Panamanian Morning Calls

Panama City marked the end of another educational journey with students to Latin America or Europe. And the majority of students agreed that Panama City outdueled Bocas del Toro with engaging explorations of Casco Antiguo, interactions with more Panamanians, and the impressive manmade Panama Canal.

Is Rum A Souvenir?

Without doubt, the primary goal of this visit to Costa Rica and Panama was a positive experience with the Spanish language and culture of Central America. A secondary goal, and definitely a personal one, was scoring liquid souvenir. That elixir would be Nicaraguan Flor de Caña rum. When he lived and volunteered as a JVC music teacher in the hills south of the El Salvador border, Gonzo introduced Nadine and I to that sweet rum when we visited him briefly over our honeymoon.

Years later, Scuba Steve continued our indoctrination when he would travel to Guatemala and share his new imported bottles on his return to the United States.

Since then, anytime a bottle is available for purchase, I buy one . . . or two, maybe three if there’s a party.

Fortunately The Causeway connects mainland Panamá with a former U.S. military base, and there sat a duty free store. I snuck in, ok, not really sneaking in as much as just walking in as any adult can, and appraised their rum selection. Flor de Caña expanded their repertoire of rums to include 4, 5, 7, 12, 18, and 25 year aged rum, thus this would be my singular acquisition. So if you find yourself in my neck of the woods, I’d be more than willing to share a “traigo” with you.

People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home

How Do You Like Panama City’s Flow

The world is a small place. Leaving coastal Panamá City for the Panama Canal in the interior, we stopped at a Panamanian handicraft shop giving students another opportunity to navigate the Panamanian free market in Spanish.

Walking around the various Panamanian shops, another group of high school students lingered about. So as a self proclaimed friendly Texan, I asked them where they were from. Come to find out, they were also from the great state of Texas. Midland Christian High School to be exact. Odessa/Midland is the Minneapolis/St. Paul of West Texas. So the lesson here, Texas is better than New Mexico.

Back in 1914, Americans finished a project that the French started and failed to complete due to a lack of quality cheese and escargots, the Panama Canal. The one place that I was really excited to see on this trip was the Panama Canal. This canal connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea. The waterway makes transport routes much more timely and efficient for shipping companies.

This process was fascinating. Different chambers had been built into the canal. One would fill with water allowing ships to slowly move forward. Then the locks would open and the ship would move to the next interlocking water chamber. The sheet size of the ships and the number of containers they carried impressed us all. Their dimensions would even make Pepper’s nose look small. It also demonstrates mankind’s ingenuity and ability to accomplish major successes, as long as you protect yourself from mosquitoes and malaria. Not surprising, the two ships passing through were Chinese. After one of the students yelled “Nǐ hǎo!”, one of the sailors looked up and waived.

Panamanian Shopping

Another impressive man-made structure dedicated to separating money from patrons was Albrook Mall. Panamá City is reputedly known as a shopping for folks in Central America. This was by far the biggest mall that I had ever seen measuring a mile in length. And this Tuesday afternoon, not a weekend, it was full. A Peace Corps volunteer chatted with me for a while. Flaco Bob mentioned that it’s completely full at Christmas time and access to some stores is impossible.

Good Early, Early Morning

The return flight was scheduled at 7:20 a.m. meaning we had to leave our hotel at 4:30. Everyone was encouraged to be up around by 4:00. Unbeknown to anyone, wake up call started at 3:00 a.m. Mine arrived at 2:55 a.m. Once the first call rang, phones began ringing in all the rooms close to me. Once again, our guide set up early wake up calls without letting us teachers know.