Saying goodbye to my friends, the Diablo Rojos

There seem to be mixed emotions over whether or not it's a good idea to banish the cultural mascots of Panama, the Diablo Rojo buses. When I say cultural mascots, that's exactly what they are. These old school buses that have been transformed into speedster taxis, are a standout symbol for Panama. Almost every tourist snaps pictures of these loud and flamboyant vehicles, often painted with Conan-style dungeon and dragon like scenery with half-naked ladies trying to slay flying fire breathers, while just over the Xena chick's shoulder is Winnie the Pooh or Tom and Jerry.

With fronts that look a lot like something out of Mad Max, where oftentimes the driver can only see out of a slit in the windshield that's surrounded by a red feather boa, and the destination painted up top rather than on a digital screen like their more modern brothers, these buses have a special place in my heart. When I first moved here, or I should say when I first began to work here (almost a year after moving here), I'd hop on one of these buses at 6:00 a.m. and head straight to work, packed in with all the other commuters like a tin of sardines. 

I'd garnish the strangest looks from the other passengers, like, "What is this gringo doing here? Shouldn't he have a car?" And I was never comfortable with shouting, "Parada!" like you're supposed to to announce your desire to exit the bus. Instead, I'd always fight my way to the front, and stand at the top step, facing the door. The driver always seemed to get the hint and stop at the next stop for me. My favorite part of my morning (and evening) commute? Hopping off at a slow jog as the driver never brought the bus to a complete stop. If you didn't keep pace, you'd likely fall on your face. I once heard an older passenger scream at the driver in Spanish, "Are you trying to kill me? Stop the bus completely!"

Me at the back of a Diablo Rojo

Yes, I happen to appreciate these old buses, but why? Let me explain. I've lived in many of the U.S.'s major cities, where bus transportation costs a pretty penny and most of the time the buses run late, leaving you desperate and stressing out as you try to get to work on time. I paid about $80 per month for a monthly bus pass in Chicago. Some mornings I had to wait at least twenty minutes for a bus to arrive, and then, if it wasn't time for the next route to start, I'd have to either stand out in the cold, or if the driver was nice enough to let me in early, I'd have to sit and wait another ten minutes or so before he'd start driving. 

It's not like that with the Diablo Rojos. These buses are privately owned buses and keep no schedule. However, on every route, there are so many of them operating that you know one will be swinging around the corner in five minutes or less. There's no racing out of your house half dressed because you can't afford to miss the 6:30 a.m. bus. There's no need to worry about it because if you miss the 6:30 a.m. bus, you'll be sure to find a 6:33 bus on its way. And there's no waiting for the bus to start its route. They just keep circling the city, nonstop. 

Out with the old, in with the new

What does it cost to ride a Diablo Rojo? Putting up with the blasting reggaeton music, ignoring the old wino who got there earlier than you and is sitting two seats back burping Ron Abuelo burps and belting out his favorite Ismael Rivera tune, and being squished in besides other sweaty commuters, is a small price to pay when you consider the cost of a one-way trip is only 25 cents. That's it. One quarter will take you where you want to go. And fast (when there's no traffic) as the drivers could rival Dale Earnheardt. They swear they're on a Nascar track, weaving in and out, dodging traffic. 

Sadly, the reign of the Diablo Rojo is coming to an end. I say "is coming to" because they were supposed to be off the road by March 15th. I've seen a few of them still on the road, but it's nothing like before. I've heard there are still a couple of routes where the old buses are allowed to keep going for the time being. 

The government of Panama, in its effort to modernize Panama, has paid $20,000 to the owners of these buses to get them off the road. Apparently, there has been a minor setback, as many of the owners don't have the proper paperwork to operate the bus in the first place. That's still being worked out. 

A Diablo Rojo with not so much pizazz

One major concern right now, is the lack of new, modern, air-conditioned buses that are out on the routes. Even with the Diablo Rojos operating side-by-side with the new buses, most buses were jam packed with commuters. Two weeks ago you'd see the Metro buses (the modern ones) so full that riders were sitting down, standing up, and squeezed in uncomfortably. Right behind the new bus you'd see an older one, also filled to the brim.  So, when the old buses were taken off the street on the 15th, what do you think happened? 

With only one option left, and not enough of those buses on the road, people are now fighting over the buses. Literally. The traffic authorities have tried to establish single-file lines to help usher people onto the buses at some of the larger pick-up points, but keeping the peace all over the city is not an easy thing to do, not when people have been waiting several hours to get on a bus. And not when they're in jeopardy of losing their jobs for arriving to work late. 

Our nanny showed up several hours late last week and told us that she'd waited over two hours to get on a bus. People were pushing and shoving her as she finally boarded. So, now the government is trying to solve the commuter problem. I'm not sure, at this point, what they plan to do, but just saying that they're working on a solution isn't going to be good enough.

The new subway/el-train system being put up all over the city is sure to provide some relief, but that's not scheduled to be completed until 2014. Maybe they should have waited until then to take the Diablo Rojos off the road.

