ANOTHER TYPICAL FEW DAYS IN PANAMA

Just now back from the gym (we managed to get two days in!), Ray and I have plans later to run errands with Clyde and Terry.  We, I am sure, will find things we need as well while going along their gringo trail of adventures.  Terry needs a keyboard that will type the letters B and N, but she needs it in English, and Clyde may need to look at some very long cable.  Panafoto is best bet for the keyboard.  Ray and I have yet another couple that we met "virtually" through emails and have known for about six months or a little longer.  This couple just moved to Panama in July from Texas.  They have met and visited with Clyde and Terry already. They are the one's that need the very long cable, because they are having difficulty with cable and internet in their part of the country.  They live in the driest of dry places in Panama on the Azuero Peninsula, the most south of all, and I am going to guess it is less than a five hour drive from here.  It always depends on road conditions and how many little towns pop up (not many) where the speed limit then drops to below 60 kph (or about 40 mph).  When Ray and I traveled the road last year, there was a lot of construction just being finished up, so it should be smooth sailing this time around for us.  They live in Cambutal, Panama, and this is our next road trip next week.  The four of us will pack up our car and, while Clyde and Terry will stay with this couple, Ray and I have a booked a room on the beach for $50/night (using our discount).  Yes, we could all stay in the house together (graciously offered), but one couple would be on an air mattress, and I am betting that would be younger of the two couples (haha).   This link shows where Cambutal is in Panama.  And on the way, we hope to stop at Varela (new President here) Rum Distillery in Pese (if we can find it).  Ray and I have been as far as Pedasi, but we haven't traveled this far south.  I am looking forward to this trip and to see this part of the country.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cambutal,+Panama/@7.2661086,-80.483333,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8fb23f3be596dc85:0xf6f5b1017fa2cb85

We are also looking forward to sharing stories with our new friends.  This past Wednesday, Ray and I had the chance to make many new friends and share in their stories of how they came to Panama, and how they met Clyde and Terry.  We were at Clydes' big birthday bash!  Not only was it his birthday, but it was a celebration of Clyde and Terry's arrival to Panama three years ago on his birthday. It was a potluck party that started at noon.  We had made "the green stuff" the night before (which was lime jello salad that Ray loves, and many of the guests knew exactly what it was!), so we brought that in a green pot sitting on ice.  But we first, with bated breath, picked up the birthday cake from El Machetazo.  The girl remembered us, brought us behind the counter so we could look at the cake, and it was just lovely.  Panamanian lovely.  Lots of scrolls.  Not too many flowers.  It was a deep chocolate color, almost black, with a layer of caramel inside.  A nice surprise.  The icing was more of a whip cream, which had me liking the cake more than the icing.  This is not normal.

What else was not so normal and odd in a great way was to be sitting under a bohio on a Wednesday drinking Sangria and not being on vacation.  We were able to meet many more expats here that Clyde and Terry have known for quite some time.  The group of about 25 had moved to Panama either one month ago (us) or as long ago as nine years. They were from California, New York, Texas, Virginia, Costa Rica, Colorado, Scotland, Canada and Florida (I know I am missing places). Our ages ranged from 35-70 years young.  While sitting at the table chatting with one couple about New York and New Jersey, we then talked about Northern Virginia with another man who went to Langley High School, turning to another man talking about Quantico and the new Marine Museum (he has been there, we have not), and we found another couple that comes from the San Francisco area and are wine aficionados.  This couple I had been in contact via email last winter when they were traveling through Washington, DC with their grandkids.  This didn't dawn us until hours later, after the party, that we had "virtually" met and had been corresponding with for some time.  Duh.  Must have been the Sangria and wine.  We ate, drank and talked for six hours.  It had been a stormy morning, but my eight am the sky turned blue, the breeze started to blow, and there wasn't another drop of rain seen (another indication of living in the Dry Arc) for the rest of the day.

Since we were so unproductive on Wednesday, yesterday Ray and I tried to have keys made at my favorite store, Novey, and practicing Spanish, we learned the machine was broken (we think--we could be told just about anything and grab bits and pieces of it).  While driving to Novey, we noticed men painting the bridge that goes over the Chame River.  They were adding an extra coat of bright orange to the walls and repainting the words "Rio Chame" in dark black.  They were also adding a fresh coat of royal blue paint to the overpass by the shopping center.  The annual triathlon is coming up in two weeks, so perhaps this is why things are getting spruced up and cleaned up?  Or is it just the time of year?

We also stopped at the medical lab to ask the cost of blood work.  I will have eight different things checked (from what I can read cholesterol, HDL, LDL, hormones and more), and the cost is $90.  No credit cards taken, so I will check the gringo lab soon and compare prices.  I would like to get points, but it isn't such a big deal if I don't, and I save more money along the way.  And then, and then, and then, we met with another realtor.  Marla Diaz of United Country scheduled appointments to show us a few rental houses.  Marla and her husband have lived here three years.  She lived in South Carolina for more than ten years, and he is Panamanian but lived in the States for over twenty years.  They own the realty business together and live in Coronado.  She is a coastal girl at heart, efficient, prompt and sweet.  Here is her information:
www.panama1925.com

