Random TidBits

I was thinking the other night that I tend to blog mostly about our extravagant vacations with our amazing visitors.  You might be getting tired of seeing us lounging on the beautiful beaches or hiking in the jungle.  This post will be dedicated to random day-to-day things we experience/do/see/hear.  There are many things that happen daily or weekly that you probably don’t know about.  So, here it goes:

-          Alex and I have a weekly dinner date with our friends, Talia & Gerardo.  Talia is an American, but has lived in Costa Rica for the past 10 years or so, off and on.  She met her husband there, Gerardo, and they most recently lived in the beautiful cloud forest of Monteverde, before moving to Panama.  He worked as a tour guide and she was a teacher.  Anyway, he doesn’t speak English, so we have weekly dinners for us to practice our Spanish and for him to practice his English.  Talia enjoys drinking lots of wine and laughing at all of us because she’s fluent in both languages.  Damn her. 

 

-          I get up at 5:15am (ok, maybe 5:30, but the alarm goes off at 5:15), which is awful.  I thought I would get used to it, but I haven’t.  I hate waking up.  I carpool with 4 other people who live in our building, though, so getting up on time is a must.  The five of us have 3 cars with which we rotate.  We take the Corridor Norte to get to school, which takes about 23 minutes on a good day.  We hit 3 tolls in each direction, totaling just under $8 a day.  Expensive stuff!  Hence, the reason why we carpool.  We usually spend our drive laughing at the crazy shit that’s happening on the road.  The other day we were waiting at the toll and witnessed a small mirror-to-mirror accident.  The two drivers got out and argued.  One driver then proceeded to run and get his bat from is car and started chasing the other driver through the stopped cars on the highway.  He started hitting the man with his bat and everyone watched.  Finally, a cop casually walked over and sent the two back into their cars and we were all on our way.  Back to normal.  WTF??

 

-          Since I get up so early, I have the privilege of watching the sunrise over the Pacific, every morning.  Pretty weird, right?

 

-          We live on the 25^th floor of our 63-floor building.  It’s right on one of the main roads in the City, so it’s pretty loud during rush-hour.  Panamanians LOVE to honk their horns.  They pretty much have a language.  They honk to say hi, get out of my way, watch it, who wants a ride?, etc.  It’s comical, however, pretty annoying when we’re trying to enjoy a cocktail on our balcony after work.  Tough life, I know. 

 

-          Our balcony looks over the City, Casco Viejo, the Pacific Ocean, and all the ships waiting to go through the Panama Canal.  You can see the Panama Canal from our guest room.

 

-          My school has outdoor, covered hallways.  On a daily basis I have geckos in my classroom, and on a weekly basis, I see iguanas running around the campus. 

 

-          We typically walk to the grocery store every couple days.  Alex and I put on our (matching REI) backpacks (such gringos…) and walk the 4 blocks to our local Riba Smith store.  We get whatever we can fit in our bags.  We also only live on cash, no cards.  You can use them here, but I don’t trust the system.  So, it’s a fun game of, “How much can we buy with the money we have and the space in our bags?”

 

-          Netflix is our best friend, and we have become big fans of House of Cards, Justified, and Pixar movies.  Downloading movies has also become a big hobby. 

 

-          WhatsApp is the #1 way people communicate around here.  Calling is second to that.  There is also a website called DeliCentro.  It’s a company that contracts with about 30 or so restaurants.  The website has all the restaurant menus.  You can order online and DeliCentro rides its scooter to pick up your food and delivers it to your door.  Super awesome. 

 

-          Alex started building some things for the school.  They are having a school play in May and need some pieces for the set.  He was able to get them to pay for a bunch of tools, and then obviously the materials and labor.  He’s enjoying getting back into building stuff, but the Panamanian Way has definitely made things difficult.  The quality of materials and lack of efficiencies in the stores wastes a TON of time. 

 

-          We’ve been here for just over 8 months and have had 19 visitors and have 7 more scheduled to come.  That’s amazing and makes us so happy!!

 

-          We turn the AC on every single night.  It’s hot here.  I constantly forget what month it is.

 

-          Having a phone is super cheap, once you own a phone.  $15 a month for unlimited data, plus pre-paid calling minutes.  $40 a month for 2 phones, compared to the $180 we were paying the States.  I’ll take it. 

 

-          People don’t text and drive here.  Driving is so crazy that you would be an idiot to do so.  Drivers, although crazy as all hell, are extremely aware of their surroundings.  Fender-benders happen often, but big accidents are rare. 

 

-          Reversing out of a toll lane is totally normal.

 

-          We lived in our house in Burien for three and a half years, had a huge yard, and never grew anything.  We now live in an apartment in the city and have a 5x12 foot balcony and have oregano, basil, peppers, tomatoes, and green onions growing. 

That’s all for now.  Posts to come: Visits from My mom & Molly, and Jenny & Travis!