The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

I love Panamanian Public transportation. These buses are not air conditioned, so the smell might be a tad ripe, and are covered in crazy pictures and painting. I also have not discerned the bus routes or how people know what bus goes where. It's funny.

According to one customer, the government down there will be getting rid of these buses soon and repalcing them with better ones, with AC. What I did not realize is, that at night, the buses are covered in fluorescent lighting and LOUD music. I wish I had gotten a picture or a video on one from the front.

Yummy Sushi Pajamas

Reading in Panama
Originally uploaded by KaarenM

I'm trying to post a blog entry straight from flickr. First time, let's see how this works.

This picture was taken one night when I was too pooped to party, so to speak. After dinner, a few people headed out, but I decided to head back to the room and, you guessed it, read. These are my Buffy Yummy Sushi Pajamas. Probably my best Mother's Day Gift ever. :)

I brought three books with me on the plane; Steinbeck's "The Moon is Down," Charlaine Harris' "From Dead to Worse" and Shaffer/Barrows' "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." Steinbeck I read on the plane to Panama. The "Guernsey...etc." I started on the plane and finished the next day. That left me with my Sookie Stackhouse, which I finished a day and a half later.

Panic! No Books! After mentioning it to one of our drivers, he quickly whisked me away to Exedra Books. I was SO excited. Several people told me books stores were very rare in Panama. This store carried books in English and in Spanish. There was a coffee shop and a lecture going on in a room; I kept hearing applause.

I purchased Mitch Albom's "For One More Day," which I finished in less than a day, Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible," which seems so far to be one of those books that gets in your soul, like "The Grapes of Wrath," "The Color of Water" or "Cry the Beloved Country," and "Crepusculo." You might know that one as "Twilight." I figured after my success with reading "The Shadow of the Wind" in its original Spanish, I'd try the reverse and see if the Spanish translation of "Twilight" is any good.

In my Yummy Sushi Pajamas, I relaxed for the evening, to read about Africa and the Price family.

Plane Plane, Go Away

I do not enjoy traveling by plane. Never have. What I can say is that I am a good traveler. I get to the airport on time. I am patient in line. I smile at the often-stressed workers and say "please" and "thank you" because, face it, theirs is often a thankless job.

I also make sure my carry-on is, you know, carry-on. Every single flight I have been on, I see people bringing these humongous pieces of luggage, insisting they are carry-on sized, and then getting irate because they cannot shove their steam-trunk sized piece into the overhead bin. It boggles the mind.

Then there are the people who think they're at home. The man who shuffled his cards loudly for an hour. Not playing, just shuffling. Last night, random-dude was clipping his fingernails. Snip. Snip. Snip. Each snip bore a hole in my brain. Also, EW. You can't wait until you get home or your hotel before clipping your nails and discarding the clippings on the floor. Nasty.

There was also the couple with two young daughters, about Isabel's age, who let their girls run up and down the aisles. Up and down, up and down. I felt so sorry for the flight attendants.

OH! Last night we were coming from Miami to Orlando, after arriving from Panama. It was about a 45 minute hop. A family from Venezuela (I found out because I was sitting next to a young married couple in the group) was heading to Orlando with a change of planes in Miami. Mother, Father, married daughter and son-in-law, teen son and 9-10 year-old daughter. Mother is sitting with her 10-year old daughter, waiting for the plane to leave the terminal. The young girls presses the Call button and the flight attendant comes over. The girl asks for something, not sure what, and the f.a. tells her that as soon as we take off, she will come back. Ten minutes later, we still have not left the gate, and "ding!" the 10-year old pushed the button again. We're all seated waiting. After a few minutes, one of the attendants is counting, hits the button to turn it off, and keeps on counting.

The little girl snaps. her. fingers. Several times. *snap*snap*snap* "Oye!" she says mid-snap. My mouth dropped. She was calling the flight attendant as if she were a dog. *snap* Thankfully, the mom swatted her hand down. I could not even mutter a comment, as the little girl's sister and brother-in-law were seated next to me. After 5 more minutes, the girl gets up, and tells her mom she's going to the back. Off she goes. We're all supposed to be seated, buckled in, ready to depart and little Miss Obnoxious is off. Why? She wanted glass of water. If my eyes could have rolled out of my head, they would have rolled on to the floor.

Have you thanked your flight crew today? I have.

Back from Panama, Again

Morning!

I'm back from Panama City, Panama. Who? What? Huh? It was a last minute "Here's you're ticket. Go" trip. After some schedule-rearranging with David, I left last Sunday the 6th and returned yesterday the 12th in the evening.

I'll catch up as soon as I clean up the mess that is this house!

:)

The Panama Canal Night Visit

For SHAME!! I'm not done with the Panama posts. How could I be? I could I forget the Panama Canal??



After our visit to Casco Viejo, I went to work the show from 1-9 p.m. David grabbed a cab from the hotel around 6 p.m. and came to show, where he had dinner with me at one of the show's food dealers, and walked around *coughstaringatboothbabescough.*



During the evening, one of our customers who was helping us with the show learned that David and I would be flying out the next day back home and that we had not been able to visit the Panama Canal, so after the show he drove David, another co-worker and me to the Canal.



