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!