Made it to chitre

Panama Blog Day 2

How do you summarize two days of travel? Arriving as early as 2 AM to the airport and learning as a group that TSA opens at 4 AM, was the first curveball of our trip but in the waiting there was bonding. Not a single issue arose getting to our gate and getting to Houston. After a two hour lunch break in Houston and a small delay on our second flight, we arrive in Panama. The airport staff was kind enough to pull our bags and we were able to find our program coordinators Yada and Paco no problem. Our first bus route was to the hotel in Panama City where we have a scrumptious chicken and rice dinner, unfortunately some of us had a 30 piece Chick-fil-A lunch, so not all of us got to enjoy, but the strawberry lemonade was on fleek. The end of our day one was a success as we comfortably lay in bed with a minorly air conditioned room operating in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. Highlights of the day, getting to Panama safe and the round of 32 victory for Mexico in the World Cup. 

We began day two with a 5:30 wake up call and breakfast at 6 AM. The eggs were familiar however there’s no salsa here in Panama. Nonetheless, with some oatmeal cream in our bellies and a new flavor of Yuka and hojaldres, we bolstered back to the bus for our trip to chitre. On the way we had to cross the Panama Canal where we enjoyed watching the rising and dropping of a couple cargo ships as they cross. Después, we enjoyed a properly air conditioned movie theatre to watch the history of the canal and what is to come. Some of us may have dosed off due to how comfortable it was in the theatre. Before arriving in Chitre we stopped and saw the final minute of England winning their round of 32 match, and ate lunch, veggie burgers and four patty cheeseburgers! 

We arrived to Hotel Esperanza just after 3 PM. We settled into our 9 day home and played some games to bond before our 5 PM LDD session. This time is just what we needed to build an appetite and get ready for our first real day at Global Glimpse Panama. Boiled chicken and rice during the USA soccer match for dinner was nothing but bliss. Our Leaders of the Day lead our nightly meeting and we highlighted and praised everyone who has already stepped up to make these first two travel days amazing! Looking forward to starting tomorrow.