It was a simple drive to Panama City today. There were policemen and policewomen lining the highway for miles to the city. They stood on the side of the road, mostly alone, but some had partners to chat with while they watched the cars drive by. All Ray and I thought was how hot and boring the job today must be for them. Hopefully staying boring without too many incidents or accidents. One lane on the opposite side of the road was open, so we had three lanes of moving cars heading East rather than two. The commute took the same time at about an hour to get to Bridge of the Americas. Ray and I wanted to run a few errands prior to checking into the Riande Hotel http://riandehoteles.com/aeropuerto/, and our first stop was to a store called House and Tech. We bought our kitchen appliances, washer and dryer from this store, and we are also looking into window treatments, or motorized blinds, being sized for our windows in our new house.
In order to exit this shop, Ray has to make a right turn out of the plaza. But he really wants to be driving the other direction. Traffic was light, since it is Ash Wednesday and many Panamanians were still trying to make their way back into the city. Ray gave me a warning of "I am turning after this cab" like he usually does to prepare me for sudden moves, he saw the two policemen standing at the corner, and he then he made a left turn into another shopping plaza. He parked the car in one of many empty spaces. And then one of the two policemen walked over to our car. Ray could have quickly backed out of the space and bolted. They didn't have cars or motorcycles. But he simply got out of the car and walked up to a shop to "check the hours". The policeman told Ray in perfect Spanish that he was not allowed to turn left over a double yellow line. Ray apologized in his broken Spanish. A little broken on purpose though. He told the policeman he was looking at the store for the hours, and he didn't know that he couldn't just make a left turn. No. If it's a double yellow line, you have to drive to the light, turn left, and then make some sort of turn around somewhere else. Then, the next policeman comes over. Perhaps the boss, or jefe. Ray explains he speaks a little Spanish. The question is asked if I speak any Spanish. Ray is told he will be given a ticket. While Ray is discussing the ticket with his policeman, I am telling my policeman that I simply told my husband "look, there is a chocolate shop , and let's go there, but then I see it's closed due to Carnival". The policeman tells me it is closed until tomorrow. He tells me Ray is getting a ticket. I see Ray give his license to his policeman and wait chatting for something to happen there. I ask where we pay for this ticket we don't have in hand yet (and they don't seem to have any paper with them) when we return from our trip to the US. I ask this because they still haven't written a ticket. They both now know we live in Chame, I also show them the Panama driving Rules and Regualations book that we keep in the car and explain that it's all in Spanish, I tell them we will pay the ticket when I learn we do this at Albrook, and I say all of this because they have both now tried to tell the two Gringos that they are going "to help us". One tells Ray while the other one is telling me that it is "so very hot outside, and I will help you by not giving you a ticket". He keeps pointing to the sky, and I think he is talking about help from God. Haha We ask them what they want for being hot. We tell them we speak Spanish a little better then understand it, because they speak so fast. And then we offer them lifesavers! They refuse. While we plead ignorance, we even suggested they call our Spanish teacher, so she could translate for us. Anything to get them to move along and make a decision to give us the ticket they weren't really going to give us! We knew what they wanted from us, and they were not getting it. We asked if we weren't getting a ticket could we then have Ray's license back and leave. We told them we had a plane to catch (mañana). They helped us by letting us go after spending fifteen minutes telling us we were getting a ticket. Not.
Then we just got mad and annoyed. Oh well! We spent the day meeting and chatting with neighbors that live nearby in Altos del Maria (small world) while swimming and lounging at the pool, doubling our money on penny slot machines and eating party mix in bed watching reruns with Spanish subtitles. Practice, practice, practice. And tomorrow we fly to Virginia where my daughter reports a little more snow has fallen there. Glad I soaked up some more warmth here today, because there, it is going to be "Siberian temperatures" according to the radio announcer. All is good though, because I
will be spending my next week of retirement at home with my daughter, family and friends.
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