Many sisters = many birthday parties

I was invited to go yet another birthday party, a dinner for Meivis´s sister Marisol. I have a feeling Meivis´s parents liked to have fun in the month of November ;)

The lovely sisters.



Dinner was scheduled for 7 p.m. at a fancy restaurant on the causeway.

I decided that a nice dinner was worthy of wearing the only dress I brought with me. I also decided to fix up my hair instead of going with the pony tale I wear everyday. Meivis is in school now so I had some time to kill during the day. I ventured to check out a cafe I had heard had a free book exchange (bring some books - take some books).

I was surprised to see (or more accurately - hear) several Americans in the cafe. After I ordered a cappuccino and an egg salad sandwich one of the English speakers asked where I was from. They were also Californian.

After I had the mini conversation with the Californians, the guy working at the counter just stared at me smiling. I smiled back. He immediately proceeded to admit that it was his dream to someday be a chef in L.A. and to get a tattoo by Kat Von Drachenberg of his favorite band, Tiger Army. It was then that I realized he was the first person in Panama I have seen wearing plastic framed glassed. Everyone else here wears versions of the metal frames.

All of a sudden I had a deja vu of a trip to Michigan in undergrad. I had won a scholarship to go to a co-op conference. While in Michigan I was struck by the lack of diversity, but I also recognized that despite the fact that nearly everyone was Caucasian, there was still the break down of different social groups. There were the wannabe gangsters (M&M copy cats), the Amime fans wearing Tomb Raider shirts, Jamaican sounding dudes with blond corn rolls, etc. etc.

I realized the guy behind the counter was the brown version of Jesi´s hubby Mike. I also realized why the guy was staring at me with goo goo eyes. I had picked a rockabilly influenced hairstyle, which Brown Mike dreamily complimented. I was probably the closest thing to L.A. that the dude had ever experienced. Before I left with my new stack of free books, I made sure to tell Brown Mike that Spanish would come in handy in L.A., especially if he really wanted to go into a culinary profession.

Later, we took a taxi to dinner. The restaurant was on the Amador Causeway, which is where we went clubbing last weekend. Here is an exert from www.pancanal.com

At the southern entrance of the Panama Canal is the Amador Causeway. This beautiful and picturesque causeway, lined with tropical palm trees, and with magnificent views of the Canal and the Panama City skyline, was built from excavated material during Canal construction. It took 18 million yards of solid rock extracted from the famous Culebra or Gaillard Cut of the Panama Canal to build this Causeway. The Causeway was formerly part of a military base, which has been transformed into a flourishing tourist attraction. Great restaurants, hotels, shopping arcades, marinas and a convention center provide an infrastructure that is attracting ever-increasing tourism. The causeway is also the home of the Marine Exhibition Center of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), where visitors can see and touch exotic species of Panama's Caribbean and Pacific marine life, and learn about marine-coastal environments. An excellent paved pathway, the full length of the Causeway, is an irresistible temptation to anyone desiring a leisure walk, jogging, biking, skating or roller-blading. The causeway is also popular with locals and tourists who want to enjoy a swim in the Pacific Ocean; or simply relax with fabulous scenic views.

The Birthday Girl.



Dinner included clams, lobster, trays of meat, spicy chicken wings, deep fried bananas and pitchers of sangria. Admittedly an odd combo of eats. It was yet another great experience with Meivis´s family who I am becoming attached to and I am going to miss when I continue on my journey.

Meivis, Jeeni, Amarili.



All the ladies.



After dinner, the birthday girl, Marisol invited Amarili and I to go to a casino with her husband. I had seen casino signs, but thought they were just bars. Wrong again. Always up for an adventure, we agreed to go.

As soon as we stepped in the doors of the casino it was like being in Reno minus the smoke. Oh ya, no smoking indoors in Panama! I immediately notice how many gringos were there. Marisol warned me that we may be mistaken for prostitutes... Yikes. Luckily there were no propositions. I didn´t feel like goining to jail for a knee to the juevos.

All of the gambling was in Spanish. Marisol´s husband hit the roulette tables and the ladies hit the penny slots. Oh ya, I am a high roller. As usual, I left with more money than when I arrived. A gal has to know when to cash out or in my case push the button on the lower left hand side with Spanish writing on it...

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...

Ants not Aunts

The ants here deserve their own post. I am totally perplexed. For the most part I don´t see any bugs round Panama. Every couple of days I get a few mosquito bites, but not enough to continuously wear poisonous protection. I have even swatted a few skeeters, including a particular large one at the ruins who got me about four times before I destroyed him.

