Shopping Mirage

I have been shopping several times in Panama. The first was the market Meivis took me when her sister was looking for a swimming suit. Most recently I went on a hunt to find a new bra.

Side Note: It seems that white skirt girl (see previous post) `accidental´ took my everyday-bra (the ladies will understand what this means.) As many of you may know, I have one of those memories where I walk into a room and immediately know something is missing. Well when I got home Saturday night, I had that feeling. By the morning I knew exactly what was missing and where it was before it went missing. Just in case, I did full on house search...twice. After I was certain that the bra had walked off somehow, I had to decide what to do next.

I approached Meivis and delicately explained the situation of giving the keys to pink shirt girl and white skirt girl and about how they came to the house alone to collect their things. I then suggested that possibly on accident my bra got mixed in with their stuff. Not a real possibility, but a nice way of giving the gal a chance to give back my over the shoulder bolder holder.

Meivis asked Amarili to ask pink shirt girl about the missing bra... Pink shirt girl denied having it. I suggested white skirt girl. Bingo. She admitted to `accidentally´ thinking it was another (flat chested) friend´s. So anyways, the bra is supposed to be delivered today. It is only a cheap Target bra, but still way better than anything here in Panama... which brigs me back to my shopping woes.

I decided to go to the mall. It is possibly the biggest mall I have ever visited. I didn´t realize the size until I nearly became lost. I walked and walked for well over two hours without having to turn around and go back the other way to see the shops on the other side that I had earlier mentally noted I would check out on the return loop (which never happened) or even venture to the second floor.

Even thought there were tons of different stores, I started to notice something strange. No matter if the store name was Levis or PacSun or Calvin Kline, the merchandise inside was odd. Every store carried random brands. It was common to see Ambercromie, Holister, Forever 21, Guess, American Eagle and Bebe on the same wall or rack. Plus there were brands named after American TV shows like Top Model. All at notably reduced prices compared to the US. But it was disappointing. On close inspection of any of the clothes I saw loose stitching, variations in the color of the fabric and other obvious flaws. There was absolutely nothing worth buying. I left the mall with a frapuccino in my belly and some hand lotion because I was running low...