Every place on earth has aspects that feel good, others that feel bad, and usually also some that are plain ugly!
Here are some recent examples of these for me here in Panama…
I had bought a car after I moved here, but before I was allowed to bring in my belongings. Later, when I moved my household goods, I had my beloved Prius shipped to here as well. So now I have two cars. 🤦♂️🤷♂️
For the last two weeks, though, I was without any car! ☹️
The Prius has a fault code about the hybrid system. It was possible to start it once again, but it’s difficult. So I’m waiting until I have time for a mini-vacation to Panama City, where there is a mechanic who specializes in hybrid cars. He’s taken care of my baby very well in the past, and I am sure he’ll be able to fix her again this time! Well, we’ll see. I’m planning on going there beginning of August… 🤪
The Qashqai also couldn’t get started. It appeared, the starter unit had died. It had sporadically caused problems the last few times I used the Nissan, and now it simply made no more move! 😢
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| Santa Catalina to Santiago |
The bad about this situation is, that the next mechanic (Automotores Vegmir), who’s not a shade-tree enterprise, is in Santiago - which is about 110 km of country road, or 2+ hours of driving. And I had to have the car transported there by a towing truck to Santiago. That truck had to come all the way from Santiago, too. It took him 4 hours to come, and 3 more to take us to the mechanic.
We decided to go with the truck and stay over night in Santiago, in the cute little hotel La Hacienda, where we usually stay if we have to be in Santiago over night. It is a lovely place, in Mexican design, with a pool, and a Mexican restaurant… As you know, Mexican food, after Indian and Thai, is the best food in the world! 😋
We used the rest of the afternoon to get some items on our list done. That way, we had less stress the next day. Then returned to the hotel, enjoyed the evening in the pool, and enchiladas and burritos for dinner. Was a wonderful evening, and a very restful night!
Today, we used taxis (yes, Nancy, imagine this! 😝) to drive around town to the various stores to find all the remaining items on our list. I’m guessing, all in all about 20 km with taxis in various stretches…
The good about the situation - aside of the mini vacation - is, that the taxis all together cost us only 13$! The towing cost 225$, and the diagnosis, new starter motor, and installation thereof 263$. Adding the 75$ for hotel and dinner, we’re still below what a new starter plus installation would run by itself in the US; without towing!
So what’s the ugly?
Well, things here tend to break often, as seemingly everything is lowest quality Chinese crap! It seems that every other day something breaks and needs to repaired! One of the latest issue was, that lately the toilet in the restaurant started to leak lots of water when flushing. Turns out the cautchuck ring, that’s supposed to make the connection of the tank to the bowl watertight, wasn’t doing it’s thing anymore. To be true, it always was leaking a little. But in the heat, that wasn’t much of a problem, as spilled water dries up quickly.
When investing the problem, I found, that the toilet and tank have 3” holes, but the ring installed is for 2”! Typical Panama! Improvisation, improvisation, improvisation! The person installing it - might have been me, actually 🤦♂️😝 - couldn’t find a 3” ring, and the 2” worked sufficiently well. Until it didn’t anymore… 🤪
Well, I spent all day, trying to find this damn thingy!!! Visited 5 hardware stores. In each they bring the 2” one. And when I explain, I need the same thing just 3”, the big searching in the isles and the bod3ga, and the computer start. And 1/2 hr later, they suggest to use the 2” and wing it somehow; maybe by using silicon, or such. 😂🤣😂
Well, that didn’t work previously, so I declined…
At our final stop, the El Rey supermarket - where we get good cheese, good coldcut, and a couple other items we like to eat - I decided to give Do It Center a try. Their sortiment is wider, but less deep. That is, they sometimes have materials and tools foreigners like to buy, albeit at higher prices than the Chinese stores. But usually just the standard items, more specific ones are often missing. Well, what’ya think? They actually had the 3” ring!!! So, this time, the ugly wasn’t as ugly after all! 😅🤣👍
People often ask me, if I regret having moved to Panama. I don’t like, that it’s so damn hard to find quality items, and that some items are just not available. But, that is something I can live with. Trump, 5,000$ bills for simple car services, temperatures under 15C (50F), and such, I cannot live with!
So, yes, I still feel like a very lucky guy to have found my way to here, and to be allowed and able to live the autumn of my life in this amazing place! 🥰❤️🥰
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