October 17th, Wednesday, David, Panamá

one week after leaving Florida. A lot has happened in a week

Finally, the car! Today I got my car so now I am free to move about much more easily. The seller and his wife went downtown with me to do the change over. Everything went smoothly and it didn’t take long, I’m sure in large part because they had all the papers ready. The process seemed straightforward and when it was finished and I had my papers in hand. There was no waiting for a title to arrive in the mail. Insurance will have to be transferred later when the person I need to see is in the office.
The next thing on the agenda was cable and internet for the house. That also went smoothly, except for getting a parking ticket. I had forgotten to bring my tickets with me. They have a system here... the Parking System  Anyway, back to the cable people - the only problem was trying to explain how to find the house when I barely know that myself. I will print off copies of the map we made yesterday and carry them with me. Panama doesn't have addresses like in the US, which is the topic of another post addresses in Panama

Back to the house!

Now that I had mobility, I was eager to try and find my house. I went right to it without any wrong turns! I barely know my way around so it would be easy to get lost. But, the house is between a river and a major road, and my access road dead ends not too far past my neighborhood so I couldn’t get too far off, thank goodness, since don't have a good sense of direction.
The house definitely needs some cleanup and paint. But, with a little TLC it is going to be a very good house for us. I met a neighbor across the street, a very nice man. He says he loves the neighborhood because it is quiet, safe, and the people are very nice. I figured out what keys go with the various locks, and set up the temporary table my friends have loaned me. It felt good to be taking the first steps to make the house a home.

Keeping the Do-It Center in business!I was thinking of trying to find my way back to the cable place to give them a map but it was starting to look like rain, and I was going to be driving right by the Do-It Center (like a Home Depot or Lowes) so I figured I'd stop in for a quick look around. I need paint and I might find other things I need as well.
Well!! It turned out that they have a LOT of things that I needed! It was a MAJOR shopping trip - stove, fridge, washing machine, microwave, beds, sheets, towels, cookware, pillows, paint, ended up with two shopping carts full. What a nice store! I wasn’t quite comfortable shopping in the store with the really cheap stuff, but PriceSmart seemed too expensive. This was a great mid range, quality brands, and they had sales on the big ticket items on my list so I am very happy with what I bought. I’m checking out, looking at the pouring rain, and thinking about loading all that stuff in the car when they ask if I want it all delivered along with the large items. Delivered? the pillows and towels and vegetable peeler? Of course, yes, we would be happy to deliver all of it. Well my goodness, how nice! Si, por favor, gracias.

When I was about finished checking out, a man came in line behind me. I started to explain that I had too many things and it might be faster to go to another checkout and he answered me in English. I noticed Florida on his hat so I had to ask. It turns out he is from about 3 miles south of where I lived in Sarasota. Wow, small world!

Tomorrow, my plans are to tackle the city. All the streets look more or less the same to me, and there are few street signs so it can be a challenge to find your way around. Since the weather tends to be dry in the mornings, that seems like a good time to try to find the cable place and if I’m really good, maybe I can find the place to pay parking tickets. Then, I will go to the house to wait for the arrival of all my stuff. I think I will spend my first night there tomorrow night. I’m not far from a produce stand, El Rey (grocery store), Do-It Center, and a bunch of other shopping so I can get anything I need. I’ll see how I feel at the time but I’m excited to be in my own place so it is very likely.
 

Addresses in David, Panama, or lack of addresses

  I don't know if this applies to everywhere in Panama, but have a feeling it does. The situation seemed very similar in Panama City also. There are no addresses and very few street signs. My house has no address so to explain how to get here, I have to explain how to find the general neighborhood. Then I have to explain how to get to the specific house. It is similar with businesses also. You will see their address listed as a certain street between the two closest cross streets.

How does the mail get anywhere? It doesn't. There is no mail delivery. You either get a box at the post office or use general delivery. If you don't want to go to the post office you hire someone else to do it for you. Bills are taken around town by a currier on a bike (so I am told) and left stuck in your front gate (which I found at my house). My first day here I found a couple ads and a very soggy electric bill stuck in the gate! 

