Somehow it seems fitting that a milestone post is about returning to Panama. We had a wonderful time but we’re glad to be back.  It confirmed our feelings that this is a good place for us and we are happy here.

We arrived at the airport in Seattle as the sun was rising, and this full moon shone over the airport.

We flew over Mount Rainier, which is so high that it looked very close to the plane!

Then, we flew over beautiful deserts and rivers and fields and hills and more scenery than I can mention.

Many land formations look really interesting from the air.

Of course I’m going to love beautiful clouds from this new vantage point!

The daylight fades as we approach Panama City

This hotel room was our favorite so far!

We had a great view of the city from our room.

Thursday morning, we leave from Allbrook bus terminal.

The diablo rojos (red devils – former US school buses, now dangerous rolling works of art in the city) are still in town. They are replacing them with modern nice buses, but we saw a lot of them still on the road as we left Panama City.

We went over the Bridge of the Americas and the Canal

The Panama Canal – the Miliflores Locks are in the distance.

Then we head down the highway and through the beautiful green Panama countryside.

It was nice to be back in Panama with the warm, moist, balmy air. We’ve been staying at the Costa Inn in Panama City. It’s an older building but it’s clean and comfortable, and the price is right. When we landed in PC I went to the information desk and asked about the complimentary van to the hotel. The lady immediately knew what I was asking about, made some phone calls, and got me connected with the right man. There was a man in the airport with a sign looking for passengers, and when the van arrived he came and got us and made sure we got on the correct van.

We had a room at the end of the hall this time, and the big windows looked out over the city and the water in the distance. In the morning we could see the ships waiting for their turns in the canal. The room was large with a big desk/table, and two bathrooms with what looked like a small kitchen sink in between. One bathroom had a shower, sink, and toilet and the other had a Jacuzzi bathtub! We learned that it is a good idea to get to breakfast early though because by 8:30 they were running out of things. But, they had a complimentary van going to Allbrook shopping mall and since we were going to the bus terminal across the street, they let us ride along.

So, for about $60 we got a free ride from the airport, breakfast, a free ride to Allbrook, and a comfortable room for the night with free WiFi. Not bad, eh?

We had a good bus ride with seats in the very front of the upper level where we could see everything! We relaxed, read, watched the movies, and enjoyed the countryside. We found our house in one piece, everything fine, not even much of a musty smell. Our neighbors had opened the windows to air out the place, closed them because it rained a lot, opened them again, and said they would have cleaned it but they thought we were coming back a couple days later than we did.

It’s nice to be back. It’s nice to reconnect with our friends and neighbors here. It’s nice to be back with the birds, the woods, the plants, the warm moist air, the roosters, dogs, locusts, and everything else that makes noise and makes this place feel so full of life. And, I am very happy to report that in spite of speaking English for a month I don’t seem to have forgotten what Spanish I know.