February 4, 2023
Panama City - final packing
I realized last night this hotel has a fitness center, although mostly leg stuff like elliptical machines and stationary cycles. I’m not doing a leg workout for a while still! But I did get on the weights a bit before breakfast to get those muscles feeling something again in preparation for when I get back so they don’t atrophy away.
Then, most of the day was spent on some work items and test fitting everything between the bike box and a large, heavy pannier (carry-on), and a small, rolled-up pannier (personal item - for laptop, sweatshirt that I have not worn yet, snacks). United charges twice as much if your oversized item is over 70 lbs verses under 70. It was 77 on the way down on Alaska Air (but the same price up to 100 lbs with them). Tomorrow’s flight back is going to just plain suck. I got a direct flight down for ~$160 and ~5hrs, but on the way back – after exhaustive research, the best I could do was about $500 and almost 17 hrs travel time. It is prime season I suppose, but I made reservations about 6 months early and checked frequently after that to see if anything else opened up, but no.
I’m feeling much better yesterday and today too. Back to normal. Definitely the same 24-36 hour stomach bug.
I don’t know if it is karma or poetic or what, but I just had the best dinner of the whole 8-week trip tonight – the final night. This saying a lot, because the buffet at Playa Blanca Resort at Rio Hato (only other dinner buffet) was pretty darn good, and there were some other good dinners in there as well. But the buffet at my hotel (which is only offered on Friday and Saturday - and I missed last night) was amazing, I just wish I could have done it more justice. I probably didn’t even try half the dishes. There must have been 40-50 unique items. Very Panamanian too – with some dishes I’ve never dreamt of before, such as BBQ bananas with green pesto, seafood cakes, potato and beet salad, and then some amazing desserts. That table was the only picture I took, as everything else was too spread out everywhere – some inside, some outside by the pool. Even not being that hungry, everything was so delicious!
Because I spent so much time on work items today, I didn’t really complete what I wanted to write about as far as profound insights gained that I really want to share. So, please tune in tomorrow (Sunday) as I’ll have more time on the plane and in a layover to really do this justice. Plus, I’ll have my Panama video ready then too. It’s just about done. You won’t want to miss that either – trust me, it’s my best video work ever!
Sunday will be my final post on this journal then.
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