8.5.08 There's a gecko in my suitcase

8/5/08 There’s a gecko in my suitcase…

Ever since the millennium, when we were told the world might end, it has been my annual New Year’s resolution to become more flexible; more open to new and spontaneous experiences. My natural (Meyers-Briggs) “J” tendencies are all in the opposite direction, so this is no mean undertaking. I am organized to a fault (my dear son, Ira, calls me “frighteningly organized”). On day 5 in Panama I can already tell that Panama is going to do more for me in this regard than a New Year’s resolution ever could!

This morning I awoke to the jumbled chaos of our hotel room at the Crystal Suites, a down-in-the-mouth hotel in Panama City where the commodious rooms have kitchenettes and a widely variable assortment of other conveniences. Michelle has an iron and ironing board in her room, but not a coffee pot. Marilyn has a coffee pot, but not a coffee cup. We have dishes galore, and a stove, but no pots or pans to use on it. This morning we spent a hilarious half hour making coffee without a coffee maker or coffee pot (Marilyn, our potential source thereof, checked out yesterday…)

According to one of our Panama guidebooks, the Crystal Suites was built in 1999. This we can’t believe. More like 1969! The building is perfectly pleasantly designed, but very shabby and rundown. The towels are threadbare, the floors stained, and the furniture in need of cleaning. There is an army of very pleasant maids and maintenance staff, and they clean the bathrooms and make the beds daily, but they can only work with what they’re given. Our guess is that a developer with an eye for Panama City’s impending business boom built the place and then flipped it immediately to another company to manage. The current owner is probably making the most possible money off the place without reinvesting in the facility.

The Internet connection was “down” in the little hotel “Business Center” so I couldn’t call or Skype-chat with my sisters this morning, as arranged. The two hotel computers are a mess – full of viruses and clearly in need of cleaning and updating (both inside and out). One is missing its front panel, so the buss connection thingy is sticking out, probably getting dusty, moldy, and coffee drenched. Both computers are equipped with Windows 2003.

Once back in our room after breakfast, I started to pick up our messes. I lifted my straw hat from a pile of clothes atop my open suitcase and a gecko scurried around the brim. I yelped in surprise, dropped the hat, and the gecko disappeared into the suitcase. Throughout the morning, as I pass the suitcase, I gingerly pull one article of clothing at a time off the pile; shake it, fold it, and put it into a drawer. No sign of the gecko yet. My son would have already tamed and named it by now, so maybe I should do that.

In 5 days we have accomplished about 3 ½ things: 1) opened a bank account (well, started the process… they wouldn’t accept our first deposit until they complete the paperwork on their end, sometime next week); 2) scouted out and paid for car insurance on the car we bought here in May (though we haven’t yet managed to pick up the car); 3) looked at half a dozen places to live (but not found one yet); and 3 ½ ) bought a coffee grinder! Actually, the coffee grinder merits full-accomplishment status, since morning coffee will be Rich’s lifeline before his 7 am start-time.

I’m not saying it’s entirely Panama’s fault that things are so hard to accomplish here. We arrived exhausted, following a three month run-up marathon of preparations. I am not yet even minimally conversant in the local language (thank god for Rich’s good command of Spanish!). And we are bemused and bewildered by the procedural catch 22’s that lie in wait with everything we do. Panama is a 2nd world country in terms of its infrastructure - spotty, but improving. The school at which Rich will teach is friendly, supportive, but not necessarily very well organized. Plus, it is going through a huge expansion – from 650 students last year to 800+ this year! The administrators are quite upbeat – hopefully, they are sincere.