2RetireesInPanama: HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS, YOU'RE IN FOR A LONG READ!

***I want to apologize ahead of time for any typos, misspellings, etc I usually re-read my posts, but I wrote this while at the Department of Motor Vehicles (three hours) and then entered my notes into my computer. I wanted to post it tonight. It is lengthy, so grab a drink, since it consists of our fascinating past four days here in beautiful Panama! (Excuse the white box at the bottom. Odd. It won't change, and I can't re-type.)

Today was the big day! Ray and I were buying a car off of Encuentra24.com (think Craigslist) from a COPA airline pilot. The seller recently moved to Colombia to settle family and personal issues. He also has a house he must sell in Panama. Don't think I wasn't hesitant! Ray held all of the confidence and optimism for the two of us. I held all of the skepticism. Just staying on guard, and yes, I memorized the license plate of the Renault SUV that picked us up at the hotel this morning.

But first, I need to go back a few days to Friday. It seemed to be a non-eventful day (and to some it would be). We went to the San Carlos market to gather our bounty of vegetables. We were packing lunch for our day in El Valle on Saturday and wanted salad fixings. We then went to the gym with plans on meeting Clyde and Terry for some pool time afterwards. It was raining at Terry's house, so she figured it might be raining at the gym. Or not. Ray and I decided since the pool was empty, we would just go home, change, lotion up and use our pool. I saw Terry's email that it was raining, and we all decided that if it was dry at our house, we would meet at the pool. It was dry, and there was some hot, intense sun out there! We took our cooler to the pool, and we floated for about two hours. I should have realized that with three out of four faucets in the bathroom not working, and the toilet not flushing, something was up. We asked Maribel to turn the waterfalls on, and they were "broken" (clue #2). Then an older gentleman from Canada who we learned has been renting a house in our subdivision for two years along with a pretty young Panamanian woman and her three young girls (not with the man) as well as three older teenagers showed up to float and swim (clue #3). We were told there was no electricity or water. In no hurry to go home, the four of us continued floating under the gray, teasing rain clouds, and with thunder as our background noise. We moved under the covered porch to dry off, eat some popcorn and an orange and chat some more. According to Terry, "it's Panama. Happy hour still goes on, since there is usually power somewhere." While I understood that the hotel rooftop where the happy hour that night was being held may or may not have power, I was really (selfish me) thinking "my hair". And "I'd like to take a shower before going out tonight and meeting another virtual friend". (Earlier in the day, a virtual friend of mine that I had made when I discovered her blog "livingthedreameveryday.wordpress.com had asked if I would be at the happy hour at Hotel Tryp in Coronado). Plus, I was only in Panama for less than two weeks and had already broken the cardinal rule--"don't come here retired and start letting yourself go" (heard from many forums, expats, but not Ray). I had gone to the hardware store earlier in the week straight from the gym looking and smelling just lovely. Good fortune brought us water to the house at least, so I did get a nice lukewarm shower. I was feeling fifty percent better. Now for the hair. Ugh. Pull it up, and call it a day. More good fortune, for Terry at least, is that she had both electricity and power. I called her a nice name (sarcasm here) when she showed up dressed in a pretty dress with her blown dry hanging on her shoulder. No worries though. Wine was $2, and beer was $1.75. Ray knowing I prefer white over red wine went to the bar and using his Spanish ordered a glass of "tinto vino". Red wine. Thanks haha The next glass was, you can be sure, white. (Although I did enjoy them both!)

We were at Hotel Tryp on the rooftop enjoying jazz and salsa music. This hotel was being built when we made our first trip to Panama and stayed in Coronado. I was happy to meet not only my two virtual friends (one who told me about the happy hour lives mostly in Boquete--five hour drive west--and the other lives up the road from us in Gorgona, a fishing village/beach area), but Ray and I also met two friends of Clyde and Terry's along with a couple from Virginia Beach, Virginia. They jsut moved to Panama in February. We are meeting many expats from Texas, so the couple from VA Beach and the woman from Michigan were a surprise. Two hours later, we called it a night, and returned home to electricity having been restored. Gus commented to Ray that he hans't lost power for that long (four hours) in a very long while (how long this is, I don't know). The rest of the night was spent chopping, dicing and preparing for our picnic lunch. We also scarfed some snacks down here and there, since the hotel offered appetizers but not like we said "happy hour type of appetizers like nachos or quesadillas".

The rooftop view

Jazz and salsa music

New and old friends

Big fun in El Valle on Saturday. A month or so ago, I had read in a yahoo forum (El Valle group) that there was going to be a Golden Frog Festival. Ray, Clyde and Terry were up for it. I knew there would be jugglers (there were two), acrobats (we saw none), face painting, food and so much more. El Valle is a fifty minute drive up a two lane steep and winding road climbing to 2,000 feet. Being behind tour and public buses that come to a halt going uphill makes the trip fell like it is two hours. This is most likely a deal breaker as to why we won't rent a house in El Valle. In Chame, we are close to shopping, the gym, restaurants, beaches and our friends (!). We arrived to where I thought the festival was being held at 10:30 (it started at 11:00)--Paseo El Valle www.paseoelvalle.com

The path that leads the way (it doesn't stay like this)

Hieroglyphics

Painted rock

It's huge with a big crack

Teletubby on cinder block post

This is what we walked after the sidewalk.

