Leaving and Arriving

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag

First Stop – FLORIDA

After departing DC, I began my travels at the popular destination chosen by many a well-traveled blogger – Cape Coral, Florida.  It’s the sunny locale where my parents live as well as a whole bunch of other retired white people.  It’s also not a bad place to visit or start to a big trip. The WiFi is fast, the weather is always sunny, and no one ever goes hungry or in need of wine.  The Marmos are also pretty good at being incredibly patient and putting up with my stressed out shit for a few days while I get all the last-minute things done.

My last few weeks in DC were hectic.  Contrary to popular belief that I’m on permanent vacation, it’s actually a lot work to quit your job, rent your house, and get ready for a year of travel. I thought I would be organized by the time I arrived at the Marmo residence.  Unfortunately my ‘to do’ list still included a few adulty things like figuring out insurance before I could get down to the eating and wine drinking.  Oh, and then MY TOOTH FELL OFF while I was in Florida.  My 6 month old crown fell off and broke, so I also had to spend time calling and visiting Dentists to get a new one in three days or less.  I guess it’s good it happened while I was still in the US. Right? RIGHT???  That’s what I’m telling myself as I look at the dental bill for that little adventure.

Towards the end of the week I finished my ‘to do’ list (or just stopped caring) so I could finally enjoy spending time with my parents.  I’m not going to see them for a few months and my mom is acutely aware of this fact.  Mom and Ron still have a few apprehensions about this crazy idea of mine to quit my stable government job and travel the world.  Still, they are never failingly supportive as always.

Family Time

My week in southern FL included some good family bonding time like Easter activities with mom.  She bought eggs to color and everything, which is so very adorably her.

I also hit the golf course with my step-dad Ron.   Golf is about as far from my favorite sport as humanly possible.  But Ron ends the game with a beer and gives me side-eye if I try to keep score.  That kind of golfing is alright.

Any trip to Cape Coral also includes daily morning walks with their Dog-Child Sam.  Sam’s a rescue who won the dog lottery when my mom fell for him at the shelter seven years ago.  If its possible for a dog to be on the spectrum, Sam is a candidate for diagnosis.  He was a nervous wreck for the first few years, has tried to commit suicide via motorcycle chasing multiple times, and barks at EVERYTHING.  He’s also allergic to protein and would break out in a rash for weeks if he ate anything with meat.

Did I mention he’s a DOG.  After years of vet visits, and homeopathic treatments which might exhaust or bankrupt a less committed dog family, my parents eventually figured this out.  They now spend a small fortune every month on special dog food and daily medication.  If you think that’s not enough, every morning Ron brushes Sam’s teeth, and gives him a 2-3 mile walk.  Sometimes I think his life is better than mine.

I don’t think my mom loves him more than her own children, but if she had to save only one of us, she might hesitate for a second. I wouldn’t even be mad about it. If you don’t believe me, just look.  That’s some pure dog love right there.

PANAMA

After enjoying family time and making sure I had a full mouth of teeth, I was ready to start my life adventure at my first destination – Panama.  Ron loves road trips, so I ‘generously’ booked a dirt cheap flight to Panama City from Fort Lauderdale airport conveniently located on the other side of the state.  He and I now get to spend a few hours of father daughter time  on the road together.  My flight was at 11pm so I don’t think he got home until close to midnight that day.  Thanks Dad, and also, you’re welcome.

Another common characteristic of bargain flying is that I arrived in Panama City at the ungodly hour of 1am.  From Panama City, I needed another flight to get to my actual destination, the town of Boquete a few hours from the Costa Rican border.  Fun Fact: Boquete is home to Panama’s only Volcano, Volcan Baru.  Not so fun fact: to get to Boquete without spending 10 hours in a car requires an hour long flight to David, followed by an hour drive to Boquete.  Copa airlines runs flights to David at 7am and 1pm.  Given these options I (of course) opted to sleep in the airport in Panama while waiting for the 7am flight.

Why get a hotel??  This is all part of the adventure!!!

This is the kind of thing that makes a weird sort of sense when planning it, but when doing it you wonder what the hell you were thinking.  The best part of sleeping in airports is when you fall asleep on your luggage, there are a handful people around you doing the same thing. The worst part is that when you wake up, all those people are gone, and you’re surrounded by showered people catching morning flights looking at you like you’re homeless.  I can’t really blame them.  I looked tired and kind of a mess.

Proof.

Boquete

I eventually catch my flight to David.  The language school I’m attending for the next three weeks sent someone to pick me up at the airport.  I can’t remember his name, but he was friendly and chatty.  He also made sure ‘we’ took advantage of the opportunity to practice talking in Spanish. This means he talked in slow elementary school Spanish for me, and I nodded and said ‘si’ a lot.

I understood most what he was saying but it was a quick reality check that I have zero vocab and can’t remember how to put words together in another language. Turns out I’m older than I thought, and my high school and college Spanish classes were a real long time ago.  Also I had slept 3 hours on an airport bench.  Even my english communication skills struggled at this point.

I stop by the language school to get set for the week.  I enjoy more awkward encounters of a Gringa in Panama along the way, and eventually check into my hostel a few blocks from the school.

I’m exhausted.  I crash and sleep for most of the afternoon.  That’s day one.  I made it here and that’s enough for one day.