Day 36- Tuesday, February 14th, 2012.

Day 36- Tuesday, February 14th, 2012.

Wow! So today, was a very LONG day! Brother Nixon told us to be ready to leave the Neals house at 7 in the morning. Which means I have to leave my house at 6:30 in order to be there on time. No buggy… So I left on time, walking down. I got there early and waited with the Neals…We waited…and waited…and waited. At 8 Brother Nixon pulled up. We were all ready to go already, but he was in no rush. We also were apparently waiting on someone else…Albin was ready at 8:30 and we were off. An hour and half later then we planned. Oh well. Se la vie right?! We drove to Rio Sereno and took a road going up and in the same direction we had just come. We traveled for a good while. And finally we all got out at the mechanics store in Bogaba, I am pretty sure I am spelling that wrong. Either way we were right on the border again. Brother Nixon was going to buy new tires and rims so he went about doing that, meanwhile me, the Neals, and Albin were bored so we took a walk. When Nixon was done he was going to call us. We walked to the bank. I was out of money and needed to get more. Card in…Pin in…and then I saw… 'We are sorry we can not process your transaction at this moment. Please contact your institution for more assistance." GREAT!! Maybe inside they can help me. So I went inside…A man there, said he was very sorry but his bank couldn't help me because it was a national bank, not international. Ok I thought, that doesn't make much sense. But he suggested a different bank so I went. No buggy. ATM of the International Bank said the same. So I decided to try inside who knows maybe it will work inside. WELL a very pompous lady looked down on me for passing her a Mexican card, we can't help you here. Try the ATM. After I again told her about the ATM not working, she goes. "OUR ATM is working perfectly fine! Its YOUR card that is the problem!" Wow! Ok lady calmate por favor. I'm not like threatening you or anything. So I decided to go. No money…what am I going to do?! I tried calling my families Mexican numbers but my phone won't let me at all. For some reason it allows me to call the States SO I called the Skype number. Like usual the Skype was turned off. I left a message. I could do nothing else at the moment so I decided to walk with the Neals to a store. After they bought some movies we were all starving it being 11:45 now and all of us having gotten up at 6.  So we went to 'Pio Pio' the Panamanian version of KFC-ish. We ate some pollo and Nixon met up with us. We hung out there for a while and then Nixon told us he had to buy some stuff. But first Keith wanted to go back to the car place and buy something for his car in Mexico. Apparently a killer deal!! After that it was time for me and Albin to catch a bus. See we had a total of 5 people in a pick up. And its not technically legal to be in the back of the truck here. But in the country the police don't do anything about it because they know that's the only way people can get around. In the city especially on the border its very different. So me and Albin went to find the bus and the Neals and Nixon went to do a few more things for shopping then they would meet us in another city. We got on the bus, neither of us REALLY knowing where we were going. But we made it there okay, so no worries. We were to meet them in the park, we got there and waited. I saw an internet cafe and decided to use it to my advantage. I got on the internet hoping my family would be online and I could tell them about the card. No such luck! But thankfully SANDY has to be online with her work. So I wrote her a quick message and logged off. Less then 5 minutes later my mom was on the phone with me. I told her everything that happened with the card. She said that she would figure it all out and call me back later. AWESOME! From there we went to Volcan. Going there we could ride in the back we just had to sit down, not stand. So we hopped in the back. Fixed the cardboard and blanket seat and were no our way. Listening to the radio on my phone just chillin in the back of the truck. We got to Volcan and Nixon had to stop at the entrance of Volcan to put a step on each side of his truck so that it would be easier to get in the truck. There was a bakery that we didn't know about so we stopped there, its very dangerous to know that, that bakery is there. AMAZING CAKE!! After we went to a place they call 'The Park' and looked around I was able to find a map of Panama. So I got one. Then we walked down to an internet cafe I got to get on for a little. My Mama Llama called and I got to talk to her and my Carin. 🐨 I talked to them for a long time actually. Then we walked back to where Nixon was, they still hadn't finished the stairs on the truck. So we waited for a bit more. There is a little cafe across the street from the mechanics store so me, Donna, and Nixon went to go get a coffee. I got a very yummy cappuchino. Finally the truck was done after more then 2 hours and we went to go pick up Keith who had returned to buy something at the park. Then it was up the mountain to Cerra Punta…the sun was beginning to go down so as soon as we got there. David and Susy Ruedas were waiting for us. We were supposed to eat dinner with them but we got their too late. David took us to a place to take pictures and Susy was going to stay home to make us some coffee. We got to see the Kingdom Hall of Cerra Punta. MAN! That places is really nice!! Its like a hall from the States. When we to back to the house Susy was outside holding the gas tank. The gas had run out as soon as we left. So they went to go find some gas at about 7. Finally they found some gas and we made some coffee and had some bread. Then at 8 it was time to get back home. We left Cerra Punta, went back trough Volcan. I tried the bank again and it didn't work. I am going to try again next Monday, hopefully it will register then. Who knows! Then it was time to come back home. Nixon drives fast!!! It was so cold, we opted for not sitting on the blanket but using it. We were all bundled up, we probably looked like robbers cause we had our hoods on and scarves covering everything but our eyes. It was pretty fun though. :) We finally got home. And I was HUNGRY!!! So I ate some dinner hung out with the family and then went to bed. So Goodnight Day 36!!