The ants however, are a different story. The kitchen area ALWAYS has about 7-8 tiny black ants dancing around, but never more than 7-8? These ants are strange though. First, they are never eating anything. In California if you leave a crumb of cake and an ant finds it, the whole family shows up. They start a Congo line and create an ant dog-pile at the source of sweet yummy goodness. Not Panamanian ants.

No, they don´t touch food ever. Just to test them I have put pieces of food next to them on purpose. Nothing. I´t like the kitchen counter is merely a park they like to take walks in.

Second, they are much more organized and swift than Californian ants. The ants here are quick too, they start sprinting when they see my tissue covered finger coming. When I go to kill one, they run in a strait line to the cover of safety. There is no crazy ant frenzy where they run in circles.

A lesson in Panamanian law

Meivis´s house is in the banking district. I am pretty sure that banks here do not get robbed. I am led to believe this because every bank has at least two men in bullet proof vests carrying side arms. Plus you can´t even go into a bank until they unlock the door by remote button. Seeing this level of security had me thinking that the laws were pretty strict in Panama. Boy was I mistaken.

Amarili invited Meivis and I out for another round of dancing, this time to celebrate Amarili turning 19. Meivis got caught up at another one of her sister´s and wasn´t able to make it. I was given the choice to go out with Amarili and her friends (with no translator and Amarili speaks less English than I speak Spanish) or stay home on a Saturday night. No one will be surprised that I opted for the dancing. :)

At around 9 p.m. blue shirt girl, who was funny and definitely the mom of the group, was .the first of many girls showed up at the house to get ready. By 10 p.m. there were at least 7 people in the house scurrying around doing the same getting ready routine that is done by females world wide. Most of the girls were really friendly to me, but there were two that right off I could tell were going to need to be won over.



The first of two rides came and some of the people disappeared. When the next car arrived, it already had three people in it. Keep in mind that all the cars in Panama are small because the roads are small. There were five of us girls left to be shuttled to the club. Yikes. Somehow we sardined into back seat of the car. In case you are bad at math, that means we had 6 people in the back of the car and two in the front.

As we started to roll away from the curb someone started passing around a bottle of whiskey. I passed. One, I was a completely uncomfortable with the drinking and driving and two, I wanted to stay sober in case I had to get a ride home in a taxi later. I was already saying the mantra of´ `El Canrejo, Casa de Duran. Cuanto es?´ over and over in my head. (The neighborhood where I am staying, the name of the famous boxer who lives across the street, apparently every taxi driver in the city knows where Roberto Duran lives. Finally, how much, because taxi drivers are know to try to charge white chicas like me upwards of $20 bucks for a $2 ride.)

On our way to the club, blue shirt girl´s boyfriend saw a cop and did a hip-hop style dance while chanting `policia policia po..... lic.....ia.´ Everyone joined in, except me...

From right to left, pink shirt girl, Amarili, polica chant starter, and his girlfriend, blue shirt girl.


With the attitude of nonchalance I started to think that Panama didn´t have a seat belt law. That thought slid rapidly away as we were pulled over to the curb and made to emerge from the car sardine at a time. As I was slipping out of the car, a guy that was in the front seat winked at me and said in perfect English `be cool.´ Hum...

Here is Mr. Be Cool with Amarili.


The cop did some yelling and waved his hands. There were lots of things said in Spanish. I was already searching the streets for taxis and contemplating if the $40 I had on me was enough to bail myself out of jail when the girls squealed. My arm was tugged and we were piling back into the car. All of us. I was confused. We got pulled over for a lecture? We were allowed to leave? If I could see the bottle of whisky sitting on the front seat, so could the officer? As Jim Cary would say `alrighty then.´

When we got to the club and did a head count. There were 8 ladies and 4 guys, 3 were boyfriends and one was an obnoxious guy with SPS, which explained his single status.

Mr. Be Cool and obnoxious guy.



The first club was going to charge a $10 cover for the guys so we opted for a smaller no-cover place. Since we had such a large group they gave us our own stage with trendy little white cushioned chairs and matching mini tables. In Panama you only get a table at a club if you order a bottle of some sort of alcohol. We ordered vodka, which came with a bucket of ice and a flute of cranberry juice. After everyone had consumed 3/4 of their drinks the chairs and tables were kicked to the side and the party began.

Someone had brought birthday balloons so we blew them up and floated them around the club like beach volley balls. I found out that Mr. Be Cool dude had gone to high school in Illinois. I was relived that at least one person spoke English, although the music at the club was so loud it was futile to talk.