Metro buses lined up on both sides and the train tracks being built above

My concern is that the cost of providing these newer air-conditioned buses is going to be a hefty one and I can't imagine the price to board will stay at 25 cents. No way. Maybe for a little while to ease people's minds, but at some point, the cost will rise to 35 cents then to 50 cents then eventually reach a dollar. Just like the corridor. To go from one end of the Corridor Norte to the other costs almost $4. So what's to stop the government from raising the cost of the bus up to a dollar or more? With no more Diablo Rojos to provide competition, the Metro buses will have the monopoly. I hope I'm wrong, because the average Panamanian worker won't want to (or be able to) pay more than 25 cents each way. 

I know many people won't agree with me on this, but I'm a fan of the red devil buses and I'm sad to see them go. My wife, who just peeked over my shoulder and saw what I was writing, doesn't agree with me. She feels that the Diablo Rojos have been responsible for too many deaths and accidents, and that the drivers have never taken responsibility the way they should. So, I suppose there are good reasons for taking them off the street. Too bad the government couldn't find a happy medium and paint the new buses with Looney Tunes characters or something like that. 

The new Metro bus

Or, how about the old buses stay on their routes, and the cops or whoever is in charge of keeping the streets safe, simply enforce the laws and fine the buses that are caught running red lights, weaving in and out of traffic, and participating in any other illegal or dangerous acts? I mean, think about it, if your kid is being bullied in school by a kid with blonde hair, you don't deal with the situation by taking all of the blond haired kids out of the school. 

However, as much as I miss some modern amenities from back home, seeing how rapidly Panama City is advancing makes me worry that soon this will be just another Miami. And I kinda like it the way it was when I got here.  :(

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Paying a parking ticket in Panama

A couple of posts ago I wrote about getting a driver's license in Panama, where I posted a ticket for my dysfunctional headlight at the bottom. Well, I've done it again. This time it's a parking ticket. Geez, I don't know what's going on. I never got tickets back in the States. I'll figure it out how to abide by the laws here, eventually.

In the meantime, let me just say this, parking in Panama City is ridiculous right now. The problem used to be that people parked wherever they wanted to, which meant cars were up on all the sidewalks and parked out on the street medians, but now, since the traffic cops have started cleaning up that problem and towing away vehicles, they've almost become like ticket Nazis. 

A few weeks ago, I showed up early at an appointment, just to make sure I was able to find a parking spot. The street where I usually park suddenly had signs all over the place with a picture of a car being towed away. So, not wanting my car to get towed, I found a back street, where cars were parked all along the side of the road, and no "no parking" signs were anywhere in site. Two hours later I returned to see that every car parked on the side of the road had a ticket stuck to its window. 

Mine was the one in the photo above. I found the traffic cop a block away and asked what was the problem. I explained that there were no signs posted and from what I could understand (in Spanish), he told me you can't park on the shoulder of a street that has only one lane going in each direction. This didn't make much sense considering in another neighborhood friends of mine got tickets for being up on the sidewalk (on the same kind of street) and the cop said the only reason I didn't get one was that my car was parked on the side of the street, not the sidewalk. 

This is the area where my appointment was located

I can't help but think I only got a ticket because this particular cop felt like giving out tickets on this particular street on that particular day. I've passed by that street many other times and cars are still parked there (with no tickets attached). 

Anyway, the last time I got a ticket, the one for the headlight, my father-in-law, who is a lawyer, paid it for me. I gave him the money, of course, but I didn't have to actually pay it myself. This time, with the parking ticket, I had to figure out how to do it myself, and just on time as they only give you 30 days to pay it. The fine increases if you pay late, and the penalty gets worse from there. I'd put off paying it until right around the 28th day of my allotted 30. I just didn't feel like dealing with what I was sure would be a painful process. In the end, I was shocked at how easy it was to pay the ticket or boleta. 

If you read my "how to get a driver's license" post, you'll remember that I mentioned SERTRACEN as the final destination in your steps to getting that coveted license. SERTRACEN is the license issuing agency. I went to the one in Albrook to get my license and stopped by there early this morning to pay my ticket. I took my passport, my driver's license, my immigration card, and the ticket. I wanted to make sure I had everything they might possibly ask for. 

The Albrook SERTRACEN office

I expected to go through a lengthy process, like the one for getting my license. I stood in line at the information counter and when I reached the front of the line, all I did was flash the lady my ticket, and she pointed at the caja (cashier) line. There I found a line of 16 people. This was at 9:30 a.m. on a Monday morning. It only took about twenty minutes to get through the line.

When I finally reached the cashier window, I slid my ticket to the lady and that was it. She never asked for my passport or anything else. The ticket had the vehicle tag number, or placa as it's called here, written on it already (if for some reason your ticket doesn't have the placa number written on it, you want to make sure you have that handy). She punched a few numbers into her keyboard and told me it would be $10. I paid in cash and that was it. Ordering an Oreo Blizzard at Dairy Queen is more difficult. 

