Our last full day in Panama was certainly a full one and
that wasn’t the plan, but that’s kind of how my life’s been dealing with me of
late. First thing in the morning our immigration lawyer bailed on us which left
us high and dry with the required step in attaining my residency status in
Panama. Luckily my wife’s family stepped up, as they are wont to do. We were
supposed to head out for a quick trip to the mountains and Boquete to check out
possible vacation rental houses for next February’s massive 60th
birthday party for my wife but were instead trolling for lawyers.
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| Boquete |
My brother in law showed up and said he had a good friend
who was a lawyer in the immigration department but he couldn’t handle our case
because of ethics (who knew). He did
however have a sister who was a lawyer who could see us at 1pm – SCORE!!! We
were shortly on the road to Boquete which proved every bit as charming as
always and our prime suspect house is in a perfect location. We stopped at a favorite
bakery for a quick snack before heading downhill to David and picking up my
wife’s twin sister, whose car we had commandeered.
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| Mother in Law and I in Boquete for a Snack |
Returning to David we read head-on into an important message
from the bank saying we had to return for yet more signatures. Both my wife and
I were concerned that the signatures would involve her and that meant a half hour
lost trying to re-create an acceptable signature. Luckily it was just one form
and it was my signature needed, we were in and out in quickly and on to meeting
with our new lawyer. She was much more on top of things that the last one so
this may be a welcome development. She’ll be preparing a list of the documents
I’ll need to assemble so I can add that to the list of important tasks laying
around.
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| The Street in Front of the House At the Height of the Storm |
I was taking my wife’s family out for dinner on our last
night in Panama but we had to survive the standard afternoon thunderstorm first.
This was an impressive piece of work which had the Panamanians running for
cover and myself roundly castigated for staying out on the front porch to watch
the storm. They see such continual evidence of nature’s power that they hold a
healthy respect for same. These storms are real events and loud. The rain falls
in buckets, literally, and since most houses have corrugated tin roofs, the
resulting noise is arresting. The street in front of the house was literally
awash –resembling a small river and yet within ten minutes of the rain slacking
the water was practically all gone and this was the third day in a row of this
type gutter washer.
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| Same Scene Ten Minutes After Rain Slacked Off - Where Does All the Water Go? |
Dinner was everything I hoped, grabbing a last dose of
laughter with my wife’s family. Even her elderly parents joined us which was a
real treat. They don't have much in the way of possessions but they have each
other which is more than enough. An object lesson in the intrinsic value of
family.
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| The Panamanians Smartly Ran for Cover |
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