(Mom notice Amarili´s jewelry... a big hit)


This club played only a few songs in English. I danced the night away regardless. At some point Mr. Be Cool asked if I understood the words to the songs. When I said no, he told everyone and I got claps all around. I just treated the music like techno. If it has a beat I can make it work.

As I mentioned before I could tell that two of the girls were giving me the stink eye. I had decided to befriend them, you know... let them know I had absolutely no interest in their men, I wasn´t competition, I thought they were cool, yada yada. Girls can be so lame sometimes. The language barrier wasn´t a problem, there are ways of communicating without saying a word.

Nonetheless, I was half-way able to win over pink-shirt girl, but had no luck at all with short white skirt girl. Here was my strategy: I would go dance next to white skirt girl or be the first to join in when she started a dance rally (e.g. waving arms in a repetitive way to the music with the hopes of getting everyone to copy you) all the while giving her my friendliest smile. She kept scooting away from me and would never look me in the eye. Oh well, her loss.

At around 2:00 a.m. pink shirt girl started arguing with Amarili. Amarili was pouting and pink shirt girl was snarling. Mr. Be Cool explained to me that pink shirt girl and white skirt girl wanted to leave and that meant Amarili had to leave as well because the girls needed to get back into the house to get their getting ready tools. The others started getting involved. Several people in the group grabbed me and Amarili by the arms and definitely shooed away the other two girls.

I had brought my set of keys in case I had to find my way home on my own. I shared this information with Amarili and she immediately brightened. She passed her keys to pink shirt girl, grabbed my arm and waved goodbye to pink shirt girl and white skirt girl. There was a cheer from the group. Mr. Be Cool informed me that I should be nominated for `tourista of the year.´

All of this was fascinating to me. I was by far the oldest one there. The second oldest was was blue shirt girl who was 23. I hadn´t been drinking for fear of having to take a taxi on my own. We kept the party going until a little after 4:00 a.m. Mr. Cool´s girlfriend was the driver of the car earlier. I noted that she didn´t drink all night. Sweet, no need for a taxi.

We piled back in the car for what I thought would be the last time. In fact it was the 3rd to last time...

Once again, blue shirt girls boyfriend spotted a cop and started the Policia dance-chant. Everyone joined in, but then Mr. Cool´s face contorted and he started shouting in Spanish at his girlfriend. She immediately did a three point turn. Just in time too. We had somehow gotten on a one way freeway going the wrong way! To the driver´s credit, none of the roads were clearly marked and I could see how someone could easily get on the wrong path.

Within minutes we were being pulled over again and of course piling out again. I kept my eyes on the ground and tried my best to disappear in to the background. I was secretly hoping that the officer would think I was a lighter shade of Panamanian and also that I didn´t have to go to jail.

We received another lecture, and with my last Spanish class focusing on directions for two hours, that was when I was able to gleam that we had been going the wrong direction. Yikes. Mr. Be Cool pointed out that it was Amarili´s birthday. To make his point Amarili opened the box she was holding with the nearly devoured remains of her cake. Next thing we were piling back into the car. Wow.

So apparently you can ride without a seat belt, pile 8 people in a four seater, leave your open container in pain view, drive the wrong way down a one way and pull the birthday card and leave with nothing more than a firm lecture. It was no surprise when we got back into car that Mr. Be Cool admitted he was on probation for similar antics in the States. Different words.

I gleamed that the gang wanted to have a house party. We stopped at what Mr. Be Cool (who as you may have guessed became my translator for the night) described as the Panamanian version of Walmart. However, I can´t say for sure because I don´t shop at Walmart, but I have a suspicion you can´t by 5 six packs of Corona at 4:30 a.m.

When we went to the bathroom at Panamanian Walmart, Amarili looked worried. She had to work the next day and I could tell she was getting peer pressured to stay out. I had a feeling part of the pressure was because my presence was desired. What can I say, I bring the party ;)

When got back in the car I started talking about how tired I was. When we got to the house where the after party was supposed to take place, I watch Amarili to see what she was going to do. When everyone was getting out of the car, she didn´t budge. I then told the driver, who spoke some English, and as I later learned had a good friend who lived in Sacramento, that we wanted to go home. She requested that I move to the front seat and then she started to take us home.

As we pulled away I could tell Amarili was relieved. I was empathetic, I remember being 19 and not wanting to be the party pooper. I also think she was worried about making it to work on time the next day. However, as we waved goodbye to the others, they looked bummed despite holding 5 six packs, a bag of frozen chicken wings and the remains of the whisky bottle that had been passed around the car.

An interesting night, to say the least.

Hodgepodge of fun!!!

