Previous email updates from Panama. Higlights include:
-Buying a car
-Getting a bank account
- Commute home from the port
November 11, 2008
Frustrations no victories …maybe some victories next week
I have purchased a car here in Panama and I affectionately call it
Yucky. It is a 2003 Toyota Yaris and to put it nicely it is far from
being a Honda. But I won’t care if it gets beat up and I can sell it
in 2 years for a pretty decent price. I have already printed off a
picture of a convertible mini cooper to remind me of what I can get
once I sell Yucky in 2 years. The beauty of this car purchase is
that.. drumroll please….. is that I have to purchase it all in
cash…second drumroll please……… that I pull out from my American
Bankaccount.. .third drumroll please…… in multiples of $20 and in some
cases $5. At the rate I am going I will be lucky to have enough cash
to buy it next week.
I went to an Island off the coast of Panama City over the weekend
called Isla Taboga. I took a $10 roundtrip ferry where we passed some
vessels waiting to go thru the canal. I saw a Maersk ship entering the
canal!!! They have the second oldest church in the Southern Hemisphere
( don’t ask me where the oldest one is I am just repeating what Lonely
Planet told me). At this church they have people buried in the walls
and tombstones on the walls. The beach was nice but a little rocky.
Towards the end of the day it started to rain but we were able to
catch the Ferry to get back to Panama City. On the ferry it was very
slippery and I managed to fall and get a huge bruise on my backside. I
have determined that I need to get some flip flops that have some
better grips on them!
Bank Account Status update in Numbers:
13- The number of days that I have been waiting
7- The number of emails I have sent to the representative
8- The number of messages that I have left for the HSBC Representative
10- The amount Wachovia charges me every time I pull money out in Panama
1- The number of checks that I have that I have no bank account to put
the money in
I am ready for the rainy season to be over with. It rains on the days
you have off of work and it is bright and sunny on the days you do
have to work. It seems that Panama City was built before cities
thought it would be a good idea to install drainage sewers so every
time it rains the streets flood. When I saw flood I mean that kids are
floating across rivers of water on couches. If you were not attempting
to get somewhere in the rain it would be a cool site to see… not so
much when you are trying to get around.
My container has arrived.. but it is stuck in customs. I guess they
are tallying up how much duty is going to have to be paid on all my
bottles of shampoo and Ziploc bags…
Only in Panama
It is possible for all the ATMs in the city to run out of cash
In some restaurants a beer and a coke are the same price
It is cool to eat at Fridays on Friday
November 24, 2008
I finally got to move into my new place. I am one of 10 people that are currently living in the building. The pool is still not even filled… I informed the security guard in my best Spanish that they need to fill up the pool but he just smiled because I don’t think he understood me. Currently my living furniture consists of 2 lawn chairs and my cooler serving as a TV stand.. ..it is very classy! They delivered the container directly to my apartment and suffice to say I was very excited!! The movers unpacked all my boxes so now I have a bunch of piles of stuff everywhere because I have no furniture in my living room and dining room.
Moving to Panama by numbers:
6- the number of boxes that were left in the US
3- The number of air conditioners I have in my house and I am still sweating
250- the highest temperature my gas oven goes up to
7- the number of trash bags I have taped up on my bedroom window because I have no blinds
5- the number of nails I bent until I realized my walls were concrete block
15- the number of items that were broken in the move
After 3 weeks of waiting I finally received Yucky ( My Toyota Yaris). I only had to spend 2 hours at the government office to get the title transferred into my name. Everyone tells me how lucky I was that it happened so quickly. He makes weird noises but his windows are tinted enough so people cannot see that I am a gringo However, I think that I give away that I am not from Panama because I use my turn signals. This morning I got lost on my way to work and ended up having to $5 in tolls to get to work. This evening I am going to try to practice driving to work.
A party bus that drives you around the city for 4 hours that serves all you can drink shots and plays salsa music. While the bus is moving you are dancing to the music while also holding on for dear life! After your 4 hours are up the Chiva lets you off at a dance club. Suffice to say plan to do this only when you having nothing to do the following morning. I met a whole bunch of people but I cannot remember their names and would most likely not be able to spot them in a crowd ever again.
