Day 27—ATL and The Varsity

So the question we had was: Can you make it to The Varsity with a six hour layover in Atlanta?  Like a lot of folks, we watch Diners, Drive-in, and Dives, and had seen The Varsity profiled, so we thought that sounded like a good destination.  (In hindsight, I wish we had called our friends John and Liz and had them take us to a really good chicken and waffle place). 

Day 27—Taxis & Tocumen

The sun rising over Panama Bay.

Our last day in Panama. 

I slept fairly well, and woke up at 4:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. San Francisco time).  I sipped my last cup of mediocre Panamanian coffee, and then roused the family.  I took my last cold shower!  (EEEP! These are just not that fun, even in hot and muggy Panama). 

Day 26—Evil Car Rental Places and Albrook Mall

Last day in Panama, I tried not to be too giddy, and the fact that I hadn’t slept well since we got to the city helped.  We knew that  the day was going to be trying, because we needed to return the rental car to a specific location. The problem, besides all the one way streets in Panama, is that the address provided cannot be found by google maps, nor any other mapping programs available. So I had it narrowed down to a couple of streets, and I had studied the google maps for which direction the streets went, and I had written out a detailed map, but I knew how it was going to be, and I wasn’t looking forward to this challenge. 

(Our plan B was to stop a taxi, and pay them to lead us to the address).

Day 25—The Caribbean and Portobelo

Since this was the last day we had the rental car, we decided that this was the day that we needed to drive to the other side of Panama.  From the city, if you don’t make a wrong turn, it is about 45 minutes to the turn off for Portobello at Sabinitas,  and another 45 minutes to the town of Portobelo.  Easy peasy. 

Day 24—Back to Panama City

Panama City, Panama

Honestly, I thought this day would be full of interesting and funny stories of trying to find our way through the city, but I guess the third time is a charm.  Let me tell you, coming across the correct bridge into the city helps, and then just being able to recognize landmarks really helps.  It was a very successful trip to the apartment. 

Sean and I high-fived when we spotted Einstein’s head because we knew exactly where we were. 

We didn’t arrive in the city until almost 4 pm because we had taken our time packing up the villa and doing laundry (and of course we stopped at the mall for lunch again—No I did NOT eat at TACO BELL!)

Really, I swear. 

 I ate a chicken sandwich at Burger King.

Day 23—Paranoia & Santa Clara Beach

We woke up to a beautiful, cloud free day; perfect weather to go the beach.

Sean decided to go out and grab some batteries for my camera and some cash.  Emma, the teen, slept peacefully in the air-conditioned dark.  So I was reading my book, when I started hearing firecrackers: pop.pop.popopopop.  They were really close, closer than I’ve heard before.  But,  I didn’t think much about it. Then I hear a few more pops.  Silence.  And then a few more pops.  They seemed to be getting closer. 

Then all of sudden my brain said, “What if those aren’t fire-crackers? What if some crazed lunatic is systematically bursting into each villa, and killing everyone inside!? Maybe that is the sound of GUNFIRE!!!!” (What? It could happen.) So I decide I better check and see that the villa door is locked, because really? I don’t want to be a sitting duck.  So I jump off the couch, and run to the door.  I reach out and turn the lock (which was NOT LOCKED), and just as I do, someone is turning the knob from the outside.  I freak!  My heart starts to pound like crazy.

Day 22—“ No hay piscina durante una semana.”

Another typical rainy season day:  Overcast, heavy dark clouds on the horizon, the rumbling of a distant thunderstorm…and hot and muggy.

We headed out to have lunch because Sean has found this restaurant that serves good sausages (i.e. brats). I decided I was game, and as usual, we drag Emma kicking and screaming.  So we finally find the place, and I have to confess, it was too much of a dive for me.  I was like, “This is the Place?” and then Emma starts in (because to the restaurant’s credit it was packed with cars in front).  “I’m not going here! I can’t eat in front of people!There are too many people here!” Oh my god, she is so weird (really she’s not, she’s just 13, and incredibly self-conscious).  So after a minute or two of debating, we ended up going to... I will give everyone a second or two to vote on where we ended up eating…