Party in Panama!

Two weeks ago we headed down to Panama to see the family and party at a wedding! It was a short trip, only 4 full days, but it was fun as always.

This is the first time we travel down from Canada, which meant we had to go through immigration twice. Nothing to report here, all good. We had a long layover in Miami, which we enjoyed by having lunch at La Carreta. This place was a favo(u)rite as a kid when we traveled to Miami/Orlando and one of the best airport foods in the US. Really good cuban food. To our surprise and luck, they recently moved inside the terminal, which meant we didn't have to exit and go through security again!

Our flight was delayed due to rain all over the place - really, what's going on this summer? The east coast has seen so much rain, and I think we've had more thunderstorms in TO than we have sunny days.

Back to the trip. Thursday daytime was relaxed, just hanging out at home and a quick trip to the mall. At night, we had the wedding out-of-town dinner and party bus! I think I've blogged about this - this is a city bus / old-school bus, open air with music and drinks, driving around town for a few hours. Fun fun.
The funny part of the night comes after the bus has dropped everyone off at the hotel where the out-of-towners were staying. For us in-towners, we had to figure out how to get back to our cars and get everyone safely home. I go with 4 others to get the cars that were left at the restaurant. We tried to avoid the cop stops that we had seen while on the bus, but found others. I wasn't too worried 'cause I hadn't been drinking, but cops still scare me. And they had breathalyzer! I've never seen those in Panama!! I tried to be calm but not play it too cool. Gave him my license and was about to give him my other ID when he asked for my passport and asked me to blow. WHAT!? I gave a small whisper, which wasn't enough and he had to demonstrate how to do it. I'm thinking "I'm not touching that thing no matter what you say!". After a heftier blow, the thing beeped and I went on my way. And now I can say I've had to take a breathalyzer test, or as they call it in Panama - a boozmeter. Oh, the story doesn't stop there. Rounding the troops back at the hotel, we hop on our cars and try to head out of the hotel/mall. The exit was blocked by a few orange cones, so 2 people jump out of the car and start moving them out of the way. All of a sudden 4 security guards come running! About 8 of us get out to talk to them and convince them we are only trying to leave the mall - to which one replies (according to my brother): "How would you feel if we went to your house and started moving stuff?". No luck here, so the caravana of 4 cars had to pull back and find another way out. I was told to go around the mall, but instead my copilot says "Go up the parking deck, there's another exit ramp". On the way, we encounter a few poles-with-a-concrete-base and more orange cones, which my 'happy' copilot runs to move - escape! Yes, we feel bad for not putting the cones back, but we wouldn't have had to if the security guards had let us go through and they could have put the cones back...

Oh what a night! (I've had that song stuck in my head since I saw Jersey Boys, but that's another story)... Oops, that story took up my post and my time tonight. I'll have to "To be continue" this party.