I went on a road trip with some other Expats to explore what was outside of Panama City. We drove across the Bridge of the Americas and armed only with our Lonely Planet Panama Book we went exploring. We drove 25km down a dirt road to find a sea turtle hatchery that Lonely Planet said was there and it turned out to not be there. Then we found a waterfall that Lonely Planet said was nice and it turned out to be a dirty brown river with a tiny fall with trash floating down it. Moral of the story do not solely depend on Lonely Planet to define your road trip!
You can get a maid for $15 a week
If you use a bill higher than a $20 they record your name and passport number down
When ordering delivery food is the person does not speak English just give the security guard a dollar and he will talk for you
December 1, 2008
First American Holiday Abroad
My first Thanksgiving in PanamaI worked on Thanksgiving day but I had Alfredo to come home to so that was a nice change to be thankful for! For dinner I homemade chicken fajitas with all the trimmings! Not a traditional Turkey Day feast but at least I cooked something! Alfredo and I ate dinner on my new table ( a standard moving box and my TV box turned on it’s side). We tried to join a co-worker for Salsa dancing lessons but I got severely lost and ended up in the hills of Panama city ( bad place to be) while it was pouring down rain! After finding a major road I followed if for 30 minutes only to discover I was going in the wrong direction! Once I found my way back home Alfredo and I treated ourselves to some gelato.. not pumpkin pie but I think gelato is way better than pumpkin pie ( please note I do not consider anything dessert unless it involves chocolate, carmel, cake, brownie, cookie, etc). Black Friday
While people in the States were shopping Alfredo and I were heading up to a rainforest resort. This resort is roughly 45 minutes outside of Panama and feels like a completely different world. At this resort we took a tour which takes you to an island in the middle of the Panama Canal. On the way to the island I spotted a Maersk Ship in the canal. I will spare you the 20 pictures I took of the ship! On this island we fed monkeys!! You simply hold out bread, nuts, fruit etc and the monkeys jump on the boat and eat straight from your hand! The monkeys are very gentle and of course very cute! We also saw Toucans and other kinds of monkeys while on the tour.Panama Canal
I finally visited one of the locks of the canal! It was of course pouring down rain since it is almost the end of rainy season in Panama. Alfredo was very patient with me as I insisted we watch at least 2 ships go thru the locks. I think even people who are not Shipping nerds will appreciate just how little space there is between the boat and lock. However, other Expats tell me that the Canal is cool the first time you go but as you bring visitors you get tired of it. Personally I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing it! Christmas
There are Christmas decorations up but honestly it does not feel like Christmas around here. The only time I felt like it was Christmas was when I walked past some Christmas trees and I could smell the pine sent. I am thinking that next year I will get a palm tree and decorate it instead of putting up my fake Christmas tree! Panama by numbers
5 The number of days in a row that it rained all day
6 the number of monkeys that Alfredo and I fed
90 balboas the toll I pay to get to work
2 the number of times that I got lost over the weekend
1.5 the average number of hours it took me to find my way once I got lost
2 hours the amount of time it took for me to go 10 kilometers during rush hour on pay day
63 the amount a taxi will charge you for a roundtrip to the airport
3 the number of puddles I have taken Yucky thru that I thought I was going to drown the car
December 9, 2008
Salsa Dancing
For those that know me in general I am a pretty horrible dancer.. .. my signature move being the Miller Lite ( I miss that beer) bottle waived above my head or some version of interpretive dance of the song. However I told myself that while I was in Panama I would learn to salsa dance. After one ill-fated attempt at trying to find the place to take lessons ( reference last blog post getting lost in the hills of Panama) I decided it was time to learn. I went with a few girls from work and started off in the basic class. The lesson was of course taught all in Spanish ( Spanish lessons and Salsa lessons for $4, pretty good deal) and the first hour was just pretty much moving your feet a lot and doing some turning. About every 10 minutes the teacher would come over and give me remedial lessons because I was not on beat or I was taking too big of steps. After about 2 hours she thought it would be a good idea for us to dance with partners…. ( Alfredo knows that I can’t do the whole let the guy lead I follow thing). After about 5 minutes of dancing with me my partner gave up on me and I gave up on him and just proceeded to sit down until the song ended. I think I will need about 5 more weeks of basic lessons before I will be ready to dance with people!