I've been told it's always smart to hold onto the receipt they give you. Keep it in the glove compartment of your car incase you get pulled over sometime and find that your payment didn't register in the system for some reason. That receipt could keep you out of jail. 

If you want to find the SERTRACEN office nearest you, go to http://www.sertracen.com.pa/sucursales-y-horarios.

To see a list of fines for other tickets you might receive here in Panama, go to http://www.transito.gob.pa/boletas.php

So, that's it for paying a ticket here in Panama. As always, thanks for reading.

Chris

Supermarket Tips for Shopping in Panama Part 5 (Extra random info)

Hey everybody,

I just got back from the grocery store (with 4 kids I'm there daily), and while walking up and down the aisles, I realized there's still a lot of supermarket taboos I haven't clued you in on. So in this installment I'm going to talk about some things that don't necessarily fit in with the other articles I wrote, which were specific to the types of items you might buy. This will be completely random as it's hard to plan an article like this. So just bear with me. 

Where you go to pay your bills

You can pay your bills at the supermarket:

Getting used to paying your bills here can be a real hassle. Back in the States, I had everything set up so that I could pay it online. You can do that here, but it might take you awhile to figure out how to set that up. Most of the banks have a system that allows you to do it online through them, but regardless, when you first move to Panama, you'll probably struggle with this a little bit. 

Paying your bills is actually simple. In fact, it's so simple and old fashioned that it's annoying. Most Panamanians, especially the old school ones, like my father-in-law, don't trust the bank system or any system at all really. Dad-in-law would never go online to pay a bill. He will go directly to the source each and every time, which gets the bill paid, but is a big waste of time, especially with the horrible traffic getting to the branch, and the long lines you'll stand in when you reach one.

An alternative to going to each utility department (water, electric, cable TV, etc.) is to go to one of the Multi-Pago desks in your local Rey supermarket. Super 99 and the other supermarkets usually have something similar. At these stations, you can pay your bills, send/receive money through Western Union, and a few other things. Having your actual bill with you helps a lot as your customer number, or what they call "NIC" is needed to ensure it's put into the system correctly. 

If you don't have your bill with you, make sure you know what the NIC # is, so that you can fill out one of the forms, like the one in the photo below: 

If you take a look at the photo, you'll see that quite a bit of info is requested on this form. Here's what all that means in English: 

Cia a pagar = Company you are paying (like Ensa for electric, Cable Onda for cable, etc.)

Fecha = Today's date.

No. De Cuenta a Pagar = The NIC or customer number.

Nombre del Cliente = Your name (or whoever's name the account is under).

No. Cedula = The cedula is like the social security number in the United States. It's a Panamanian's ID number. If you don't have a cedula you'll use the number on your immigration card or your passport number. 

Cheque/Efectivo = Put the amount down that you're paying either with a check (cheque) or cash (efectivo). 

Escriba en letras Total del Pago = Here you write out the total amount. I don't speak/write Spanish yet (not very well anyways) so I usually leave this part blank and they fill it out for me. ;)

Banco/No. Cheque = If you're using a check to pay, write the bank name and check number here. 

No. Telefono = Your telephone number.

See, if you have your bill with you you won't have to worry about all that. They'll just stamp the bill and give it back to you as a receipt that you paid. 

Cheap Napkins (I told you this was random): 

If you've ever eaten at a Panamanian restaurant, or one of the small fondas here, you've probably noticed the thin, cheap napkins your utensils come wrapped up in. Or the ones you pull out of the napkin dispenser and shred like the toilet paper roll you just can't seem to find the loose end on. 

There's a reason these are used all over the country. Look at the price. You can't beat 40 cents, especially when your customer will be long gone before he realizes these things won't clean a darned thing. 

Health/Diet food aisle at Rey in Chanis

Health/Diet Foods: 

I mentioned this in one of the other articles, but I'll say it again, Panama is finally catching on to sugar-free foods and other health specific items. Most supermarkets now dedicate about half of one side of an aisle (so like a quarter aisle?) to sugar-free, fat-free, gluten-free, foods. 

Check it out, we even have sugar-free Oreo's. 

Pet Food: 

Here's the pet food aisle at the Rey supermarket near my house. Just thought you might like to know that your pet will be able to eat here in Panama. You'd be surprised some of the questions I'm asked, several having to do with the well-being of peoples' pets. 

On a side note, you'll be shocked at what people feed their dogs here though. I was always taught that chicken bones were too soft for dogs and could cut their throats, but here, I see people feed chicken bones to dogs all the time. I was at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago where people were putting their leftover cake plates on the ground and letting the dog go nuts. 

Almost $8 dollars for a 1/2 gallon

Get used to the local ice cream:

I've written a lot about the importance of getting used to local brands if you want to save money and actually live that affordable retirement lifestyle you planned for yourself. I know people are very particular about their ice cream. I love Bryers. That's what I used to buy all the time back in the States. Not here though. Have you seen the price of a 1/2 gallon here? Look at the photo above. It's almost $8. That's crazy. I remember getting like 2 for $5 deals or something like that on Bryers ice cream in Ohio. 

