Today I am back in the city, again. I am getting sick of this city ... it's really not so fun to be here alone. Since my last update, I spent the afternoon bumming around the city with Tyler. We went to the Mercado Marisco to look at the massive quantities of fish and shellfish coming in for sale and had lunch of sea bass. Tyler bought a bunch of clothes for really cheap, and we had a nice dinner on The Causeway, which is a big bridge that extends out next to the canal to some islands where there are lots of shops and restaurants. It´s very 'yay-yay' -- full of rich city people. I had a hamburger and they actually had mustard, and it was sublime. You can see the Puente de las Americas, the big lighted-up bridge over the canal, and the ships lining up to enter the canal, so that was pretty cool.
Tyler left early the next morning (yesterday), and I headed out for Caleb's house soon after. To get there (just to give an idea of how everything is complicated), I took a taxi from the hotel to the bus terminal for $1.50. Then I got on the Panama-Colon bus, and asked the driver to stop at the Entrada de Limon. That's about a two-hour ride on a school bus, squeezed between the window and a fat lady on a seat meant for one and a half children. (The other aisle of seats is slightly wider, so three people squeeze into those). At one point, both the gorda next to me and I fell asleep, and when I woke up our touching legs were completely stuck together with sweat. My sweat of course, because Panamanians do not sweat. Hilarious. And disgusting. So that bus ride was $1.40. They let me off on the side of the highway, I run across praying for my life, and luckily there was a taxi waiting there so that I didn´t have to hitchhike with a cop again ... so the taxi took me to Caleb's house for another $1.
We then immediately turned around and got back on another bus from his town to Colon, the third largest city in Panama. It is a shithole. It's at the Caribbean end of the canal, and the free trade zone is there, a nicer area fenced off from the rest of the city. We had to show our American passports to get in. It's bizarre ... somewhat nice area, with broad streets and intact sidewalks, except lots of construction going on. It's just store after store with nice clothes and shoes in the windows, but they only sell wholesale. It was a big tease! We bought some liquor for very cheap and then headed back to the real city. It was mostly built by the US so the streets are actually in a grid, but dude is it rundown. Just squalor. We hit a pizza joint, had some incredible 40-cent ice cream, and got the hell out of there. Very interesting to see, but one afternoon was quite enough.
Then this morning, back on the bus to the city again. Caleb has a Peace Corps conference here for the next days, so I am on my own. I got off the bus and walked to this hostel where I guess I'm going to stay tonight because it pains me to spend $20 on a hotel room for just myself, but the hostel is not overly nice. I didn't even want to leave my stuff there for the day, so I am schlepping around my backpack ... and sweating into it. My plan is to spend a few hours here at this internet cafe, then make reservations for tomorrow to stay on Taboga island, an hour ferry ride from here to a nice carless island with good beaches and a nice pueblo, then catch a movie.
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