Panama City Skyline from Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama
I arrived in an overcast, drizzly Panama City, Panama this morning after a 2:00AM flight from Los Angeles. I booked my tickets three weeks ago when I started to get antsy after being home for five weeks from my springtime trip to Costa Rica. Like that Costa Rica trip, I've booked a 29 day trip. I've begun my trip at a German-owned hostel called Hostal Aleman surprisingly far out on Panama's eastern suburbs. It's in a safe, purely residential neighborhood, but we're so far out and the traffic is so bad in Panama City that no fewer than six taxi cab drivers refused my requests for a ride back to the hostel today even after I had already walked east for two hours from Panama City's old town, Casco Viejo. Regardless, I got a nice walking tour of the high rise office buildngs and apartments along the Cinta Costera waterfront area. Panama City seems quite cosmopolitan, and somewhat similar to Miami.
Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama
So...since I'm all about purpose...what is the purpose of this Panama trip? Panama is a new country for me, so I want to bounce around a bit and see what it has to offer. I want to meet new people on the road and learn more about myself through conversations with others. As I learned during this year's Costa Rica trip, we are all mirrors for each other. I want to see myself reflected in lot of different mirrors on this trip. I also want to see if I can get better at just letting things happen instead of meticulously planning or controlling the trip. For example, I haven't booked transportation or lodging for my next city. I don't even know where I'll go after Panama City. And I'm OK with that...for a change. I also want to continue some of the self-improvement work from this year's Costa Rica trip. Inhale love,
exhale attachment, as my yoga teacher back home, Dana, might advise me.
So, like this year's Costa Rica trip, this Panama trip is about personal growth. But it's also like the 2009 Costa Rica trip in that I want to be adventurous see new places, meet plenty of new people and immerse myself in a new country. I'm curious to see how it all turns out. Wish me luck!
The guests at Casa Brian are down to Catherine (who is never around) Leonie, and me. Juan left for Nicaragua today. Leonie is leaving for Nicaragua tomorrow. I’m thinking about leaving for someplace else, too, but no other place is calling me right now.
I wanted to accomplish a few things when I booked this trip.
1) Figure out what to do with my life. This has been a success. I can’t yet put a job title to what I want, but I know what lifestyle I want. I absolutely want the freedom to travel at least several months every year. Therefore, I need to find a job that requires travel to strange and exotic places (travel writer?), or I need a job that will allow me the freedom to travel several months per year (contract financial analyst?), or I need a job that I can do anywhere in the world (A company I can run remotely? contract business valuation? massage therapist?).
2) Meet cool people. This has been a complete success. Here’s a quick recount of the memorable folks I’ve met in Costa Rica: Ricardo and Fernando from Portugal and with whom I hiked and barhopped for two days in Monteverde, Rose and Ann who I met in Monteverde and who impressed me with their work in helping the most helpless in this country, the Wisconsin Girls who I met in Monteverde and with whom I had an amazing conversation about religion over dinner, Laura from Wisconsin who I spent an afternoon taking around San Jose while she told me about working for the Peace Corps in Honduras, Nicolas and his dad who I met in Playa Tamarindo and who told some of the most entertaining stories I’ve ever heard, everyone at Casa Brian, especially Leonie, Juan, and Brian Pearson himself.
3) Have varied and memorable experiences. This has been a complete success. Here’s just a bit of what I have done: Hiking through Monteverde’s rainforests by night and by day, road tripping down the Nicoya peninsula, exploring new towns in a foreign country, talking with other travelers around a bonfire at Playa Samara under a nearly full moon, swimming in the bathwater warm Pacific ocean, falling asleep in a hammock to the sound of crashing waves, jumping from rock to rock at tide pools, playing tour guide through San Jose for an afternoon for someone I had just met, enjoying lengthy conversations with Brian at Casa Brian about social control, meeting people I would never cross paths with in my life back home and collecting their stories.
4) Ascertain Costa Rica’s suitability for relocation. Complete success. I am certain that I could live here temporarily or use Costa Rica as a base for further exploration through Central America. I am unsure of whether I could permanently live here. Brian tells me that land is cheap and arable in the country’s interior, which is good to know.
5) Achieve a clear idea of my personal priorities. Success. Here they are: personal freedom, extensive travel, debt-free living, minimal materialism, low stress, and high satisfaction with my life. Never again will I stay at a job that violates my personal values just because it pays well.
