February 18, 2011

Wayne had to get a new sticker for the license plate today for our car. Apparently, the license plate number is associated with your car forever. In fact, the license plate number is etched in the windshield. Selling the car means the license plate number gets transferred to the new owner. Thankfully, he had a friend of ours (that speaks Spanish) go with him to help him through the nightmarish process. Three hours later, he had the car inspected, sticker ordered and on his merry way. But he was laughing as he saw the way the people inspected the car. Part of the inspection was to test all the lights. But it seems that most of the cars on the road have a missing light or two (or more), so apparently MOST of the cars on the road don’t update their stickers or get their cars inspected. But heard that by going to the “right” inspection facility, it is easy to pass an inspection.
Parking is quite the challenge. Land in the city is so expensive that there just are not many parking lots. So that means people park just about anyplace. You have to be creative. On Sunday we were driving to church on the two lane road (highway?). There was a rather large bicycle race happening and about 100 cars were parked on the side of the road while their owners got their bikes off their car racks while standing IN the road. We had to slow down to about a mile (km) an hour to just maneuver through the mess to get past them. No one seems to care. Another guy was riding his motor bike up with his bicycle tied to the back end of it (??). Oh, I wish I had my camera ready when I saw that one!
Our walks in the park have been so unique lately. Apparently, many come to Panama to bird watch. Never thought of ME a bird watcher, but lately I have seen such amazing colors of birds here that even I am taking to time to look for them. We found a bright turquoise bird nearby on several occasions. Amazing. Also, there has been a cricket tournament in our park the past two weekends. Rather interesting to watch, but hard to understand the rules.
Really though, I am still amazed at the international community this is. Just tonight I met a couple in the park that had lived in Sri Lanka, USA, here, there, everyplace. Met a nine year old girl (rather Ace met her and we started talking) that was born in Switzerland and had lived in Australia, the USA and is now here in Panama.
I had an opportunity to go to an Interactive Board demonstration this past week. It was held at a Jewish school downtown. The school is very old school, very beautiful and attended by children from very wealthy families. So we drive up to the school and it was nothing but a high cement wall, very plain. After walking through a fortified gate to get in, handing over immigration card (which they kept until I got out), giving my passport number, I then wandered through a large parking lot and entered the school. IT was a beautiful school with a huge outdoor courtyard, all hidden behind the high walls! So, I am in a country where I DO finally know the names of the men and ladies bathrooms in Spanish, but this school had them in Hebrew. I had to find someone to take me to the restroom! I had NO clue! That was about as bad as a restaurant I went to last weekend with a bunch of ladies. It was called the Beirut Restaurant. Menu was in Lebanese and translated into Spanish. Needless to say, I knew neither one.