This has been by far my biggest challenge, finding things in this town

This is the actual official address of FedEx. We had a good time finding this one too and if it wasn't for Joel researching on the internet and giving me info by phone, I'd probably still be looking for it! 

Building Manuligo
H North Street
Ground Floor next to Fenix Travel Agency
David - CHI - Panama

Parking Tickets in David, Panamá

Parking tickets - they have an interesting system here. There are women walking around downtown who sell parking cards for about $0.10. When you park, you put one of these cards under your windshield wiper. If the parking people check your car, they will mark your card. If they check your car again and if you have gone over the time on your card since they checked it first, then you get a ticket. If your card doesn't get checked and marked, you can use it again next time. I asked, what if someone steals the card you left on your windshield? I was told that people just don’t do that! You don’t need to worry.

Erratic blogging from Panama

I've been in the house without an internet connection for a week. I've been writing every day though, so my posts are going to be bunched up now as I put them up all together. You have been warned ;)

The writing has really helped me. I'm in a new city, new country, with a new language. I hardly know anyone here and I can't communicate with anyone out of the country without internet, so I felt very disconnected alone in my new house. Writing helped me feel more connected. There are many things I want to say so 'll remember my experiences, and so others who are interested can hear about them. Who knows, maybe something will help another who is following a similar path and becoming an expat.

So, I've been writing. Many posts are about what happened in a day. Some are about aspects of Panama or the city of David that I find interesting. Some are about different ways of getting things done here. Some are about things in general that are different, or surprisingly the same. I'll also include some pictures and videos now and then to help breathe more life into my story. 

It feels really good to have internet at the house and be connected with the world again! 

Catching up - cars, houses, and cash

We arrived in David, Panama a little after 9PM (after catching a bus at 2:15). It was a pleasant ride but we were tired from all the traveling. I was also tired from carting my heavy baggage around. I knew it would be weeks before anything from home would arrive, so I brought a number of books on photography and Spanish texts. That's about the only things I thought would be hard to buy here. If I had it to do over, I would have brought less books. I had a good size suitcase that weighed just under 50 pounds before I transferred 6 books from the computer bag to it, the computer bag that still had a few books in it, and the carry on had my purse and cameras. I made it but I was glad to put all the stuff down! Hopefully when I get settled and have time, I will be glad to have the books though.

My companion had plans to stay at the Bambu Hostel where we happened to stay on our first visit to David. So, since my phone was being difficult, we figured we would take a cab to Bambu and I could call my friends from there for a ride. I was looking forward to visiting Bambu anyway, and I was not disappointed. Greg, the owner, was there and it was great to see him again. They place looked wonderful, an improved version of before with more art on the walls, organized welcoming reception area, relaxing bar area out back, the bamboo “tree house” in the back yard now completed. From what I could see in the dark, the gardens were even more beautiful than they had been before.

If you want an inexpensive place to stay that is great fun, I would definitely recommend the Bambu hostel! Of course it attracts young people and backpackers, but you can find a wide variety of people there. I found it great fun to share the kitchen and common living areas because you meet people and make new friends who probably have a lot of interesting experiences to share.

http://www.bambuhostel.com/

I was able to use the phone as planned to call my friends to come get me, and how nice to be picked up and settled in my temporary home. They have a great place, a bunch of wonderful dogs, but mostly I was happy to have come to my destination so I could rest, regroup, and see what comes next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day we awoke before dawn but I slept well and felt much better.

This part of Panama has many farmers, and it is normal to get up before dawn because as soon as it is light, people must get to work. Farming is hard work modest money, so most farmers also have second jobs as well. These are not lazy people! They work very hard, and most live on a fraction of what we consider adequate in the US.

