New Chapter

I didn’t expect my night in Panama to be as exciting as it was considering my very normal day here. Jessica met me back on the ship, and our original plans were to go out to a bar right by the peir because the last tender back to the ship was at 1 am. We for sure did not want to miss that! We would have had to swim back J But anywho, she told me about how Panama was having it’s Carnival for the next few nights and we had to go. I was kind of sketched out about it cause several of the passengers said that when you got into town it was really dangerous. But, I figured if we had two guys with us, it should be fine. I also talked to a few crew members who said they went and got really soaked and dirty. I mean, a day ago I was covered in gunk. Not sure I wanted a repeat of that! Haha, but again, when in rome….

We decided to go. We get off the boat and it takes us about 30 minutes to convince the cab driver we wanted to go and that we would be fine. He said to us, you will be grabbed, you will be robbed and you will be the only American people there. Which I was with one Icelander and one Chilean, so I didn’t feel like that even mattered. But he decided to act as our personal security guard. As we went through the ghetto of Panama, listening to perfect music setting the mood, I started to get a little nervous. But , If you act like you know what you are doing, its better than acting scared.  So we get there, and it is so much fun! There is live music everywhere, tons of people dancing and kids throwing confetti and silly string into my face. We walked through the crowds and into an area where they were about to start playing a concert on a lawn. They were speaking in Spainish and throwing t-shirts out to the crowd and playing small clips of dance music. Then, the band started. Oh my gosh, the music was amazing! There was a group of teenage boys in front of us all dancing together in a line and Jess and I joined them. This is not the sort of thing that would happen in the states. Think about it….a group of men dancing together. Gotta love Latin men and their culture. After that, we headed back to port. The whole thing was awesome, but I didn’t feel very nervous. I mean, there were adorable CHILDREN everywhere. Twas an experience, and now I can say I went to Carnival in Panama J

The next port we were in was Aruba. I didn’t think that I would be able to go out at this port since I had IPM and a show that night, but Eli and I decided we really needed some beach time. The water was clear blue and the sand looked like baking flour. It was so hot and the most wonderful day to be outside. It also was incredibly American and touristy in that it had Starbucks and Victoria’s Secret. Oh, and they were very polite to pedestrians……. I definitely felt like I was at home for a split second.

Well folks (haha nerdy) I am on to the next part of my journey on the Amsterdam! I am so looking forward to the places I will see on that ship and the people I will get to meet. I am the luckiest girl in the world! Also, I feel like I got an opportunity to test out ship life, now I know what to do and what not to do before I settle in to the next chapter of my life J