Travel Day To Santiago

There was not a lot on the agenda today other than to start our travels back to Panama City. We left the AirBnB at 10:00 and was able to hail a taxi from the end of our driveway to take us back to the water taxi port. Unfortunately we all didn’t fit on the 10:30 water taxi, but since they had already loaded my luggage I went solo and told the rest of the gang I would wait for them where they left us off. They were in another water taxi only 10 minutes behind me, so it wasn’t really a big deal. Getting back to our car was less of a hassle then when we arrived. Linda and I stopped at a local grocery store before we started the long haul so she could use the bathroom and I could look for a drink and/or snack. I bought a 1 liter bottle of PowerAde for only $1.25.

We set out on the road going back through pothole hell. I was super conscious of my speed and remembered to turn up the volume on my phone so I could hear Waze tell me if there were police ahead. Pete and Laurie passed me early on, and I was not surprised that they had gotten stopped by police at the exact spot I had on the way there. Later they told us that they were stopped for speeding even though they were following a car in front of them doing the exact speed. They told that to the officer and he basically said, yeah but I stopped you. They were going to give them a $50 ticket, but when Pete just said put in on my rental vehicle, they went back and discussed and with Pete persistent on putting it on the rental vehicle they told him he could just go. I should have stuck to that myself the other day instead of paying the cash. The police are so shady. They probably have the radar gun set at a certain speed and never change it so that no matter who they stop it always shows the same speed. The police were busy with Pete and Laurie when I had rolled through so they just let me go on about my way. This time I did not stop to see what happened with them. Unfortunately it took a couple of times and $260, but I think Pete, Laurie, and I have now figured out how to play their game.

The rest of the drive went without a hitch. The constant changing speed limits on Route 1 are super annoying, but it is what it is. We pulled into the hotel parking lot at 5:00. We are staying at Hotel Mykonos (https://www.mykonospanama.com/) for the night before we make the rest of the drive to Panama City tomorrow.

We ate at the hotel restaurant where I had a burger that was not the best burger I’ve ever had and certainly not the worse. It was just ok. I also splurged and got the key lime pie for dessert. Again it was good, but not the best I’ve ever had. I thought the lime flavor could have been stronger.

The dessert put me over the top, so I decided to walk to the Santiago Mall that is next to the hotel to get in some steps. I wandered the mall for an hour and much like the malls at home, there were many vacant stores. I did walk a around a couple of stores, but didn’t find anything unique. In fact most the of the clothes/objects/things that had writing on it was in English. There did seem to be some good deals on clothes, but I was not in the mood to look or try anything on. I walked back to the hotel where I am now writing the blog and will probably watch something on Netflix before crashing out.

Stats of the Day:

Steps: 7,454 (I think 2,000 of those steps were from the bouncy ferry ride)
Number of Times Pulled Over: 0 Today!!
Cost To Fill 3/4 Tank Of Gas: $34.00