After a lovely night of attempting to salsa dance I arrived home wanting to take a shower and hop into bed. I guess the gods of Panama had something else in mind for me…. I turned my shower knob and no water came out of the tap. I tried the sink and no water came out either! Frustrated and it being 11pm at night I call my land lord and left a message in my best Spanglish that I have no water and something needs to be done to fix that! Luckily I was able to stay the night at one of the other expats houses.. ( hers actually has furniture so it felt like a hotel). The following morning my landlord assured me the water would be fixed by the time I got home from work. I arrive home from work and I still had no water! Rather than wait around for my landlord to figure out what to do I took it upon myself to search the building until I found one of the building administrators. I once again explained in my best spanglish ( No Agua in mi apartmento.. necessito el fixo NOW!) It turns out that one of my neighbors turned off my water!!! First of all I don’t know how I made enemies in a building that currently only has 20 people living in it…. Second why do my neighbors have access to turn off my water??? I suppose the only saving grace of this situation was that I was not in the shower when my neighbor decided that I did not need water.
It was once again time for my trek outside of the city to relax and give my car horn a rest. This time it was a Girls Weekend with Katie ( NAM Expat) and Fernanda ( Chilean Expat) to a town called El Valle. El Valle is a little town that sits in the crater of an old volcano. The town is known for golden frogs, a waterfall, hot springs, and a big Sunday Market. We did a spa treatment of getting covered in the volcanic mud and then left to dry in a garden. We also went to the hot springs and got covered in more mud and then laid in the hot natural spring water. However the coolest thing was the zip lining trek we did across the Big Waterfall called El Macho ( Big Man). We hiked up to the top of the mini mountain and then proceeded to zip line down via 6 different platforms! One of the zip lines took you across the waterfall! It was scary at first but awesome at the same time! I think that in addition to snorkeling I will have to add zip lining to my favorite activities! The weather in the valley was chilly at night so it was a nice to wear a light jacket and have it feel semi like Christmas.
3 the number of languages I hear spoken around me during the course of my day ( Spanish, Danish, Portuguese)
2 The number of Christmas trees I have but it still does not feel like Christmas
7 The number of Spanish Teachers I have called but none will come out to the Port to give me lessons
4 the number of port workers that whistled at me as I walked into the office building
3 the number of dollars that I paid for a huge plant for my porch
8:30 AM the time that I offered the cable installation guy a drink and he asked for a beer
22 the number of items that I have on my Wal-Mart list for the States
December 15, 2008
Things you can purchase during your commute:
Cell phone chargers
Santa hats
Gum
Bananas
Map of Panama
Flowers
Reindeer Antlers
Dish towels
Panama Car Flag
Cell phone minutes
Lottery Tickets
Depending on what you want to buy on your commute home depends on what part of the city you are in. For instance the intersection near my house always has roses whereas the intersection near my work always has dish towels. However although I have an amazing selection of things to buy out of the window of my car the one thing that I cannot find in Panama City is a gift bag…. Countless hours have been spent walking up and down the aisles of stores looking for a gift bag to put my Secret Santa presents in. My poor person receives their present in the bag I bought the gift from because I have no clue where you find a gift bag! Granted in the States I did that all the time because I was too lazy/hated to wrap presents but when you are trying to make a good impression with people showing up with their present in a grocery store bag is not the best impression…
In yet another attempt to make it feel like Christmas I thought it would be a good idea to make some Christmas cookies. Armed with 2 easy recipes I begin my journey to find the needed ingredients. This journey takes me to 3 different groceries stores and leaves me wondering why they would put sugar next to dog food and holding a jar of $8 peanut butter …I emerge with 8 bags of sugar unsure of what kind I needed so I bought a bunch of different kinds and put the names in Google Translate in order to figure out which kind was the right kind. The next issue came with me battling the gas oven that is in Celsius. I have never had a gas oven so the shear fact I have to light my oven and have an open flame is scary enough much less not having a good gauge on the F to C conversion. In the end the cookies turned out ok, not as good as moms but they are edible and I will mostly give them out to colleagues to enjoy or at least pretend to enjoy. The only major issue during the baking session being that in order to have the chocolate harden everything had to be put in the freezer because my apartment was too warm.
