Dude, you´re going to Panama!

I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the mobile phone. It was 4 o´clock. Come on, natushkova, you have to wake up. I turned around with a little hope that I could sleep longer. Already? Tardily, I got out of the bed. Yes, I was looking forward to the trip but I always like to sleep a little bit longer. I think that a half of the world population could understand me. You´ll be fine. One part of my mind whispered. Of course, I will. I have no other choice. The second one said.

I brushed my teeth with the new toothbrush Curaprox that I had bought especially for this trip. It can sound obvious to take a toothbrush but I´m actually this kind of person who always forgets to take any. This one was very colourful and I paid a special attention to not forget it. So after the morning hygiene, I successfully packed my toothbrush and it was time to go and to put a huge backpack on my back. What do you have inside? Do you really need it? Normally, I´m used to packing my stuff in the most modest way and take only the most important things. But as I experienced not having enough clothes last time, I put some dress in addition. All right, a little bit more in addition. But I´m going to the country where everybody masters salsa, I thought. So obviously, I wanted to have something sexy too. Although, I wasn´t completely sure if I´ll be able to learn any latino dance, because I never liked this kind of music before. I imagined myself there, trying to learn some steps…

Come on, stop dreaming and move your ass! Your dad is waiting for you outside. I checked if I have everything important and went downstairs to meet my dad. It was freezing as hell, it was probably the coldest night so far. What did you expect? It´s the 6th of February. Luckily I´m leaving this Siberian weather. The road was empty and it took about forty minutes to get to the airport. We came just in time to have a coffee and a nice talk. What a beautiful morning finally. Suddenly my dad surprised me with a question:

„Do you have any dollars?“

No. I don´t. I had barely planned my trip. I had known some basics about Panama, such as Panamanian canal, that they speak Spanish and that they use dollars. I hadn´t changed any though.

"I think that the cash would be useful," he continued.

"No. I don´t, dad."

He just shook with his head and we went to an Exchange. My dad gave me few bucks and I admitted that it would come in handy later. If you imagine all these headlines in newspapers telling stories about (I would say carefree or light-hearted) reckless tourists or travellers than yes, that´s me. I could be that person. Nice to meet you!

It was time to go again, so I listened to daddy´s advice:

"Don’t trust people too much, as you do; don’t drink too much alcohol, as you do,“ etc.

"Thank you, dad", I said.

I gave him a warm hug, a kiss and I went to the line. The line was very long. Where are you all going? I was quite nervous and was shuffling around. The line was incredibly long. It´s great. No way that I´m gonna stay here. I need to catch my flight to Panama. No, no way, not this freezing winter here! I need to go!

"Natálie Jandáková, please come to the gate number (imagine some number)." This is really great. I asked people ahead of me as nicely as I could if they can let me go before them. Luckily, they were very willing to do it. There was some problem with some part of my clothing or my body or I don´t really know with what actually and I had to be checked. One young woman was searching for this imaginary thing, she did it quite properly and with a lot of care but she didn´t find anything.

"What is inside of the box?" another guy behind the control asked.

"It´s my lunch," I said.

I know that he wanted to laugh and tell me that it´s so typical for Czech people. Well, we´re changing. Not me. I don´t know why I always cook a huge pot of food just before leaving. Obviously, I´m never able to eat it all. He finally said that I can go.

I quickly took a look at where to go and then I began to sprint. Straight away to the gate. I must be there soon. I can´t miss the flight. It was the first time that they called my name so I was quite nervous. Luckily, I made it. Hot and sweating I got to the gate. The hall was empty but I could still enter the board. Very beautiful and fresh. As always.

The flight to Francfort was very short and went off without a hitch so it isn´t even worth to write about it. My only problem were my wet clothes but I hold my shoulders down and nobody even noticed that I was so red. People don´t care about you most of the time, this time it was an advantage. The connection between Germany and Panama is much longer and I wouldn´t say funnier but you definitely need to do something for twelve hours.

I sat next to one guy who could be about forty-five or fifty years old, we exchanged courtesies and then our conversational phrases were exhausted. I was actually pretty tired so I used an opportunity to get some sleep. But as I got two coffees in the morning, I couldn´t fell asleep. Normally, or especially in a car, when I take a coffee, I´m even more tired and I can´t keep my eyes open. That´s why nobody wants to have me to be a front passenger who has an only task. Don´t fell asleep. But on board, it always works differently for me.

