D is for Desperation and It Isn't Pretty

English: Plane of Taca Airlines. Español: Avión de Taca Airlines. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Desperation is begging either the Diners Club lounge or Dunkin Donuts to open early. This is what happened this morning at the Panama City Tocumen International Airport. We were up by 3:30 am and Monica, our Columbian hostess who is married to the American David, drove us to the airport. As we are driving, I am thinking, I don’t think I would want to do this drive for $30. That was until we arrived at the airport 15 minutes later and recalculated. Another 15 minutes, she will be home again, so that is $60 an hour. Now that is not bad money at all. 

BUT, who are the sadists that design these flights at such early hours, now of the stores, cafeterias, or airline lounges are even open. Our flight was scheduled for 6:47 am, but we had to be there by 4:47 am. Even then, we were earlier than we needed to be. TACA Airlines was right on the ball, the counters were already open when we arrived. With boarding passes already printed out, it was a breeze checking in. Then the hunt started.

We walked all over the terminal looking and sniffing for freshly brewed coffee. As we walked past coffee bars, cafes, snack bars, espresso bars, we only sniffed our tears, but no aroma of caffeine brewing; they were all closed. We found the Diners Club lounge and rang the bell repeatedly like some magic would occur, but no one appeared behind the door where magic could happen. 

As we roamed, we noticed a restaurant on the 2nd level and it had people walking around in it. Standing back farther, we could make out the fluorescent sign that showed Open 24 Hours. What eluded us was the way to get to it. There were no escalators or elevators visible. There were no signs showing the way to one or the other either. Finally, I asked someone working near security. He told me we had to go downstairs, through Immigration and then back up the stairs on the other side. This seems like a treasure hunt, but without others to confirm his story, we tried. Down we went and directly ahead were the sleepy surly looking women of Immigration. Yes, only women were working this shift and they put their nasty faces on as soon as they saw our confused white faces. 

Rather than provide helpful information, they only said “You don’t have enough time to go to the restaurant.” What do you mean? We have over an hour before the boarding even begins. They refused to let us through; the Panama version of the Berlin Wall. Back to wandering the halls. 

People were starting to arrive to work; there was some fluttering going on behind the cage screens that protect these establishments from wary tourists making their own coffee. Ron asked each what time they would open, but every response was a discouraging 6:30 am. This only gave us 15 minutes.

I spotted a man unlock and then walk into the Diners Club lounge so we leaped on him like a couple of hunting lions with a wildebeest. With sad eyes, he turned his head and said “Just give me five minutes.” It was the least we could do. He was prey to his word; the door opened five minutes later. We swallowed a cup of coffee in two gulps and returned to the gate for our flight. 

We are doing a farm stay with an American ex-pat. Mark was gracious enough to take us grocery shopping on the way to his place. He has a lovely four room accommodation that he built on acres of land that host sweet lemons, mangos, tangerines, pineapples, bananas, avocados and other fruits I cannot recall. We have the apartment with a bedroom, kitchen and dinette area. Right out our door is the swimming pool, where we indulged an hour after arrival. From our balcony, we can see the Mount Masaya, an inactive volcano. I never thought I would be the relaxing type, but I am starting to get the hang of it.

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Germany - Dresden

For some reason I have yet to discover, I have been resistant to writing about our trip to Germany a couple of weeks ago. I am not certain why, but it could have been the weather that had a grave affect on my mood. We took budget airline EasyJet to Berlin. Though the budget airlines have been a boon to air travel, the cost has more than doubled over the last year purportedly due to gas prices.
We arrived at Schoenefeld airport in a timely manner. The metro to the city is conveniently located a couple of blocks away under a protective covering for inclement weather. Within a half hour, we were in the heart of Berlin, but our travel had not ended there.

We immediately went to the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof, now the largest train station in Europe boasting five levels of tracks, shops, restaurants, and services. It was built on land that was once bisected by the Berlin Wall, making it a symbolic gesture of uniting the city. We took a train from here to Dresden using a ticket booked online and printed out with a barcode.

Arriving in evening into Dresden, we walked to the B and B we booked. It was about three blocks from the station. However, Ron wrote down the wrong name for the buzzer and the name he had was not on any bell. He started pressing buzzers one by one to ask if they knew of a B and B in the building. By the fourth attempt, our host came to greet us at the door.
We stayed with Rene Müller at Mary-Wigman-Str. 19, Dresden (reneaglaser@aol.com). Looking at the e-mail, I can see why Ron was looking for a Rene Glaser on the doorbells. Rene has a very nice comfortable room, but we just dropped our things and went to walk the city in the twilight.

Being Saturday evening, there was not much open other than restaurants and bars, but it was lovely seeing the city at this time of day. The streets were crowded with tourists and residents strolling and chatting in various languages. What struck us the most was that it was COLD. We both had liners under our coats, but we could have used gloves and scarves too. The outdoor restaurants all had their heatalators on to keep the hungry crowds warm enough to sit through a meal.

Dresden was once called the “Florence on the Elbe” being one of Europe’s architectural and artistic highlights. However, much of it was bombed during WWII and much of the city was not much more than a rubble heap. On February 13, 1945, 800 British aircraft showered the city with 2,600 tons of bombs. The Americans followed the next morning with 300 Flying Fortress bombers. It is estimated that 25,000 people were killed, while 13 square miles of the historic city center were destroyed. With temperatures rising to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, the burning city was visible to pilots from 100 miles away. Dresden was a central hub for the Nazi’s and the city remained loyal to them, hence its destruction.

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