(Ignore the camera date. It was the 20th. The camera was set to the 19th in error.)





Here we are arriving at Miraflores Lock. There is a restaurant here open until late. We went in just for drinks. Beer for the gents, coffee for me.



The history of the Canal is amazing. Our tour guide (customer of my company) knew so much history. It was so impressive to hear him discuss whatever topic my husband David or my co-worker threw his way. I wish we were as versed in our American history as he was in his Panamanian history.


(image from howstuffworks.com)





A large vessel waits for the lock to drain down so it can pass onto the next level.


A view of the lock, with high water on one side, low water on the other.

Here we saw a tugboat pull up. They won't open the canal for just one boat, so this one had to wait for three or 4 more boats to arrive in order for the lock to be drained down. Notice the other side that held the rather large vessel has been drained low and the vessel moved on.

It was a great experience to see, even at night, and we were grateful to our customer for taking us here before we left on Sunday.

Casco Viejo, or Old Panama # 2

Our last Panama Post. :( Saturday the 20th, David and I took a cab down to Casco Viejo, for $3.

Casco Viejo is the place the moved to after pirates destroyed its original location.

It reminded me a lot of Old San Juan in Puerto Rico, except that a lot of it was really run down and abandoned, whereas Old San Juan really does good with the upkeep of the old buildings and monuments.







There is a main square is in front of this church where vendors sell their wares.





We walked down side streets, along a walking tour that was in our guide. We screamed "Tourist."









Underneath this covered floral walkway were dungeons used to keep prisoners.



The view of the current Panama City from Casco Viejo.





A local told us that these little peaks in the foreground are a German submarine run aground. We really couldn't know if that was true or not. He was probably hosing us anyway. :)





After our walking tour, we stopped in a little bodega hidden in one of the narrow streets for some bottled water. We hailed a cab back to the hotel for a quick lunch before my 1 p.m. - 9 p.m. stint at the trade show.


The following day, Sunday, we flew back to Miami, where we alternately laughed and grumbled at the customs route we had to take. We got off the plane, walked a very long way to collect our luggage, turned in our customs claims forms, walked a very long way to give our luggage back to the airport employees, walked a loooong way back......to board the same exact airplane we had just left. *sigh* It took so long, the 45 minute layover was eaten up and they were already boarding our flight to Orlando, so we didn't have time to grab a meal.



I was a bit trepidacious leaving the country. Although I am usually an optimist, I am a traveling pessimist. I am so glad this entire 'work-cation' went so well. I was also so blessed to be able to bring David along and to have a cool mother-in-law who drove down to stay with the kids for a week.

Booth Babes in Panama

Ahhh, booth babes. Ok, Ok. Booth Models. Trade shows all around the world hire booth "models" to stand in their booth and attract more customers to stop by. I'm not sure how this help sales if people are just stopping by to ogle, but there you have it. A lot of them in Panama padded their butts. It's TRUE! Latin men like their ladies with ample behinds, and so they wear shiny unitards with butt padding!

A few weeks before my trip for the trade show, a female officer of the company called to speak with me. I was out to lunch, so she left a message with my boss, saying she would call back and she wanted to discuss S. American trade shows and women. I immediately knew what the concern was; that I might be treated like a Booth Babe rather than a knowledgeable member of the team with 14 years experience under my belt. She flatters me too much. I, for one, was not in the least bit worried.

Let's see why, shall we?

Booth Babes (they were really nice.)

Me.

Booth Babes (the one on the right was really snooty).

Me.

Booth Babe (We all decided she was the nicest and prettiest, as she was pretty much all real).

Me.

Are we clear?

No problem at all in the booth. Everyone who stopped by treated me with respect and courtesy.

Old Panama

On the morning of the 19th, we hailed a random cab and went to Old Panama.



We shopped for souvenirs for the kids and my MIL.




We took pictures in front of the remains of their old church from Old Panama.



We saw beautiful young ballerinas, who gladly posed for us.



We climbed a tower and looked on to Panama City.



We walked the grounds of Old Panama.








We walked into an old nunnery Convent. (Ari/Lisa: LOL!! I was totally channelling Monty Python with the "nunnery." I had no idea it's a 16th century euphemism for brothel!!)






We walked by their polluted beach towards a museum. Sad fact: Panama City's industrial and commerical/home wastes get flushed into their beach here. No one but the brave (read: crazy) enter the beach here. The smell is unpleasant.






The museum told us of the history of Panama and its moves. Old Panama was destroyed by Pirates. They moved to Casco Viejo, and then eventually moved again to where Panama City is currently located.

A museum security guard hailed us a cab and ensured that the driver would not rip us off by basically telling the driver what he would charge us; $3.00. He took us to a mall where we ate at "Crepes & Waffles," a wonderful place that serves...crepes and waffles and all kinds of fantastic desserts. The wife of a customer manages the place and asked us to stop by for lunch. It was really good.

