Panama

We flew from Cartegena to Panama yesterday. It was an hour long flight. Now we're going to hang out in Panama for a while, eventually we will go to the San Blas Islands for some more snorkeling and relaxing. After that, who knows!

Story:
We went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Cartegena. It was a little weird, but cool to feel like we were sitting in a little slice of the US. Most of everything was in English, except the waiters. There was a woman with a group from a cruise ship in there. She was trying to order some nachos, or something like that. She was trying to convey to the waiter the level of spiciness that she wanted for her food. She was doing the whole thing where she was speaking English to the waiter, only louder and slower, as if that was going to help him understand. She would say something, and then he would repeat what he thought she said, only in Spanish. She wouldn't understand, so she would just repeat what she had said before. This would make the waiter think he had gotten it wrong. She was basically yelling by the end of the whole thing... For some reason, I just watched instead of going to help.
When the waiter left she turned to her other cruise friends and said something like "Well, who knows how spicy it will be!!? It might be really spicy, or maybe not at all! Who knows! ... But that's why we're out here! For the adventure!" A lot of chuckling and adult humor followed.

I felt like yelling, "You are at a Hard Rock Cafe! That is NOT an adventure!!! You are on a cruise ship!!" Luckily, my filter happened to be on at that moment and my brain told me that what was on my mind did not happen to be the best thing to say at the moment. I held back. But I kept thinking about it. For a few days.
I realized how horrible I was for wanting to say that. Obviously, the HRC in Cartegena IS an adventure for her. Why can't I just back off and let her have her adventure? Why do I need to cut her down for it? I was taught a wise lesson.

Story #2:
My bag was being searched at the Colombian airport by a member of the Colombian military. He was making small talk as he went through all my stuff, including sniffing my shampoo. He asked me if I was traveling alone, and I told him I was traveling with my husband. Then he asked me if my husband spoke Spanish. I told him, only a little Spanish. Then we talked for a little while more about where we had traveled, and then he asked me if he could have my email address! I was so flattered. I told him I didn't have one. He didn't seem to believe it, but I didn't want to outright turn him down because he could delay our plane! I was really flattered and told Jason as soon as we were out of earshot. He laughed...Ahh.. Goodbye Colombia

Story #3:
Panama rocks. We're really stoked to be here.