Buses,cabs, and a chicken in a bag!

The month of November is coming to an end with the last of a series of holidays and long weekends. Lunes is Independance Day, the day Panama got it's independance from Spain. Yesterday, Viernes, we ventured into Panama City. We took an early bus to the national bus terminal, which is across the street from the Albrook Mall. The mall is filled with Christmas decorations, mostly sponsored by cell phone companies. The sound of Christmas carols in Spanish fill the stores. Chris did some shopping and thinks her Nikes were a good deal.

Panama City is like New York or Miami, waves of yellow cabs flowing down the road with the change of lights. Unlike New York, these cabs are small Toyotas, Hondas and some of very uncertain pedigree. Call a cab, take your chances! Last Saturday we called a cab (they all have their own cell phones no depatcher) from Woody's Bar and a new Mercedes arrived.Other times they are so beat up, one isn't sure they will make it to the destination. All vehicles though smell very good, with buses having multiple poine tree shaped deodarizers of various scents.

In Panama gambling and prostitution are legal and both l'm told take place in Panama City. Every hotel has a casino and that is where the hookers are. There are many "anything goes" massage parlors too. It would be interesting to see if you can spot a hooker because all the young girls wear 4" high heels, very tight jeans and push up bras but Chris couldn't have bare shoulders for her visa picture. Hmmmm....

After shopping and lunch, we took a cab to the customs brokers to settle our bill and arrange delivery for the next day. It was already 1:30 on Friday of a long weekend but I called our lawyer anyway to get our pictures taken for the one year visa. The lawyer's assistant picked us up at the Do It Center and took us to the immigration office(The Do It Center is like Home Depot, Sears and Future Shop all in one.... Simmons mattresses, major appliances, outdoor furniture and hardware. I think we will buy most of the basics for our house there) . At nthe immigration office, one of her colleagues had already got in line for us for our pictures. The camera looked like something you would use with Skype. The pictures were pretty bad, like they were taken thru a keyhole but we left with visas for one year already lamenated and our permanent visa coming along in a month or so. The lawyers peeps then drove us to the bus terminal and even offered to show us where to buy tickets. Taking the bus back from the terminal you're guaranteed a good seat and a one way, 1.5 hr. journey is $3.25. People picked up on the way sometimes have to stand for a bit. One fellow got on with a live chicken in a bag. Brachhhhh. Ted, if you're reading this, he didn't know how to put it to sleep!

Today our cargo arrived from Panama City at 7am (they left at 5am). Chris is putting things away and we now have more stuff than we have room for... NO storage to begin with.

Well off to the beach... getting up early has it's advantages.

Feliz Navidad!

Creatures, more or less great and small

Equestrian Centre across from the hospital in Coronado

Miss Napa

Thought I'd talk about a few of the creatures we are getting to know in our experience with life in Panama. First of all we have Jorge and Juan Guzman but you should pronounce hor-heh as the "J" is pronounced like an "H" spanish and Hwan Goozman. Jorge is about 2 " long and mostly lives in our kitchen, always on the look out for moths and other small bugs to eat. Juan is about twice as long and patrols in our bedroom as well as the kitchen, ever vigilant for unwelcome incursions of "Los Bichos". I don't have any pictures as both the wee fellas are very fast and scoot around on those suction feet. Unlike the Geico gecko on TV, they are beigy not bright green and they are very shy. I have yet to hear a peep out of them and they only come out in the evening. It's just good to know they are on the job.

If you read our previous blogs, you know about the funny monkey, Napa, who was driving the dogs crazy by hanging on the kitchen window, taunting and teasing them to distraction. Well, haha, our neighbour came with a request for us to baby sit Miss Napa for a few days, so the worm has turned so to speak. Rather ironic, si? She took banana from my hand today as well as a little bit of cookie and likes to sleep on our bedroom window while we are having a post lunch siesta. When she came through the door grill this afternoon, Gracie caught sight of her and chased her out with loud barking. It doesn't deter further attempts though and the only way to stop her is to close the inside door. When the sun goes down, we are supposed to tuck her in by pulling down the blanket on her cage, but her master is away and Napa is staying out very late. We heard some shreiking in the trees last night, is she whooping it up I wondered or getting killed? I'd hate her to get snuffed by some other creature , especially when we said we'd take care of her. Neighbour not home yet, monkey business continues.

The dear canine creatures we love are very comfortable here but sometimes howl when we go out. One day I could hear them all the way down the street, as we walked to the bus stop. That's a good wee hike, about a kilometer, so I'm going to be fit as long as we continue to need groceries!

We took the girls to the beach today, but they aren't very impressed with it and Maggie ran away toward the grass as soon as I let go of the leash to take my sandals off. All that nasty water and sand is just not Maggie's idea of a good time. In fact there are some little shore birds that run like hell to keep out of the surf every time a wave comes in. I call them "Maggie Birds". Gracie will get her legs and belly wet and may yet learn to enjoy it, we'll see.

Life in Panama

Panama is the size of South Carolina with the population of Toronto.

There is one four lane highway that runs whole length of Panama, the Panamerican Highway. Just like Ontario was in the sixties.The speed limit is 100k except 60k in the small towns along the way.

The only difference in Panama is that the buses stop to pick people up. The buses come in all sizes from touring to ones that hold only 20 people. On the windshield of the bus are the names of the town it runs between, e.g.Penanome-Panama. That means you can ride and stop at any town in between and not always at a bus stop just wave and they will stop if they can. Chris and I ride between Santa Clara and Coronado, a 40km trip, for a dollar each. Some times these buses can be crowded but you never notice any body odours from the riders. The Panamian people are very clean and neat. Of course you have the teenage girls wearing skin tight hip hugging jeans, high heels, and their boobs pushed way out the top.

