedley College was coordinator of a program that brought Central American/Caribbean/Mexican youth to study in Reedley. He even had classes with these students when he was a student at RC. Every three years alumni have a reunion. This year it’s in Panama. In 2010 they held it in Reedley — the only time it’s been in the U.S. This is our first time attending a reunion outside of the U.S.
An alumnus from 1992-94, Edison, picked us up from the airport and dropped us off at the hotel, which is in the heart of the city. It’s very nice to have a friend greet and welcome you to a new country.
As you might imagine, we didn’t sleep much on the flight or at all over night. While it’s not a crazy long flight, our long layover in LA made it seem like much more. We were pretty beat. After checking in, we got a snack and took a long nap. 😴
First impressions: Panama City is large, sprawling, and modern. We are guessing the canal has a lot to do with its growth and development. There are so many huge buildings, many of which are residential. From the air one really gets a feel for the size. We got a great view, but no pics, of the city as we flew in. We also got a glimpse of the canal and Pacific locks, which is/are just outside of town.
After our nap, we took a shower and decided to take a walk around town and find a place to eat. Actually, Jim found a place online that we wanted to try and so we started heading that direction. We did end up finding it. It’s a beautiful little restaurant at the end of a dead end street called Delrio Habanero. It’s a Cuban themed restaurant, but they also have Panamanian dishes.
We had Cuban style ceviche, a rib eye steak, and roasted pork — Cuban rice and beans, fried plantains, yuca, and veggies. Yes! It was as good as it looks — maybe better.
It started raining after dinner, which is normal because it’s the rainy season. It rained pretty hard as we walked back to the hotel for about a half a mile. But of course it’s a warm rain and we had an umbrella.
We passed several casinos and decided to go into one and “just take a look.” The minimum bets on the roulette table were only one dollar so we each decided to play $40. As you can imagine we lost all our money. But we can say we’ve gambled in another country now.
After shaking off the jet lag and sleepiness, we are looking forward to a great trip. We meet up with the reunion group tomorrow at 7 o’clock in the morning so we decided to just relax in our room and get a good night sleep.
¡Hasta mañana!
Comments
Post a Comment