Ashley and I are in Panama City, Panama! It's incredible. This is our favorite big city we've ever been to in our lives. It is such a gorgeous city and it doesn't feel crowded at all, in fact quite the opposite it feels very open. There are all sorts of amazing things to do here as well. It really is a very modern city. It's like we bussed back into the States when we arrived into the new downtown area of Panama City. The grocery stores had air conditioning! What a treat!
Last night Ashley and I went shopping at the grocery store and we actually felt like we knew what we were doing. There were the brands that we typically purchase back home. We ended up spending almost 100 dollars because we were so excited and purchased a bunch of stuff. We also booked our hostel for another 3 nights because it was so awesome.
We aren't for sure exactly what we will do next, but we are talking about buying a sailboat, and have checked a few out. But if we purchase one, it will need to be a real cheap one as we don't have much money. Maybe if we can find one for like 2 or 3 thousand we can do it. We are also talking about flying or taking a cruise boat to Cartegena, Columbia, and then checking out South America. I mean we are so close after all. We are having a great time, and want to continue traveling. We will need to get our Yellow Fever vaccine if we go to South America.
We also quickly chatting about hopping over to Europe for a few weeks. Who knows. We are young, wild, and free. Truly FREE. It's pretty intense honestly, and I don't want it to end for quite a while longer.
Also it is interesting in the development of my Spanish skills. I am feeling like I can speak Spanish at about 10% (whatever that means, it's just my own personal contrived metric). My hypothesis is that at around 35% ability, I will be able to actually learn more Spanish in Spanish. My guess is that after 35% there will be a type of landslide event, kind of like passing the pain barrier and actually able to accelerate my speaking, reading, and listening abilities.
When we went to the grocery store last night, I spoke basic Spanish to the cab driver, and to some others as well. Ashley and I brought along a new friend named Katie from the hostel with us, she had just arrived from Canada. When I was speaking she continually asked what did I say, and what was the response of the other speaker. This was actually a fascinating experience because it showed me that I actually knew quite a bit more than someone else. I was literally speaking a foreign language and someone who didn't speak that language wasn't able to follow the conversation, how wonderful!!
Of course speaking the language of the people is very helpful. For example today I rented some bicycles for Ashley and I to ride. The guy I rented them from just handled the money and spoke English, when I went downstairs there was only one bicycle. I asked the guy who was working on a light socket, in English, "why is there only one bike?" He responded in broken English, that he didn't speak English.
I then jumped into Espaniol mode, and told him I needed two bicycles for myself and my Wife, and asked him if he knew where another one was (of course I said all this in Spanish). He then smiled and immediately got down from his ladder and walked to the other room to retrieve the other bike. How COOL!!! In English we couldn't talk, but suddenly I pulled the "I know basic Spanish card" and magic happened. :-) My accent is really terrible, but I've been realizing it really doesn't matter, people can understand me, and they tell me they can. It's just when they use a lot of big words or too many words that I get lost. But it's really cool, because I can tell them that it's too fast, and please slow down so I can understand.
Alright, well so far Panama city is amazing and I could see myself living here for a little bit of time. I am going to try to find a co-working spot, or maybe a really nice air conditioned coffee shop to do some work in. Right now I'm sweating a bunch in this hostel.
