In the City

Hello All,

Yesterday was quite fruitful, and I expect today to be too. Yesterday I went to the Tribunal Electoral/Registro Civil to get all my paperwork in order, and Lic Santos was indispensable. I got everything in order except having my identity verified (theres a dumb rule where someone with your last name whos a citizen has to ID you), but it seem like today we found a way past that anyways. They kept asking for my return flight ticket because they were worried we were tricking them but it ended up being alright. After I finished everything that I could yesterday at the Tribunal, I went to visit Anibal Illueca's law firm and spoke with the secretary about everything. Anibal is sick so he's sending her orders and shes doing everything. Everything seems like 'esta marchando' here.

I went back up the street to Via España, ate at mcdonalds (I was starving and I didn{t have the presence of mind to find anywhere else), and bought me and my friend Panamanian soccer jerseys which are, in my opinion, awesome.

On a random note, I keep hearing all this Panamanian words and slang, and the only reason I've heard a lot of them before is because of Ruben Blades' songs. Its hilarious because everytime I hear them my mind goes straight ot the song its from. Like, for instance, whenever I hear Rio Abajo (a place in panama... where I really want to go!) I think of his song about where he grew up.

Last night I had a fun dinner with the Purmalis' where I talked about fencing and my reasons for coming to Panama. They said that they thought it was worth the trip jsut to ge tthe citizenship because they think having dual citizenship is great and indespensable. The conversation turned from there to their Latvian routes, and to Sasha (the son, my age)'s name's meaning . Evidently it meant 'Protector of Man', mine means 'Bringer of Light', and Purmalis is 'from the bog{, and we decided that Sasha was the protector of bog men hahaha.

This morning I came back to the Tribunal Electoral to get my ID verified and everything, which worked out, and I{m waiting for the 'fabrica' to make my card so i can pick it up in an hour. After that I{m going straight to grab my passport. I just got out from a little cafe on the street where i ate empanadas (who knows what was inside, but it was tasty!) and drank coffee (I hope my stomach takes them well), and now I{m in an internet cafe on the same street as the tribunal. I love my country! I know it sounds strange, but I feel like I'm coming home. I could do this on a more regular basis. There are SO MANY different kinds of people here. Inside the Tribunal I saw people from north america, asia, europe, latin america, kunas, emberas, jamaicans. It was amazing...such a melting pot!

While I was in the cafe I spoke to Manuel Alvarado, the Panamanian friend of the Sherrys. He invited me to get dinner with him. Tomorrow night Marge and Art Sherry also invited me to dinner. I should probably call them again since I spoke with them yesterday. I'm thinking that today before I go back to get my cedula I'm going to call or visit ANCON expeditions and try to book a trip for later this weekend. I feel like my time is filling up here!

Thanks for your comments. MOM: Don't worry, we{re just confused as you are on the relations. It was hilarious trying to explain it to the Purmalis'! We were all laughing and confused.

Love you all, and hope you're doing well in the States, and VAMOS BARCA!! CAMPEONES PA' SIEMPRE! ...ahem.

Eileen