A mall security guard hailed us a cab and we went back to the hotel, where I prepared for the 1:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. part of my work day.

The morning was great fun.

Panama & Work

My days were spent hiking and exploring Panama, because the nights were taken over by a trade show my company was taking part in.


We had no idea the show hours were at night, but I was really grateful for it. it gave me daylight to explore. They do the shows at night because they want people to be able to attend after their work shift.


We arrived Tuesday. A co-worker had already been there since Sunday setting the booth up mainly by himself. He's the man.



Wednesday he and I walked from the hotel in the a.m. to meet a customer down the road from the hotel who had just decided to buy equipment from us. Yay. We then cabbed it over to the convention center, where I helped put the finishing touches (hanging things up, moving catalogs, arranging a table). We were there from around 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. Very tired.

Day 1

Day 2: The show's hours were 3:00 - 9:30 p.m.

David and I pose in front of a ginormous wheel of some truck being displayed by another company.

Scene from the show.

On Day 1, I wore nice shoes. Day 2? Sneakers. 12 hours standing up the previous day had done a number on my feet.

The show was PACKED. We were in a separate hall from the main one, and I think the AC was broken. It was HOT. At one point, I did a spazzy freak-out dance because something slid down my shirt front and down my chest. What was it? Sweat. LOL

On our way in to the convention center on Day 1, we noticed this above. This is our equipment being used by one of our customers whom we sold the equipment to, on the building directly in front of the convention center. Hello? What LUCK!! My co-worker called up the customer and Boom....

...they let us hang a banner. What GREAT advertising! We actually had customers find our booth and say "We saw your stage outside and decided to drop by." Very cool!

Our nights were usually long and we got into the (bad) habit of eating late. Here we are eating dinner around 10:30 p.m. in an outdoor cafe. We stopped the late eating on day 3 and 4, choosing to grab quick meals inside the convention center itself.

We had Wi-Fi inside and I was able to create quotes for customers as they stood there asking for them. I can imagine their surprise when the got into their e-mails the following mornings to see quotes already in their in-boxes. :) All in all, for being our first time there, the show was a success.

Letterboxing in Panama

While we hiked the forest in Panama City, we also went letterboxing. Yep, people have planted boxes in Panama. There were three of Ryan's boxes located in the park.





The first box was actually out in the open, behind the tree it was supposed to be hidden under. It had not been found since 2005, so I'm pretty sure it was just time and animals that moved it from its spot.






Once we opened it, we found this:






Mushy pulp. So long, logbook. We did not come prepared with any new baggies or log books. Sorry Ryan. I used my water bottle to clean off the stamp, and placed the stamp into the tuppy container, after David cleaned it out. We disposed of the baggie and its mushy contents.



Box # 2 was fine as well. I did not get a picture of it. The log book (roll of paper, actually) was slightly damp. We blotted it with a towel

Box # 3, below, was fine as well. I think this one had been found this February or so by another 'boxer. Again, it was damp, and David wiped the log book and inside with his towel.






It's very exciting to have found boxes in another country. :)

Meanwhile, Back in Florida

While we were in Panama, the kids were being watched by David's mom. She drove and picked up Isabel from school, made their meals and went grocery shopping.




They also planted new flowers in our back yard. Grandma Tricia brought with her for Isabel some kid gardening tools. They went to Wal-Mart for flowers and planted some beautiful ones.





Isabel also did a lot of drawing. She is quite the artist. Look at this one. Click to "enbiggen." (I so love that ridiculous word.)






Do you get it? Isabel Mrs. Mommy and Daddy. Well, Mrs. is pronounced 'Misses', right? So there. I LOVE it.

On the left is Jake. Notice he is in black, as usual. Also notice that he is bawling because he misses us so much. Next up is my mother-in-law, Tricia, complete with her glasses and earrings that Isabel admired when she arrived. Then we have Isabel, who although she "Mrs." us, is not bawling like her big brother. The clouds are sad though. That's nice.

The Forest within the City

Welcome to El Parque Natural Metropolitano de Panama. A tropical forest located within the city of Panama, this park is minutes away from downtown and yet feels like you're in a totally remote area once you're well in it.





Since my mornings were free, with the trade show being at night, David and I took a cab to the park and began the hike along its trails. Click on the map below to see the trails. We did them all.

We were really hoping to see some sloths or tamarins (David saw the little monkey-like creatures a couple of days before, when he came here on his own while I was working). Alas (earwax), we did not see any on this trip. Insert pout here.



Find the frog!

Everywhere we looked, hardworking ants formed lines that went as far as the eye could see.

At the summit of the Cienequita trail, you can look out over the city.

On our way back down, we encountered this. Click in it to make it bigger. It's a hummingbird. This little guy was right in front of us, buzzing around, but cheap camera could not keep up.

We saw many pretty butterflies

and crazy termite mounds on the trees.

Let me leave you with a couple of videos. This first one is of a group of ants hard at work. The second is just us, walking quietly, so you can hear the birds and the silence of the forest within the city.