Last full day in Central America!

Today was my last full day in Central America!

Will it be bitter-sweet to leave? Nope. I'm so ready to be home. Plus I'm in a bad mood - allow me to elucidate.

It all started about midnight last night. I came into the dorm and the A/C was unplugged - again. I plugged it back in and climbed up into my bunk. I was in the top bunk of the bed directly in front of the A/C unit. The girl below me was cold and after about half an hour, she grabs a twin mattress from who knows where and props in on its end in front of our bunk to block the A/C.

I was pretty miffed at first, but then I thought - maybe I can live with this if the room still gets cool. Nope! Our bunk is so close to the A/C, that the mattress shield isn't allowing the air to move and it's tricking the thermostat in the A/C unit into thinking it's already cold! So it switches to standby mode. Great.

I hop out of bed, throw on a t-shirt and go to the lobby to ask if I can move to a different room. I didn't want to freeze this chick out, but something had to be done. Unfortunately, there were no other beds available, so the guy working at the desk comes in and tells her she can't have the mattress there. She's obviously unhappy and I don't blame her too much ... but as I think about it I do blame her. If you don't like the cold, why would you come to the hostel that has A/C? There are plenty without! I chose this place because it has A/C! Argh ...

Anyway, I ask her if she wants to switch bunks. Clearly upset, she asks "do you think it will help?" I assured her that heat rises ... and besides, she wouldn't be directly in the path of the A/C up there. She climbed up, huffing. I returned to the desk and asked the guy if he could find a blanket for her, which he did.

I was kinda worked up by this point, so I didn't sleep very well. The good news is that chick isn't in the dorm anymore. Don't know where she is, but I'm not going to miss her :)

I only got about four or five hours of sleep, and when I woke up, it hurt to swallow - yeah, yeah I know. It's because of the A/C. But I gotta have it!

I got up and hopped in a cab to the train! There's a passenger train that runs alongside the canal from Panama City to Colon twice a day. It's only an hour long trip to Colon, but it was pretty fun. This may not be the last country I cross in a train - I'm talking to you, Simon.

Took a bus back to Panama City and found my way back to the hostel before heading to Mercado del Mariscos for lunch. This place is a fish market that has a restaurant inside. The whole place obviously smells overwhelmingly of fish - my first thought was "no way could Mom handle this." Hahaha! The food was pretty good. I had shrimp ceviche and calamari. Shortly after lunch I realized that these probably weren't the wisest choices in light of the fact that I'll be spending roughly seven hours on a planes tomorrow.

My stomach was making funny sounds earlier, but all seems well now ... fingers crossed!

Check out this fish vendor! I had to take a picture cause the name is pretty funny - "the white hope." Haha!

After wandering around the Via Espana for awhile, I headed to Albrook. The cabbies here always try to pick up multiple fares, so there was someone else to drop off before the mall. After a few minutes I began to suspect that we were driving through a ghetto. After dropping off the other passenger, the cabbie confirmed my suspicions. He told me the name of the neighborhood (can't remember now) and then said "muy peligroso" after which he made a gun with his hand and proceeded to make "pchew! pchew!" shooting noises. The good news is that was the closest we got to getting shot at and we made it to the mall!

Check out this shirt I found there! Pretty great right? Those of you who are familiar with my previous hair situations know that I used to rock this look - pick and all! I went in to buy one. The largest size they had was an XL, which would normally work. But this was a Central American XL! I couldn't even get my shoulders in it! Had the same problem in China ... had to shop for 3XLs there.

Also, as proof that this mall is ridiculously huge, I took a picture of this TCBY! Isn't that crazy?! I don't think I've seen a TCBY in the States since about 1997!

While in Albrook, I saw The Smurfs and Something Borrowed. Didn't expect too much from The Smurfs cause it's a kids' movie and it was in Spanish. Something Borrowed was suuuuper bad. I have low standards for chick flicks, but this still managed to disappoint! The acting was bad, all the jokes were telegraphed, the only character (John Krasinski's) who was entertaining and whose motivations were identifiable was onscreen for about seven minutes total ... Just a really terrible movie. Don't see it.

Anyway, I'm tired and I've just finished watching a terrible movie and I get hassled by a cab driver. He wants to charge me double for the cab ride to the hostel. And I let him cause I'm just over it now - constantly having people try to hustle me. But I'm still upset - mostly at myself - for being too lazy to talk him down.

Haha! Well, I can't let this downer be my last post, huh? If all goes as planned, I'll be in Chicago tomorrow night! I'll post something more uplifting then ... or maybe the day after :)