Headed to Torti

It's been a busy week here in the Emerald City. Here's what's been happening:

I got my new phone # in Panama : 507 - 6727 - 3195. No collect calls , please.

Stations are clean, safe and well marked. Unlike the surface roads

The trains were VERY full. They go about everywhere I wanted to go.

I got my first ride on the new Panama Metro line on Monday. More meetings at the PC office, opened a bank account. So, now you can say you know someone with a Panmanian bank account. Got my transit card for the Metro, buses, etc. But, the highlight of the day was meeting a new friend (father of one of the Princeton Bridge students I met in Peru). He teaches at an international school near the PC office and invited me to do a little lecture to his 10th graders tomorrow. The fun never ends. Thursday, I meet my community partner and officially get sworn in. Then Monday, I'm "Movin on up" to what the local PCVs call "The East Side".

I got a sneak peak at my new home (7 km east of Torti) photos can be found if you click here. It is a picturesque little cottage, owned by a former Peace Corps volunteer. After October, it will be available for you to rent.

PC Country Director Diane swore me in, after I addressed the outgoing group of PCVs

Peace Corps Panama offices are on the top floor of this building, which was part of US Army Fort Clayton until 2000.

I met my community partner , Pablo Thursday. He came in for my swearing-in and will drive me to Torti on Monday. Very bright and interesting guy. He was telling me that the law firm that had its client base hacked is only a mid-size player. He says there are two huge players that no one will even talk about.
The bankers here are very upset, as they fear a huge loss of business if offshore money loses confidence in them.

I visited the Miraflores locks (first locks on the Pacific side). It was a truly extraordinary feat of engineering, done before computers. The new Canal expansion will be even more impressive.

Enjoying a day off at the Canal

It is an impressive operation, indeed

A model of the old dredging ships which kept the Canal bottom clean

There is no mail service to where I will be going, so my mailing address for the next 6 months will be:
RGP c/o CUERPO DE PAZ
Edificio 240, 3er Piso
Calle Víctor Iglesias
Ciudad del Saber, Clayton
Corregimiento de Ancón
Panama, Rep. De Panama

Next time you want to complain about the USPS, consider this : In Panama, as in Peru and most other countries, the postal service barely exists. There is only sporadic home delivery in certain sections of Panama City and none outside the City. It is slow and expensive - a package can take 2 weeks to cross a country the size of Florida and a letter costs $1,25. And they never heard of Saturday delivery or service.
Put that in your USPS pipe and smoke it,

Traffic at rush hour in Panama City

It seems that everywhere you look, the skyline is full of skyscrapers. This road and everything to the right were built on fill from the new canal expansion

A few notes on the traffic in Panama City : Like any city, at rush hour it can be heavy. There are key differences between here and Lima. First, it is QUIET !! Panamanian drivers are polite and don't use the horn. And the taxi's don't either. That is great. The other good thing is that folks here actually OBEY the (few) traffic lights. And there are no cops in sight. Ever. There seem to be a lot more private cars than buses and taxis. The bus decoration is legendary as per the photo. More courtesy shown to pedestrians than in Lima. But, like Lima, the streets are totally unmarked (except for the major arteries), which makes it really hard to navigate and no one seems to know any street names - worse than Peru. Even the taxi drivers are clueless about small street names. I have to give them just a major intersection (so they can set a fare) and then navigate for them from a printed Google map.