Panamá City : Episode One

Good something everyone !!
 
Here is a bit more information about the trip. Let's be honest, I hardly told anything about my trip yesterday, and rather described the hows of this project.
 
So, here we go.
I left my hometown at 5:30am, and landed in Panamá at 22:30. I went through Atlanta and a few turbulences. I barely slept during the flight, and i didn't know we were landing when we landed in Panamá City. It was a strange surprise, being awaken by what you believe is a turbulence, but a lot more noisy and shaking. I thought we had lost a wing or hurt another plane before I realized my neighbor was folding her newspaper smiling.
 
Picking up my luggage, I realized one of them was missing. Meh... I made a reclamación, and the guy told me : "debe estar entre Charles de Gaulle y Atlanta, vamos a verificar". Oh thanks, very much obliged. Well, they're still looking for it, and they'll bring it to me to the hotel when they find it. I've been told by a receptionist that this kind of issue was quite common for passengers coming from Europe, Russia, China, Japan etc. I don't know why. But well : nothing dramatic.
 
My taxi brought me to the Hotel, located in the "bar y discotecas" area of the city. Indeed, pretty much movement here. Too tired for anything like hanging out, I went to the bar of the Hotel to drink my Complementary Drink though. I went for a Pisco Sour and drank it on the roof terrace of the Hotel. The place looks great by night but I didn't have my camera with me. So have a look, this is how it looks during day.
 

I know...

 

Then I went to bed. Something you have to know in modern tropical countries : they put the air conditioning at full power in order to avoid dampness issues [Phys.: water is more soluble in warm air, then if you make sure the air is cold, the latter can't transport humidity and the rooms, though cold, remain dry, avoiding molding problems for instance]. 70°F seems to be a good match humidity / coldness. [Phys.: in order to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, you apply this stupid rate : (°F-32)*5/9 = °C... Let's keep it simple : if you have a temperature in °C, multiply it by 2 and add 32 and you get Fahrenheit. Why ? Why !!? Because. Because this is imperial system, and as it is self-explained, imperial-ness sometimes comes along with imperious-ness]. Let's do it together : how many °C are 70°F ? Highlight the following answer to know if you did good => (70-32)*5/9 = 21.11°C. If you found 6.88, this is because you took 32 AFTER applying the 5/9 rate ; if you find -810°C it is because your forgot the parenthesis. Well, enough of that ! You're not here for a maths lesson !! By serendipity, I guess some of you might have been interested. What is serendipity ? Well, enough of that ! You're not here for an English lesson !!

 

Funny enough, I -still- do not suffer that much from jet lag. Maybe sleeping 3h in 2 days helps.

Maybe Modiodal helps too (legal médicine, legally obtained).

Maybe excitation from this new environment helps.

Maybe I'm surhuman.

Maybe you shouldn't laugh. ☺

 

So, yesterday I had my first stroll in town. Here are, en vrac, the main pictures I took.

 

 Yeah I know

 

 

 The Cinta Costera, a nice place to jog along the beach. Quite secure.

 

 Nice treeees !!

 

 Marksman photograph !!

 

 Same with rocks.

 

 An impressive rusty iron sculpture of a port.

 

The usual "this is me there" picture.

 

 

 

This is it for today ! ... as far as pictures are concerned ;)

 

What else ? The taxi driver who brought me to the airport was a very interesting person, who lived the last 15 years of economic transformation that followed late 90's (1989 to be honest, and for maths addicts, yes, I know, it's more than 15 years but the evolution really started in late 90's). Before, the country was rather poor, attracted no tourists and no company. But the last 15 years brought deep economic transformation, modernization and growth. Very interesting 1h talk with the guy, really.  

I also had lunch in a lovely spanish restaurant (lomo de pata negra, jamón serrano, papas salteadas, salsa con queso), where I spoke German with the owner. Yeah, German. We talked (in Spanish this time) about french economy, Panamean tax, housing prices, employment, etc.

I speak a lot with many people, and that is great. Impressive, how people here are easy-going. No matter which is the reason why, I just enjoy it, talking with waiters, receptionists, bartenders, taxis, etc. I feel a great experience starting now. I hope it will go on and on, and I'll do anything to make this happen.

 

Today, sunday 30th June 2013, is my last vacation day. Exactly 9 months, jour pour jour, after my last day in my previous company, I'm starting work again. Tomorrow. Waoh. Perfect place, perfect company, perfect job. It's more than I could have ever dreamt of. I guess I have been lucky in a way, but well, as Pasteur once said, "le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés". Even if this applies, originally, only to the observation field, I believe looking for a job is a scientific operation process.

 

Let's keep in touch !!

 

Thanks again for reading,

Sincerely yours,

 

☻