Waterfall

Swimming hole (cold)

El Valle has seen rain at least to keep streams running

Sampler of candy ($1.25)

We all agreed that Cocada (now that I have looked it up) is pretty tasty. It is baked coconut candy in different flavors. I still think the red bar is tastier than the white (Ray thinks they are the same.) Maybe the dye makes it taste different to me? The wrapped candies (pink, purple and green wraps) are mud-colored balls of flaky nothing. Blah. I will stick to the cocada. Yum.

Next we made our way to the festival which was a day for the children and to honor the Golden Frog. The event planners even brought the one Golden Frog from the zoo (and other critters). Much of the lessons being taught to the children that day (as much as we could gather) was that the children needed to respect Earth and to keep it clean. El Valle has recently started a recycling program. Someday all of Panama will have more than five trash trucks haha. At our house, our landlords told us that "USUALLY" trash is picked up on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Close. Our first pick up was on a Wednesday, but I am not complaining!

After listening to the jugglers and watching their act, our next trek was to a waterfall. But where would we have our picnic lunch? On the church grounds? No green area (all of El Valle is green, but there are no parks really that we found around Main Street). Ray drove us to the waterfall, parked the car and found as perfect a bench we could (the only bench), and we fueled up for our hike to the waterfall. Over several suspension bridges (with Terry happily jumping on all of them) and through the woods we went to the waterfall and ziplines. Those mountains are gorgeous. For this we had paid another $1.25/person (with discount).

Golden Frog Statues in a truck

One juggler

Two jugglers

Rickety suspension bridge (the first of three)

At the chilly natural swimming pool

Check out those tentacles

Teens swim

Tall waterfall

There he is (the Golden Frog)

Humungous cockroaches

We were ready to now heal ourselves in the mud-bath. Ray and I had been to this site on our second trip (when we stayed in El Valle for a few days), but we didn't soak ourselves entirely in the bath. We only cleansed our faces and laid in hammocks. It wasn't meant to be this time either since it was "broken". Unsure how a mud-bath could break (Clyde's translation of what he was told), and not that we wanted to know, we left and shopped at the large market there in the center of town. I had wanted to purchase another hammock for our porch and found a pretty purple and pink one. My two favorite colors. There were three sizes according to the width. The largest was $40, but "for you, $35". I decided the $30 one was plenty wide enough, and "for me, $25". SOLD.

Yesterday, we jumped into that lovely rental car only for it rain HARD about fifteen minutes into our drive. We returned the car at Tocumen Airport and hailed a taxi to our hotel (Metromall Marriott). When I asked Ray what he thought the fare would be, he said possibly forty dollars. I was thinking even thirty sounded high, but I went with it. When the "taxi man" told us "quince dolares" ($15), I was set to go. Ray thinking "cincuenta" ($50) said, "no, no, no". I looked at him perplexed. The amazing thing here is that I WAS THE ONE THAT HEARD TAXI MAN. I explained to Ray, along with taxi man, that he said fif-TEEN, not fif-TY, and off we went to the hotel! I think the grueling drive frazzled Ray just a tad? We checked into the hotel easily enough, and I must say the employees at the front desk of this Marriott are friendlier than the one near Multiplaza. My impression. Candice, the 21 year old, wanted to practice her English while we practiced our Spanish. We walked to the mall, and it was packed! We decided to split a panini for lunch and eat some churros as a snack. More friendly customer abounds at the churro bar. The young man behind the register wanted to practice English as well. Ray and I decided against the large churro stuffed with dulce de leche (caramel) in place of eight churros drizzled with caramel. Ray then ordered the churros on the sign that said "Churros con Canela y Azucar". Jason, the young man, made sure we want eight and not twelve (or something) and told us they would be out to us in six minutes. They came out without any caramel. I had asked Ray why it wouldn't say "dulce de leche", and his remark was "it's with canela or caramel". I went with it. When we saw we didn't have hot caramel drizzled over the churros, Ray asked Jason what he had ordered, and Jason nicely told him "canela is cinnamon not caramel". And while I was slightly pouting, Jason within a minute brought us a cup full of dulce de leche!

We found out today that the reason the mall was packed was not only because there were tryouts for the popular Latin American TV show here that is like the US "American Idol" and celebrity judges were in attendance. But also because employees would have recieved one third of their 13th paycheck last week. This is part of Panama's Labor Law: 13 months pay means that employees are paid thirteen months for every twelve months worked. They are paid either in one installment or it is divided into three payments (April, August and December).

For a good 45 minutes, Ray and I found a good spot on the second floor of the three story mall, and we watched the singing tryouts for the show "Tu Cara Me Suena" airing next Monday at eight pm! After dinner, we stood a long line for our snack for the night--movie theater popcorn. We ate it back at the hotel while watching tv. Here is dinner for some at the theater>> 2 hotdogs, a bucket of popcorn, 2 sodas=$12

The crowd is lined up along all three floors and sitting down the stairs.

