After a looooong weekend in Bocas with almost no sleep I was excited to be taking an over-night bus to Panama City with my English friends...
Or so I thought...We had to scramble into a different water taxi because there were so many people leaving the island. The boat was smaller and had a slower engine. The ocean was rougher than when we came out to the islands and I got a little nervous a few times when we were way out in the middle of the ocean with not much land in sight... All worked out and we made it to the bus with time to spare! As soon as I got on the bus I realized what all the travelers meant when they said that the buses really blast the AC. Luckily I had a sweatshirt so I wasn't freezing! Promptly after we took off at 7pm they turned off the lights, the reading lights didn't work, and I found myself stuck with almost nothing to do on the bus. |
After several failed attempts to fall asleep we arrived at our first of three stops. Here there were bathrooms and some really tasty looking cheese-triangles (I mean pizza). I decided that the few cookies I had would tide me over until the next stop. Another three cold hours, this time spent with my knees jammed into the aisle because the person in-front of me had reclined their seat all the way back and I could no longer fit in my seat (I guess I was wrong about the worst bus ride ever). I got some food at stop number #2 and it wasn't half bad! When I got on the bus, a little more optimistic, I found a woman sitting in the previously empty chair next to me. She was small and didn't bother me much, until she turned her feet towards the window and pushed her whole body into my seat so that her and I had become one blog shape with my legs in the aisle and my head hanging over them trying to find a way to prop myself up while I got cat-naps!
In all reality, it wasn't the worst thing, but I was mentally exhausted from the weekend and got maybe an hour or two of sleep on the bus. It made me very grouchy and by the time we got to Panama City I was happy to find somewhere to sleep. We ended up at Luna's Castle in Casco Viejo! An amazing hostel, overlooking the skyline of the big city!
In all reality, it wasn't the worst thing, but I was mentally exhausted from the weekend and got maybe an hour or two of sleep on the bus. It made me very grouchy and by the time we got to Panama City I was happy to find somewhere to sleep. We ended up at Luna's Castle in Casco Viejo! An amazing hostel, overlooking the skyline of the big city!