Sometimes there are those days when things just don’t go smoothly. It happens here in Panama too.
We went to our phone provider to switch our service from the “dumb phones” to the new smart phones and set up a data plan for each. The place had lots of customers and employees on vacation so it took some quite a while to get helped. We met another expat couple who has been waiting longer than us and they were getting frustrated. But, as things usually go eventually, we got what we needed and now have internet in our phones. It was interesting. She asked our phone numbers, did something with a couple new chips, and now the new chips have our old phone numbers. I thought the numbers went with the chips but apparently not always.
Then, we set out for Pricesmart, our version of Costco. There is a traffic light just before the public hospital area and traffic always seems to be backed up between there and Chiriqui Mall, but today it looked quite a bit worse than usual. When we turned in to Pricesmart it was backed up as far down the highway as we could see. The city is growing and they are constantly building, and none of that is doing the traffic situation any good.
Sitting in traffic for a while. All the yellow vehicles are taxis. Yes, we have a whole lot of taxis here!
We enter Pricesmart to find out the power was out, but the cash registers were still working. We proceeded to do our shopping, got into one of the longer than usual lines, inched our way up until there were only 4-5 customers in front of us in line to be told that there was not going to be any more checking out. They said the cash registers have only 20 minutes of battery power, and if the power isn’t restored in that time they also go down.
So, we left our carts as instructed, and made our way out to the still totally backed up highway. It wasn’t too bad though. Traffic inched along and after a while we were out of it and on our way to the supermarket to get a few things we needed now. Maybe we should go back to Pricesmart tomorrow though. Will they be having a big sale on no-longer-frozen items? 😀
Super Baru was also pretty busy but it’s really nice that they have a guy in the parking lot. He helps people find spots, helps people back out safely, and generally does what he can for everyone.
The Super Baru parking helper.
Sometimes it is just one of those days. But we had a good time chatting with people while we waited. We are retired and no one is expecting us at the office. It’s a warm and muggy day but we’re not sliding around on icy roads. And, thanks to the iPhones that my daughters gifted us, we have internet in our pockets.
The Panama Adventure 
Welcome to the smart phone world. Now add Whats App, Waze, MagicJack apps and you will have arrived!
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I have WhatsApp (and need to figure out how to use it. You are in my contacts and it tells me to invite you to WhatsApp. ), I have Waze. No MagicJack though, need to look in to that one. And I have maps, Facebook and messenger, my tracking app, books, mail, lots of stuff! It’s very cool.
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Went to PriceSmart after taking the car to the mechanic (thanks for the info). The lights were back on.
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Ahh good, so maybe no thawed meat sale tomorrow. We’ll still give it another try though because we have a bit of a list.
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re: Lines….here, in the States, anywhere, there is a law of nature that controls lines and the one you get into will ALWAYS be the slowest one, and if you jump to another line it will now become the slowest one in the store…
And speaking of lines, there ALWAYS seems to be a line of traffic headed into David from the west the last few months. It often extends past the mall. It’s caused, partially, by the traffic light just past UNACHI, but sometimes there’s no explanation at all. On the other hand, headed OUT of the city there never seems to be a problem.
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That is a very bad traffic area but today seemed worse than usual. And, what are they building behind the gas station at that light? And farther up I believe they are starting work in another big supermarket. There is also the huge hospital complex under construction, and something going at the mall. I don’t know how they can manage any more traffic in that area.
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Thanks for the great info on a mechanic. Left our car, he will find parts and call us when it is repaired. Super nice guy, very comfortable leaving our car there. Rented a car and we will go back to Pedasi Tuesday, after Tuesday Market in Boquete and take bus back to David to pick up our car when it is repaired. Had to make Tuesday Market as I am the featured speaker for their BCT speaker series. I am presenting a talk on Entrepreneurship.
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I’m so glad that worked out for you! 🙂 Yes, he is such a nice guy. If he’s not backed up he’s also very fast. I wonder if he can get your car done before you have to leave this area.
We called him once when the clutch went out on my Mazda. I just wanted to tell him the car was arriving by tow truck. He hopped in his car, got there before the tow truck and helped the whole process once he saw that yes indeed, it wasn’t something he could fix on the street. And, that’s not the only time he’s come to my rescue. Yes indeed, very good guy.
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I ‘like’ your attitude, hence the ‘like’. Interesting that they kept letting people into Pricesmart, I’ve noticed that most stores don’t seem too concerned with people thieving in the dark when the power goes out.
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Once the cash registers went out, they closed the front door and stopped letting people in. There was a good amount of light from the many skylights, and a lot of those nice gals standing around giving out samples so I don’t think there was much chance of theft. They don’t sell many small packages of things anyway. Hey honey, put this gallon of mayo in your purse, OK? LOL
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Thanks for my first laugh of the day!!!! 😀
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😀
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Life is sure interesting in David. If we don’t travel at the peak periods here, there is hardly any traffic to speak of. That would be something to get used to again, besides driving on the right side.
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Traffic can be challenging, especially downtown where the streets are smaller and it’s crowded. Once you get used to the driving style and for you, driving on the other side of the road it will be better. That has got to be strange, switching to the other side of the road.
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