I was thinking quietly in my mind about how long flights are boring. Long flights are boring. They are also long. Then, they´re boring. There´s nothing to do and they´re also long. I repeated it more times to kill a little bit of time. Then I checked the map. It´s my favorite activity, watching a screen where a plane is moving so slowly that you feel like it takes ages to get somewhere. Still eleven hours. Oh man. Long flights are boring. They are also long. Then, they´re boring. There´s nothing to do and they´re also long. I repeated it again.

They brought peanuts and I was happy that I can do something for a while. I also noticed my book inside of my bag, but I didn´t feel like reading. I wanted to close my eyes again when air hostesses appeared and offered something to drink. I probably need a beer. Very often it makes me sleepy.

"One beer, please," I ordered.

I put all my hope into this beer. I also checked the map again but only twenty minutes passed since the time I had checked before. I put some music. The choice wasn´t really good. Obviously.

Later, I noticed the man next to me speaks in French. I started a conversation and after a while, we changed from ever-present silence that was interrupted only by questions such as, Could I go to the toilet, please? for many different topics. He was from Alger and Panama wasn´t his final destination. He was heading to Ecuador, because of the work. I´m always happy when I can speak in French somewhere so I lapped up every word he said. We also shared a passion for travelling so it gave me an opportunity to speak about my travels and slobbered about every single place I had visited.

Later, I put earphones again and finally fell asleep.

Normally, I don´t listen to conversations with other people, or I don´t pay attention to them at least. But this time I was listening to a little bit what a woman and a girl were talking about. The girl looked like she knows a lot about Panama so my ear sharpened. She will definitely know how to get from the airport. I listened a little bit more when I finally asked if she is going to Panama City. She answered that she is going there with her boyfriend by bus. Maybe I could go with them. I told her that I want to go by bus too but also that I had read that it´s kinda tricky because of the prepaid card. She answered that her boyfriend has this card and that he´ll wait for her. Then we kept speaking about other things and finally, we turned attention back to passengers next to us. It would be cool to go with them. I thought.

My plans were disrupted by stomach rumbles. Although I got a huge lunch, I was hungry again. I think that we all agree that the food on the board isn´t super tasty but it always comes in handy. I was wondering if they still bring something two hours before landing. And because it didn´t look like we will get more food, I took out the risotto. It was a good idea to take it. Only a few minutes after my last spoons, they started to serve a dinner. Voilà madame, enjoy the second round! Bon appetite!

It didn’t happen for the first time. Most of the time, I eat much more than I should. Gillen intuited my passion for food too and offered me a ham. Is it Ramadan right now? I thought. Then I noticed that it´s too early for this event and took the piece of ham. Because not only I like food but actually it tears my heart out to throw away any little piece although my body screams that´s enough. The plane landed. We wished a safe trip to each other with Gillen and began to pack our stuff. The girl disappeared so fast that I didn´t even notice any movement, nor saying goodbye. I know, I should always ask directly if somebody takes me with him, as a little baby. You´re alone, welcome to Panama, natushkova!

Already the first second at the airport I began to sweat. I took off my sweater, used for lovely cold winters in the Czech Republic. Yes, they´re lovely when you´re home with a cup of tea. Just kidding. I just don´t like winters, it´s how it is. I took off also a shirt. I kept my black trousers though.

The Panamanian airport isn´t big, so I moved quickly to the exit where I could feel the strong afternoon´s Sun. It was about thirty degrees and in my black trousers, I felt it even more. Although of any propositions to grab a cab, I confidently turned right to a bus station as I had learnt from the website. My confidence was slowly decreasing when I saw few boards saying: Only with a prepaid card.

While observing boards and surrounding of the airport, I was enjoying first moments in Panama… I had that feeling…

That feeling when you´re in one place and the next day you arrive at a new one. You are full of excitement, you have some ideas in your mind but at the same time, you don´t know at all where you´re going and how the experience will be. What you´re gonna see, feel, do in next days. Who you´re gonna meet and why. You´re just here and you know that you´re gonna learn so many things. You hadn´t planned anything. But you´re not scared. You know, that you´re gonna have a great time full of experience, learning and exploring. You feel so happy and excited. And you are just here, right now.

