Tim_Day 81-137 (Family Time)

Day 81-137

The last month or so we've been visiting family and doing allot of things that aren't too out of the norm. Don't get me wrong I love my family and spending time with them but I don't think it's that interesting to read about. So rather than do a day by day account of all those days I'm just going to highlight some of the major points for these 3 parts of the trip - Panama, Nicaragua, and America.


Panama
We arrived in Panama after a pretty simple flight. It was great to see everyone and we spent the next 2 weeks just catching up and eating, eating, eating. The food was so wonderful. On the first weekend we were there we went to a really nice wedding. The food was incredible and after going through what we had it was that much more amazing. Man was that buffet at the wedding amazing.

We also spent some time with Ana's Panama grandmother at here place in a small on the outskirts of Panama. It was nice. We had tons of time to just sit back and relax. Actually we had so much time we were finding silly things like grocery shopping to fill up our day. Rather than that being something that would take a quick hour after work we would spend the whole morning planning and getting ready to go. Pretty funny.

We did take a small side trip to a little town in the mountains called Boquete. It was a chance for Ana to see a town she used to go to as a kid. We had an interesting bus ride there. More interesting than all the bus rides we had in South America. To start off the bus was late, then when we stopped at a place to eat a taxi crashed into the back, then about an hour into it we got a flat. The first bus in thousands of miles to get a flat. Sure enough the bus driver had no extra tire or tools to fix it. Dumb ass. The only thing good was that we had broken down right outside of a little bar and dance hall in the middle of nowhere. The guy opened up shop and only had beers to sell us. Not bad. So after a few beers and a few hours we got on another bus that was passing by. Soon as we got on there one guy from the previous bus sits right in front of us. He was drunk and was singing and playing with the kids. Acting like a jackass. Then the kid right in front of us vomits all over the window. It was amazing. I've never seen puck come out that fast. I though he was going to spin his head all the way around and start talking like a devil. I mean the orange puck actually hit the window and then shot up in the air. It was gross and the smell made the ride even that much more pleasant. Finally we got there and I was surprised nothing more happened.

We spent about 3 days there. We walked around town and one day even took a bike ride into the mountains where they do coffee. I could have sworn I spotted Juan Valdez and his donkey a couple times. But it could have been my imagination.

After Boquete we went to Ana's grandma's house then back to Panama to catch our flight. It was a good time and nice to see and spend some quality time with that part of my new family.


Nicaragua
We flew into Nicaragua and immediately getting off the plane you could feel the temperature difference. It was HOT here and the humidity was vicious. We visited the family throughout the next two weeks and did one small trip to Honduras in the middle that was really fun.

We took a bus to Honduras where Madialitia and her husband Ramon lived. We were picked up by the driver and had lunch with Madialitia. It was great to see her and nice to see yet another country. She had a plan for us to go with her driver the next day in her Rang Rover and drive 7 hours to the Mayan ruins in the north. We said ok and accepted her hospitality. It was really nice of her to do that for us and we appreciated it very much.

The next day we headed out early with the driver to the north. It was really interesting to drive in a country like that in such a car. I felt like I was a president. So many people are so poor then her we are driving with a chauffeur in a Rang Rover down the road. It was the closest I've been to feeling like I had a ton of money. I'm sure that's what very rich people in America feel like when they drive down the road. It was a powerful feeling and I began to understand how if you grew up in a life like that how you could see normal people as less than human. Was an interesting experience and I felt like I understood those snotty, nose in the air rich people I always hated.

Anyway after a long day we made it to the town and got a room. We had a great dinner and early in the morning the next day we went and spent about 2 hours touring the site. It was a beautiful site and I was happy to be there.

The rest of the day we spent driving back home. But right in the middle of the Honduran mountains our Range Rover broke down. It was funny because in one moment we felt like kings and in the next moment I felt like a jackass with an expensive broke down car on the side of the road. Even worse I felt like a bit target. A guy from a local mechanic shop stopped and said we needed to move the car that it was dangerous on these roads. I didn't know whether to believe him or not. But after a few people told us the same thing I realized it was a little dangerous being stranded on that road with a car like that. We ended up towing the car to the local city and waiting around for about 3 hours till some family came and picked us up. We took the bus back to the town we came from and left the chauffeur with the car. Funny in one day we went from kings right back to poor backpackers on the local buses. Pretty funny.

We headed back to Nicaragua the next day and were ready to take a break. We had spent most of the last 4 days traveling and we were ready to chill. We did and in Nicaragua we mostly sat around and on the weekend went to the beach. Good times with the family. We headed out for America early one morning.


America
Man it was nice to fly into America. Even when we touched down in Dallas to change planes it felt different. What was different was the size and money that was everywhere. Everything was organized and clean. People were polite and talked English. That was so nice.

The one thing immediately shocked me coming into LAX was the speed at which everyone was moving. I was so used to having people move at such a slower pace that I actually got accustomed to it more than moving fast. On the drive home I had a weird feeling in my stomach of tension and it felt like I knew the way around but at the same time everything looked so new. It was a really weird situation and it was funny that Ana felt exactly the same way. It took about 4-5 days to really register in my head that I was in American and not to feel weird about it. It just seemed funny.

The food also was messing with both of us. Our stomachs were used to the food in South America and now American food was upsetting our stomachs. Really weird. But sure enough. It took about 2 weeks to not feel bad after every meal we ate. The time in California was great. Was great to see everyone and the time went by really quick. I got to eat at Taco Bell finally and that was in itself worth the cost of the flight home.

We took off for Ohio after 9 days in California. We got to be with Vanessa (Ana's sister) when she graduated and that was really nice. We also drove with her in the car down to Florida where she was going to stay for the next few months till she headed to teach in China. The drive down was fun and it was nice to see those good old boys in the Midwest. Pretty funny compared to all the Latin people I had seen over the last few months.

While in Florida we ate and slept and tried to enjoy all the comforts of the modern American society. We were pretty worried about going to Cairo. I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pretty sure everything would be fine. But in the end I still was a little anxious about the whole thing. But it was a tourist country and that alone meant it couldn't be that hard to get around. The last night before we left I made a Double Stuff 4 layer filling cookie for the last time. I ate it slowly and knew I probably wouldn't have another one in at least 5 more months.

t*