Karaoke in Panama City

Meredith’s flight arrived at Tucuman International Airport two hours before mine.  Fortunately she was able to order a beer with her limited Spanish during the wait.  We decided to stay at La Casa de Carmen, the hostel I had stayed at with Jon and Nick last summer.  When we arrived it was surprisingly quiet with fewer people than last time.  Luckily we were able to get a room to ourselves and catch up on some much needed sleep.  The next morning we decided to relocate to Luna’s Castle, a popular hostel in Casco Viejo, in hopes of meeting some other travelers.

When we arrived Luna’s Castle was everything we were expecting.  Decorated with local art work and attached to a bar boasting $0.50 beers during happy hour, it’s clearly the backpacker hot spot of Panama City.  We spent the day walking around Casco Viejo, a barrio with an old colonial feel, cobblestone streets, plenty of street art, and a strong military presence.

Around 9pm we arrived at Relic Bar to fill our quota of $0.50 local beer.  In true traveling fashion we were immediately joined by an Ausie, Vincezo, another American, Baro, and a group of Israelis.  I’m always fascinated by Israeli culture, especially the mandatory military service for both men and women, and spent much of the evening speaking to Ethan about his home country.

Around midnight one of the hostel workers, Joy, came down and asked if we wanted to go to karaoke.  Meredith, Vincezo, Bora and I were definitely in (on a side note after Girl’s Trip I beginning to feel there’s a lot of karaoke in my life these days).  We finished our drinks, piled into taxis and made our way to Texas Lounge. As soon as we walked in it quickly became apparent that we were the only foreigners.  Joy on the other hand knew everyone in the bar.  The karaoke was set up in a small corner of the bar, complete with fog machine and spotlight.  It was a great atmosphere and mix of Spanish and English songs.  Our group joined in throughout the night adding favorites of You Spin My Head Right Round, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and I Want it That Way.  Vincezo is quite the performer and even made a dollar for his fierce dance moves.

Hours later when we had our fill of karaoke we relocated to a table outside.  Bora taught us Whiz, Bang, Bounce, a drinking game Meredith is not very good at.  We finished the evening sharing travel stories and piled into a cab to make it home before the sun rose.