Bureaucracy Day + Barranca Time– Panama Day 6

David, Panama Which We saw a Lot of Today

Today started out poorly with a devastating head ache around 1am.  I hadn’t had as bad a head ache since my last knee surgery in 2001.  My wife came to the rescue with a double dose of ibuprofen.  We woke up to the prospect of spending the day working our way through the approval process for our land purchase.  As we were getting ready I asked my wife if I should be wearing long pants because you rarely see Panamanian men in shorts – despite the heat.  She said not to worry that they were used to informal gringos.  The sellers of the property were supposed to be here at 8am so they showed up at 10:30.  This started our odyssey.  We were prepped by our lawyer, my wife’s nephew on the proper steps.  He had prepared the sales agreement which was our starting point.  We started at the local notary, a government official.  She told us we first needed to go to this Finance ministry across town.  She gave us directions and off we headed.  We arrived at the ministry building which had no signs but lots of doors.  On our second lap around the building an amused armed guard told us to try the third door on the right (unmarked).  The people in there were very friendly but told us we had the right ministry but wrong building.  They sent us to another building across town, near a casino.  David, Panama is not easy for someone unfamiliar with it so we stopped a taxi driver and asked directions.  He navigated us to the right place.  We went in one door and were directed to the next door to the left.  When we went in there we were directed to the first door we passed and then to a third door.  There was an armed guard here who inspected the two lady’s handbags and then informed me I would not be allowed in the building wearing shorts (cue the penetrating stare at my wife).  I went to hang out with the seller’s husband and their 2 year old grandson.  I have to mention this kid, two years old and he spent the entire morning with us in a non air-conditioned truck cab and never complained or gave his grandparents any trouble.  I’m not exactly sure what happened in that building but the ladies came out and said we were headed to the bank to get a certified check for the land sale.  I made the wire transfer of money from our account in the US last week, a first for me.  Since my wife forgot to confirm the transfer took place I was in the heavy prayer mode as we pulled up to the bank.  The bank was of course a no shorts zone as well so I got to hang out with the sellers and grandson in their truck while my wife made the withdrawal. We were double parked, since parking in Panama is a lot like driving in Panama, very free spirited.  An hour later, my wife emerged with the check – prayers answered, if not in a timely manner.  As the seller opened the truck door, a gust of wind took a pile of the transaction paperwork and blew it all over the street.  See all four of us scrambling through traffic to recover the paperwork.  We now headed back to the notary and I noted that we hadn’t accomplished much as we completed the circle.  We were reunited with the lawyer we started out with (large tracts of land herself).  This time my wife suggested we get our nephew on the phone and let the two lawyers talk.  This turned out to be the magic touch.  We soon had a sale completed.  We head back tomorrow to dot some I’s and get some more stamps (lots of stamping and fingerprinting next to signatures required).  A long day but I was struck by how professional and polite all the government civil servants were.  The bureaucrats back in the US could take a lesson there.  We did all of this in some really oppressive heat, mid 90s and I was impressed by how great the sellers were.  The guy, an ecological professor/farmer, told me when you do something like this that patience is the key.  A lesson for me, since patience has never been my long suit.  When we got back to the house my wife wanted to crash (she was up early with my headache).  I actually took off in the rental car by myself and knocked out a couple of errands – impressing the hell out of myself if nobody else.  When I got back I cajoled my wife out of the air conditioned bed room and told her we needed to head to one of my favorite spots during our visits to Panama – the Old Barranca swimming hole.  She grudgingly agreed and we soon had a group of 10 family members headed out.  The swimming hole is really just a wide point in a local river but I love going there – could be the attached bar, but I digress.  It’s an interesting place with a small zoo attached.  We ended up having the entire swimming hole to ourselves for nearly three hours, my wife admitting I was right to insist on coming.  As the sun was setting we adjourned to the bar for a spirited dinner, again that great family vibe was out in full force.  There were also bats swooping in over the table keeping the bugs down.  A truly fabulous way to end a day wading through the purchase transaction.  At the end of the day we have realized part of our dream to own an acre of Panama.  Over the next year we’ll be finalizing plans for building a house on the land.

Not the One We Were at But the Same River - Great Swimming Holes