OCTOBER 9-10, 2013: FIRST DAYS IN PANAMA

FIRST DAYS IN PANAMA

OCTOBER 9-10, 2013

We arrived safe and sound in Panama, made it through security 

and found our hired ride to the hotel.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the hotel the price that they wanted to charge us was more than Vernon had understood.  They consider all children over 13 to be an adult so that increased the number of adults in the room and they wanted to charge $50 extra per room per night!  That adds up to a lot of money!!!!  We did some investigating and looked at 2 other hotels.

We went to option #2 but then found out that they were going to charge more once they saw us.  We then took our caravan of 10 people and 10 suitcases over to option #3.  The Double Tree Inn was close by that was less expensive and included our breakfast in their price!  We are in a more family friendly situation and though we don't have a kitchnette, we do have a fridge so we are eating lots of sandwiches!

The kids were troopers as they waited and waited.  Two plus hours later, 

we were finally settled into our new hotel!  After we were settled in our new hotel, Vernon, Rebecca and I set out walking to find a grocery store to secure some food for the family.  We were successful in our mission!

As we walked the 2 blocks to the new hotel, all 10 of us pulling our suitcases behind us, it reminded me of our "move" in China when we walked down the block and around the corner all pulling suitcases with all of our belongings for 6 months.  Some great adventures!

Patient kids!

All of our luggage

View out the hotel lobby window

 EXPLORING ADVENTURE #1

Taking the bus to the mall and bus terminal

Vernon has to finish preparing his class for tomorrow, Friday, so he encouraged me to go out exploring with the older kids.  

We started walking down the road and tried to get on a bus, but we didn't have the right ticket.  No one spoke English and I don't speak any functional Spanish.

We tried a second bus and there was a lady on the bus who spoke English and she told us that we had to purchase a bus ticket ahead of time and put money on it and we would have to find a store that had the bus symbol on it that sold tickets.  Well, we learned something.

Just a minute later, as we were walking down the road, the bus pulled up and opened his door.  The lady told me that the bus driver said he would take us to the terminal to purchase a ticket.  That was very nice!!!

We found the ticket booth and "luckily" (which I put in quotes because it is never luck -- always blessings from the Lord) there was a  maintanence worker right there who spoke English and explained what I needed.

It seems harder here to communicate than anywhere else I have traveled -- even China.  We only had to purchase one ticket for $2 and then put $18 credit on the ticket and it can be swiped for each person in the family as we get on the bus.

The bus terminal is adjacent to an enormous mall!!  It is a maze of "halls" and we walked up and back but never saw the same thing twice!  There are at least 2 large food courts!  It was interesting.

A large, cute panda at the mall

When we arrived back to the hotel, Vernon was ready and he and I walked 

across the street to a church called "Iglesia de Carmen."   After our visit there, we walked and found another grocery store, different from the one we found our first night here.  It is a little more of a local type store and prices are a little lower.