Did I just post yesterday that walking is overrated? Not so much, I guess, because this morning Ray and I decided to go for a walk. In another direction. Our goal was to walk towards Pacific View (a condominium high rise overlooking the Pacific Ocean). But again, when in Panama, just go with the flow. We did walk forty-five minutes through Panamanian neighborhoods, passing fondas along the way (roadside eateries, sort of), schools, bus stops, and listening to more of them same--horns honking. Panamanian drivers mostly honk just to alert you that they are there close by. Taxi drivers honk at us a lot, because they are wondering if gringo y gringa need a ride and have gotten themselves into a mess. Saying "bueno" here and "bueno" there, we meandered our way back to Nico's for a seven dollar breakfast. Scrambled eggs, French toast, fried chicken and two pastries later, we are now cleaning up. I will say that this pastry café in Nico's redeemed Panama for having boring, tasteless pastry. I had a Mia hola (custard filled, soft shortbread something good), and Ray had a canones (fruit-filled, maybe apple?, sugary pastry). Ray now realized that we don't have to go to the cell phone center, because his phone told him in Spanish that he has thirteen dollars left on it and four more days of use. I was thinking perhaps if it was the middle of the month yesterday, this is why the stores were crowded. Panamanians might have been paid (?) and were paying bills or updating services. I also realized today that when I am ready to tackle paying a Panamanian cashier, I am simply going to have to hear the first word, such as setente, and round up to ocho. Ray said he also has difficulty at times, due to the rapid firing off of the Spanish language (!), hearing the last part of what he is expected to pay. For example, today I heard very clearly "setente ______". So I would give the cashier Ocho dolares and get change back. Because what I didn't hear until later, after processing it clearly, "setente sesenta cinco" (or 7.65). That's my plan anyways. The other thing I have noticed is when Ray does speak to the cashier, or the man on the bicycle for that matter, he likes to mix it up a bit. Because in our heads, it is very easy to think of the words "one large chocolate Frosty". What comes out is "one grande chocolatada Frosty". Or we will say "Gracias. Have a good day." Instead of "Gracias, bueno". Lots of time to learn all of this once we are here!
Once I posted our day yesterday, Ray asked if I wanted to see the movie "Frozen". Really? I always see animated movies, but usually with Carly. He was game, so we set off for the movies. First we put on jeans, shirts, jackets and fully covered shoes, because theaters here are cold! Unfortunately, "Frozen" is not in Spanish subtitle at the theater near us. We would have to watch it in Spanish if we dared. No thanks. But then after walking away, and thinking about our other choices, I decided I would be game to see "Paranormal". I haven't seen any of the other "Paranormal" movies, so why not. The movie started in ten minutes. We selected our seats making sure it was in English (in our usual broken English we did manage to ask this), ordered a Grande Mixta of popcorn (Caramel and regular mixed together), and a Grande Coca Cola Light. The movie cost us $6 total, and the snacks cost $5.75. Since it is summer vacation for the students here in Panama, the theater was full. The last movie we saw on our first trip to Panama was "Ted", and the theater was empty and quiet. Panamanians like to chit chat through the movie. It wasn't bad though. We were all laughing at the funny parts, jumping out of our seats and screaming at the scary parts, and they chatted a little bit along the way. They also don't care if when they are digging into their bags of candy, that the bag crumbles really loudly. Really, really loudly. They just crumble the bag away. I will say I enjoyed the movie. I like reading the Spanish subtitles. It helps with my learning of the curse words haha I noticed this time that there are a few previews of other movies before the main movie starts but in this theater, they also show commercials. I also realized that not only can women get those derriere enhancers, but men can get something called "Georgi's". They can put junk in the front. The things I learn from TV and movies when in Panama. Why am I reading so much!
After the movie, Ray and I tried Crepes and Waffles for dinner. We shared a Peruvian chicken crepe that made us want more. It was very good! We were able to communicate this with the waitress, and then we set off for some helado. We didn't want it in cones though. Ray had not seen the pans of ice cream, and I was trying to tell him that the ice cream looked really soft and runny. Meanwhile, the girl behind the register was trying to tell him that if we had our ice cream in cups, they did not have any spoons. Fortunately, we recognized this in sign language, and we canceled the order. We opted for chocolate Frosty's and French fries from Wendy's instead. Now you know why we went for a walk today!
Once back in our hotel room, we again realized how fantastically easy it is to pick up the phone and Face Time with Carly. I do know that wherever we go, internet could be spotty or not as fast, but for our trips to Panama so far, it has been very simple. We chatted for just a few minutes, since she had just gotten back to her apartment after having an early birthday dinner with friends and to celebrate another friend's engagement. We committed to seeing her for dinner on Saturday, her 22nd birthday. Bedtime was late at 10:30! It has been so nice to have these last few days in Panama not setting an alarm clock and just going with the flow. And waking up to sunny skies and warm temperatures instead of snowy, icy conditions that we had at home last week isn't a bad thing at all either! Except for the wondering and waiting at Immigrations, this has been a vacation. Tonight we will have dinner with Clyde and Terry and wander the city tomorrow with them. Cannot wait to see what we see next!
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