I finally had to give into the fact that my long hair could not handle the humidity down here and I needed to get it cut and coloredYou gotta love it when the first thing the person that is cutting your hair says to you is “My English is not that good”. . I have had some marathon hair appointments but this one was by far the longest. I was at the hair salon for 3 hours. Rather than put me under a dryer to make the color set he had me sit there in a chair waiting for the color to hair dry…2 hours later we moved on to the cutting portion. After several unsuccessful attempts to explain how I wanted my hair cut I gave up and just let him do what he wanted. I tried to tell him how short he could go but he must have taken this as only a guideline and disregarded it. So now my hair is much shorter than I would have liked it and a boring shade of dull blonde….The only saving grace of this experience is that he was really good at styling my short hair and several Panamanian guys gave their whistles of approval as I was doing errands.
-5 km/h my average speed during my commute home
-4 the number of ATMS I had to try until I found one with cash
-45 minutes the amount of time I spent looking for my car in a parking garage- apparently nivel 1 and nivel -1 are different levels and the negative sign had been scratched off of most of the signs.
-2 the number of Colors of eye liner at the only store in Panama City that sells MAC makeup had (white and black)
-15 days the last time I got gas
December 22, 2009
Furniture shopping
I am slowly attempting to buy furniture and stop literally living on boxes and blow up mattresses. During one of my trips to mall I came across a dining room table and chairs that was pretty decent and a good price. Armed with Alfredo on speed dial I walked into the store to buy the furniture set. I locate a salesperson and call Alfredo and hand the phone over to the salesperson. Alfredo does his magic of talking Spanish for me and a few back and forth attempts as I tell Alfredo questions to ask the salesperson I have agreed to buy the dining set. After a slight translation error on the delivery date has been corrected ( No Tuesday not Thursday) I go to pay for the furniture. In true Panamanian fashion the CLAVE ( debit system) is down and I cannot pay with my bank card. I leave the store and hunt down an ATM and withdrawal the cash to pay for the table and chairs. I get back to the store and purchase the table and chairs. After the purchase has been made they inform me that I have to put the set together myself!!!! Great.. I guess I have located the Panama version of IKEA but without the cool lights and really cheap prices.
Panama is currently in the process of building a new highway system that cuts straight thru the middle of town. They are smart in the fact that they normally work on this at night. However what they fail to give is notification on closing of major intersections so they can work on the highway. A major intersection right outside on of the biggest malls was closed so they could work on this project. This intersection is also used as a major turnaround point because this street is considered a divided highway. As people were trying to turn onto this street only then were they being notified that it was closed!! People decided to turn around into oncoming traffic, drive on the wrong side of the road, and drive across the grass filled dividers to get to the other side. This just seeks to further prove that when it comes to driving it is every man for himself and just be prepared to be very aggressive with your horn!
Although there might be plenty of American Fast Food restaurants in Panama they do offer slightly different options to appeal to the local taste buds. For instance at Quizinos you have the option of getting your sandwich with French fries and for dessert you can have a tres leches cake. At Wendy’s you can get a combo meal with chili, French fries, and rice. KFC is currently offering a Feliz Navidad combo that includes special circle bread that is eaten during the holidays. My personal favorite is that you can get sushi with Mango and Bananas!
I learned the hard way about dvd “zones” over the weekend. Apparently just because they are on the same voltage down here does not mean my DVD player will play DVDs down here. Per the person at Blockbuster I was able to gather that my DVD player is Zone 1 and the majority of the DVDs down here are Zone 4s. I really have no clue what this means but it was a slight blow to my Christmas mood as I was attempting to get in the Christmas spirit by renting some Christmas movies. So instead I laid out on my roof and got a Christmas tan.
Cream Cheese next to Cold Beer on the other side of the store from the other cheese
Liquor in the same aisle as baby products
Eggs in the frozen food aisle
Cheaper to buy individually wrapped crackers rather than to buy a box of crackers
Looking forward to going home to the States for a few days for Christmas so I can see the family, go to Target, have a Miller Lite, and see a street that has lanes painted on it. Wishing everyone a Feliz Navidad ( Merry Christmas) and Feliz Ano Nuevo ( Happy New Year).
