Yesterday was chock full of adventure since we finally
signed the paperwork for the purchase of our beachfront condo. There is always
a lot of running around when you try to get anything done in Panama and
yesterday was a great case in point. We had to wait for the signed sales
agreement before we could go to the bank to complete the loan process.
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| Wife and I Last Night at El Fogon |
We showed up at the bank but the loan officer was out of the
building doing something so we arranged to come back an hour later. We then
dove into the traffic in central David which is always a lot of death defying
fun as traffic laws are more cautionary notes than actually observed. After a
couple errands where my wife’s psyche was seriously traumatized as she observed
me starting to “blend” in with my fellow drivers we returned to the bank.
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| The Anniversary Couple |
Since the lawyers had held up the paperwork until Thursday and
we couldn’t come to the bank until Friday the loan will now go for approval on Monday.
This means we have to come back to Panama for a couple days at the end of May
to sign the final contract, it never ends. Once we had that business taken care
of we turned our attention to the sale of our land.
The handshake agreement we made Thursday night had to be
formalized but the prospective buyer wasn’t answering emails or phone calls all
afternoon. My wife was becoming increasingly frazzled by the lack of contact.
She didn’t react well to my feelings of equanimity, she’s funny that way. I suggested
she contact the “fixer” who put us together with the buyer to remind him that
we’re leaving David today and his commission was in danger. Fifteen minutes
later the buyer was back on the net and agreed to our terms. My wife’s sister
in law had a lawyer cousin who drew up the contract which we signed last night.
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| Tackling My Valentine's Day Gift |
After a day fraught with traffic and bureaucrats I was ready
for my usual Friday rituals. My wife had purchased a fancy, and very large, German
“bier” for me as a Valentine’s Day gift but had forgotten to give it to me. It
had been awaiting its fate ever since in my mother in law’s fridge. The beer was
more than good and brought back memories of its many predecessors in late 1970s
Frankfurt, especially the Alte Brucke, my favorite pub. The Germans just know
beer and this excellent example of their prowess had to be consumed before the
Panamanian heat robbed it of cool temperature. I was up to the task but my wife
immediately took note of the superior potency of the alcohol content, claiming
I transitioned rather quickly into philosophic mode. A text to my children was
treated in similar manner by those haughty youths.
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| Brother in Law and his Savior Wife |
After completing my task I transitioned back to my normal
water-like beer as we travelled back to El Fogon to celebrate my wife’s parents’
sixty-fourth wedding anniversary. I spent a lot of time talking with my father in
law who related some fascinating stories about Panama in World War 2. He had a
German friend who was interned by the Americans and actually met Charles
Lindberg once when he flew into the area; pretty cool stuff.
My wife claimed I agreed to go dancing with her last night
at some earlier point in the week. While I found her assertion dubious in the
extreme I love going to her favorite haunt – Joron Zepeda which is where we
ended the night. The ladies were a little upset with the music playing but we
still had a very good time. The strangest thing occurred when we left well
before midnight (a true first). We were all a little gassed from a truly full
week of life changing events. We’re packing up now to head for the airport and
flight down to Panama City. The hotel we’re staying at has terrible WiFi so
this will be my last blog from Panama; again, a very good week.
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| Inside the Joron |
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| Indeed - A Very Good Week |
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