Day 59 (Fish Market & Ancon Hill)

I'm back to crying in class again :-(.  This week there are only 2 of us in my group class.  Anichi (sp?) is a young kid (19) from Brazil who is supposedly at my same level.  However, same level for someone who speaks Portuguese is a lot different than someone who speaks English.  Which means that there is a lot that goes on during class that just goes right over my head.  There are also bits and pieces in my grammar that I still have yet to have throughly explained to me since I switch schools so regularly.

After class I headed to the fish market for lunch.  I ate in the restaurant above the market which surprisingly didn't reek of fish and ocean.  The fish I ordered was tasty but way overpriced.  Afterward, I attempted to find the old Chinatown, but really all that's left is the gate. 

I then headed to Central Avenue to try and find some dress clothes for the interview I had the next day.  I went into one store and tried on some brand names from the states with the tags cut out.  Nothing was quite right.  I was also on the hunt for ice cream since, as expensive as it was, my fish wasn't exactly filling.

In the end I didn't end up finding the right location for either but headed over to the bottom of the hill where there was supposedly a great view at the top of.  I'd gotten directions from the director of the school earlier in the day.  However, they weren't the best and I'd walked back and forth amoung two streets several times in the hot sun and humidity trying to find my way.

This led to my lapse in judgement in accepting an offer from some guy who wanted to give me a ride.  In the end, it was fine.  He was only able to drive me a few blocks before entering a guarded community where he couldn't drive in but I could walk up.  After him bugging me about me being beautiful (muy lindo) and wanting a way to contact me, I got out and was on my way.

Once I finally found the trail, there were many locals jogging up it as well.  Here are some of the views from the top.

With as much work as I went through to get there, I'm not sure it was worth it.  As soon as I got back down, I went straight into a McDonalds for my ice cream then quickly found some pants for my interview before rushing back to my hostel for my book club Skype meeting.

Both of my friends, however, had forgotten about the change in dates.  I was a bit disappointed as this evening was also the day the Panama City Ballet was doing a free performance in the park.  I'd quickly tried to see if I could get there to see the end.  But in the end decided that I just can't do everything.