Rule #2: Don't Die.

My day began like any typical day in our Central American lives; ending a 1900-0700 shift with customers asking where the water was?! Turns out that all of Panama City’s water system was shut off due to the new metro system construction. I had to quickly make signs saying to use the downstairs bathroom (where we had a simple system to allow for flushing: a huge garbage bin of pool water and a smaller metal bucket for transferring pool water to the back of the toilet when finished) and close the four bathrooms upstairs before the mass of morning bathroom use could fully develop. Luckily, we were fully booked the night before so I had the pleasure of following the early risers around and flushing the toilet with water hiked upstairs in buckets. The pool then became everyone’s shower and I decided to fall asleep for a few hours.

After waking from a nap and R finishing our volunteer day shift, we cleaned ourselves in the pool, put on as many shades of blue as possible (we didn’t want to be mistaken with our northern neighbors… So backwards!) and decided to make our way to the Canada vs Panama futbal game (we allowed for 3.5 hours of travel time, thinking we would be there incredibly early; turns out we needed every minute)!!!

It is important to explain the passion Panama has for its team. Leading up to the event 100’s of Panamanian fans were spending several evenings outside of the Canadians’ hotel making as much ruckus as possible in hopes of making sleep impossible. This included the obvious drums, encouraging the passing cars to honk, revving motors on motorcycles, chanting, and lasers pointed into windows from adjacent buildings, all of which we could see and hear from our hostel. When a Panama game is happening, everyone walking around the city is showing their support wearing their team’s jersey or a red scarf; their futbol is taken seriously and they want to participate in the 2014 World Cup.

After sitting and waiting in traffic for 2.5 hours on a bus we had finally reached the sea of red jerseys and quickly joined the hundreds of fans flowing toward the stadium! We were all first lined up in a narrow line talking and feeling a level of relaxation, albeit moving fairly slowly. This environment quickly changed when more red kept appearing from all directions and the crowd soon realized that we weren’t moving inside the gates quick enough for everyone waiting in line to see kickoff. There was a massive flooding until we were all standing right on top of each other so close that hands needed to be kept in the air so no one would catch an elbow to the face. People began to chant “cuando cuando” and use the mass of people gathered to put pressure on the gates. One fan even tried to jump the fence. Anxiety and desperation kept building to the point where military officials began to calm the crowd by spraying pepper spray into the air (we now know our pepper spray will do wonders when used on attackers). This only calmed the crowd for very brief moments, but we somehow were shoved/pulled/caught/escorted by military arms through the gates and into the arms of the waiting security officials in a weird daze…. we had finally made it in!

We quickly ran up to find thousands of fans banging on drums, blowing whistles, stomping on the stands, and generally making as much noise as humanly possible. We found a seat quickly and settled into the game that had already begun. Men all around us were ordering trays of 12+ beers at a time and everyone was chanting. Then the first goal was scored! We all jumped up and down screaming in excitement, and everything in everyone’s hands was thrown into the air landing on some other screaming fan. It was impressive as all of the food and drink of thousands of fans all took to the air at the same moment and then showered back down on the crowd; the celebration continued for a good 5 minutes and then relaxed back to banging on drums, whistle blowing, and chanting. The passion was toxic and we made a fan wave go around the stadium at least 3+ times (it is very difficult to pay attention to a wave and the futbol game!).

Half time was spent in the proper Panamanian fashion: playing music as loud as possible through the speakers, completely different sets of music on the various drums around the stadium, dancing in the stands, and reloading on more trays of beer to enjoy the second half. One of our neighbors was curious why we were cheering for Panama; he was sure that we must hate Canada for some reason. For all of our Canadian friends: we do not hate Canada (in fact we really enjoy y’all) we just love the passion for futbol!

As soon as the game began our banging on drums, whistle blowing, and chanting began again! We all went even crazier with the second goal!! R and I were literally soaked from head to toe in Panama beer. It was amazing and everything I had hoped for in a futbol match. As soon as the game finished, with Panama the victors, the crowd went crazy! Everyone was dancing and screaming and loving life. We stormed the streets honking horns to make the noise of our chant “Panama Panama”! We had won and we were all trying to get back to our homes.