Anyway, we got up for a breakfast of fresh fruit, toast, and omelets which I was to learn is the usual breakfast in this household. The objective today is to check out the car. My friend asked his mechanic for leads on suitable cars. It seems Panama discourages people from having cars, preferring they use public transportation to keep the roads less congested, so cars are expensive here, including used cars. The mechanic couldn't find a car in my price range, but his recently retired wife wasn't using hers and agreed to sell it. The car is exactly what I wanted to find, unassuming, reliable, in my price range, and drove well. The owner was out so his assistant said he would have him call us.

This was about enough activity for my first day. The house came the next day. Eduardo Horno, a contact who I had emailed with before arriving, had two houses for me to look at. Again, I had unbelievably good luck. The first one we looked at was perfect for our needs, and also in our price range at $385/month. Another deal was made.

I now had the house and the car. Next it was a matter of getting the money together to finish the deals. This is a cash society. Big stores take credit cards. Out of country checks are difficult to get accepted anywhere. Between individuals though and in most transactions, cash is king and cash comes from the ATM. I brought some cash but not enough for everything, so now it was a matter of daily trips to the ATM to withdraw the maximum daily allowance until I had what I needed. Both of the people I was working with understood immediately and were happy to work with me. The car guy wanted to just hold the car for me with no security deposit beyond my word, and the house guy also would do the contract and hold the keys until I had the cash. These people are much more trusting than people would have been back home, requiring at least a deposit to hold something they could have sold to someone else. I was told this is also the norm. Your word is taken as good and verbal agreements are sufficient.

So, now that I had the house and the car arranged, I think I am caught up with most of the events that have taken place up until this time. It is now Wednesday Oct 17^th and things are moving forward, so I will continue this blog in its correct order as much as I can. The house deal was done yesterday. Today is the day for the car. It will be interesting to see how this day unfolds, and I'm sure I will be back to write about it soon. Hasta Pronto!

Visiting Boquette and taking the bus

What a day!! Lots of things happened today. I should be catching up on past events but it was such a good day I want to write about it right now. So, things are out of order? This is Panama. Things aren't always in order (by our USA standards) and that is OK.

It's Tuesday, 10/16/12 or as they do it here in Panama, 16/10/12. Today was the day of the market in Boquette so I decided to tag along with my friends. It turned out to be an excellent day!

First, I met the guy who manages my house. We did the contract and necessary business, and now I have keys to the house! I'm looking forward to arranging the necessities and getting settled in. Property management here is more than good. He translated the contract line by line to be sure it was all clear. He does all the communicating with the owners, and stops by the house every month to pick up the rent. He even offered to take me to where one can buy good fresh fish! He also gave me all sorts of advice on setting up utilities and necessities. I'm glad I got connected with this good man.

(the picturesque Boquette area)

The market in Boquette was also very interesting and I met and talked with a lot of people. Oh dear, can I even remember everyone I met? I connected with Chris the fish guy, Juan Linares, the Argentian chef with the delicious quiche, Lyn with the heavenly soap. Eric (www.rambalajunglelodge.com) about life in Panama, and an invitation to enjoy it at his resort. There was a lady with quilts, people with food. I can't even remember how many people I talked with... the young people with the hand made jewelry, the man with home made bread, produce people....

I was also very excited to talk with two mola sellers at the market. Molas are a very interesting native Panamanian craft. I have seen them on line, read about them, but hadn't seen them in person. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mola_(art_form) One guy has molas made by his mother and sister. He told me it takes at least a week to make just one of them. The other has molas made by his mother, and a variety of other similar items. I bought hot pads/gloves for the kitchen but I doubt I will be able to actually use them. They are far too beautiful. But, I know the man now so I suppose if I mess them up I can get some more from him. I also plan to get some authentic molas after I get more settled.

