panama !

well well well. my heart was beating really fast when i was in line for imigration.. i kept saying to myself it's either here or back to philadelphia. bad memories from england deportation, i guess. i mean, i wouldn't complain if i got sent back but it's alright by me that the only english word she said to me was 'welcome'. i got a taxi to a part of panama city called casco viejo. the part of town where you don't walk around at night and the roads are more like cobblestone corridors. we found a hostel despite the fact that my spanish sucks right now and nothinggg was open. thanks four year old travel books. the guy let me in and showed me to room 8 with tall ceilings, two fans and probably 10 beds. i took the one next to the open balcony door. i couldn't fall asleep for probably an hour because i was trying to make myself feel something about being here. i should have sat outside under the new moon that brought me here but i didn't. woke up at 5:30, was at the regional airport by 6;30 & on a plane by 7. as the guy at the ticket counter said, 'there is only one place left on the plane. one place for you'. consider me validated. the flight to bocas was about 50 mintues and after my pen exploded from the altitude, i slept instead of wrote. the guys next to me was griping onto his seat the whole time and breathing on my neck every time we hit turbulance. it's not even noon yet and i've met up with jorge, got a sammy in my tummy, and have begun to feel. i've been having nerves about three things, all of which have dissapated since talking with him. imagration (i.e. staying down here for a long time and traveling), money, and shots. things move differently down here. people walk slower. coffee is sixty cents. you take a swim while you're waiting an hour for your food. there are coconuts lying on the ground by the side of the road. the farm/work situation is an interesting one, which i will write about another time. let's just say i'm glad to have no expectations. but even if i did, whatever happens is going to surpass amazing. and jor, i'm on the lookout for that ivory spoon...