The nighttime view of the city was lovely, and we sat outside by the water near fancy white yachts and ate yuca frita and drank the only beer they have in Panama...something pale and tasteless, but refreshing nonetheless.
We missed the last bus back to Gamboa, while waiting for our check. Nyla and I had to get up the next morning at 6:30am to hike to a birding canopy tower with another friend, but we thought we may as well do some dancing if we have to take a taxi home anyway. We walked back along the causeway in the warm ocean breeze and caught a taxi (our driver was a huge Tupac fan) to a club that the taxista recommended (he said he was going to come in with us, but we lost him at the entrance).
Inside, it was pretty boring. Some silly private party kareoke upstairs that tried to get us to sing spanish songs, and no one dancing downstairs...Only a TV on the wall with a strange mix of disturbing YouTube clips, like a waitress putting milk from her own breast into peoples' coffee, and a sheep wearing a Scream mask that freaks out the rest of the flock.
We sat at a table for a while, and then eventually some people started dancing near another table, so we went and joined them. Here we met David, a rambunctious dancer who was flamboyantly gay, and his two friends, Giselle and Gari. They piled us into the back of their car, and took us to a MUCH better club called Lips. It is a gay dance club, and you pay $8 to get in, but then there is an open bar and all your drinks until 5am are free. The music was fabulous, a mix of electronica and reggaeton with some merengue and salsa thrown in. And the best part was that when a guy touched me on the shoulder, it was just so he and his partner could get past me, and not because he wanted to grab my ass. Aaah. So nice.
We danced with our new friends and drank free Bacardi with ginger ale and a few times I had to pretend to be Nyla's girlfriend when her dancing got a bit too flirtatious and she picked up some intense lesbian admirers. The guys all LOVED Brian...a young nubile 20 year old with blond hair and blue eyes, and he got a real taste of what it's normally like to be a woman in a club full of men. But Brian's a super chill guy who is comfortable with himself and down to try things out, so he was fine.
By 3:30am David was kissing Brian on the dance floor, Nyla was running around taking photos with strangers, and I had made friends with a bartender who would serve me ice cold water with a big smile before everyone else whenever I came up to the bar.
Dreading the 7am hike, I gathered us together and Gari helped us find a taxi (she is an awesome woman who has a grown daughter around our age who she says doesn't think she is a good mom, but Gari knows better!). The 40 minute drive back to Gamboa was hilarious; Brian sat next to me saying: "I've never kissed a guy before...that was strange. He was so agressive!" and Nyla sat in the front seat making friends with our driver who teaches at a local community college during the week.
I finally got to bed around 4:30am, and then woke up two hours later for a painful, sleepy 4 hour hike. Nyla forgot to set her alarm and didn't wake up to my 20 phone calls, so I had to be the only one running on empty. But the tower was beautiful, and it was exhilarating to be so high abve the rainforest canopy!
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