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(Credit: Verkhovsky @Pixdaus.com)

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A Visit to Dunkin’ Donuts

In order to rake in a few extra bucks to ease my perennial pocket pains, I provide transportation from Tocumen International Airport to Panama City and vice versa.  It’s no big deal, but extra pocket money is always welcomed.

Recently, I provided transportation to a tourist from Canada coming to see Panama City for the first time.  He was visiting a friend he had met in Oshawa.  After dropping him at his friend’s home, he requested my transportation services for a city tour and a visit to the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal.

When I picked him up to start the city tour, he said he wanted to have breakfast at  Dunkin’ Donuts. I said, “No problem.” I was wrong.  I knew there were several Dunkin’ Donuts in Panama, but I couldn’t find them at the moment.  My customer settled for a well-known Greek restaurant known as Nikos Café. After breakfast, we went ahead with the city tour and the Miraflores Visit as scheduled.

I returned home uncomfortable for not being able to take Raaid Batarfi—the name of my client—to Dunkin’ Donuts. I went to the Yellow Pages and found exactly where their sites were.  I found three, more or less near where Raaid was staying.  Several days later, I called and invited him to have breakfast at DD.  He accepted.

On Tuesday, December 29, 2009 we headed to DD approximately at 10:00 a.m.  The traffic was light and we had no problems finding a parking space nearby.  I had a croissant sandwich with eggs and sausage, a large donut and  a Cappuccino.  Raaid ordered an egg-and-cheese sandwich, a chocolate donut and coffee with milk.  It was a delicious meal.  It was the first time I had visited a DD site in my life.  I’m not much of a donut eater and neither is my wife.  However, I plan to return with my wife.  I enjoyed the food and the excellent customer service provided by Catalina.  You will see her later on this post.

Another benefit that I liked about DD, was the availability of WiFi. Many young people flock to this place  in order to take advantage of this service.  So did we.  Raaid immediately installed his jazzy Sony Vaio laptop on a nearby table and tinkered with his ubiquitous Apple iPhone.  As you know, I gave myself a Chinese iPhone clone for my birthday and asked Raaid to help me getting around using it, since it has many features similar to his authentic iPhone.

Raaid patiently taught me how to use the FM radio, the TV and to surf the Web with Opera Web browser amongst many other things.  The WiFi feature worked flawlessly.  It was a wonderful experience.  I told Raaid, that, that morning I had jumped from the Middle Ages to the XXth Century.  I still needed a little more help to get to the XXIst  Century.  (Smile).

After a thorough iPhone class, we finished our breakfast and headed towards the Mercado de Artesanías located at Plaza Cinco de Mayo where Raaid planned to buy small gifts for his friends back in Canada.  I provided  you with pictures of a mola painting yesterday at this original handicrafts market.

Our visit to DD was frozen in time with a couple of pictures, as you probably would have guessed.   Seldom do I leave home without my Birthday camera.  This is what I saw through the lens of my small Canon PowerShot A720 IS. Here we go.

Photograph of Raaid at Dunkin' Donuts enjoying his sophisticated gadgets. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)

A warm and friendly smile of Catalina. When she smiles, the whole room brightens up. Her customer service was superlative. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)

This was a most enjoyable experience.  Raaid is a bright young man with deep knowledge of technology and provided great assisstance with my new phone.  If you ever come to this part of the world, remember that Dunkin’ Donuts is here with WiFi communication service.  Oh…and you can’t beat Catalina’s bright smile.  Good Day.

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