Ms. D: Return to South America and Visiting Panama City

When I left Toronto Friday morning, it was -22°C. Landing in Panama City, Panama after Christmas holidays was a shock… 36°C. However, after experiencing the ice storm and frigid temperatures, I was more than ready to escape winter and return to my South American haven. Roberto was still in Canada for a few days visiting his parents in Perth, Ontario, enjoying an overnight temperature of -36°C.

When I landed in Pamana City, I went straight to Hostel Siriri, where I had a reservation in an all-female dorm room. However, when I arrived, they regretfully informed me they had so many men come in, they allowed some of them into the women’s dorm. So my all-female dorm room ended up being me, one other girl, and 10 men. I was completely fine with it since that way I was able to make a few more friends, rather than being in a big room almost all alone. The guy at the hostel felt so bad they gave me a discounted rate, and a free towel rental for swimming!

I immediately jumped into the pool, a stark contrast from waking up in the morning in the freezing winter chill. I didn’t want to spend all of my time pool side though, tempting as it was, since I had only one night to explore the city before flying back to Colombia.

Panama City, Panama

I met a friend in my hostel room, and convinced him to hop in a cab to see Panama la Vieja, the original Spanish ruins of the city. By the time we arrived, it was dark, so we only checked them out from the cab, and then had him drive us to the old town, where I walked around, and had some good Panama Lager with my new friend from DC.

The new part of Panama City is full of very tall buildings, with hotels and pools, almost giving it a Las Vegas feel. A cab driver told us that as a child he used to swim in the bay, but the city’s rapid development has lead to polluted and un-swimmable waters.

Panama City

Back at the hostel, I made some friends from Belgium, and spent the remainder of the night hanging out with them in and around the pool, drinking rum and smoking hand rolled cigarettes. It was a beautiful way to end the day.

I awoke the next day with an early morning flight to catch to Bogota. Luckily, a guy staying at the hostel had already offered to drive my friend DC and a couple of others to the airport at 5 AM in his awesome hippie van. I assume he is driving cross-continent on a great adventure. I wish I had more details on who exactly he was, but all I am left with is a picture of him and his sweet van. Red shorts, if you are out there reading this, drop me a line when you drive through Medellin!

My ride to the airport.

Now, back to Medellin. For anyone with a 17-hour layover in Panama City, my advice to you is, don’t sleep in the airport. The city has a lot to offer, even if you have only a few hours