January 6, 2009
Lunch time funSubway Senora
In general Senora’s are a little annoying. They seem to think that the world wants to wait on them why they hold up lines trying to make decisions ( Yes I know I might be stereotyping but from my experience they are the slowest and most inefficient Panamanians I have come across. ) My most recent experience with a Senora was while I was at Subway getting lunch. It took her 20 minutes to create her subway sandwich. Stopping to fully ponder very decision she was asked.. the bread type decision alone took 5 minutes as she asked questions about each kind. However the one thing that she for sure knew that she wanted was Ketchup on her sandwich. Not my first choice for a condiment on a sandwich but to each his own. Another few minutes were wasted as she proceeded to fish the money out of her purse I stood there tapping my foot and taking deep breaths. Finally the last decision was made.. she would have the combo with 2 cookies…. Total subway order time for the Senora was 25 minutes. I get my sandwich and take it back to the office. As I am opening up the wrapper I see some ketchup on the paper…. Subway had mixed up my sandwich and the Senora’s masterpiece sandwich! I just hoped that she enjoyed turkey, jalapeños, and mustard. For how long it take her to craft her sandwich it was honestly a little disgusting.. ketchup belongs on French fries not sandwiches.
Soup..
On the days that I am freezing inside the office I will go to a restaurant to get Soup. This particular restaurant I would characterize as a wannabe McAlister’s.. soup, sandwiches, salads. They have a wide variety of soups and offer a different variety each day. They happen to be out of their signature tomato soup. After the lady telling me the soups that they had available and me not understand her very rapid and very Panamanian slang Spanish I just pointed to a pot and said llevar Por Favor ( To Go, Please). I take the soup back to my office to eat at my desk. Once I return I open up the soup to find that I have been given bright yellow soup. I am talking this soup is the Yellow color on the Primary colors wheel in art class. After looking at if for a minute and trying to justify that it is either corn soup or squash soup I take a sip. This soup did not taste like any of the later mentioned vegetables. It tasted like someone boiled up some garbage and threw in some yellow food coloring for fun. So I reverted back to the days of when I was not the proud owner of Yucky and skipped lunch. I guess you could say I am maintaining my New Years Resolution to lose some weight!Holiday.. just kidding
The Government in Panama also has jurisdiction over when holidays are officially celebrated. At Maersk you receive a calendar as to when the official holidays are. In some cases if a holiday falls on a Friday they will move the observed day until a Monday to allow for a 3 day weekend since most Panamanians work on Saturdays. However, this decision is only made 1-2 weeks before the holiday happens and the holiday is not guaranteed to change. I guess the Panamanian government seems to think that all Panamanians stay home during holidays and don’t book travel. Panama by Numbers
$ 5- the all day rental fee for a Cabana at the beach complete with 2 hammocks
December 2007- The date my car tags expired..the old owner was driving on expired tags
Jan 1- The night everyone goes out to celebrate New Years since Panamanians celebrate New Years Eve with their family.
$28- The flat rate one way to go to the Airport ( seems a little expensive when you can take a bus to Costa Rica for $25)
8- The number of times I have asked to get an Express Pass for the toll road and they say something to me in Spanish. One of these days I will understand what they say or they will give me a tollcard.. keep you posted on the outcome
January 15, 2009
Visa and some Pants.. very productive day by Panama standardsAfter working in Panama for the past 3 months as a tourist I finally received notification that my 5 year work Visa was ready for me. Most people received their visa’s before they left for their Expat assignments making it legal to work in the country before they actually started working there….however big surprise Panama does things a little backwards. I arrived at the office with another fellow Expat to get our Visas. As we were walking in the building the security guard kept on stopping us and staying things in Spanish. Doing what we normally do when people say things in Spanish we just kept on walking. Finally the security guard jumped in front of us. Not knowing what to do we called the lawyer we were to be meeting inside to get our visas and she came outside to see what the issue was. Apparently in Panama it is ok for people to run around with no shoes and to have pot holes the size of 2 years olds but you are not allowed to go into the Immigration office in shorts. My other fellow Expat was wearing shorts and flip flops. We were instructed we could walk 5 blocks to the super market to buy him pants. I am wearing a full suit and 3 inch heels. With no other solution and me not wanting to be left alone outside the Immigration office I go with my other expat on the pursuit to find pants. Our pursuit takes us to an 8 story building that I guess you could call the Panama version of Wal-mart but makes Wal-mart look like a Nordstrom’s. The sign on the door