Interesting pants

No idea who is in the turquoise or the white ballet tutu outfit (maybe Latin American celebrities?)

Waiting in line somewhere for popcorn

And many eat before the movies.

We woke to buckets of rain coming down from the sky. We tried having an edible breakfast (free), but we weren't successful. This Marriott's food was lacking this morning. The waffle makers weren't sprayed or oiled, so we left one with a stuck mess of waffles, and the other was left with raw batter, since no one ever turned it on or the outlet wasn't working. The eggs were cold, the bacon was raw, the bagels were of no variety, and the fruit was bland. The best tasting thing was a random solid mass of chocolate fudge with whip cream on top. The coffee was harsh as well.

We asked for a later check out in case we got into a bureaucratic mess (never). It was extended to
1:30pm. Our beautiful, almost new 2014 Nissan X-Trail arrived and sat in the parking lot while we ran to the Notary office just down the street from the hotel. Monica is a realtor and married to Diego, another COPA pilot. The seller of our future car, Juan, is also a COPA pilot who is now living in Colombia due to family/personal issues. We arrived at the Notary office at 8:45am, and it opens at 8:00am. There was a line outside, and a padlock on the door. We waited a few minutes, and no one showed up to open up the office. Monica wanted Ray to sign a piece of paper and have it notarized, so that we could then go back to the hotel and not have to go to the Panamanian Department of Motor Vehicles. But rather than wait for the office to maybe open, we decided to go straight to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Once we arrived to another governmental building (where I could have worn jeans), we stood on a line outside the office to show them our paperwork.

Copies to be made of all of this

The line outside the office.

Ray stands at the window to pay.

Inside the DMV.

Once the paperwork is shown to lady one, Ray and Diego run off to make copies somewhere. Monica and I sit inside. I practice Spanish with her, and our conversation turns to traveling. Ray and Diego return only to get back on line so they can retrieve a number from lady two. They are given the number H33, and the board says H27. Not bad. It is now 9:45am After about thirty minutes, our number is called. Ray earlier had to sign a small blue piece of paper to transfer the title. This is what was checked when the number was called--his signature (that's all), and we sat down again. Monica went up to another window to make sure that the number would be called again, because they were now calling H41, etc. So crazy! Breath. Keep writing in your blog, Allison (I keep telling myself). Now it is 10:20am. Once again, H33 is called as promised at 11:30am hahaha Up to the window to pay. Yay! Nope! First it takes the nice lady a good thirty minutes to enter all of the written information in our file (we have another Panamanian file out there!). Then she puts the brakes on and sees that Ray had put a line through his passport number, and in an attempt to make it more visible, he re-wrote it! I know! Horrors! Say it isn't so! This woman didn't like this one bit, even though ray had his real passport on him along with his Pensionado Visa card with the number on it (fortunately, he decided to bring the book with him instead of just another copy). Maybe we should tatto the number onto our foreheads! I look at the clock. Noon. They aren't paying at the window? No. They had to go to a small office with FOUR women in it, so they could all review, examine and contemplate this horrendous act. All women then agree that because Monica has POA, and Juan the seller that lives in Colombia doesn't have to be present when that blue paper is re-filled out and re-signed by Ray. Monica can sign it. Back to the paying window, and Monica now haas to make copies. It is 12:20pm, and the nice lady with the long manicured nails is sighing and wants lunch. Seventeen stamps later, signatures here and there, $42 paid (and somewhere $20 more paid), it is 12:40pm. Yes, it takes twenty minutes to stamp and sign and pay. But wait. We have paid. The car has been registered to Ray (in Panama, there can only be one person that holds the title), but now we have to go to the bank and pay $20 for a receipt to show we have paid for the title that is another office. Breathe again. We start outside to the bank, but a kind elderly lady outside has a good deal going on outside the DMV office. She will save us the trip to the bank if we pay her $25. She hands us a yellow receipt, and we all are nodding our heads that this is happening. Down a little ways to the title office, and we get the #54. It is called so quickly that Diego and Monica have left us to make arrangements to have their children picked up from school. Oh dear. We stare at this nice lady. We run around trying to find Monica. Okay, they come back to the office and to the frustrated lady (it is 12:50pm), and we are told that we cannot be given the title from this office. It seems that because Monica is POA, and Juan is not here (but Ray is), a lawyer at THE MAIN OFFICE DOWNTOWN must verify that Monica is really who she is hahaha Flabbergasted (she had no idea what big fun this job would be for her), we call it a DAMN day! Monica and Diego (who is on vacation) decide they will take us back to the hotel. They will arrive to this other office tomorrow first thing in the morning. She will then let them interrogate her or whatever it is they need to do, and get that title! They will scan it to us. When we go to the city soon for Pricemart run or to the Discovery Center, we can meet them for the original. We all agree, and we decide to leave the circus for the day. Can you see INEFFICIENT? We arrive to our hotel at 1:25pm, I am locked out of our room, but no worries. I manage to get our bags, we get checked out, we review the car, the paperwork, the manual, and off we go! Done! Until tomorrow!

Below are pictures of Westland mall where we stopped to buy a fan! Yes!