Our First Week in Panama

by Helen

(Panama City)

Our Roof Garden!!

Along with our four bursting suitcases containing our ruthlessly pruned worldly goods, we flew in from Miami on the 4.15pm American Airlines flight to Panama City. It took 2hrs20mins. Just as we landed there was a decent sized earthquake in the west of Panama on the Costa Rican border. We chose to view it as a boisterous celebration of our arrival rather than a sign of any troubled times ahead.

Coming up to passport control we realised all the non-Panamanians were buying a ‘tarjeto de tourismo’ for $5 so we got one too. The friendly immigration policeman looked me in the eye and said ‘welcome to Panama’! I got that he meant it. We were met by the driver sent by our B&B, Casa Las Americas (www.casalasamericas.com) and we were deposited on the doorstep 20 minutes later. As a choice of place to stay it was perfect: right in the centre of the city in El Congrejo, with a large room, a very helpful American owner (Ron), wireless internet, great breakfasts, use of the kitchen and half the price of a reasonable hotel. We are paying $65 a night.

The next day Joe met with the boss of the company that he had already contacted back home and starts his new job on Monday!

In the afternoon I got on line to www.ecuente24.com and spotted a penthouse apartment with a roof garden that looked about a million times nicer than anything we had seen to date, for the sort of price we were hoping to pay. It had just been posted and was a private rental. We got an appointment to see it the next day. Just before going, an estate agent (that we had contacted before coming) took us to see an apartment in El Congrejo. It was one of the most horrible places I have ever seen, with water coming throught the ceiling and holes in the walls. They were asking $1000 a month for it! We ran out of there and more than happily agreed to pay $1200 a month for the place with the roof garden! It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms (one en-suite), a nice sized living room, a laundry room and a really modern kitchen with a huge American fridge and large hob. It is in the residential district of San Fransisco and looks over the city and the sea, which must only be 5 minutes walk away. It is so exciting. We move in on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how quickly we can transfer the money and their lawyer can get the contract written up. We paid one month’s deposit to the American owner already to ensure it was ours.

On the way back from seeing the apartment we struggled to get a taxi to take us back into the hardly moving rush hour traffic of Calle Espagne and ended up on a couple of the famous ‘red devil’ buses. They were an experience not to be missed – with our small dark driver peering through catholic icons, plastic flowers and boas of red feathers (literally all round the window) pushing his way through the traffic with one hand almost continuously on his very loud and melodic horn.

We have used our first few nights in Panama City to try out some restaurants in El Congrejo. Right next to where we are staying is a bar called Istmo Brew Pub that makes its own beer. They gave us all four to sample (2 dark and 2 blonde) and Helen chose to drink the lightest called Colon (a place not a body part)and Joel went with Chiriqui. A couple of geeky guys came in while we were there, with pretty, half dressed girls (both dark) and left after a hurried drink.

note from Joel…Helen suspects every pretty girl is a ” lady of the night”…. ( must be a British thing.)Anyway, I got her phone number just for research,of course.

Accompanied by the classic rock that they play there we ordered a crispy tortilla thing called a patacone made from plantain (a sort of Panamanian pizza) with melted cheese and the meat from at least half a lobster . It was yummy to say the least and cost $9.50. We also had one with refried beans, guacamole and tomatoes which was also excellent and only $3.50.

Continuing up the same road from the home brew place is a host of great restaurants all with parking lots stuffed with BMWs and brand new top end SUVs. We ate at the Peruvian restaurant and Helen made the mistake of ordering a chilli chicken which turned out to be a mess of yellow gloop with no apparent chilli. Not brilliant.Let’s just say she should’ve got the seafood. We saw other people eating seafood and it looked great.

We had a lunch at a local Chinese restaurant selling only vegetarian food and chose to have three different dishes each so we could get the free soup. It was pretty good (and made us feel virtuous) and along with a home made jasmine ice-tea the bill came to $6 for both of us including the tip.

The next night we went to a Mexican restaurant called ‘El Patio’ with an incredible American couple , Lance and Muriel from New York that are also staying in our B&B.

The whole place is decked out like a fiesta at carnival time and loaded with more Catholic relics than a trip to Fatima or Lourdes. The multiple margaritas were huge and delicious and the food was fabulous. I had a side of baby back pork ribs. Joe had one of everything.We had a thoroughly good time and the whole evening cost $25 each including the tip.

As the apartment is unfurnished we checked out a few furniture stores in the centre of town. Furniture City on Calle Espagne seems to be the nicest with some modern, well made stuff. I ended up checking out the incredibly huge mall at Albrook though before buying anything. It felt just like walking into America with every kind of modern shop you could imagine. I proceeded to have the most wonderful shopping experience in a department store there called Madison Store. The floor manager was called to help me (the only one who spoke English – an educated young man from Equador who works 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and who plays guitar in a rock band in his not very plentiful time off) and he in turn recruited two shop girls to follow us about with trolleys. It was a VIP experience if I have ever had one! I ended up getting an attractive double bed (sleigh style in dark leather), a small wooden dining table, four cream ‘suede look’ dining chairs, two Egyptian cotton sheet sets, five thick fluffy towels, white crockery for six, wine and champagne glasses, coffee mugs, cutlery, pots and pans and some other bits and bobs for a grand total of $1150. The big stuff will be delivered on Tuesday and the rest was carried out by two security guards who escorted me downstairs and got me a taxi. I love Madison and will no doubt go back.

Even the taxi ride was fun. We came back in a tropical downpour through the national park with rainforest on either side of the road. I felt happy. The driver helped me into the building with my purchases and seemed pleased with the $3 I gave him.

While I was out shopping Joe set out to watch the Ohio State-Michigan football game. Joe….. you want to take it from here?

Yes I will! Now…where to find “The Game?” I didn’t know where the sports bars were around here but since we were surrounded by casinos, I thought I would start there. I picked The Fiesta Casino behind the El Panama Hotel. It looks small on the outside, but the huge ceilings give it a much larger feel once you get in. The multiple screens were all filled with soccer games (I refuse to call it football,).

The waiter was very friendly and knew the same amount of English as I do Spanish so we traded words for a while. Interestingly, in Panama City, people you meet all feel they should learn English, and most do a really good job with it. It’s actually easier to communicate here if you don’t know Spanish than if you were lost in Miami (now, that’s a third world country!).

They put the game I wanted on to the main 25ft screen and I watched it alone until the fourth quarter when I was moved to another room to allow the local fans to watch their exciting kickball game. I had a few beers and some bland casino food which cost $20 and worth every penny to be able to see The Buckeyes finish trouncing the Wolverines, 42 to 7. So sweet, and I only had to travel 1 block.

The next job on my list of things to do today is to decide which eatery to try out this evening. With so many choices it is not as easy as you may think.

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