Monday, bureaucracy Monday..

Monday, August 21st

The alarm sounded at 7:15AM and we had slept for quite a while. This day promised to be a really hectic one as we try to get all the paperwork for Rosinante to leave from Panama into Miami. Our appointment was at 8:30AM and Lic. Hermandez, who is helping us send the car, called to remind us. In his office we met his wife who would carry us through all the paperwork necessary. Really, it´s only two things we need to do but you know how our governments work.

The lady is a good looking tall dark skinned woman which actually played in our favor when a man was behind the bureau. We breezed through in the PTJ (equivalent to the US FBI) but then had to wait until the Secretary of the PTJ came in since he had to sign the car release. Basically, this paper asserts that the car is clean and there were no crimes committed with it. We try to get ahead by going to the Customs office to see if they can stamped my passport so I can leave the country. See, when we came into Panama they stamped my passport to say that I brought in a car. If I leave the country by plane, the way we are planning, customs there will think that I left the car in Panama or sold it! So they need to put another stamp over the old one, basically saying that the car is leaving by boat.

At Customs, we arrive at the precise moment when they call for a weekly administrative meeting so they will not be taking requests for the next 5 to 10 minutes. No one is there at the office now and it has been 40 minutes since the announcement. We go back to the PTJ and see if the Secretary has arrived and signed our paper. No such luck. Let´s split and reconvene at 1:30PM to come back and hopefully get all this over with. We drop Don Hernandez´s wife at the office and head over to ExedraBooks to find a Lonely Planet South America. We accomplish this in under 1 hour plus bought some interesting books to read through Colombia.

Now we are back at the PTJ and the Secretary finally has signed the paper. After picking it up we head over to Customs where they inform us that the lady has just gone to lunch, and ¨she can take a looong time lunching¨ the guard tells us while gesturing at her figure. Alexey is outside caring for Rosinante while the lady and I are sitting there waiting to be serviced. Nothing happens for more than half an hour. Two young girls arrive and sit next to us. They seem Spanish and trying to do the same paperwork as we are! These girls, Maria and Eva are as crazy as we are and more! They have driven from L.A. in this minibus all the way to Panama in 9 months. Their final destination is Argentina but given the current situation in Colombia are shipping the car to Guayaquil and restarting their voyage there. Check out their website. We exchange information as the lady finally arrives. The work gets done and ufff!! Rosinante is finally cleared for take off.

Finally home at 4PM freed from all the red tape we decide to head for the mall to buy some presents. Also, by now we are ready to leave tomorrow if there are tickets available. We find two sits in a COPA flight to Barranquilla, Colombia tomorrow. So we buy them and tell our lovely hosts that sadly, our stay has come to an end! :( We are really sad because being here has been like being at home for us. Everyone including Nina, the dog, has been wonderful to us and at all times felt welcomed. THANK YOU JULISSA AND FAMILY FOR THE WONDERFUL TIMES HERE IN PANAMA. Andrea seems sad to know that we are leaving. So cute!

At the mall we do a round of male shopping (less than 30 minutes at the mall total) and head back since we have invited everyone to dinner tonight to thank them for their hospitality. Doña Irma is our accomplice and promised not to cook anything so they are forced to go to dinner with us. However, to our surprise we come back to the beautiful smell of rice, beans and chicken a la milanesa. What happened?! Apparently the family had decided to eat at home to avoid us paying the bill and the go out for ice cream. So we reluctantly agree to the deal and eat at home.

We go out to the causeway (strip of restaurants lined up on a stretch of filled land connecting 3 islands, the filling of which came from digging the Canal) to find a dessert shop but it´s closed on Mondays. So we head to Fridays instead :) We all have icecreams and say nice things before departure. Really we are both sad to leave. :( Joyce rides in the trunk due to lack of space and falls asleep throughout the whole ride back!

We go back and try to sleep. Tomorrow we will be in Colombia so we must save energy.