Crazy Driving in Panama City

Last night we stayed at Country Inn and Suites but we had to return the car to the airport by noon today so I thought I booked the Crown Plaza at the airport.  We headed out at 9:30 – Bruce didn’t want to feel panicked if we happened to get lost.  And of course on our first attempt at leaving the hotel we were lost.  So we backtracked to the hotel and started again.  This time we did great.  We drove by the interesting cork screw building.  It looks like something from a Leggo set.   We made it all the way to the hotel without another problem until I tried to check in.  So happens there are two Crown Plazas and I booked the one in Panama City.  Luckily the receptionist spoke really good English.  She called the other hotel and cancelled that reservation.  I had to use the lobby computer to book this hotel so I would get better rates.  By now it’s 11:00.  Our rooms were available so we brought our luggage upstairs then headed out to return the car.  The airport was across the street so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?  Well we were lost again, had to backtrack to the hotel, I ran in and asked for directions and we were off again.  We made it to the car rental place at 11:50 – we had 10 minutes to spare.  What an ordeal.  All went well and the hotel shuttle took us back to the Crown Plaza.

We all wanted coffee so we hopped a cab to the metromall.  Dunkin Donuts.  It was great.  The Metromall is the largest mall I have ever been in. They were setting up for Halloween.  I was surprised to see that they celebrate Halloween in Panama.    After coffee we walked around then took a hair raising cab ride back to the hotel.

I didn’t mention that in the midst of all this I put my camera down in the lobby of the hotel.  I never missed it but they found it and I was able to get it back without ever going into panic mode.  We sat around the lobby for awhile.  You can see the mountains in the background. Late afternoon was nap time and time to reconfigure our luggage for travel tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was in the hotel restaurant.  The food was good, although not as good as last night.  What was most memorable about our dinner tonight was the oddity of our waiter.  “Was he here or wasn’t he” that is the question.  He continually disappeared, forgot to bring us bread, our food order was taking a very long time and at one point another waiter pointed at us and said go serve them.  Mind you, it appeared we were his only table.  When he came to our table he kept looking over his shoulder as though the police were after him.  Then he disappeared completely.  The manager ended up being our server so I can only surmise that our waiter got the boot.  It was by far the worst service we have had in all of Panama so we were not surprised when he disappeared.

i started writing this blog earlier today instead staying up until the wee hours of the morning.  Bruce took my picture while I sat in the lobby writing about our restaurant experience.

We decided to hang out at the hotel, grabbed a table in the restaurant and proceeded to play another game of set back since this was our last night in Panama.  Score 18 – 13 girls.Linda preparing to play with bug spray in hand.  She had a tough time with the noseeums – they really did a number on her.

I’m feeling a little blue tonight having to leave this beautiful country. But homeward bound we go and I look forward to seeing friends and family!