i don’t think i could have planned this trip to happen at a better time.  right in the midst of resigning from Huron and joining deloitte, i travel to panama.  right when the shit hits the fan on one of my projects, i travel to panama.  the short layover in miami was spent on the phone and emailing colleagues who were in the trenches of the project trying to figure out what needed to be done.

we left sunny miami and headed south toward panama. as we approached, the cloud cover was so low that it took forever to see land. once the cloud cover broke, we were coming about above the pacific ocean. sitting in the pacific ocean were numerous cargo ships awaiting passage through the canal. panama city came into view and the city has some serious skyscrapers and reminded me of the time when we flew into hong kong and seeing all the skyscrapers next to the water with mountains in the background. upon landing everyone clapped and then people started cheering.

so, it’s raining in panama. really raining. this isn’t a tropical shower. this is a storm. the drive through the city was interesting. however, if you have been to one central america capital, you have been to them all. everything looks run down even the skyscrapers have some wear on them. maybe it was the weather that made everything look so bleak.

we checked into the hotel, which was a nice enough hotel. it has a rooftop pool of which we will not set foot on due to the weather. the room has two beds, a/c and hot water. we dropped our stuff and decided to head out to the causeway which is three islands joined together by a man-made road built from the rocks excavated from the panama canal. the causeway has many restaurant and bars, but due to the weather, no one was around. we could see the lights of the city and of the numerous cargo ships sitting in the ocean, which would make for some great pictures but the low cloud cover blocked everything.

over dinner, we decided that we didn’t want to stay in panama if it was going to rain the entire time. we found an internet place near the restaurant and spent the next 30 minutes tolerating a super slow computer. the internet was quick but the computer was horrible. it was so bad that you could have made a sandwich before it did something. after many minutes, we discovered rain everyday in panama city. crap.

after we left and were picked up by the cab was when we realized i left the guide book at the computer. we ran back and it wasn’t there. f*&k. i felt stranded without it, but the idea of leaving the rain and panama kept my mood in good spirits and maybe losing the book is a sign. yea, i figured out what the sign was later when i lost my f*&king camera. ARGH!! i haven’t been feeling well all day. kind of out of it. i never lose stuff. two things within an hour of each other. i. want. to. scream. and break something. but i can’t. i am currently writing this post while drinking my pain away with cerveza panama. it is ok beer. tastes like pabst blue ribbon.

so, i lost my camera. i can’t believe it. all the pictures are on panda, but i lost the camera. i lost the pictures of the cargo ships in the ocean, the pics of panama city, and whatever else i was taking to catalog the trip. i am so MAD at myself. i don’t know where i lost it but i lost it. oh well, i wanted to buy a new camera anyways. i plan on checking out some cameras tomorrow. i can’t travel without a camera!

anyways, we checked flights to belize, guatamala, and other locations only to discover that it would cost between 250 and 400 to jump out of the country. that crushed my spirit. we are stuck in this rainy country that has taken my guide book and camera. only up from here, right?

well, it just so happened to be so. i checked the weather reports of bocas del toro, a series of islands on the Caribbean side, and it is going to be mostly sunny the entire time. i am so relieved that we have options to escape the rain. i am not a quitter and i am not going to leave the country due to some setbacks. if it was going to rain all over the country, then i would buy a big umbrella. whatever. i’m here. let’s check out panama.

oh, one more thing. it is shocking how few people speak english. we are stumbling through the little spanish we know in order to communicate. when i lost the camera, i asked them about a lost and found only to see their blank stares of que? camera, cam-er-a … performing the motion of taking a picture. it takes more effort but as you know, they couldn’t help me. however our cab driver was great. he did everything he could to translate and look for the camera. he is the only one we have met who tries to communicate.

anyways, i’m tired and have a scratchy throat so i’m headed off to bed. bad things happen in threes. i hope the rain counts as one, the book as two, and the camera as three. shit, scratchy throat can be four. only good times from here on out, right? that’s what i’m looking forward to.