You'll pay somewhere around $3 for the same size tub of ice cream if you give the local brands a try. They're not bad. You won't find them stuffed with American candy bars like the Bryers Reese's peanut butter cup, or Twix, or Snickers ice cream, but you'll find grape nut, pistachio, chocolate almond, rum raisin, etc.

Eggs aren't refrigerated here

All about eggs: 

Don't be surprised when you search all over the refrigerated areas of your local supermarket, and you can't find the eggs. You're not losing your mind. Eggs aren't refrigerated in Panama. Where you'll find them depends on each particular store. 

At the Rey in Chanis, they're right above the frozen foods, next to the refrigerated milk section. At the Super 99 in Costa del Este, they're in a totally different place, at the end of the meat counter on a wooden shelf. At the El Machetazo in San Miguelito they're in a normal aisle, I think right above the beans. Let the egg hunt begin. 

Another eggcelent (I'm such a dork) piece of information to have handy is the eggspiration (ha! I could go all day with this) date is on each individual egg, not on the outside of the carton. Notice that on Panamanian products, the day comes first, then the month, then the year. I'll talk more about this and how it can cause confusion in a moment. 

Watch out for bargains: 

Everyone loves a bargain, and nobody knows this better than the Panamanian supermarkets, so expect to see two items taped together for one price, or even a free pack of cookies if you buy a box of brownies. In the photo above you see Chips Ahoy cookies (the ones with Reese's peanut butter cups) for $1.99. That's an incredible deal. Those cookies usually cost between $4 and $5. 

I've learned to be very careful picking up these bargains. A few weeks ago I picked up a deal on instant mashed potatoes. I was in the mood for some garlicy goodness and the store had two boxes taped together for $1.99. I didn't even think to check the expiration date (and I known better). I went home, whipped up the quick craving fix, but it tasted nasty. It had a funky, old taste. When I checked the box, they'd expired about a month before. 

That's usually the case with these bargain bins. I think in the U.S. it's illegal to sell expired items. Here, I've seen expired milk for sale, expired juice, cookies, macaroni & cheese, and all kinds of other stuff. Those great 2x1 deals most of the time are either about to expire, or are already expired. So check carefully.

Expiration dates: 

Speaking of expiration dates, remember what I said above about the eggs? The date here is written differently. It's day/month/year. Learning that is not so difficult. Where things get confusing is how the stores also sell imported items. Those will have the date the American way. And where it gets even more confusing is that some of the items you think are imported, aren't. Panama has distributors of American brand name products. 

Fruit Loops might be imported (it will usually say somewhere on the box), but they might not be. If you didn't notice the box, you'll definitely figure out when you take a bite. Some items taste better here and some taste worse, but either way, the taste is usually different. I was a huge Pepsi fan in the States. Pepsi here is too strong. It's too acidy for me. I prefer Coke in Panama. Domino's Pizza is better here. 

When I said the expiration date can be confusing, look at the photo above. I picked up this package of saltine crackers and found a great example. The "best before" date is 8/9/13. If you're shopping in the middle of August, what do you do? Ok, you could just say, "Screw the saltines." But let's imagine you're just dying to eat this brand of cracker. Come on, play along. 

If you're going by the American way of writing the date, you're screwed, they're already expired. If it's the Panama date, woohoo, you've got almost a month left. See what I mean? 

This happened to me one time with a package of Chewy Chips Ahoy. I try not to eat a lot of sweets, but for some reason I had a real hankering for chewy chocolate chip cookies. I wound up not buying the cookies because I couldn't figure out if they were expired or not. And if you think it doesn't matter, I assure you it does. I've bought a box of Duncan Hines browny mix once without checking the expiration date and when I got home, I found the mix full of bugs. I grabbed a pack of Fig Newtons once that was covered in mold. So trust me, be careful. 

Cough drops: 

I was at a conference once, for one of those "live and retire in a foreign country" companies I used to work for. One of the readers approached me and asked where he could find cough drops. I happened to be headed towards the pharmacy, so I told him he could tag along. We got to the store, and neither of us could find the cough drops. I'd never bought cough drops since moving to Panama, and I, like this guy, was looking for one of the big sacks of Hall's cough drops. 

My Spanish speaking ability was much worse then than it is now, and his was non-existent, so in the end, we didn't find cough drops. A couple of days later, it hit me. I always see cough drops at the cash register. They're sold here in packs, like gum. And they're right there with the gum. In fact, cough drops in Panama are treated a lot like candy. Kids buy them for a nickel a piece, the little individually wrapped ones, at any of the mini-supers. 

So if you're every looking for Hall's, you won't find them in the medicine aisle like you might expect. You'll find them with the candy. 

The Deli Counter:

I won't say much about the deli counter. Queso is cheese, and all of the other cheese related words are pretty much the same. You can point and read the package or the sign when you order. 

