Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“relax,” said the [panamanian],
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!
- Eagles: Hotel California

we arrived at the regional airport, albrook aeropuerto, around 5:30am to an almost empty lounge. there are two airlines that fly out of this very basic airport. at one point, a passenger was carrying a rooster in a box that was crowing very loudly. the lounge area filled up with all sorts of characters. three columbian backpackers, two kids from harvard, a kuna yala woman with an extreme albino baby, a group of friends heading to san blas, and various other locals and travelers.

after waiting in the lounge for a while, we went through a security screening that was a joke. they told john to throw away his coffee but completely overlooked my water bottle on the outside of my backpack. i don’t think anyone was looking at the monitor when the bags went through. good thing since i was carrying my concealed weapon. j/k

we sat in another lounge area with a tv playing some movie dubbed in spanish. we waited and waited. then we moved to another waiting area with another tv where we waited and waited. at one point, the albino baby was hungry so the kuna yala woman opened her dress and breast feed him right there. a while later, a man with a guitar started playing and singing quietly to the baby in hopes of calming him down.

after about five hours, we grew restless. where the hell was the plane? i know of the phenomenon where you wait and wait in a foreign country cause everything isn’t held completely accountable like in the states. so i was patient, but when the natives get restless, that’s when i take notice.

it had been raining outside ever since we arrived at the airport, and it turned out that there was a storm between panama city and san blas. they were waiting to see if it would weaken and that’s why we were waiting forever. it was raining in san blas as well but not as hard. crap. more freaking rain.

after waiting almost six hours in the lounge, we called it quits. they were probably going to cancel the flight anyways, and we have had it with trying to make this trip work. we are not going to fly to an island and sit with more rain. we contacted american airlines only to hear the price tag to fly out of panama city back to nyc was going to be around 450 dollars each.

we were unable to receive a refund for the flight from the airport, so we had to travel back to the agency and have them refund it there. yenny, the girl who helped book the trip, was very apologetic and offered her mobile number in case we needed anything else while we stayed in panama city. first, she said she couldn’t refund the credit cards. Instead, she was going to write a check and we had to run to the bank before it closed, which was in 30 minutes. then her manager was going to be able to refund the credit cards but we were going to be charged 3% for the transaction. that’s probably where i had enough. what kind of mom and pop place is this?! it is a refund. we aren’t buying anything. what is the 3% for? what is going on? all of sudden, the 3% wasn’t going to happen. ok, good. maybe it was a communication misunderstanding.

anyways, we got the refund and had yenny book a room close to the agency at a very nice hotel with an adjoining casino. the price was a little high and john wanted to book one night. however, i insisted we book two nights cause of the way the trip was working out, the city was having a shortage of rooms available, and the agency was closed tomorrow. if we couldn’t find our way back tomorrow, then we would be stuck without a place to stay. while we were sitting there, the music video of the eagles’ song hotel california started playing, which fit the situation perfectly. we were never leaving panama city. even the roads out of panama had been flooded, destroyed due to mudslides, or erosion. can’t get a flight, can’t drive out, can’t do anything except stay in the city with the rain. the four more days of panama city weighed on my shoulders and depressed me further. what the hell are we going to do?

after grabbing some much needed food at mcdonalds (again), we checked into the continental hotel, bought an internet card, and started looking for ways out of this country. we checked how many frequently flier miles it would take to buy a new ticket out. 60k. no thanks. we checked other airlines, and all of them had the price tag around 450 dollars.

so, john and i went to the bar to discuss. over a couple beers, we decided to flip for it. heads we head home, tails we stay. the coin landed on heads. i was still on the fence about spending so much money to escape panama. i guess i was being optimistic about having a fun adventure in panama, but after thinking it through, there was nothing to do, and i would probably spend more than 450 trying to find an adventure. so, john contacted american airlines from the business center.

our luck turned. the lady found a flight that had a 25 dollar difference than what we paid, and with the change fee, the new ticket to leave panama city tomorrow was 175 dollars! john must have repeated nov. 30, are you sure, nov 30, 2008 to nyc from panama city, are sure, a thousand times. it was too good to be true. we had found our way out and it was cheap.

after we confirmed the plans and made sure everything was in order, we headed back to the room. once we got off the elevator and onto our floor, we started dancing and singing in the hall, we’re leaving, we’re leaving! we were so happy and relieved. the past couple of days has been so stressful with one let down after another.

what a relief! so, the only thing i wanted to do in panama city was go to the hard rock cafe to grab some souvenirs and dinner. on the way there, the cab blew a flat tire. poor guy had to get out in the rain and change the tire, which he did pretty quickly. despite the crap situation for the driver, it was comical how almost every transportation attempt has some sort of delay or issue. after the tire was fixed, we made our way to hard rock cafe but not before getting stuck in some serious traffic.

panama city has a poor public transit system which encourages everyone to drive their car. this in turn causes very poor traffic conditions. panama city has a lot of potential but i can’t see how the current infrastructure will support any additional growth.

the hard rock cafe was part of the multicentro plaza, basically a mall. just like any central america capital, if you have seen one hard rock cafe, you have seen them all. the food was decent and it stopped raining by the time we finished.

we made it back to the hotel, and i’m sitting on the bed waiting for the technician to come fix the internet. i already called twice. i guess i will have to go to the business center to use the internet. it is so frustrating having to keep pushing people and pushing people to do things. he finally did arrive with a wireless booster device.

as part of the check in process, we were given two 5 dollar match coupons for the casino. after i post this, i’m heading to the casino to test my luck at blackjack and maybe some slot machines.