Panama Update #64
October 9, 2008
Yesterday morning I checked out of the hotel early and then called a taxi to move me and our suitcases to the Bed and Breakfast for our last two nights in Houston. They let me store our luggage there until the check-in time at 3:00 PM. After that I took a bus back to the Convention Center to hear Nikki's second talk. This time it was on the research she did in Ethiopia. She stayed up all night preparing and practicing and the talk went well. It was only 15 minutes long like the other one. It was in a bigger room this time with about 50 other scientists listening. I guess that is what they do at these conventions. They listen to other people's research reports and then talk informally to try to learn something and see if their findings are consistent with the other person.
We left the convention center about 2:00 and took a bus to the B & B. It is a huge mansion in a very nice neighborhood with a lot of large mansions that is still convenient to all the activities downtown. It is a pleasant change from the other hotel, although that one was nice too but in a more industrial area of town. We found a great restaurant last night within walking distance of the hotel. It was a Mediterranean style buffet which had hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli, pasta, spinach salad, and quite a few other dishes. We enjoyed it and both of us were stuffed.
Today we had planned to do a little sight seeing at one of the museums, the zoo, or Rice University but Nikki decided it would be very helpful for her to go to a 2 day conference in Austin, so we spent the day switching our flights around, renting a car, etc. Nikki has an Uncle Frank in Austin that I haven't met yet and she hasn't seen for several years. I haven't been back to Austin since I worked for their school district in the '84-'85 school year. We drive to Austin at 4:00 AM tomorrow (Friday) and then back to Houston on Sunday and our flights to Panama leave at 3:00 PM on Sunday (from Houston). I go directly to Panama City and arrive at 7:00 PM but Nikki has to go to Panama via El Salvador and Costa Rica and doesn't arrive until midnight. We called our taxi driver in Panama to let him know about the changes.