Ham is jamon and turkey is pavo. What you will notice at the deli are the words ahumado, which means smoked, and cocido, which means cooked. Just get used to saying una libra, which is one pound, or media libra, which is half a pound. 

Panama Produce: 

Roots are used a lot here for cooking, especially in soups. This may be something new to you, or maybe not at all. In South Florida, I'm sure because of the huge Latin population there, it was common to see yuca, otoe, and sometimes even ñame. All of these taste awesome in soup. Most are sort of like potato, but usually a little chewier. I'm sure at some point I'll throw a recipe onto this site and you'll see some of the roots mentioned in it. Like Sancocho, which is a delicious chicken soup that's super popular here.

One of the coolest things about the produce area is the option to pick up pre-chopped vegetables. Usually you'll see packs (like the ones on the far left in the photo above) of carrots, potatoes, corn, and some other items used for soup packaged together. It's also common to see yuca or ñame packaged by itself. So if you don't feel like putting in the hard work, and you just want to easily drop your soup additions into a pot of boiling water, pick up these packs and make it easy on yourself. 

Cilantro is a staple in most Panamanian dishes. When I lived in the States, just the smell of cilantro would remind me of Panama. If you've never used it before, grind some up and sprinkle it practically anything you're cooking. It's one of those things you either love or you hate. Some people can't stand even the smell of it. I love the stuff and welcome it to any dish. I've even added it to my spaghetti sauce. 

Here are a few other Spanish terms for items in the produce department:

Ajo = garlic

Aji = peppers (like aji dulce are usually the little red, green, and yellow sweet peppers)

Maiz = corn

Cebolla = onion

Papa = potato

Zapayo = squash 

Tomate = tomato 

Pepino = cucumber

Lechuga = lettuce

Repollo = cabbage

The last thing I want to add to this completely random list of information is the pounds to kilogram conversion chart I saw this morning at Rey when I was picking up three pounds of pulpa negra. You can order things by the pound here, do it's not something you really need to worry about, but it just gives you an idea of what the difference is. 

Thanks again for reading and for keeping up with these supermarket tips. I think this will be the final installment (until next time I'm shopping and I think of something else to mention). 

Chris

How to get a Panamanian driver's license

In blog sites and in my email inbox, questions about driving legally in Panama come up all the time. So what's the deal with driving in Panama? I'll do my best to explain it here. 

I'd put most people into one of the following three categories:

A: You're here living, but not working on legal residency, which means you're making border runs every 3-6 months. 

B: You're here working on getting permanent residency, which means you should have some sort of residency card, probably a temporary resident card as you're working towards getting that coveted permanent card. 

C: You're here on some other sort of visa, like a pensionado visa, or you've already received permanent residency. 

I'll try to address all of these situations as I explain the process I went through in receiving my Panamanian driver's license. 

First, those in group "A" above, cannot get a driver's license. You have to have an immigration card of some sort to receive a license. The good news is you can drive with your passport and valid home driver's license for 90 days. The tricky part, as you all know, is that you can technically stay in Panama for six months before you have to make a border run. What does that mean? It means that you can drive legally for the first three months, but even though you can technically stay here three more months, you won't be able to drive during those last three. So if you want to drive around legally, you'd need to leave every three months and come back into the country with a new stamp. 

I fall into the group "B" category. I'm still working on getting my permanent residency. In the beginning of the process, this posed a real problem for me. Going through the immigration process, I was given a temporary residency card that only lasted for about three months. I could no longer drive on my passport because I had the temporary residency card, and that alone will tell the cops that I’ve been here longer than 90 days. Panama will only issue you a driver’s license for the amount of time on your immigration card/ID. Since mine was only for three months, this meant that my driver’s license would expire in three months. So you can see how that gets tricky. Who wants to pay to have their driver’s license renewed every three months? 

If you don’t get the driver’s license, you run the risk of getting caught driving illegally. This happened to me. Random ID checks are set up all over the place here. They pop up all the time on major streets, in the middle of neighborhoods, and everywhere else. Several times I got stopped and when I handed them my American driver’s license and my immigration card, it always turned into a lengthy argument in my poor Spanish about how long I’ve been here and why I don’t have a Panama driver’s license. In every one of these situations the cops eventually got tired, realized I wasn’t going to pay a bribe, and just let me go. I was good at playing the “I don’t speak Spanish and I don’t understand” card. So if you're in category "B" like me, your options are to get a driver's license for the amount of time that matches your immigration expiration date, or try to talk your way out of every random traffic stop you come across. 

When I finally got my two year temporary residence card, I rushed to get the license. I was tired of the random traffic stop hassle. 

If you're in group "C" and have a permanent residency card or a pensionado visa that proves you’re legally here for good, you can get a driver’s license that will last four years, just like any Panamanian behind the wheel. 

So how do you get a driver's license? 

Here are the steps I went through when getting my driver's license. Of course, as with anything having to do with the government in Panama, these steps could change at any moment with little or no warning.

Steps one and two will apply to U.S. citizens. Citizens of other countries will need to visit their own embassy or consulate. After step 3 the routine should be the same for everyone. 

