We arrived at the Madison airport at around 8:15am. We arrived at our gate and thought we had plenty of time to spare. Then Pat looked at his boarding pass and commented that his departure time read 6:00am. We realized that when we booked the flights in October, we weren’t able to get on the same flight from Madison to Chicago, so Pat had chosen an earlier flight than me! Luckily, a few members of the flight crew overheard our discussion and informed Pat that his plane was still at the gate due to a 2+ hour maintenance delay. They had just done the final boarding call. He was able to make his flight after all!
Other than that slight hiccup, the rest of our flights down to Panama City, Panama went off without any delay.
Tired after a day of traveling, we checked into our hostel, Luna’s Castle in the Casco Viejo neighborhood. We were sharing dorm beds with 6 other travelers, for $13 a night including an all you can eat pancake breakfast. It sounded like a pretty good deal at first, but after being kept up most of the night by our hard-partying roomates, we decided there had to be a better place for us to get a good night’s sleep.
For the remainder of our time in Panama City, we have been staying at Hostel Mama Llena. It’s a complete 180 degree turn from Luna’s Castle. It’s quiet, clean, filled with an older crowd (even a few senior citizens!) and much more relaxed. We picked up some groceries and have been taking advantage of the huge kitchen for our dinners.
