Today, I Was That Idiot Going in Reverse on the Freeway

I'm always making fun of people who drive in reverse on the freeway. My thinking is that its dangerous and stupid. Well guess what I did today?

On my way to Colon, I took the South freeway when I should've been on the North. Not a big deal under normal circumstances, but this freeway has a $2.50 toll which I refused to pay.

As I'm driving in the wrong direction, my buddy sees an opening in the freeway divider. But of course he tells me this when I've driven 200 yards past it.

Well I was left with 2 options, 1) keep going, waste time and get shook down for $2.50, OR 2) put it in reverse and go back. My plata (money) is tight these days, so the choice was obvious.

No one was coming, so I hit reverse and made my move and drove 200 yards in reverse on the freeway. I made it back and went through the opening with no problem. The only scare was the police car that was coming as I pulled onto the "correct" freeway. If it was a police car, luckily he didn't come after me.

Kids, don't try this at home.

Fear of Natural or Curly Hair

Its very uncommon to find women (of all races) who don't straighten the **** outta their hair. I believe the perception here (in Pan City) is that wearing your hair curly (or in an afro or anything that's not straight) is not attractive. Its unfortunate, but I believe the mentality is that European beauty is the standard, so if you don't have that look, you are not: educated, professional, attractive, well groomed, blah, blah, blah.

From time to time I see women with a hairstyle other than bone straight and it makes me think "Wow! A woman who has the courage to not follow the crowd." AND If I see a woman with an afro, I am super impressed.

To all the woman out there, ALL types of hairstyles look good. Don't buy into the foolishness! Break free from the brainwashing that society, your parents, of whomever has done to you!

Chiva Party Bus - Adults Only...No Kids On This Bus!

Chiva Party Busses aka "Chivas" are yellow school busses that have been modified:

• Seats have been taking out
• Outside has been painted
• DJ Booth installed
• Full Bar installed
• Hand straps have been attatched to the ceiling
• A few bench seats have been added
• Strobelight added

Chivas are essentially a party on wheels. You and your friends get on the bus, and party just like you would do in a normal club (dance, drink, socialize). The only difference is this bus drives all over the city at 5 mph with the music blasting.

I did it with a bunch of friends for my birthday and it was a lot of fun. It was basically one crowded dance floor that was driving all over the city. The bus stops on occasion for bathroom breaks, but essentially for 2-3 hours you are on that bus partying.

The hand straps are for you to hold onto while the bus is moving. However the bus moves so slow that you don't really need them.

The bus can get quite crowded, so I highly recommend renting one that has AC. Otherwise you will be trapped with 50 sweaty people on a bus. In addition, unless you wanna hear reggaeton all night, give the DJ your music in advance.

Nice Clothes but...WHEN ARE YOU GONNA DO SOME REAL EXERCISE???

I'm putting the Panama YeYes on blast here. (YeYe = people who have or pretend to have lots of money and influence)

There are so many folks that I see at Parque Omar, Cinta Costeira, the gym, CrossFit, etc wearing pretty cool looking workout clothes and matching shoes. The girls will be wearing a brand new color coordinated cute outfit, while the guys are also wearing brand new everything.

One problem my friends, a lot of these folks are NOT DOING ANY REAL EXERCISE!!!! They look nice, but lots of times are:

• Just standing around the whole time
• Walking or jogging super slow
• Talking
• Barely lifting a weight
• Not breaking a sweat
• Run 20 feet and then stop and walk
• On their Blackberrys
• Basically doing nothing OR doing something so lightly that they are not getting any exercise

Its hilarious!

With my athletic, martial arts and sports background, I know what a real workout looks like and most of them are not doing one. In fact, I've come up with a theory:

The fancier the workout clothes, the higher the chance that they are not really do any exercise.

I've had a few come to my martial arts class and not even make it through the warm up!

Jiu Jitsu and Hooters???

In Panama city, there are quite a few Jiu Jitsu academies:

• Spartan
• Gracie Barra
• Carlos Vincente
• BJJ 507
• Panama Fight
• Fight Shape

I currently train with one those academies. I'm still very new to the jiu jitsu scene here, but from what I can see, people seem to be pretty serious. After taking only 10 classes, I entered a tournament here and actually won for my weight class and level (white belt).

The first guy I beat by points. I was able to take him down and escape his submissions with my strength. The second I beat with technique. I got him down and into side control, then I eventually got him in an armbar.

Jiu Jitsu is great, I just wish I had more free time to train.

FYI, the medal I recieved has "Hooters" written on it. The tourney was not sponsored by Hooters, nor were there any Hooters girls there. :(

Paying Parking Tickets - Cute Girls Get to Cut

Its kind of hard to get a parking ticket here. There are not many parking meters around the city and those are the only places I know where you can get a ticket.

Well I got one. I read the back of it and is said that the fee is 25 cents per hour until you pay it. That's nothing if you pay it right away, but if you don't then it starts adding up by $6 every 24 hours. To pay it you have to go down to the one the city buildings and stand in a LONG line and wait forever. Luckily I was with a cute friend, so the security guard let us cut.

While waiting in line, I got to see some of the real people of Panama. Everybody except one person was some shade of brown. My friend told me that this place is a reflection of what Panama really looks like, unlike where I work and live.

Dry Cleaners - Oh You're Fancy Now

I'm fortunate to be able to live in a nice area of Panama city. One of the luxuries of living in this area is having easy access to many conveniences (gas station, pharmacy, shopping mall, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc).

Near my place, there are 3 dry cleaners. Two of them are Chinese "hole in the walls" and the other is pretty modern and high tech. I used to go the the Chinese ones because the prices were about $1 per shirt. However, I noticed that they didn't do a good job of pressing my clothes. In other words, my clothes looked rumpled and a little wrinkled once they gave them back to me.

After many disappointments, I decided to try the higher end dry cleaner. This place is more expensive and charges about $2.40 per shirt. The benefit of this place is they send you a text message when your clothes are ready AND they have a 24 hour self service window. With this self-service window, you enter your code and then the machine finds your clothes and delivers it to the window.

I could see something like this being in Japan, but never expected to see it here. I never even seen anything like this in the US.