Step 1: Having two copies of your valid American (or your home country if not from the U.S.) driver’s license, your valid immigration ID, and your valid passport, will save you a lot of aggravation. Just bring these copies with you and save yourself the hassle of having to run around getting copies later. Of course, bring the originals with you as well. 

The U.S. Embassy in Clayton

Step 2: You’ll need to visit the U.S. Embassy, which is located in the Clayton area. Do not go to the embassy without an appointment. Even if the place is completely empty, it is highly unlikely they will assist you without an appointment. Go online to https://evisaforms.state.gov/acs/default.asp?postcode=PNM&appcode=1 to make an appointment. At the embassy, you will need your valid passport, valid driver’s license, and $50. Then you will receive a notarized form that proves your driver’s license is real and valid. It’s basically a fill in the blanks sheet that they notarize there on the spot. 

Step 3: Next you will need to visit the Departmento de Autenticacion y Legalizacion (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores) which is basically the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This office is located at the Plaza Sun Tower on Avenida Ricardo J. Alfaro, also known as Tumbo Muerto. This is the same plaza where the Banco Nacional is located. You should see the sign from the street that says Ministero de Relaciones Exteriores (above the bank). 

This is the map to Plaza Sun Tower given to me by the U.S. Embassy

The office itself is located on the second floor. If you’re in the parking lot, looking at the building, walk all the way to the right side of the building and go up the stairs or elevator. The door is somewhat hidden, inside of a hallway, so just go all the way to the right side on the second floor and you should see it. 

You will need to bring your valid U.S. license and the notarized form you were given at the embassy. 

Step 4: You will leave both your license and the notarized form with the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. I’m not sure if this step is always the same or if they were just swamped that day, but I was told that I had to wait about three hours before I could pick up the authentication I needed. In the meantime, you will need to pay $2. However, paying it isn’t as easy as you’d think. You’ll need to take a form they give you down to the Banco Nacional on the first floor (where there were no less than 50 people waiting the day I went) and pay the $2 there. Keep the receipt as you’ll need to present it to the Ministero de Relaciones Exteriores later when you return to pick up your documents. 

Step 5: Since you’ll have about three hours to kill, I recommend taking care of the blood type test at this time. Now, according to the SERTRACEN (the driver’s license department) website, you only have to have the blood type test done if your home license doesn’t list your blood type. My Ohio license didn’t. Since this step only costs $5, I recommend having it done anyway. I have a feeling that if you showed up at SERTRACEN without it, it wouldn’t matter if your home driver’s license had it listed, or not. Trust me, rules change depending on what agent/assistant you’re dealing with oftentimes in government offices. So I’d rather have the form just in case. 

Parking is a hassle at Plaza Sun Tower, so I recommend just leaving your car there (if you drove) and walking to the lab to get the blood type test. The lab is right around the corner. The SERTRACEN website lists all of the labs you can go to for this test, but I found one a couple of blocks away that has an English speaking technician and is super cheap. Here’s what I did. 

If you’re standing at the Plaza Sun Tower, looking out at the main street, turn right and start walking that way. Cross the first street you come to. You’ll see the El Dorado shopping mall in front of you and a ton of other stores. Don’t go into that parking lot. Turn right on the sidewalk as soon as you’ve crossed the street, and start walking down the hill. You’ll be on the opposite side of the street as the Blockbuster Video. Almost directly across from the Blockbuster is a small lab called Clinico Del Castillo. That’s where I went. The test only costs $5 and it takes just a few minutes. They’ll give you the results right away. The English-speaking tech is Alfredo del Catillo, and he's a really nice guy.

Keep the blood type test form with you as you’ll need it in the final step when you go to the driver’s license office. 

At this point, you’ll probably still have some time to waste. The El Dorado shopping mall has some stores and few restaurants, so you can hang around that area for awhile. 

Step 6: Go back to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, give them the receipt for the $2 and pick up your authenticated paperwork. Here’s where things got really frustrating for me, but I’ve heard it’s changed a bit. I was told that I had to go all the way to a place on Via España to get a stamp on my paperwork. A friend of mine who has since gone through the process said this part of the process has been done away with. Even if that’s the case, have an extra few dollars as I think I paid $2 for the stamp, which might just be done now in the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, rather than at that office I mentioned on Via España.

The SERTRACEN office in Albrook

Step 7: By the time you’ve finished all of this, I doubt you’ll have time to go to the SERTRACEN office and finish the process. I didn’t. It was about 3:30 p.m. when I’d finished, and the driver’s license office closed around 4. Chances are you’ll need to have a second day available to finish the process. Whether on that same day, or the next day, the next step is to go to a SERTRACEN office. Their website lists locations at www.sertracen.com.pa (just click on the Sucursales y Horarios tab). I recommend you go to the one in Albrook. Albrook, being so close to the Clayton area where the embassy is located, is a much more Americanized area than where some of the other offices are. You’re probably more likely to find English-speaking assistants at that office.