Santa Clara Beach

As I mentioned previously, I couldn´t start my Spanish classes on Monday because I had plans to go to the beach. Going to the beach here is much like at home. Everyone was really excited and it was a big deal. The group included me, Meivis, Salvador, Amarili, and Meivi´s 11 year old sister Evilyn. We left the house at 7:00 a.m. because the trip takes two hours. The trip involved us taking a taxi to the bus station, a bus that was freezing cold, and then finally another taxi which delivered us to the sand.

Meivis and I rented a rancho to shade us from the sun ($10 for the day). It came with two hammocks and best of all, an unobstructed ocean view. When we arrived the weather was perfect, sunny and hot. I didn´t bring my camera because I expected a overcrowded beach with many opportunities get my bag snatched. I was completely wrong.

The beach was almost empty. I saw maybe 20 other people the entire day and of course the two horses that walked up and down the beach carrying kids and two teens who looked Panamanian, but from the way the were talking, were obviously American.

About half way through the day, the sky clouded over and it began to rain. The rancho protected us not only from the sun, but also from the rain. With the rain came a breeze and we all took naps. It was perfect. When we woke up, we all went down to the water and found the water to be warmer than the air.

When we were getting ready to leave we all took outdoor showers to try to get some of the sand out of our hair and bathing suits. Mevis was more prepared than I was and had brought clothes to change into.

I went into one of the changing room to wring out my suit when the two teenage Americans I´d seen riding horse back started banging on all the doors. The were completely obnoxious and started saying rude things knowing the people inside wouldn´t understand them anyways. Or so the thought.

I opened my door and simply said `patience´ while shaking my head. Their eyes got really big. As I walked away one of them called out, `pardon me mam, but I don´t seen any showers.´ Apparently they thought the dressing rooms were shower rooms. I took great pleasure in pointing to a crumbling cement wall about 100 yards away with nothing but a pipe sticking out of it, surrounded by a puddle of mud. They looked at the showers and were obviously shocked. I just smiled.

Jeeni Food.

To thank Meivis for cooking, I devised a plan to make a meal I was sure Meivis had never tried.

Salvador loves onions and garlic. With this in mind, I found a French Cheese store close to the house. I delighted the owner when I bought some Brie and a French baguette. At a grocery store I bought some whole garlic bunches. I roasted the garlic, sliced the bread and heated the Brie.

At first Meivis and Salvador looked scared. I doctored up a slice of the bread with Brie and garlic. They both tried it and their eyes lit up. Yay. Another score for Jeeni.

Old Panama Ruins.

One day when Salvador was at school, me and Meivis headed to some ruins.

Here is an exert from www.centralamerica.com

About two miles from the center of Panama City are found the ruins of the first capital, known as Old Panama or Panama La Vieja, founded in 1519. Fragments of walls and arches stand in an open park, recalling the splendor of the Spaniard's first settlement on the Pacific Ocean. From here, expeditions were mounted to conquer the Inca Empire of South America. All of the wealth from Peru, Chile and California flowed to Spain through Old Panama Not surprisingly, the enormous quantities of gold attracted pirates like sharks to Panama's waters. When Henry Morgan looted the city in 1671, Panama's governor ordered the powder magazine burned and the whole city went up in flames. The capital was moved two miles to the west, and present-day Panama City was founded in 1673. The most impressive structures remaining are the cathedral, with a massive bell-tower, and the Bishop's House. In front of the ruins, alongside the ocean, is an artisan's market, full of native crafts, and a small restaurant with a fine view out to a bay where Spanish galleons and pirate ships once lifted sail.

Even though it was insanely hot, we had fun taking pictures.










Summit Botanical Garden and Zoo.

Besides the canal, there weren´t many touristy things I had my heart set on. Summit was the exception. I read about the park in my Lonely Plant guide. They have a harpy eagle and jaguars! In general, they have animal and plant species that are native to Panama.

The zoo in pretty much in the jungle with green everywhere.



Unlike the zoos in the states, you could pretty much get up and close with the animals.

There were monkeys.


If you weren´t careful, they would try to steal your umbrella.

Others would gladly take children´s candy or position themselves so that the could get a good back scratch from a willing homo sapian.


Not to be missed, there was the chubby jaguar.


There were lots of birds, some of which liked to flirt.








There was a humongous harpy eagle, but she was too far away to get picture.

We took about an hour break when it started to pour. But after a while we decided to keep going despite the rain.

Birds eye view.



After we made our rounds and then visted the hilarious monkeys one more time, we headed to the bus stop. For some reason the bus didn´t come for over an hour. In order to make the most of my time and since everyone was staring at me anyways, I decided to teach everyone how to do the funny-finger-face. It was almost as much fun as the zoo itself.



