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Short Travel Stories - Learn English with Camille, A wild goose hunt in Panama

A wild goose hunt in Panama

Okay, we weren't literally chasing geese, but I do have a funny story to tell. I'm not sure why, but the way it works to get to islands in Panama is to take a boat, which will drop you off, and later pick you up. You agree on a pickup time with the boat driver when he drops you off. That day we said we'd like to be picked up at 4:30pm. You always pay for the service at the end. Our driver was so nice and chatted with us on the ride out to La Isla Grande. We heard there was a hike up to the oldest lighthouse in Central America designed by Gustaf Eiffel. Yes, that Eiffel, who designed the Eiffel tower! We made it to the rusty old lighthouse and even climbed up to the top which was a bit unnerving because of the poor state of repair it was in. On the way down, we met a very cool Russian couple who were also looking for the tower. We hit it off so well with the Russians that we spent a good part of our day with them. We decided to eat but it was already 4 pm and we didn't know if we would have enough time. Our Russian friend Tim said, “Hey I can call my driver and see if he knows your driver. Maybe he can call your driver and let him know you will be there at 5pm.” He made the call and said, “It's confirmed.” Well, it turns out, it was never confirmed. We ended up taking our friend's boat back to a different town up the coast when we couldn't find our driver, and then they drove us to our car. We felt so bad though, because we hadn't paid our driver. When we arrived we went around asking the people if they knew the driver of “Dios proveerá”, which was the boat name. It actually means, God will provide. They all knew him and started looking for him, calling him. We had a good part of the village looking for Dios Proveerá! Finally we saw him coming in on his boat and the whole little town was waving to him and yelling his name and whistling, trying to get his attention. Well, he didn't hear any of us and pulled his boat up to a different part of the shore. We went running to meet him and to explain the situation. “I went three times for you guys,” he said. “We are so sorry. There was a huge misunderstanding,” we said hugging him, and trying to explain. He was very forgiving and we ended up paying him even more than we should have, which made him happy. At least we had a funny story to tell!

Keywords

Hit it off get along well with someone.

Unnerving causing one to lose courage or confidence; disconcerting.

Poor state of repair something that needs a lot of repairs.

Wild-goose chase idiom meaning a futile search.

A wild goose hunt in Panama Eine wilde Gänsejagd in Panama A la caza del ganso salvaje en Panamá Une chasse à l'oie sauvage au Panama Una caccia all'oca selvatica a Panama パナマでの雁狩り Laukinių žąsų medžioklė Panamoje Polowanie na dzikie gęsi w Panamie Uma caça ao ganso selvagem no Panamá Охота на дикого гуся в Панаме Panama'da vahşi bir kaz avı Полювання на диких гусей у Панамі 巴拿马的大雁狩猎 巴拿馬的大雁狩獵

Okay, we weren't literally chasing geese, but I do have a funny story to tell. I'm not sure why, but the way it works to get to islands in Panama is to take a boat, which will drop you off, and later pick you up. You agree on a pickup time with the boat driver when he drops you off. That day we said we'd like to be picked up at 4:30pm. You always pay for the service at the end. Our driver was so nice and chatted with us on the ride out to La Isla Grande. We heard there was a hike up to the oldest lighthouse in Central America designed by Gustaf Eiffel. Yes, that Eiffel, who designed the Eiffel tower! We made it to the rusty old lighthouse and even climbed up to the top which was a bit unnerving because of the poor state of repair it was in. On the way down, we met a very cool Russian couple who were also looking for the tower. We hit it off so well with the Russians that we spent a good part of our day with them. We decided to eat but it was already 4 pm and we didn't know if we would have enough time. Our Russian friend Tim said, “Hey I can call my driver and see if he knows your driver. Maybe he can call your driver and let him know you will be there at 5pm.” He made the call and said, “It's confirmed.” Well, it turns out, it was never confirmed. We ended up taking our friend's boat back to a different town up the coast when we couldn't find our driver, and then they drove us to our car. We felt so bad though, because we hadn't paid our driver. When we arrived we went around asking the people if they knew the driver of “Dios proveerá”, which was the boat name. It actually means, God will provide. They all knew him and started looking for him, calling him. We had a good part of the village looking for Dios Proveerá! Finally we saw him coming in on his boat and the whole little town was waving to him and yelling his name and whistling, trying to get his attention. Well, he didn't hear any of us and pulled his boat up to a different part of the shore. We went running to meet him and to explain the situation. “I went three times for you guys,” he said. “We are so sorry. There was a huge misunderstanding,” we said hugging him, and trying to explain. He was very forgiving and we ended up paying him even more than we should have, which made him happy. At least we had a funny story to tell!

**Keywords**

**Hit it off** get along well with someone.

**Unnerving** causing one to lose courage or confidence; disconcerting.

**Poor state** of repair something that needs a lot of repairs.

**Wild-goose** **chase** idiom meaning a futile search.