As I’ve surveyed our life here, I have experienced seven quirks about life in Panama—new things I never encountered in the desert Southwest, but I still love it! I’ve learned a lot and I’m still learning!
Propane heating water in the showers
Showering here has been quite an experience. In the shower I use, there are hot and cold control knob. To heat the water, it passes through coils heated by propane, so after turning on the hot water, I cautiously add the cold water. At one point in the warming the water, the scalding hot water could burn me, so I gradually increase the cold water and take advantage of the warm water as long as I can. But then it goes cold, so I have to start all over again.
At first, I dreaded showers because it took so long to get the water to the level I could enjoy, but I’m getting it figured out. I have learned to leave the water on and not cut it off with a switch on the hand spray. It stays warm longer and it doesn’t feel like a major quirk anymore.
Three Dehumidifiers
Because of the humidity here, our neighbors encouraged us to get at least two dehumidifiers to guard against mold. So on the second or third day we were here, we bought two: for the living room and our bedroom. A week or so later, we bought a third one for our office where we have all our technology and some clothes.
These amazing gadgets show the humidity level in the room, and a low level is in the high 30s and low 40s. Somehow it collects the humidity in that specific area—it’s magic! Then we have to dump them about three times a day. They give off heat, a side effect that caused us to turn the one in our bedroom off in the early evening so the bedroom isn’t so warm. Also today, I washed my band for my iWatch and some wool slippers I knitted. I had avoided doing that because I knew it would take time for them to dry because of the humidity. I found a solution: I laid them on the top of a dehumidifier and the heat dried them quickly—great solution!
Yes, it’s a quirk, but I drastically feel the difference as it collects the moisture in the air. These devices show this desert Southwest woman how much moisture there really is in the atmosphere here—unbelievable!
Narrow Roads
At first as a passenger, I noticed the road into Boquete from Jaramillo Abajo seemed narrow. Many of the drivers slow down when they meet someone. So, a couple weeks ago, I started driving, and I saw it first-hand. Yes, I slowed down too.
In Boquete, the streets are narrow and have vehicles parked with the large pickup trucks’ bumpers sticking out. So, again I go slow, but I’ve gotten used to them.
The real answer: go slow!!
Lots of water—Rain most afternoon this time of the year
We plan our days’ activities because of the rain this time of year. Currently, we are in the rainy season, and it rains most afternoons. All of outside activities we do in the morning: driving to David and shopping. Then we hibernate in the afternoon and do work on the computer, watch some of our favorite mysteries on the TV or take a cozy nap!
That mindset demonstrates the expat’s schedule. A few weeks ago we needed to get blood tests for our driver’s license, so we were out in the afternoon in the rain. What we noticed—the Panamanians do not stop their lives for the rain!
So that really is an expat quirk!
We’ve bought two umbrellas and keep them in the car—one is bigger than the other. The one I bought must have been a child’s because when I used it last week, my shoulders got wet. I ended up giving it to our landlord’s daughter, and she used it immediately when we dropped her and her mom off on Friday in a downpour. Yes, we were out and broke our usual schedule because we took our landlord’s wife out for her birthday and thought little about the rain.
I watched as they walked up the driveway home—the mother had her umbrella and her daughter had the one I gave her, and they thought nothing about getting drenched in the rain. Being Panamanian, they just continued the day we had enjoyed together. It was quite a lesson!
Nord VPN
NordVPN controls our lives. I told you about this in a previous blog post! When we have it on, we mask the fact we are out of the United States because it shows us being in Miami. So it’s on when we are on our TV to watch any of the streaming services we have. It’s also on when we need to print. But it has to be off when we watch football games on dazn.com because that’s a sports streaming service for Latin America!
Watching mysteries on the TV—ON, watching NFL football on dazn.com—OFF and when I print something—ON! That is a quirk still for me, but I’ve written it down on my PostIt program, so I peek at it as backup.
Receiving Packages
This quirk has been a hard one for me. We enrolled in a service in Boquete, Servitechnics, and when we order something, our packages go to Doral, Florida. Then they are routed here either by a fast address or a slow address. The fast comes by air; the slow by ship. The fast costs more than the slow.
So when I first routed some medicine here I needed, I got confused and sent it to our mail service in South Dakota. Not a good idea! I also bought a printer on Amazon and sent it to that address. This shocked Lin because he thought I understood the process. Thankfully, I canceled the printer before they sent it, but the medicine went to South Dakota and then they sent it to a friend in Albuquerque. Whew! It didn’t get lost!
Lin received a package at Servitechnics last Friday. Thankfully I received an email yesterday from Servitechnics, and I have a package there, but I don’t remember what I ordered! I’m excited though because I did the name and address right apparently. They have a specific format you have to do for the name and address, and I worried about it, but I must have done it right.
The good news is we have friends here who have had Amazon delivered right to their house, so we have to learn how to do that.
A quirk—yes—but we are learning the ropes!
Mold
Today, I went out to the lavandería to look at our luggage—what we’re keeping and will use this week and what we plan to give away. We have friends with two children who are moving and will enjoy the two large suitcases we bought to move here. They can pack a lot of their belongings in them. This space has a locked open-air door to the outside, but the rest of it is open-air with open barred windows.
I looked at all of the luggage and I was shocked! We have MOLD on the two we plan to give away and my backpack/roller bag I use as a carry-on bag! MOLD—so many people have talked about it, but I hadn’t noticed it until today.
So this afternoon, I googled what to do. I took the three bags out front and wiped them down to get the spores off. My favorite backpack looked the worst with blotches of mold all over it. Ucky!
Here’s what google told me to do:
So, tomorrow I have to buy some vinegar and get the mold taken care of.
Finally,
Yes, I have experienced some quirks since we moved, but I have mastered most of them—and I do love it here! Quirks will never stop me!
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