Anyway, we finally pulled into David and we were only 45 minutes late, which in Panama is pretty much right on time. In fact everything in Panama happens right on time. No addresses, no schedules, no problem. My landlord for the month I'm here (see Panama James in earlier post) was to have met me at the bus terminal in David and bring me to Boquete. "I'll be wearing a blue shirt and shorts" he tells me. I saw a lot of short people wearing blue shirts, but no white guy in a blue shirt and nobody in shorts. Luckily taxi drivers are practically humping your leg as soon as you step off the bus, so after wandering around for a while dragging a giant-dead-horse/my suitcase, looking for anything resembling someone named Jim I gave up and allowed myself to be 'guided' to a local taxi cab.
"Donde senior, el blah, blah, blah?" the driver smiled a toothless grin.
I took a guess and said, "Boquete?" to which he nodded and off we went.
Shortly after we got on the road a few rain drops began to fall and the driver (after sizing me up and finding a level of communication befitting a dumb ass gringo) said, "Agua". In his wisdom this man knew that I knew what agua meant, and somehow I actually did, though I'm not sure what shoes had to do with the rain. Anyway, suddenly the world got dark and the sky opened up! Let me add at this juncture that it does not rain in the Pacific Northwest. It sprinkles. As the down pour started and the paint began to peel from the car I raised my fist in defiance and said "Mas Agua!", to which he gummed a smile and laughed. Then it started to really rain and the lightning began flashing around us with deafening thunder claps! My new friend (it's funny how quickly the person who holds your life in their hands becomes your friend) was now hunched over the steering wheel trying to see the road. 'It was that damned, crazy, gypsy woman from the bus!' I thought. 'She put a curse on me!' Then through the white sheet came police lights and ambulances rushing passed going the other way. Soon more flashing lights and we passed an over turned van. We had to swerve to avoid a fallen tree branch! I chuckled nervously and softly said "No mas Agua."
But soon the rain let up and we pulled into Boquete and everything was normal. The driver said "Ahora aqui?" to which I guessed again and replied, "I, um,...oh...yeah...Vista Grande!" He gums, he nods, he blah, blah, blahs, and 15 minutes later, after driving in circles in the dark I decided to give the poor man a break and let him return to his wife and family. I gave up trying to find The Vista Grande and pointed to the closest hotel sign I could read. Confused, but relived, my new Panamanian friend dropped me off and bid me a grateful and gracious farewell and drove off into the night.
I checked in to the Reboqute Hotel and with the help of the young man at the desk ordered a pizza to be delivered. I got online and finally found Jim's phone number. You may be asking yourself, "What kind of idiot does not have the most important phone number in the world written down somewhere?" Well, I'll tell you - Me, that's who, and don't you forget it! Anyway I called Jim and explained what had happened. "Sure, sure", he said (He's from Canada), "No worries, sorry we missed you. I'll pick you up tomorrow". And he did. He is my new friend...and hero. The pizza? Pretty damn delicious.
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