Meivis was the first one to sucessfully copy the funny face and only a few other diligent souls finally got the trick down.





Salvador didn´t even pretend to try. He definately martches to his own silly beat.

Yo soy Jeeni

I just came from my second sit down meal at a restaurant. I successfully ordered in Spanish and they brought what I intended to order! Yay. I was prepared to ask for my bill in Spanish as well, but my waiter wouldn´t come close enough to get his attention. Finally, after sitting and waiting for over 30 minutes, the guy brought the tab. It wasn´t a big deal or anything considering I have no where to be because I´m on VACATION! Plus I am reading an exciting book...

I ordered a Cuban sand which and freshly squeezed pineapple juice. So good. I figured I should order a Cuban because there was a good chance it would actually be prepared by a Cuban.

Last night was my first restaurant experience. I didn´t want meat and rice so I found a Lebanese-Panamanian place and ordered the sampler plate. It came with humus, babaganosh, pita, doma, etc. but definitely had a Panamanian twist. Needless to say it was yummy.

Enough about food.

After I checked out the Spanish school, I went back and signed up the next day. It is expensive, but considering I am cutting the umbilical cord soon, if figured some Spanish would be a useful survival tool.

I signed up for 16 hours of instruction from Tuesday to Friday. I already had a beach trip planned for Monday and a girl has to have some priorities. The classes run from 1:30 to 3:30 with my grammar teacher and 4:00 to 6:00 with my conversation specialist... or so I thought.

I showed up for my first class excited and confident. I took two years of Spanish in High School and a semester in junior college. Thinking it would all come flowing back, we started on some basic verbs. Yikes. I don´t remember Spanish being so difficult!! My first teacher was great (except for the fact that she was leaking snot.) It was so distracting and then she would touch the page of my book with her wiping figure. I was grossed out...

The second half was with a guy. He was a certified Spanish teacher, but he had never taught English as a second language. He was talking and talking really fast, flipping pages of a book and then talking more. I stopped him a few times and told him I had no idea what he was saying. He would say something in Spanish, then he would leave (I presume to ask what he was supposed to do) and then come back and start all over again. This went on for 45 minutes. I was nearly in tears I was so frustrated.

Finally, a woman, the head of the school, intervened. I explained to her what was going on, she explained to him what he was supposed to be doing... He tried. She had to come over again several times and explain more. Finally, he sorta got it. I think he thought he was going to improve my already existing great Spanish... She had to keep telling him I was learning pronunciation, diction, vocabulary, and simple things. When I left they assured me I would have a different teacher the next day.

The next day I had the same snotty lady for the first class. Her name is Elvira and she turned out to be super sweet and funny, so it kinda makes up for the ooze. Plus the second day she brought a tissue with her to wipe her nose instead of using her fingers.

This is Elvira.



At the beginning of my second (second) class, the head of the school sat me down and apologized for the guy teacher I had on my first day. She explained that he was a professor and teaches Spanish at the university, like a English teacher teaches English in the US. Very advanced.

Instead I had an awesome lady, Lupe, who speaks Spanish, English, and French. She was terrific. She has been working with lawyers for over 20 years and offered to teach me words in Spanish to use in my profession. I assured her that in the future I would love just that but as of right now I need to know how to ask for directions and order food. She said that she loves teaching beginners and ended up being a terrific teacher. She then demonstrated her love of teaching by becoming very excited about basic Spanish verbs.

This is Lupe.



I finished my last classes on Friday. I was a little bit sad, but I was also glad to be done. I thought I would enjoying learning Spanish because I have been in study mode for so long. I was wrong. I realized I wasn´t enjoying myself when I excused myself to go to the restroom during a lesson, just so I could have a break. I remember thinking, wait a minute, I am paying for these classes and now I am trying to find ways to avoid them...

As a result of the classes, I have a nifty notebook filled with all my notes from class. It is small, so I can take sneak peaks when I want to say something. Plus it is safer than whipping out my iPhone in order to look up words, especially on the streets. Meivis told me that minimum wage is more or less $300 a month here in Panama, depending on the type of work. I feel guilty and uber privilleged even owning an iPhone.

I have been trying to use my newly acquired Spanish as much as possible. For the first time today, I took a cab by myself and gave the directions in Español! I am still having a difficult time understanding when people say numbers. I get 15 and 50 mixed up as well as 60 and 70.

Experiencing Panama one day at a time,

Jeeni

PS I am literally laughing out loud right now. A guy in the Internet cafe fell asleep at a computer and is snoring quite loudly, everybody in the place keeps laughing.

This is Mr. Sleepy.