We always have trouble finding our hostel the night we arrive in a new country. This time we decided to take a taxi straight to the hostel becase of Steve´s broken foot and because it was so late. We figured that would guarantee we wouldn´t get lost; but that meant we had to take a taxi. If you´ve read this blog before you`ll know that I have no love of taxi drivers. We have had more problems with taxi drivers over the years than all other things combined. Except getting lost, but that is just an expected thing now that we don`t count that as a problem anymore. So we got a taxi and the dude was a jerk, but we were dropped at the door of the hostel.
Great! Except that the rooms weren´t´. There are many reasons why that place was not good for us but that is not the point of this this story. The gist is that we found ourselves back on the street with a pathetic map and a general idea of where there might be a room. And at this point it was 10 pm.
Kharma must have been on our side because we went the correct direction the first time and only had to ask for directions twice before we found hostel Cosco. The room is much better and we have a nice balcony. It gives us a good view of who is making all the noice until 2am. (I wish I could recorde how loud it is here) Steve swears he heard a knife fight last night. No hot water though. That´s actually OK becuase its freakin hot here and there is no air conditioning. All you people that were envying us still wish you were here?
(I have photos but can´t get them to download from my phone.)
So we got up on Saturday morning with no plans for our day. It is always good to get a lay of the land so we decided to go to the top of cerro Ancar (cerro means hill) and then on to the Panama Canal. The cerro looked close-ish on the map and the bus station to the canal was near there so we struck out on seven healthy feet and one walking cast and a cane.
Yes, we went the wrong way. Yes, we had to backtrack a lot. And yes, we were the only fools on the path we chose to take. Except some Jehovah´s Witnesses that gave us a tract. We must have looked pretty pathetic.
We made it to the top but we had promosed ourselves we would take a taxi back down in order to find the strenght to keep going. Again, we were fools. The taxis at the top are only there for the people they took up. We had to hike back down.
One good thing about that adventure was that we did realize that the city was quite spread out and bisected by major roads. We would not be able to walk to the bus station we needed to get to and we didn´t see any rhyme or reason with the city busses. That meant another taxi.
I hailed one and asked how much. Always ask before you get in. $5 he said. That seemed reasonable. I struck up a conversation with the driver and he seemed friendly. Hmmm...things seemed to be going well. Would my opinion of cab drivers be shattered? No! He dropped us off at a large shopping mall. (fairly normal that bus stations in large cities are connected to malls) as far from the terminal as you could get! Even with Steve in his cast. We later saw tat that he could have gotten us to the door of the terminal but ´he didnt want to deal with traffic. Another long hike. Taxi drivers!
So we caught the chicken bus to Miraflores and walked (darn we were getting tired) to the Panama Canal visitor center. It had a very nice museum, an OK 10 minute movie, and a neat observation deck. We got to see two huge container ships go through. There was a cruise ship also getting ready to go through the locks but the center was closing so we had to go. Now we have seen the Panama Canal. Kinda like the pyramids, too much hype left us feeling underwhelmed. It was cool, but not awesome.
We were so tired and I was really worried about Steve´s foot by this point so we decided to get a taxi back, damn the cost. But another taxi driver to deal with!
We figured it would be about $20 so when he said $12 I didn´t even try to bargain. So far so good. Then he did a shortcut that helped us avoid a long line of traffic. Yes! Then he dropped us off at the door of our hostel. Whoa! I might have to change my attitude about taxi drivers based on this guy. I´ll keep you posted.
Great! Except that the rooms weren´t´. There are many reasons why that place was not good for us but that is not the point of this this story. The gist is that we found ourselves back on the street with a pathetic map and a general idea of where there might be a room. And at this point it was 10 pm.
Kharma must have been on our side because we went the correct direction the first time and only had to ask for directions twice before we found hostel Cosco. The room is much better and we have a nice balcony. It gives us a good view of who is making all the noice until 2am. (I wish I could recorde how loud it is here) Steve swears he heard a knife fight last night. No hot water though. That´s actually OK becuase its freakin hot here and there is no air conditioning. All you people that were envying us still wish you were here?
(I have photos but can´t get them to download from my phone.)
So we got up on Saturday morning with no plans for our day. It is always good to get a lay of the land so we decided to go to the top of cerro Ancar (cerro means hill) and then on to the Panama Canal. The cerro looked close-ish on the map and the bus station to the canal was near there so we struck out on seven healthy feet and one walking cast and a cane.
Yes, we went the wrong way. Yes, we had to backtrack a lot. And yes, we were the only fools on the path we chose to take. Except some Jehovah´s Witnesses that gave us a tract. We must have looked pretty pathetic.
One good thing about that adventure was that we did realize that the city was quite spread out and bisected by major roads. We would not be able to walk to the bus station we needed to get to and we didn´t see any rhyme or reason with the city busses. That meant another taxi.
I hailed one and asked how much. Always ask before you get in. $5 he said. That seemed reasonable. I struck up a conversation with the driver and he seemed friendly. Hmmm...things seemed to be going well. Would my opinion of cab drivers be shattered? No! He dropped us off at a large shopping mall. (fairly normal that bus stations in large cities are connected to malls) as far from the terminal as you could get! Even with Steve in his cast. We later saw tat that he could have gotten us to the door of the terminal but ´he didnt want to deal with traffic. Another long hike. Taxi drivers!
So we caught the chicken bus to Miraflores and walked (darn we were getting tired) to the Panama Canal visitor center. It had a very nice museum, an OK 10 minute movie, and a neat observation deck. We got to see two huge container ships go through. There was a cruise ship also getting ready to go through the locks but the center was closing so we had to go. Now we have seen the Panama Canal. Kinda like the pyramids, too much hype left us feeling underwhelmed. It was cool, but not awesome.
We were so tired and I was really worried about Steve´s foot by this point so we decided to get a taxi back, damn the cost. But another taxi driver to deal with!
We figured it would be about $20 so when he said $12 I didn´t even try to bargain. So far so good. Then he did a shortcut that helped us avoid a long line of traffic. Yes! Then he dropped us off at the door of our hostel. Whoa! I might have to change my attitude about taxi drivers based on this guy. I´ll keep you posted.
Comments
Asher was really wondering how things were going with you and what you guys are doing. I told him I would send him the blog site.
I returned the books to him.
Cora,
Giuliana really misses you! Trixie is doing fine. Played with her today.
Trixie put a bunch of seeds in her pouches and then tried to get in her tube we thought she was going to get stuck! but she managed to wiggle her way thru.
Love and Hugs!
G