November 21, 2010

Beautiful, beautiful night last night. We had all of our windows and doors open to sleep. Easy and safe to do since we live behind bars!! But about midnight, our neighbors were having a party and was it ever loud! Had to shut the windows and turn on a fan in order to sleep. Even then, it was still loud. People here are so sweet, yet they just don’t seem to have that decency to understand they just may be disturbing other people. The party went on all night, as I guess most parties do in this country. When Ace and I left for a walk this morning, there were a lot of cups, bottles and cans in the street and gutter. I wondered if anyone would pick them up, since tossing trash around seems to be OK in their minds, but they were out this afternoon gathering the left-over trash from their party. Thankfully.
We went to an area of Panama City today to wander around, which would not be considered “gringo-ville”. In fact, we were there for close to four hours and didn’t recognize another gringo anyplace. A couple of little girls we noticed were just starring at us, so I imagine there aren’t many gringos that visit the area. But what fun we had. It was just so interesting. Street vendors all over. In the five months we have been here, we have only seen one or two people in total that were begging. Most others at least try to get out and sell something. They grab a little area on the sidewalk (and sometimes in the street itself), set up their little table and sell whatever they have or can get. Such fun to see all the locals out getting their weekly groceries. We found a place to park in the parking lot of a big store (rather like a super Wal-Mart of sorts), but the parking lot was very small for the size of the store. So you know that most of the people that are shopping there either walk, take the buses (25 cents a ride) or even a taxi. In wandering around the area, I saw a rack of khaki pants for a dollar a piece. They looked American, so checked a little further. Amazing brands - Dockers, Liz Claiborne, Talbot, Brooks Brothers, etc. Couldn’t believe it. Looks like the store gets containers of leftovers from the states or overseas factories, then the store will sort everything, place it on racks or in piles and sell it for practically nothing. I have heard you can get amazing bargains here, if you are willing to “search” through the racks and piles of stuff. It certainly is a treasure hunt.
Wayne and I went to dinner tonight on the canal. Had to include a picture to show you what I am wearing on the 20th of November! Loving these 80 degree days, when I know what the temperature is up north. There are things I miss from the states (clean streets and sane drivers), but this weather is just too good to be true.