indicated the store opened at 8:30 AM but at 9AM they still had not chosen to open the store up. Finally the store decided to open up at 9:30 AM. Once inside we had to determine what floor pants were on… up we walk flights and flights of stairs looking for pants. If I need to buy a piñata I now know where to go or if I am looking for some bags of screws I know that they are on the 5th floor of this store. Finally we discover pants on the 7th floor of this store. We buy the pants with no issue and get back to the Immigration Office. Once inside the office we are informed that the Air Conditioning is broken that day and that the lamination machine for the visas is currently not working. Three hours later I walk out with my 5 year Visa which consists of a laminated piece of paper with my picture printed off from an ink jet printer. There are no watermarks, holograms, etc. I could have made this Visa with Microsoft Publisher and got it laminated at Kinkos. If anyone is looking for a side fake ID business a Panama ID is very easy to fake!Trip to the Cloud Forest and one of the Top 4 Places to Retire in the WorldJanuary 19, 2009
While living in Panama I have started a tradition of on Saturday mornings laying out on the roof of my building for a few hours to read and get some sun. Sometimes there is more sleeping then reading due in part to how late I stayed out the following evening. This past Saturday I feel asleep on the roof for 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon. I was woken up by the maintenance man pointing at me and saying muy rojo ( very red). Suffice to say for the next 24 hours I looked like a tomato on one side of my body and was the butt of many jokes do in part to some strange tan lines I had developed. Mental note- Set an alarm next time!
Over the weekend I went to that Panama Jazz Festival that really only had music for about half the time. I was at the festival for 4 hours and I only heard music for the total of about an hour. However, it was nice to drink some beer and eat some street meat in the section of town that is currently being restored. I had never been to this area because it is in the process of being turned around and if you make a wrong turn down a street you can find yourself in a not nice part of town. I guess Panama City just wanted an excuse to throw a party and let the beer and street meat vendors make some extra money.
In an effort to partake in some American traditions myself and another American Expat watched the Eagles and Cardinals game on Sunday. Although, we tried to make it as “American” as we could it also felt strangely un- American. We were eating Pizza and wings from Dominos that we had successfully ordered in our best Spanglish. However, we were watching the game with Spanish announcers and drinking Panama beer. And although we had ordered American food is still did not taste the same/feel the same.
Panama by numbers
$40 for a multi-zone DVD player that can also be used for Karaoke
25 cents can get you a piece of sausage street meat
$15- all you eat Tapas and all you can drink Sangria
0-encounters with Senoras this week
3:30- how late I stayed out on Saturday just because the DJ was mixing in house music with American music… it felt so good to know the words to a song!
25- The number of flights of stairs I ran up because I needed to get a workout in and people had been monopolizing the treadmill at my building gym for 2 hours!
This week I am going to Guatemala for work and then staying the weekend in Guatemala so I should have some better stories for next week.
January 28, 2009
Expat times in Panama
In order to attempt to feel like an American citizen myself and another expat had an Inauguration party. We made our best attempt to have some American Favorites: Rotel Dip, Peanut butter and Bananas, Budweiser, Pigs in tight blankets ( could not find mini hotdogs so we had to use full size hot dogs), and strawberry shortcake. The worst part was not knowing some of the answers to the questions the non- US Citizens were asking about the inauguration. Being an American abroad has a tendency to make you realize how little you know about some things pertaining to your country. Also, you get a greater understanding of the sterotypes other cultures have of Americans and what drives the stereotypes. Sometimes you just have to accept the fact you are a walking stereotype and just move on! I have had to remind someone that my hair is fake blonde and just because I say “dude” does not mean I am from California!
Guatemala
This past weekend I took a trip to Guatemala for both work and play. After only 2 days I was already in love with the country and talking about what I wanted to do when I returned! The reason why I loved Guatemala can be broken down into a few specific reasons:
Food- you could get home made Guacamole everywhere you went
The Market- Huge market where you could buy things such as handmade textiles, Mayan Masks, hammocks, shawls, etc all while drinking a local beer called Gallao which was really good
Architecture- Antigua Guatemala was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1700’s and as a result has tons of ruins that you can explore. The city also had the Colonial Architecture with high walls and enclosed court yards. You never knew what was behind the walls until you walked in and were almost shocked by the beauty of was behind the walls!