The laws are like Toronto was, more smoking, no recycling and poor car safety checks.

There are plenty of police officers everywhere, in the plazas, along the highway with radar and in the banks.

You can buy beer everywhere for .50 cents a metric can. The speed limit, temperature and other packaging is metric but gas is sold by the American gallon. I have enclosed a picture of the highway and one of my lovely wife so you can see how dark she is getting. I had to wait to get the picture of Chris because she's alway bent over picking up shells.

The picture of Chris at the top was taken outside the Clinica San Fernando, where we had an appointment to get information about health insurance. We are going Dec. 14 to have physicals, which are required. We will go in for the blood work before then. So when we come back to Panama after Christmas that will be in place. The clinica is a branch of the main hospital in Panama City, which you would go to for a complicated illness or a major surgery. Otherwise, you would be treated in Coronado. We can also go there for routine doctor's appointments. For your medical services, you pay the regular rate up front and get reinbursed. So a visit to the doctor would be $50- pensionado discount of $10- $25 (% insured) = $15 cost of appt. Anyway that was our business portion of the day and now we are headed for the beach, 'cause it's a beautiful day. Ciao, baby.

Walk to the beach

Buenas!

Another sunny, breezy and humid day.

Would be a lot hotter if we didn't have the breeze off the ocean.

Here are a few pictures of the neighbourhood on the walk to the beach and Luiz's bar. The walk is very beautiful, very expensive homes used by the maid. Luiz is our lawyer and his bar will be taken down and replaced with a new Woodys.

Santa Clara is said to have the most beautiful beach in Panama but I think all three beaches I've been to are about the same. They are almost attached to each other, only separated by rivers and head lands.

I have been told if the tide is right and you had enough energy you could walk all three beaches without getting wet. There is miles of beaches.

November is a big month in Panama for celebrations.

Three days off last week for Separation Day, Flag Day and Colon Day(Columbus Day).

Nov. 10th is Uprising Villa de la Santo Day and Nov. 28th is Independance Day.

Everybody leaves the city and goes to the country, just like in Canada and like in Canada, last weekend it rained...... but the beer is cheap and the fireworks loud.

Hasta Luego

Los Bichos on Steroids

Well, bichos are bugs and I know this because we met a young man, who has just started an extermination business called Adios Bichos, or Bye Bye, Bugs in English. He also works at Woody's Bar, does odd jobs for Monique and is married to a Canadian girl. His name is Irving and he replaced our kitchen tap the other day.

Anyway, two nights ago we had an unwelcome visitor to our bedroom, which doubles as our livingroom and office. We had been watching TV and had the back door open for the breeze, which is usually very nice in the evening. Unfortunately, the bugs can be attracted to the light There are screens on all the windows but there are no screens on the outside doors, just grills.

So................................... Bob had to catch and kill the biggest Praying Mantis looking bug ever, uno bicho on steroids. First Bob told me it was a flying gecko, but I am not so easily fooled! Thank the lord, Bob got him eventually and I was able to come out from under the covers and sleep peacefully. Needless to say, we are closing the inside door now when we put the lights on in the evening. We don't mind the wee geckos who live with us (they catch and eat moths, so they are my heros) but the giant bug is another story. Sorry, no picture may he rest in peace.

More Taxis! No buses!

The Corner Store, El Scorpion, 1 km from our house. All the little corner stores have their own names and are indies. They carry the basics including beer and all forms of liquor at cheap prices, it pays to be a lush here. Oh yes, you can also buy bread, milk and T.P. too. Bob will walk up there for Pepsi and Fresca for me if it stops raining later. We won't be going to Coronado any time soon.

More on taxis and buses! We learned a huge lesson on Wednesday when we went to Coronado. It was the start of the national, three day festival in Panama, a celebration of heritage and Independance. Getting a bus to go there was no problem but when we were finished at the store, we were unable to find a bus with any room. They were all crammed to the rafters and were only going to San Carlos, not as far as Santa Clara. After an hour we were still waiting so we came home in a cab, and that was very costly, $30, so we'll stay away from town until Monday when all the holiday makers have returned to Panama City. The traffic was insane and the police had to close off the left turning lane into Coronado, I swear it was 401 at rush hour but with horns honking, everybodies happy to be on holiday, who knew!
Put that down to "live and learn".
Anyway, Vive Le Panama, Ole!
C & B

Taxis and Buses

We had a lot of fun at the Halloween party we attended at Woody's on Saturday night. We met a couple who are new retirees from Connecticut and have just moved here permanently. Nancy and Bob have a home at Royal Decameron Resort.Will definitely call them in the near future for a get together.
Bob and I had to call a taxi to go to the party and did find one that would pick us up but we weren't sure he understood until he showed up at the gate. Turns out he is a friend of our neighbour but speaks no English. Shared a taxi van home with some rowdies from the resort at Playa Blanca.
Today we went to Penonome on the bus... well sort of ... they can be 11 passenger vans or bigger buses but not like the buses at home. We'll have to take some pics to post. Anyway we were crammed in like sardines, but airconditioned. When we got to Penonome, the street was closed and we all had to get out so we had to find a cab to take us the rest of the way to the Iguana Mall where the pet store and Super 99 grocery are that we were going to shop at. We can pay with our Canadian credit card at most stores. You just need to show a photocopy of your passport. The round trip of 80 km. cost us $6.00. Most bus fares are $1.00 a person and you tell them where you want to get off . They are private enterprises and operate along the Pan American highway (in all shapes and sizes). You have to ask if they are going as far as you want when they pull over