Then I woke up from the dream again and saw another board. It looks like you really need this magic card. After the tenth board, I completely stopped to count. Luckily I arrived at the bus station and afterwards the bus appeared too. I ran towards the gate and asked in Spanish if I can buy a ticket without the card so professionally that I, myself, was surprised by my knowledge. On the contrary, the driver´s answer didn’t surprise me at all. The boards didn´t lie. I turned back and sat on the bench. While observing other ladies and trying to figure out how I´m gonna explain in Spanish that I want to use someone´s card and want to pay her in cash, an unknown man came to me and asked me if I need a taxi. Thanks to Spanish for self-learners book, I understood what he asked me such as the price of the ride. The bus would be 2 dollars max. But you don´t even know where you´re, where is your hostel and it´s still better than a normal price which is thirty bucks. I kept saying that fifteen dollars it´s still too much for me but considering my situation, I finally said yes.

Although I felt as a superwoman who can say few words in Spanish few minutes before, first minutes in the car proved the complete opposite. The driver was speaking only in Spanish and when he noticed that I´m from Europe, he obviously thought that I´m from Spain, from a region called the Czech Republic with very strange Spanish accent. My vocabulary was composed of words such as mama, papa and tengo hambre, so I wasn´t able to show that he was wrong. In my mind appeared many different languages that I had learnt before and I, again, used my special technique, so long thinking, in answering:

You give a long look to the person who asked you a question and then you wait if receptors in your head will give you a clue. I had actually used it quite often at school during an examination. Most of the time, the questioner gets that you didn´t understand a shit and he either asks again or change the topic.

It happened many times during the ride and finally, he noticed that I really didn´t speak too much Spanish.

I used also my second technique. Let´s call it admiring for example.

You look from the window (you definitely need the window for this discipline) and admire the surrounding such as nature, people, animals, whatever you want.

This technique helps a lot too, apart from the surrounding near the Panamanian airport and actually the capital in general. So I couldn´t say another learned sentence: Que bonito! Because I didn´t consider Panamanian capital as something super beautiful. Instead of this, I said: Que calor! and because it was really hot, the driver nodded.

Do you know, that...

They say that the first moments of your trip give you an idea of how the whole trip will be...

So it´s gonna be sunny, incredibly hot and I´m gonna be lost between spanish words and phrases. Believe me or not, this is a paradise!

He asked me many different questions, especially why I was travelling alone. Although the solo female travelling is increasing, I was conscious that it´s still not so usual. I had never shared information about my relationships with a taxi driver before but he looked like a serious guy, more like a businessman than a dealer so I explained honestly that I was single, with no man or parents who would cover my back. At that time I didn´t know that this question I will hear regularly. He was surprised and asked why but I only shrugged my shoulders, said that it is how it is and gave the thumbs-up.

Then he started to speak about Panama. He bravely showed me different types of Spanish accents and proudly demonstrate the accent from Panama, Costa Rica and Spain. I barely could recognize the difference but I was glad that the attention wasn´t focused on me anymore. Eventually, we found common ground when he began to speak about rum. I even got some extra points because I mentioned the rum Abuelo. Then the driver had another monologue about liquors and also beers, after which I added that in my country we love to drink the beer too.

"Tenemos cuatro chopink aquí…" he said.

What do they have here? Four what? He repeated it several times and pointed out to some buildings that I finally got it. He means a shopping mall. I´m probably the last person who should correct someone in English but this pronunciation is far away from natives. But I´m pretty sure that I won´t need any chopink anyway.

Finally, he was speaking about must-see places while he passed me his business card and added that I definitely need to go with him if I want to leave Panama with the best experience to tell. I was already completely convinced that I´ll avoid organized tours as much as possible, especially in big cities, but I took his card in case I would need it.

We arrived at the hostel and another guy took care of my backpack and showed me my room. Well, the room with another five people. The hostel looked very nice although it was the cheapest one in the city. Because I was very tired, I transformed to an antisocial individual and also because I felt like my Spanish lesson was sufficient for all my cells this day, I pulled my curtain and lied on my bed until I fell asleep.