Step 8: When you finally enter the SERTRACEN office, go to the line on your immediate left (assuming you’re at the Albrook office). You’ll need to bring everything you’ve collected up to this point: copies and originals of your U.S. driver’s license, your immigration card, and your U.S. passport. Have the blood type test results, the notarized form from the U.S. Embassy (which should now be authenticated as well), and $40. Ok, almost there. 

Give all of your forms to the agent at the desk. At that point you’ll be told to take a seat and wait for your name to be called. Do yourself a favor and sit all the way in the front, on the left hand side, as this is the area you’ll be going to first. When they call your name, you’ll be asked a few questions and your photo will be taken. 

When you’re told to take a seat again, make sure you move over to the seating area in front of the vision test machines. Listen for your name. They’ll call you up to take the vision test. I had two people doing mine so that one could translate while the other operated the machine.

Again, you’ll be told to take a seat. This time sit near the closed in cubicle area to the right of the vision machines. You’ll be called in to take the hearing test in that area. The hearing test is the kind where you just click left or right on the computer depending on which ear you’ve heard the beep. Pretty easy even for non-Spanish speakers. 

Finally, you’ve reached the end of the process. Go pay the cashier $40 and have a seat in front of the little cashier window. Wait for your name to be called. That’s when you get your driver’s license. Congratulations. You’ve done it!!!!

So in the end you wind up paying just over $90. Going forward, when your license expires, you’ll just need to take your valid immigration card and your expired Panamanian license into SERTRACEN, renew it and pay $40. Still, I think you can see why you may not want to go through the process until you have a permanent residency card or one that lasts longer than 3-6 months. 

The regular license, for Panamanians, permanent residents, and pensionados, is good for four years. 

***Extra info: Any person over the age of 70 may be required to complete a medical exam as part of the process***

Just a little something to add to this article. I was so excited to finally get my driver’s license. I no longer had to deal with getting harassed by cops who wanted a payout. Now, I could just show them my driver’s license. The first time I got pulled over was on the way to Las Tablas. It was just getting dark and a cop flagged me over on the Pan-American Highway. I proudly pulled out my driver’s license, thinking, “Not this time, pal.”

My first ticket :(

Boy was I wrong. I didn’t realize I had a headlight out. He didn’t even listen to my explanation (not that I had one, I had no idea my headlight was out). He took my license, stuck it in this little machine, and out came my ticket. He handed it to me and told me to get it fixed. I think I paid $25 for that ticket. Maybe I was better off without the darned license. 

Supermarket Tips for Shopping in Panama Part 4 (cuts of meat)

I dread going to the deli or meat counter pretty much every time I make a trip to the supermarket. I think that's why, for the first two years that I lived here, I only bought meat at Pricesmart, where everything is pre-packaged and ready to go. First, there's always a line at the deli and meat counters, and second, I didn't know what half the cuts were, so I would usually just pick out whatever looked nice. Then, once I figured out what I wanted, I'd have to call out to the butcher what it was that I wanted to order, with Panamanians lined up all around me. In my broken Spanish, I always felt embarrassed. I sometimes still do. 

Well...until I start working on my Spanish a little more, that part of the equation isn't going to change. However, learning the cuts of meat helps a lot. So that's what I'll be focusing on in this installment of supermarket tips for shopping in Panama.

I wasn't kidding when I said the hot dog aisle was overwhelming

I guess I'll start with chicken. First, let's just make sure that everyone knows that chicken in Spanish is pollo. Knowing that is the first step to not sounding like a schmuck at the counter. Trust me, even if you do speak Spanish, with the gringo accent thrown in, half the time it's still hard to get your point across. So if you don't want to be standing at the counter, surrounded by Panamanians, flapping your arms up and down doing the chicken dance to explain that you just want some chicken wings, then make sure you're comfortable with the list I'll provide you below. The prices are always by the pound here. If you look closely to the signs, in the bottom right corner, it tells you what the kilogram equivalent is (some Panamanians will order by the kilogram).  

Muslo Encuentro - This is the thigh attached to the leg, like you see in the photo above on the far left side. So if you know your numbers, you can simply point and say cuatro de muslo encuentro. 

Encuentro de Pollo - This is just the thigh. If you wanted the boneless thigh, which you see sometimes at the meat counter, but almost always in the pre-packaged chicken, you'd be looking for filete de encuentro de pollo. Same with chicken breast, filete means boneless. 

Pechuga de Pollo - This is chicken breast. Usually you can get away with just saying the number and pechuga since chicken breast is the only kind of breast you're likely to buy. So "dos pechugas" should be fine. Or if you want to order by the pound, you would say something along the lines of, "Tres libras de Pechuga de Pollo, por favor." This would be "3 pounds of chicken breast, please."

Muslo de Pollo - This is the chicken leg all by itself. You don't see it in the picture above, as they were all out of chicken legs this day. I made the mistake of going to the store on the day before carnaval started, the day when most of the meat was wiped out. 

Alas de Pollo, sometimes referred to as alitas - This is chicken wings. 

