An Easy Day....In Panamá.....

Today the need arose to have something notarized, which made us think....oh no, how and where can we have this done in Panamá?  We've had documents notarized at the U.S. Embassy, but that's all the way in Panama City, a 90-minute drive at a cost of $50 a page.  So I used the "phone a friend" option of life to see if there was a notary around Coronado.  Unfortunately the answer was no, and turns out the nearest notary was in La Chorrera, about a 45-minute drive.

A few bananas on the way to market



Soon after entering the congested, little city we drove past Banco General on the main drag and spotted a huge sign on the next building.  The sign read "Notaria Sexto" which means "sixth notary."   Have no idea why they put the number in the title, but we were just glad to find a notary. Once inside we approached the receptionist, a young man wearing a crisp, yellow uniform shirt with the company logo embroidered on one side, and black dress pants.  I explained what I needed and he escorted us to another room and instructed us to have a seat at the last desk.  Behind the desk sat an attractive woman dressed in business attire, who apparently was the "notaria."  She reviewed the documents, read them out loud in English as if she understood what they said, and then signed and stamped her name.  She asked for my passport and drivers license for identification and then sent us back upfront to pay our $5.00.  The receptionist upfront stamped a round seal of Panamá on the paperwork making it official, before sending us on our way.  The whole process took just minutes and proved to be the easiest, fastest thing we've accomplished in Panamá in the past year.

While in La Chorrera, we spotted this shoe repair place.  As you can see, they don't have much wasted space.  One worker couldn't even fit in the work space.

This shoe shop goes back about six feet



Over the past year we've had the opportunity to meet up with many wonderful blog followers.  Some visiting Panamá on vacation, others checking it out as a possible retirement or work destination.  This week we were excited to finally meet Allison and Ray, a couple from Virginia thinking about making Panamá their future home.  On Saturday we all congregated at a friends restaurant for the initial meeting over burritos.  After deciding we weren't ax murderers and seemed safe enough, they joined us at our home for afternoon drinks and snacks under the gazebo.  They've been following this blog for months now in preparation for their trip and despite the excessive amounts of rain this week, they seemed to enjoy their stay. We're always happy to share our knowledge with others and enjoy making new friends along the way too.  Perhaps one day they'll join us and the many others that call Panamá their retirement home.

This is our new friend Allison taken
in our Gazebo

This is Ray, he was taking the other picture

Even though the isthmus of Panamá is too far down for any hurricane action, we have been catching the tail end of hurricane Sandy.  Excessive amounts of torrential rain and cooler temperatures have been the story here for days now.  With temperatures around 75 at the moment, I've closed the windows and doors (that we have so far) and may even dig out my winter pajamas too.

Heavy rains lasting for more than six hours a few days ago caused us to lose both power and water during the day.  Suddenly our property was flooded with rain water as our dog trudged her way through mud puddles still chasing after lizards and chickens.

But if rain is our only weather problem here we'll surely take it and let the hurricanes go elsewhere.   Panamá has never had a hurricane but does receive large amounts of rain during it's rainy season.  Fortunately though, we live in the "dry arch" which only averages five feet of rain, compared to the rest of the country that averages twice that. 

Rain, rain go away and send more friends another day, so Clyde and Terry came come out and play in the sunshine....along the gringo trail.