Shopped Till We Dropped

After shopping for 5 days straight to buy lots of stuff.....we had to stay home yesterday and today waiting for delivery of this new stuff.  Shopping all day every day is fun, expensive and very tiring we discovered.  Panama, this "third world country" so some think.......has 3 HUGE malls in Panama City.  After spending 5 days straight at Albrook Mall, we STILL have not seen the whole thing.  Furniture prices varied, clothing is VERY cheap and very nice.  Stores are full of clothes for $2.00 to $3.00 including shoes.  Jeans with embelleshed pockets can be had for $5.00.   Albrook Mall is so big that they put a different animal at each entrance so you can remember where you parked.  This was the "dino" parking lot entrance.



Let me first say that NO we do NOT have lots of money.  In order to make this move we first paid off ALL debt in the US, sold the house, cars and lots of our stuff there to have cash to buy the new stuff here. 

Now back to our days at home waiting for delivery.  Yesterday we were supposed to have delivered a stove, refrigerator, and washer/dryer combo. We got up early and sat waiting patiently.  Around 2 pm Clyde called the delivery guy who said he'd be there at 5pm.  Clyde worried that he pissed off the guy by calling him and he didn't expect him to come at all. He finally showed up at 8pm.  We were just thrilled that they came the same day that they were supposed to and only 2 days after making these purchases.

After they left I couldn't wait to try out my new microwave oven.  It's a Fridgeraire, must nicer then the one that I had back in Texas.  But there seemed to be one tiny problem.......all the buttons were in Spanish.  Then I looked at the stove and yep, those buttons and knobs were in Spanish too. Oh well what did I expect?  After all living in a Spanish speaking country even the e mail, google and everything else online comes up in Spanish too.

Today we stayed home again waiting for delivery of a bedroom set and a dining room set.  Up until now we only had twin beds to sleep in and some plastic lawn furniture to sit on with a microwave box for a foot stool.    Oh and the cable and internet were also supposed to be connected today, after Betsy our friend and land lady called them everyday telling them how much we needed to be connected to the world.

To our amazement the furniture was delivered around 2pm, although the guys didn't want to assemble the stuff but did after we told them to.  Betsy and her daughter Maria Beatriz came to visit and lo and behold Cable Onda, the cable internet company showed up too. 

So today life in Panama is good.  I was able to make an international phone call through the computer to my Mom in Florida.

Can't wait to see what adventures tomorrow holds for two, crazy gringos in Panama!

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Clyde here, just going to post some random pics with explanations.

We found this secluded beach after a twenty minute drive



This is the view from our front door

This is the view behind our house



A pretty yellow bird near our house

It's getting ready to rain again!

This is my back door neighbor cutting his yard with a machete