Things that are great deals in Panama

These are things that you can buy here for very little money:

1. Taxi Ride...............$1.50-$3

2. Coconut Water.......$1.15

3. A very nice condo or house...$100,000

4. Clothing (local brands)..........varies

5. Alcohol..........varies

6. Entrance into a very nice club or bar...$5-$15

7. Groceries (local brands)..........varies

8. Movie Tickets....$4.50 (VIP Movie tickets $10)

*VIP Movie tickets include access to good restaurant food and waiter (order from your seat), your own soft couch and top of the line facilities (bathrooms, etc).

9. Dry Cleaning.....90 cents...yep 90 cents to dry clean and iron an item of clothing at the Chinese run laundromat.

10. Massage at the mall...$6 for 15 minutes.

11. High End used cars (Mercedes, Porsche, etc)...varies but you can get a GOOD one for $12,000-$20,000.  *Low end used cars (Toyoto, Nissan, Hyundai, etc in the $5000 range) are overpriced.

I will soon make a list of things that are expensive here.

My girlfriend VS the toddler in a stroller

We are in the ice-cream shop in the mall. While paying for our ice-cream, I notice a toddler in a stroller backing up very fast and about to hit my lady. I stop him just in time, but this kid keeps trying to back up into us while his Mom is oblivous. After I stop him 2 more times, my girlfriend steps and locks the brakes on the stroller and now he can't move.   He was actually too big to be in a stroller if he can put his feet on the ground and push himself!  Later his Mom comes over and gets him and starts pushing the stroller not realizing the one wheel was locked.

The whole thing was pretty hilarious...I guess you had to be there.

Buying a car - MY experience so far

Car 1 : Misubishi Montero - Found in the newspaper, took it to the mechanic. He said no good. Next.

Car 2: Huyandai Tucson - Found in the newspaper, took it to the mechanic. He said no good. Next.

Car 3: Toyota Yaris - Car broker found for us, took it to mechanic, he said good. We test drive it and check everything. Car looks and runs pretty good. Car was listed as having 80,000 kilometers. We click the odometer and realize that the car really had 200,000 kilometers on it. The odometer said 8,000.7 kilometers which looks like 80,000, but that was just the mileage of the last trip!!

Lesson learned --> Either the owner bought the car thinking it had less than 80,000 kilometers OR he purposely tried to sell us a car that he knew had 200,000 km NOT 80,000.


Car 4: Hyundai Elantra - Found in the newspaper, another car broker was trying to sell it. Took it to the mechanic, he said good. We test drive it and decide we want it. The car broker only has copy of the registration paper work. We decide not to pay anything until we have the original registration. The car broker gives us the car anyways. We take the car, but don't drive it because of no insurance. Next day, the car broker calls and says she can not get the original registration for 30 days because the car has tickets on it that must be paid. In addition she informs us that the registration has expired and the car is not legal to drive. Thank God we didn't give her any money and thank God we didn't drive it. The next day the broker comes and picks up the car. We will not be using her anymore...

Lesson learned --> Either the car broker didn't bother to check to see if the car she's selling is even registered and LEGAL OR she purposely tried to sale us a car that technically is not legal to drive.

Hmmmmm.....

Getting Internet Service at my Apartment - A Test of Patience

I decide to have internet installed at my apartment from the company "Cable Onda". I go down to their office in the mall, sign up and pay my deposit. The employee informs me that in about a week or so, the installers will call me to confirm a installation time.

Two weeks go by and no word from Cable Onda. Since I don't speak Spanish (well), we gave them my girlfriends cell phone number. They finally call her, and TELL her that they are coming at 1pm on Friday. She tells them that we at work during that time, so it must be 4pm or later. To be very clear, she confirms TWO times that the appt is indeed on Friday at 4pm.

Friday comes and while I'm at work, they call me for some reason and say they are coming at 1pm. I put one of my Spanish speaking friends on the phone to tell them my appt is at 4 PM and that this has already been set over 2 different phone calls to them.

Luckily, the installers show up at my house at 4pm and begin to work. They are setting up my internet using English directions that they don't understand. Now I'm sure I wasn't their first customer ever...so why are they installing internet service when they know they can't read the directions??? Long story short, the installation is not completing, so I have to read the directions and figure out whats wrong. It turns out that they don't realize that clicking "Save Changes" is necessary to complete the process. We finally get it working. No more worries right? Wrong!

What they don't tell you is that once your internet is setup, its only allowed to connect to ONE COMPUTER!!!!!!! Well we connect it to my girlfriends computer first and of course it now won't work on my computer. Well 5 phone calls later and a hour plus of waiting on the phone, we finally realize that we can get around this problem by buying a wireless router. After doing so, the internet begins working on my computer.

Note: If you are going to call customer service, have a friend call who speaks Spanish. When I called customer service and asked for the English option, I waited on the phone for 45 minutes and got hung up on twice.

Where are the bathtubs?

It seems like no place here has a bathtub. Is it a space, culture or convience issue? I understand that there aren't many jacuzzis...its already hot here.

My girlfriend is always mentioning that there aren't any bathtubs here. I must admit, I do miss my Epsom salt baths after a hard workout. What is one to do??? My gf keeps talking about a kiddie pool...so we went out and bought one. Too bad it doesn't come with an electric pump...so guess whose going to have pump it up??? Your truly.

Getting Out of the City - Fort Lorenzo

We FINALLY had the chance to get out of the city. Went biking with some friends around Fort San Larenzo. Fort San Lorenzo is about an hour away from the city and is near Colon. The Fort is near a section of the Panama Canal. Its an abandoned Fort that various folks used to fight off invaders to Panama.

The fort itself is on the coast and is part of a big woodsy park type area. We parked near the canal and biked a few miles to get to the fort. It was great change to see some of the beauty of Panama and not see a McDonalds, taxis or skyscrapers anywhere.

Lounge 180 - The View (from the mall)

Located on top of the Multiplaza mall. This lounge has a decent view of downtown, but nothing extraordninary.

Dj plays house music, mostly techno type, but some occasional soulful house. Nothing special about this place. Some of the lounge chairs are TOO big! You have to sit on the edge of them if you want to eat or talk to friends. Again, this is another place where people don't socialize outside their own circles.


This place must be sponsored by Grey Goose, because the bar is full of Grey Goose bottles everywhere.

We got here around 11pm. The food and the service were average at best.

This is a place that tries to be a place to be seen. MAYBE its okay for a date, but the music is so loud that maybe it isn't. Plus who wants to bring a date to the mall. My friend did that and he said that when they walked through the mall, the woman kept hinting how she'd look "so great in this and that"...as if he was going to say "You're right...let me buy it for you."

Prive - Night Club (bring your tampons)

Located in Calle Uruguay. I went here Saturday for a friend of friend's birthday. This club caters to the rich (or wannabe rich) crowd. Not much dancing, not much socializing, and not very diverse. Just people hanging out in their own groups and dancing a little. The music was mostly a mix of house, pop and reggaeton. Cover was $10. Not my kind of spot...I'd only return here if they had a really good guest DJ or if I came with a bunch of friends.


The music is also VERY loud. Luckily me and the lady brought "tampons" aka earplugs. My spanish is bad, but the word for ear plugs sounds like tampons.