the motherland will have to wait

in this crazy economy, who in their right mind would ever voluntary choose a three month leave of absence? that would be me. especially when someone(like me) works for a company like virgin america who lets their employees keep full flight benefits.

so what does a person do with a blank boarding pass? he gets scared, lands a job at a restaurant and forfeits the gypsy lifestyle.
ok, not quite entirely. did i mention i'm in panama?

panama city, panama is a trip! pun unintended. separated by six hours of flight time, panama originally was merely going serve as our launch pad to the long awaited return to the motherland aka cuba. long story short: it didn't quite happen like that due to the complicated mess of the us embargo. but thanks to the helpful tips of jesus -the friendly copa ticket agent- i will definitely be giving it another go in the near future.
but in the meantime, with no plans, no reservations, and with quite an empty working knowledge of panama, what does one do? he smiles a hails a cab.

save the headache and do yourself a favor, grab a taxi. the cab scene didn't seem like it was dominated by bureaucratic bullshit like in bigger airports. these panamanian cabs come in different size and colors. you'll prob get hit up for a ride as soon as you walk past the terminal so poker faces on people and let the haggling begin.

the cab driver charged us $18 for both my buddy phillip and i. it took us about 40-60 minutes to get to the city from PTY airport. traffic was miserable. with all of the pretty shiny skyscrapers, you would think that panama city would buy into the concept of infrastructure; nope.

having an unlocked smartphone comes to be super handy in times like these. while in traffic, i looked up hostels and hotels nearby. we found some but all were booked so the cab driver brought us to hotel terra nova, which in panama translates into prostitute central.
we paid the cab, grabbed our room key, and just like that we were in the heart of it.

the night scene is pretty lively, nothing crazy. just your typical clubs on one side of the street, gentlemen's club on the other, a schwerma shack in the middle, and a pub at the end of it. i hit that schwerma shack hard. then went to that pub called the londoner and had some of the local brew. after, we tried walking into this locals looking club/bar called "ashe" but the tall black panamanian demanded money. he did let us chill in their patio and have a few more brews. in the midst of it all, a parade of scantily cladded women walked in and out of the classy establishment, with customers hand in hand. kinda sad to watch but it is the oldest profession in the world. business was good

in between then and now, we ditched the hotel for a hostel a few blocks away. and now perched up on top of my bunkbed i lay awake with my faithfull ipad while phillip snores his hangover away. what can i say about panama city? i can't say much honestly. from the little i've seen i feel like this place has alot to say. there are so many different shades of skin, slant of eyes, width of hips, that really has me wondering how they all came to be here. but with all those variances, the panamanian people are warm, welcoming, and friendly, which is why i'll be coming back again.