I went with my traveling team of 2 other expats and we had a great time walking around and exploring. Of course we did spend a good majority of our time in the Market! Antigua has a very laid back atmosphere with locals in traditional dress walking amongst tourists. I think Guatemala was what I was hoping Panama would be like with a defined culture and good food!
My next trip I would like to hike to the top of one of the many volcanoes and perhaps visit some more ruins!
Of course travel in Central American is why by no means a smooth trip. Some of the highlights of the travel frustrations included:
-Not being able to find an ATM to withdrawal local currency
-Airport Security taking my liquids. Apparently they will let any size liquid in any type of carrying devise you want into the country but when you leave it better be 3oz or less in a plastic bag or else they will gladly take it away. The best thing was is I saw the Security women pocket my bottle of lotion she had just taken away from me!
-En route to the airport the driver stopping at the gas station to fill up and check his tire pressure
- Airport not having self check- in kiosks
- The flight attendant not believing I am a Panamanian Resident and giving me the wrong immigration papers
Panama by Numbers
6:30AM- the time my maid showed up
7:15- The time the idiotic Panamanian rear ended my car and has now doubled my to- do list
4- The number of phone calls to Alfredo to help me understand what the cop was saying to me after the idiot driver hit my car
1 year- How long your car tags are valid for per the cop
2 years- The length of time I was informed by the seller of my car that tags were valid for
$100- The amount of money I can pay to get a black market Panamanian Drivers License
November 7th- Post marked date for a letter I just received in my PO Box however I do have the February issue of Glamour that also arrived with the letter from November 7th
Panama had another independence day ( I think there has been 5 total since I arrived) so as usual the government on Monday decided to push the holiday to be celebrated the following Monday rather than on the actual holiday which fell on a Friday. Taking advantage of this opportunity of a day off of work I was invited to go on a tour of Boquette Panama by another Expat. The price was an amazing deal ( $110 for transportation, 2 nights lodging, 5 meals) so I could not resist. As my friend and I get on the bus we realize that they average age on this tour is 50 and they are all women. We have somehow managed to find our way on to the Old Senora’s tour of Boquette. Every time the bus stopped it was a least a 45 minute stop so the Senora’s could all use the restroom and buy food and water just so they could go to the bathroom again at the next stop. In total it took us 7 hours to get up to the town. Boquette is located 45 minutes from the border of Costa Rica .This town is located up in the mountains of Panama so the temperature was around 50’F. At any given day the area becomes saturated with the clouds because it is so high! It was a refreshing change and nice to wear a jacket. The Coffee and Flower Festival was the main attraction in the town. My friend and I walked around the town looking at flowers and sampling many types of coffees. At night there was a big club style party that the tour organizer had managed to procure VIP tickets for my friend and I. The party was an outdoor club scene complete with tons of Salsa and Regatone music. Not exactly my scene but the VIP ticket included free Smirnoff Ice beverages which is of course far from my preferred beverage, but I figured it would not hurt to party like a Panamanian.
The following day consisted of driving around the surrounding areas stopping so the Senora’s could buy produce, take pictures next to flowers, bathroom breaks, and my personal favorite buying cheap American paper towels and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The scenery was gorgeous and the air refreshing. The local strawberries and cream were very tasty and I was able to buy some fresh herbs as well for $1 per plant! The tour director yelled at me for waiting for everyone to be served before I ate my food. However the highlight of the trip was the final purchase I made. The bus made a stop at a roadside stand so the Senora’s could look at some handicrafts. All weekend I had been looking for a plant holder that was in the shape of parrot and made out of a tire. No stores had these plant holders. The minute I saw that this stand had 2 left I raised out of the bus and ran up to the stand. I managed to beat the Senora’s and purchase one of the last 2 holders!!! All in all it was a good weekend but I have decided I do not like traditional Panamanian food and I am still not a big fan of Senora’s. Panama by numbers
.60 price for a bottle of beer in the middle of no where Panama .25 the price to pay to go to the bathroom in middle of no where Panama
$12- Mens Black Work Pants at the Panama Wal-Mart
10 hours- the time it took to get back from Boquette by bus
25- the number of Senora’s that I got to share the lovely weekend with