I was also happy to meet Elizabeth Whorley. I've read her book, http://comingoutincoffeeland.com/ and I've also read about her coffee farm (I bought a pound) and her quest to learn about natural healing and traditional remedies, which is becoming another successful business because of her excellent results.

http://cloudforestbotanicals.com/

Most of all though, in Boquette, I was so happy to meet my teacher! We have met on line almost daily for months, and she has worked and worked and worked with me, trying to get Spanish into my thick head. I am hardly fluent but finally I can get by and understand some of what is said to me. We have also become good friends so it was a great pleasure to finally meet in person without headsets and webcams. This, more than anything, made my day! I met her through Habla Ya. Check out this school for lessons as well as all kinds of field trips and activities. I am looking forward to getting more involved now that I am in the area. http://www.hablayapanama.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My friends were finished with the market before my teacher was free, so they left me to visit the school and make my own way back home using the buses. This also turned out to be a much better experience than I expected.

My teacher directed me to the bus stop for the first leg of the journey and I boarded the old US school bus that serves as one of the buses on this route. We all know school buses aren't the height of comfort but it wasn't bad, just a bit bumpy. It wasn't totally the bus's fault though since the road is under construction. The bus became more and more crowded as it stopped for more people, but all was very orderly. Many young people boarded in front of a school but there was no rowdy behavior. All the youngsters and teenagers were very quiet, just taking whatever seats were available and riding silently as the bus proceeded on. In the US things probably would have been a bit different, and much noisier.

The bus's final stop is at the bus depot in town. You pay as you get off the bus. There is a driver, and an assistant who collects the money and does whatever else is needed to assist the passengers.

I had a bit of trouble finding the bus to San Pablo Viejo where my friends live. There are a number of buses that come through that neighborhood, and a whole lot of buses at the depot! I found the ones that go from city to city, was directed elsewhere and went too far so I was in the section for the buses to Panama City. I was directed back and found the smaller white buses that are the local buses. I asked a man for help and he called another man who took me to a correct bus and handed me off to the helper on that bus.

Again, I was very impressed. The bus filled up until there was standing room only. The helper jumped out at every stop, took bags out of hands, helped people into the bus, stowed the bags and packages at the front if people didn't have room at their seats. He helped people over puddles (very rainy day here and everything is wet), helped people up and down the steps, took the money (again, you pay as you get off), and alerted the driver when passengers wanted to get off the bus. If someone in the back needed to get off, everyone standing up got off the bus, let the passenger out, and then got back on the bus without the slightest hint of bother. Someone had baby chicks. I could hear them peeping through the whole ride. People had children. There were a number of school kids. Everyone was quiet and polite. If a woman got on and there were no seats, the nearest man immediately got out of his seat and gave it to her. I am very impressed with the bus service here and the people who use it.

Why did I buy a car??! There will be times when I'm glad to have a car, but I expect to be riding the bus frequently also. Why drive when you can relax, read, nap, or whatever you wish while someone else drives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That is my adventures for today. Tomorrow I pick up my car. Then I need to set up internet and other services at the house. After that it's time for some serious shopping for necessities so I can start staying at the house!

It will be interesting to see what tomorrow holds.

Panama City and the Bus to David

The 11^th of Oct was our first morning in Panama City. My companion had plans to see a dentist for a consultation. Dental care is considerably cheaper in Panama so this was one of the reasons for her trip. She was very happy with the dentist, the plans for care, and the cost was quoted as $730 for work that would have cost her over $3000 in the US. Is it any wonder that people come down here for care?

Traffic in Panama City was definitely a challenge though! It has always been busy and gets more so as the city grows. They are building a subway system so the construction sometimes interferes with traffic flow. A fire broke out in one of the largest buildings, and a day later they were still struggling with managing it. From what I heard there were plastics and other substances that could create toxic smoke so surrounding buildings were evacuated and traffic was rerouted. What a nightmare! The traffic was insane, moving at a crawl or worse in many area with impatient drivers honking and hollering and trying to get through in any way they could.

