September 17, 2010

As we left for church on Sunday, one of our neighbors was cutting down a rather large tree. He (or someone he hired) had climbed to the top and was chopping away at branches with a machete. When we got back home, all branches were off and they were starting to cut the tree trunk down (still using ONLY a machete). Later, it was all on the ground and no chain saw any place to be seen. These people are amazing with a machete and a weed whacker. I see them in the jungle cutting it back with just a machete. But in that jungle, I would probably want to be armed with one in case a snake appeared. I am still amazed to see dozens of men with weed whackers “mowing” the park. It looks beautiful afterwards. You wouldn’t know it was done without a mower.
The women I was with on Saturday (all had lived in the states before) were talking about when they fly back to the states and get into a car that they have an “out of body” experience - everyone is driving normally. You just get used to people driving crazy here. But, they all are happy to get back to Panama because the faces here are friendly and always have that warm smile on them. THAT is something that I still enjoy immensely. These people are so warm. I am clueless as to what they are saying to me, but that smile says it all.
Wayne had a very interesting week. He needed to get his Panamanian driver’s license. But, he said getting one was like a giant treasure hunt. Having done his research beforehand (mostly on the internet), he thought he knew exactly where to go and what to do. First stop - go to the US embassy to get your US driver’s license authenticated. Next, you go to the foreign ministry office to get the authentication “authenticated” by the Panamanian government. But, upon arriving at that office, it was an empty store front (they had apparently just moved). However, there was absolutely no information posted about where they had gone. Fortunately, there were some nice ladies in a nearby government office that drew him a map (easy to translate, no Spanish required). OK, so he found the new office and then had to get some government stamps (like a postage stamp, but it indicates you paid a fee) to put on the back of the document. Well, you had to go to the bank to get the stamps. Guess what, the bank had run out of stamps. Sitting outside the bank with a bewildered look on his face (a frequent occurrence around here), a delightful Panamanian lady (who spoke English perfectly) had overhead his dilemma and offered to go with him looking for the stamps, which took going to four different banks. Then, he had to wait in another line to have the government stamps, stamped with an ink stamp. Goodness, these people love their stamps. So, then he had to have a test for his blood type, which is shown on your driver’s license. He went to a lab, got the test done and was told to come back in five hours. He did, but there was a problem with the test. Wayne has B negative blood. I guess people in Panama do not usually have Rh negative blood. So, he had to wait 24 MORE hours, so the lab could confirm it was really B negative. The last leg of the treasure hunt was the driver’s license office. Let’s say it is just like the BMV in the states, but all in Spanish (there are no bi-lingual signs) and with lots of people waiting. After two hours, in which he saw six different individuals, took vision and hearing tests (fortunately, no written test (that, of course, would have been in Spanish only) and no driving test), he finally got his license after three days of running all over town. Now, I guess that gives him the right to drive like a madman, because that is what everyone in Panama with a license apparently does. The really funny thing is after all the trouble with getting his blood retested to “Prove” it was Rh negative, they originally put on his license that is was B+. He had to have them change it. They just can’t understand someone here can NOT have positive blood.