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.
One thing that struck me on my first visit to Panama was the encroaching gastronomic invasion of U.S. fast food establishments…McDoo Doos, Burger King, Subway, and Dunkin Donuts. The only purveyor of trans fats and cholesterol that I was actually kind of glad to see was the Popeye’s Fried Chicken place at the Albrook Mall. Having lived in New Orleans for 10 years I became semi-addicted to that stuff. (Yes, I’ve tried Pio Pio but it’s not even close to Popeye’s and they don’t have Louisiana Red Beans and Rice there.)
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried the following place, and I don’t know it’s name, but there is a little French pastry shop (pâtisserie) off of Via Argentina that makes an authentic Pain (pronounced “Pan”) Chocolate, my favorite breakfast taste sensation anywhere. It is a good-sized square or rectangle made of croissant dough with two to three “fingers” of dark chocolate baked inside. I became seriously addicted to these when I was living in Antibes, France.
I can’t tell you what street it’s on since so many streets in the city aren’t marked, but if you were walking up Via Argentina away from Via Espana it’s on the first street after the little park there. I don’t know if they have wifi, but like a little French shop they have a few tables outside and it’s a great place to sit for a little bit while you drink your espresso and have your Pain Chocolate.
Of the American fast food joints that have insinuated themselves into Panama I have to admit I’ve also grabbed a few sandwiches in PC, David and Bocas del Toro from Subway.
Hi Richard:
Yep, we’ve been invaded by the American culture for a long time. I’m afraid that at this pace, we’re also losing our language. People say “parquear” to park your car, instead of saying “estacionar”. The real problem is that they think parking is a valid Spanish word.
If you stroll along the city, you will see how many stores have English names. We’re following the same path of Puerto Rico. Instead of saying “truck” in Spanish, they say “troca” which is a kind of Spanglish.
I don’t recall the restaurant you’re talking about. But I can take a look. I like to sit at the park you mentioned.
Thanks for your comments, I enjoy reading them. As I’ve said before, you have an interesting writing style.
Take Care,
Omar.-
Omar:
A Richard le recuerdo que en el pasado en PC teniamos Hardee’s, Taco Bell. Otros que tenemos (no mencionados) es KFC, Dairy Queen, Wendy’s, y no Fast Food like TGIFridays, Bennignas, Hard Rock Cafe, etc. Cuando fui a estudiar a Panama en 1982, despues de crecer en David en donde no habia Fast Food (ni Pio-Pio), solo habia un Dairy Queen, se me hizo facil comer en estos restaurantes. De 125lb subi a 170lb en un par de anos.
Si usted compara la ciudad de Panama con una ciudad americana de tamano medio, encontrara que casi no hay diferencias.
Dejeme decirle, para “spanglis” California. “Raite” (ride), “pushar” (push), “troca” (truck), e incontables otras expresiones que se oyen aqui, hacen las expresiones en Panama insignificantes.
FELIZ ANO NUEVO, Omar!
Jaime^
Podía realmente leer su comentario en español, Jaime, sin ninguna ayuda.
Los lugares que usted mencionó como Dairy Queen, Wendy’ s, etc., no estan los lugares de t voy a comer en los Estados. Solamente Popeye’ s y subterráneo.
Esto fue ayudada por el traductor de Babelfish
Hola Jaime y Richard:
Yo evito ir a lugares de comida chatarra (junk food). La comida de mi esposa es lo mejor que hay. Soy su mejor cliente desde hace casi treinta años.
Me alegro Richard que pueda leer bien el Español. Así sabe lo que Jaime y yo comentamos en Español.
Feliz Año a ambos!
Omar.-