Hot Hot Hot

Pedasi, Semana Dos

Well it has been a very busy and successful week here in Pedasi, Panama.  It has been much hotter than we knew.  We have come to find out that April and May are the hottest months.  They are the end of the dry season and the winds have died down.  We have adopted a "Have fan will travel" philosophy which masters the open floor plan for circulation.

Have fan will travel

We started our Spanish lessons and love our professor Dania.  She is a young Panamanian woman who was born and raised in this little town of Pedasi so she knows everyone.  We are in class three days a week for two hours each.  We cover our homework, a new lesson and then spend some time discussing things like where do I find fresh jalapenos or office supplies.  All of this in Spanish which is great.  She speaks English very well so she can translate when get lost - which is often.  We are getting better every day and try to use our Spanish as much as possible.  Peg has even made friends with the vecinos (neighbors).  I think I mentioned that our vecinos have a veritable farm/zoo next door.  Our days are filled with the cackling roosters from sun up to sun down.  Zoe was even smooching the deer through the fence so cute.  Today the three gatinos (kittens) came prancing in the from next door and Calcite went over to greet them.  They are adorable.... what is our mantra... No More Buttholes.

One of three visiting gatinos - very friendly

Can you see the Rana?  On our porch.

Everyone very much at home!

Our Spanish School!

We quickly came to realize that we need a car so we head to Chitre where there is a motor mile of sorts.  I had my heart set on a Nissan Navarra since we loved our Xterra so much.  So we went into the Nissan dealership first inquiring about a usado (used) vehicle.  We were directed to the one person that spoke a little English where she asked the salesman.  She then called a guy in the next town who was selling a used one, but he spoke no English, and would want cash and we were hoping to charge it on a credit card.  So we decided to go next door to the Toyota dealership.  What a difference.  A very professional receptionist greets us with a handshake and directs us to a seating area.  She then gets the used care salesman on the phone and Peg is trying to converse with him and the Manager of the Sales Dept comes out of her office, takes the phone and then directs us into her office  She was amazing.  She spoke a little more English than we did Spanish, but it was enough for us to get our points across with the help of our diccionario.  We decide on a 2013 Hilux, 4x4, four door that she can get us from Panama City.  We leave a deposit which is fully refundable and are to return a few days later.  She emails us a couple of days later to let us know that the vehicle is no longer available, but she has another one that is a 2012 and less expensive which is great for us.  We drive down on Wednesday to find that the car has not arrived yet and we are to return manana. A two hour drive for what again?  Our sales man has found another young woman that speaks English for us to communicate with and she calls us later in the day to let us know that the vehicle has in fact arrived.  We use the day, since we are there anyway to drive around Chitre where we find a mall and another higher quality grocery store (yeah!).  We test drive the 2012 Hilux the next morning much to our disappointment.  It has been beat to Hell inside and out and had a terrible shimmy at 60 mph.  Peg asks our salesman how much the new Hilux's are and they are only 6k more brand new with a full warranty etc.  We head back in to the sales managers office and she finds us exactly what we want for a great price.  And let me tell you, the price is the price - no taxes, delivery, processing etc.  We only had to pay for the registration and license plate a very small fee.  They also have a car insurance company right there so we got full coverage insurance for $50 per month.  The weird part is we pay for the truck and have to come back manana to pick it up.  They have to physically drive to the "DPS" in Chitre, Las Tablas and Pedasi to complete the registration process.  Then we can pick up the truck the next afternoon.  All goes well and we drive home our new 2014 Toyota Hilux the next day.  Woo Hoo.  Oh and in case you are wondering, I did price compare the insurance and it was a good price.

Our new truck - we may call her junior.  Not the bat but perfect for Panama

Yep we live in Panama!!!!!!

The next task which has been haunting Peg is a bicicleta.  We were unable to bring the four bikes we have at home due to lack of space.  So Peg is on a mission to buy a bike.  The Chino's have a couple for sale none of which are desirable.  We keep asking everyone and they keep pointing us in different directions to no avail. Then the Moreno (think True Value) gets a new shipment of bikes in and they look really nice.  We buy one, get it home and unwrap it to find that the brakes are completely hosed.  One set doesn't work and the other set is so tight the bike won't roll.  We get some tools and try to make some adjustments ourselves, but nothing works.  We take it back to Moreno where a guy basically does the same things we do.  We then call our Spanish school where Ingrid knows a repair guy.  He picks up the bike and brings it back the next day supposedly all fixed.  It seems fine at first, but the tires still don't have a free spin.  A little frustrating, but we will try one more time.  They say everything takes three try's here and that seems to be true.  Peg keeps wondering why she is the only person in Panama who seems to have a bike that will not roll!

Pretty... now if we can just get it to work!

So we feel like everything is going very well.  We take one day at a time, one task at a time, go to the beach as much as possible and practice our Spanish with whomever will listen.

A good map of our area.

Downtown Pedasi

Big Chino!

Hugs to all.