We had Marina with us, who is an employee-in-training at the office.  The houses we were shown were completely opposite in style.  One was in the Panamanian neighborhood of San Carlos, the school band was marching up the street, the waves crashing in the ocean could be seen from the front of the house, the garden/yard was lush with tropical plants (a lemon tree had a gorgeous orchid growing on it), and the colors of the house were very tropical.  It had been completely redone inside.  A great house that had a graveyard for a backyard (hey, at least no one will build there in the future).  The owners are also looking to sell if anyone is interested.  It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms and was decorated with solid woods and leather couches.  The second house was in the town of Costa Esmerelda (before getting to the gates of the beach town).  It had amazing gardens, a large bohio with a jacuzzi tub for one, a casita with gardener living on site, three Rotweilers that lived in a gated side yard (the gardener takes care of the dogs or we could play with them, too), but inside the house is what far from what tropical Panamanian style is to me.  It had more of a bohemian, Tahitian, ecletic, and/or modern flare.  There was lots going on inside this house.  It was pretty and large.   There were four bedrooms (one used as a gym), several bathrooms, large kitchen with normal size refrigerator (both houses have this, but not a dishwasher), and this house is also for sale.  The third property we could not see, because the realtor that lists the house did not have the correct key for the locked gate.  There is no MLS in Panama.  The realtors don't share listings.  Or you can list your house with several different agents at one time, and agents will share amongst each other.  There isn't one main key to the padlocks.  This is why we had another realtor meeting us to open the gates at the last two houses.  Marla said it wasn't really up to par anyways and had sparse furnishings.  The point of this story is that while we love Casa Cuarenta we are contemplating if we are renters for the next twenty years, renters for the next year until we decide if this is the area we want to continue living in (we think this is a no brainer), or should we be entertaining the idea of buying a home.  Will we even bother opening this box up and now touring homes for sale as well as for rent. At least, we don't have to decide anything today.  There is always tomorrow.  So Panamanian of me!  Or next week.   And that was our puzzling day.  We put our minds at ease watching more episodes of "Breaking Bad", and then we called it another day in Panama.

Back to today, we just got back from spending a few hours in La Chorrera looking for the cable.

One store in La Chorrera on the main street

Produce stand

 And in the fifth store, we found it!  135 feet of it.  We stopped in electronic and audio/video stores along the way.  These stores not only carried tablets, cell phones and cases, musical instruments and appliances, but then they would have the random coaxial cables hanging up on the walls.  One woman pulled cable out from behind the stoves.  Wrong size in the first four stores.  When we found the cable in the final store, they didn't have it in the front of the store, but the woman found the size we needed in the back of the store.  While waiting for her to search for it, we met a man from Alabama (just a side story here).  He lives on 13 hectares (32 acres) and has been here for three years.  He lives in a town that the cable company doesn't deem necessary to run any cable lines to his home (not enough people living in his area), so he pays $225 a month for cable and internet.  So important to not be way out in the boonies here!  He also runs his air conditioning all day and his monthly bill is $500.  But that's okay, because in Alabama it was $700.  While Terry and I were wandering around in this store (Electronica Universal not to be confused with the four other "Electronica" stores we had been to), we found small keyboards in English.  So there was one stop shopping for the day!  It just takes a few stores to find what you need here in Panama.

Red Devil bus strolling along the main road

Mickey and Minnie (reminded me of my mom and dad)

Appliances, guitars, speakers...

Miles of cable (not the correct size) next to table cloth coverings and super glue

This is flooring

Parts for the appliances

 Once back to our neck of the woods, we drove by the housing development to show Clyde and Terry.  They had not seen these homes or this development.  We also showed them the San Carlos house, and now hungry, we decided to eat dinner in a quaint Italian restaurant. but sad to say, we were all disappointed.  The service was poor, the meals were expensive for what we were presented with, our Jubilado Discount was not honored, and we were not pleased or full.  A dish of spaghetti carbonara without any sides or complimentary bread and a salad with shredded lettuce and a huge clump of fresh cheese in the center (not on top of any additional lettuce) cost $22.  We won't revisit.  Another lesson learned in Panama. Read the menu prior to being seated, and ask more specifically about the discount.  Tripadvisor reviews were recent and fantastic, so I didn't think we could go wrong.

Salad that we thought were part of entrees on the side menu.

A LARGE plate holds the spaghetti carbonara

And finally, going off on a tangent here as I am known to do, right outside of our community, there is a large open field.  When we first moved here, the grass was about three feet high.  Here in Panama, the grass is cut with machetes and weed whackers.  I have seen ONE lawn mower used in this development once.  A woman was mowing one of the neighbor's yards, and I know a lawn mower is used on this yard, but I haven't been here when it has been mowed.  Around the pool here, there were three men "mowing" with weed whackers.  One day, there was a man cutting the open field with a weed whacker.  It wasn't until it was all cut that I could then see the trash.  I would rather see tall grasses.  But yesterday there was a man raking the dead grass up and putting it into large black bags ALONG WITH the trash!  Wow!  And the day we drove into the city (last week?), there were men picking up trash along the highway.  No, wait a minute.  They were bagging aluminum cans.  Bags and bags of cans.  But anything helps.  Also, next to this open field is a driving school.  Yep.  Just a random driving school.  First odd thing about this is "do Panamanians really go to driving school?"  hahaha  And the second odd thing is that it is just along the road.  Random place.  Or maybe, as usual, I am the odd one here.

Grassy field freshly cut, orange cones, and then the white car has the new driver practicing the rules of the road.

The house is across the PanAm highway.  The cones are on this side of the highway.  The drivers just drive up and down a rocky strip of gravel.