We made it to the appointment in time because thankfully we had left quite early. The dental staff was a bit late though and the dentist herself was at least 30 minutes late. Returning to the hotel was worse though. It took a while to find any available taxis and some refused to go where we wanted to go because it involved the clogged up areas of town. We finally found one and a while later, got stuck in an intersection. Cars were nose to nose in the middle of the intersection and everyone was honking! Someone tried to get around us on the right, misjudged and scraped the back right side of the taxi. So now we had a traffic jam, and upset taxi driver out of the cab yelling at another driver, and we realized we weren't going anywhere in this taxi and needed to set out to find another. I took the liberty of catching a short video of the situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTP0TJcpvMY&feature=plcp

After a bit we found another taxi but it took quite a while to get through all the jams and make it back to the hotel. We arrived past checkout time but the staff was very understanding and told us it was no problem. I was very happy that my Spanish had improved! I could manage pretty much everything we needed to do, which is much better than our last visit. Surprisingly enough, the gal at the hotel remembered my last visit, mostly because it is remarkable for a couple to be traveling with a 92 yr old mother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

I had thought about visiting the canal on the way to the bus depot but as late as our morning went, I thought it would be better to go directly to the bus. We caught a cab with another friendly and helpful driver who let us off at the bus depot with directions on where to find lunch, a phone store, and a bus ticket.

(a Diablo Rojo - red devil, very colorful and interesting buses that used to be old US school buses. They are phasing them out in favor of safe, modern, air conditioned comfortable buses so I was glad to see a few of these still parked at the bus depot. They sure are interesting! Some of the art on them is amazing)

The bus was pretty easy to deal with. There is a long hall like a shopping mall. You look for the sign for your destination, go to the window under the sign, and buy your ticket. Buses leave about every hour and it cost $15.25. We also bought lunch (mainly American style fast food), and I bought a cell phone ($32 for the phone and a pre-paid card, don't ask me how many minutes). Unfortunately the gal in the store looked like she was about 12, and I couldn't seem to make her understand that we need to share information a little bit at a time because if she tells me everything all at once, I understand none of it. Eventually I understood enough – at least I thought I did since I was able to make a call. But of course, as soon as I left the store that luck ran out. Every time I would answer the phone it would shut off, and if I tried to make a call it would tell me it didn't have a SIM card. Now I understand why my friend doesn't want to use cell phones here. Apparently they are much more temperamental than they are in the US. It doesn't help that the manual and menus are all in Spanish.

Anyway, we had lunch, I connected by phone with my friends long enough to tell them we were getting on the bus. We were warned that the buses are freezing, but I was very comfortable in jeans and a thick sweater (and I am cold more often than most). It was a great double decker bus, and we found that seats are assigned (after we sat in someone else's seat and had to be politely instructed). But it must have been beginners luck since our seats were almost to the front of the upper deck with a great view. Seats were comfortable, windows were large for great views, and though the trip was long it was as comfortable as a bus could make it.

(a view of the Panama Canal as the bus crossed the bridge)

The trip from Panama City to David is about 7 hours through the beautiful countryside. The first leg is about 3 ½ hours, and a movie was shown on the on board TV's. Then there was a break to stretch and eat. We were let off at a cafeteria that looked set up to feed many people quickly with tasty Panamanian style food. Then it was back on the bus for another movie, and unfortunately it was dark by now. Next time I will try and plan a day trip so I can see all the countryside because it felt like we were climbing mountains.

(The Panama countryside is beautiful!)

Shortly after break we came to a police stop. Apparently the police already had their eyes on three men that were sitting not far behind us. The police took them off the bus and though they asked everyone to get out their documents, they didn't check anyone else. Someone else on the bus said the men were removed because they didn't have documents. The police took them out beside the bus and yelled at them for a while, and then they were taken in the building and the bus was on its way. I was told later that there are many jobs here and times are much more difficult in other nearby countries, so there are many people who come here illegally to take advantage of the available work. The police are kept very busy tracking down the illegal immigrants in Panama. Who would have thought?

It felt really good to be coming in to David. We had been traveling since noon yesterday and we were pretty tired. Again, there were taxi's on hand when we needed one and a great, friendly, helpful guy to help us get our baggage and be on our way.