R and I were so jazzed from the game we were dancing and singing with the locals as we exited and then decided to hop on my favorite type of transportation, Los Diablo Rojos! It was all lit up and blaring music, how could we not want to take this bus!? Well, it took us to who knows where, where we jumped onto another bus to find ourselves in the middle of El Valle (or so we think, all we know for sure is that we were located very far from the city). We went to the bus driver asking if he was going to Albrook. He looked at us and asked where we were trying to go, telling us to stay on the bus.

We made one detour at his family’s shop for a soda and cigarette and then realized we were in transit and he was just talking us to Cinco de Mayo because he was a sweet guy!

All in all this was a wonderful day full of awesome Panama. And in case you were wondering we came home sticky, covered in beer and food particles, in the middle of the night to still have no water! Another pool shower!

Tags: Panama, Panama City, travel blog

We have been living in Panama City for quite a while now, and to be honest we both really love it here. It helps that we are volunteering at a super chill hostel right in the middle of the city, Villa Vento Surf Hostel. The owner is a ridiculously laid back surfer who runs his hostel with a great balance of business smarts and humanity. Plus, it has a pool. Ridiculous, right?

So basically we spend our days with interesting travelers and our fantastic co-workers around the pool, watching random comedies in the huge living room, or cooking in the spacious kitchen. The hostel manager is also great at organizing different gatherings every week, from Argentinian BBQs and pizza nights, to trips down the street 3 blocks to Calle Uruguay (Panama’s party street) and latin dance party nights with tequila. Our picturesque life is only slightly clouded by the fact that literally every other day we are not sure if we still have a place to live. But then the owner stops by and trails off about how we should really stick around for a few more days. So far, we know we are staying until Wednesday, September 12 at the very least. There is a huge surf film release party this Friday at the hostel that we are keen to stick around for… So hopefully we can still be useful around these parts for a few more days!

How do we spend the copious amounts of time in the day? Good question, because we don’t actually know either. We do, however, know there’s an addictive vegetarian restaurant on our block that has the best homemade tofu empanadas; Athen’s, a Greek restaurant where you can get a veggie pita & fries the size of your head for $5; el Sabor de India, where the Naan and Paneer are wonderful; we hear talk of Beirut, a yummy Lebanese restaurant only a 10 minutes walk away, and, most importantly, the frozen yogurt place down the street which closes at 21:30 and they know us well enough by sight to open the doors even when we slide up panting at 5 minutes past closing.

Mostly, we decide we want to do something seemingly simple, but which ends up turning into an epic quest. One example is when H had a craving for bagels, and we ended up spending 3 to 4 days asking innumerable people where Einstein’s head is, taking buses to random directions, and walking around town without any clear idea where we were. But by day 4, success!!!

The bagels were absolutely worth the effort. In fact, quite a lot of our time here has been spent getting lost on random buses and generally walking out of the hostel with no idea of where we were going and then finding landmarks we have been lost to before. Most recently we spent over a week getting fútbol tickets to the Panama v Canada World Cup Qualifiers. This may be the only time on our traveling where it may pay to be American rather than Canadian…

We have also been productive, of course; we made a very aesthetically pleasing flyer for our boat to Columbia. Turns out if we can fill the boat our captain will give us a deal for all the work it is; how can it get any better than this? It is quite a lot of work, though, and has been the source for many lost and bewildered ramblings throughout the city. However, we did get to visit all the top hostels in town. So far so good, but if any of you out there know anyone looking to go south, we have a boat leaving the 16th or 17th for $350. It’s 4 days & 3 nights, 3 meals a day, San Blas islands, and water included.

The highlights of our 2 weeks here have, of course, been the people we have been meeting. We have met up with some quality friends from our time at the L+F, bonded with some hilarious Aussies (and had a little bit of our hearts won by each one of them), partied with Mexicans, giggled with a former Seattle neighbor, and been in awe of a band of Columbians. There has been equal parts running and exercising in the evening down Avenida Balboa and drinking, dancing, and swimming on roof top bars (but our excursion to Hard Rock Hotel’s pool was not as successful, and we may have been asked to leave). We have enjoyed two concerts by guests here: one from the awesome Columbian band SuperLitio at the venue down the street, El Apartmento (sort of like a rock, hipster, Latin party scene – very unique), and the other in our hostel where a gorgeous ginger Aussie blew our minds with his amazing skills (H‘s video is on the NEW facebook page, if you haven’t checked it out yet!).

Tags: Panama, Panama City, travel blog