Filete de Pechuga - As I mentioned a little higher up in this post, filete de pechuga is boneless chicken breast. 

Pollo Entero - This is whole chicken. So if you wanted a chicken to bake or to chop up for soup, this is what you'd buy. Most of the time, this chicken will come with the neck and head still attached. I usually ask them to chop it off for me, which I do by signaling with a karate chop to my own neck. Either they get it right away, or think I'm slightly insane. I don't like looking my food in the eye, so I feel much better having them take the head off. 

Let's move on to pork. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get many pictures of pork. As you can see in the photo above, it was slim pickins. 

Chuletas Frescas - This is fresh pork chops (uncooked). If you wanted to order boneless pork chops you'd ask for chuletas deshuesadas.

Costillas de Puerco - This is pork ribs. 

Chuleta Ahumada - This is smoked pork chop. Panamanians usually buy these for a quick meal. You just toss them around in a frying pan with a little bit of oil until they're nicely colored (a dark pink). 

Lomo de Cerdo, same as Lomo de Puerco - This is pork tenderloin. 

Tocino - This is bacon. Most Panamanians will call it bacon too.

Moving on to meat. This is where most of us get confused. You can usually look at pork chops and know they're pork chops. You know a chicken leg or a wing when you see one. However, meat kind of all looks the same...at least to me it does. So I'll do my best to roundup a definition of all the meats you might see a the butcher here in Panama. 

Pulpa Negra - This is on the far right in the photo above. Pulpa Negra is the same as top round, and it's one of the most popular cuts in Panama. My mom-in-law cooks nothing but pulpa negra. It's what she uses when she fries carne (meat) and when she cooks it up with tomatoes, onions, green peppers, etc. 

Pulpa Blanca - This is on the far left in the photo. I've had a hard time figuring out what pulpa blanca is exactly, and I don't think I've ever bought it, but from what I gather, it's bottom round, which I guess makes sense if pulpa negra is top round. 

This is the same picture, but from the other side, so you can see pulpa blanca a little better on the far left side. 

Babilla - is in the photo, the second from the left, and this is rump steak from what I could gather. 

Rincon - is the next one over in the photo. You can see it a little bit better in the other photo, next to pulpa negra. To be honest with you, I'm not sure what this one is. I'll have to ask the butcher next time I'm at the store. Sorry, guys. I want to say that it's probably shoulder (or sirloin), but I'm not sure on that. I've tried looking it up online and the word means "corner," but as far as being a cut of meat, it seems to be a Panamanian thing. 

Milanesa - is thin cut round steak. I usually pick up a pack or two of Milanesa when I'm at Pricesmart. It is really thin though. I like it for stir fry and stuff like that. To me, it's almost the same as pulpa negra, but I think just a little bit thinner. 

Carne Molida - This is ground beef. 

Ropa Vieja - Translated this literally means old clothes. Sounds gross, I know, but it's one of my favorite things to eat in Panama. The cut of meat is just flank steak, but when it's cooked, it's usually shredded, almost like pulled pork. It's excellent. 

Lomo Redondo - Lomo, just like with pork, is tenderloin. So this would be meat tenderloin. 

Palomilla - This is beef loin sirloin. 

Falda - This is flank steak. 

Carne para Guisar - Usually you'll see this meat chopped up in chunks, or cubes. It's basically meat used for soups or stews. 

Bistec Picado - This is steak chopped up into little strips, ready for stir-fry.

My daughter trying her darndest to order meat for the family

The cuts listed above are the ones that I see in the regular supermarkets here. They're everywhere. In the El Machetazo in Coronado, the meat department actually posts signs in English next to the Spanish. It's the only store I've come across that does this. If I lived closer to Coronado I would've just run into the store to prepare for this article. Most of the local stores here will only have the signs in Spanish. Now, I'm going to list a bunch of other cuts you might see in the store, but they're not as common. I'm just going to put quick definitions here, with no photos. 

Paleta en Trozo - Chuck arm pot roast

Bistec de Planchuela - Chuck top blade steak

Paleta del 7 en Trozo - Chuck 7-Bone pot roast

Costillar Punta Pequeña - Rib roast

Bistec de Lomo - Top loin (strip) steak

Filete en Trozo - Tenderloin roast

Bistec de Filete - Tenderloin steaks

Pecho Entero - Brisket, whole

Pecho, Corte - Brisket, flat cut

Bistec de Centro - Top round steak

Milanesa de Pulpa Bola - Round tip steak

Pulpa Bolo en Troza - Round tip roast

Bistec Suavizado - Cubed steak

Tiritas de Carne - Beef for stir-fry


Wow, ok, I don't ever want to do that again. That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, haha. That ends this article on supermarket tips for shopping in Panama. I know a lot of people were looking forward to this article. I hope I was able to meet your expectations. I might be adding a couple more articles to this segment. I'm thinking about a vegetable article and maybe a trip to the deli article. Let me know if those would be helpful or a waste of time.  

Thanks for reading,

Chris