Chiriquí Chatter

Yesterday, I spent the day in the frontera. That explains, why I didn’t pull all of my hair out from yesterday’s outage. Instead, I had a great day.

Now Paso Canoas is not the prettiest place, in fact it is a little on the dirty side. However, if you want to buy some clothes, cheaper than David, or liquor at the duty free, or just look in the stores to see what’s new, then it can pay for the trip and provide a lot of entertainment. At least it provides me with entertainment.

I spent at least 4 hours, walking through all of the stores. I was in the Almacen Y Mall Jerusalem De Panama and came upon an very unexpected item. When I saw it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. “This just can’t be”, ran over and over in my mind. I called the sales lady over to show it to me. I had to hold it in my hands to know that it was real and not fake.

She was happy to do that and she realized that it must be giving me extreme pleasure. She was right. I thought that it was amazing to find it in Panama. Now many people, might not have even noticed it sitting there. But I have an eye for these sort of things. They just sort of talk to me. It is almost like they say, “Hey, over here! Pick me up, play with my buttons.”

She carefully took it out and polished it up real good. I turned it on and it turned me on at the same time. It was amazing. And to think that I had found it in a remote part of Panama. I just couldn’t believe my eyes, but there it was, sitting in my hand.

I told the young lady, that if I told anyone about this , they just wouldn’t believe me. I asked if she would mind holding it, while I took a photo. She was embarrassed. She said that her manager wouldn’t allow photos to be taken in the store. I asked if he was close and she pointed him out. I walked over and talked to him. He gave me his card. I told him, I had no idea that they had this item anywhere in Panama and I would like to take a photo and tell everyone where they could find it.

He graciously said that wasn’t a problem and asked the young lady to assist me. I thought to myself, “I hope my batteries don’t fail me now”.

Okay. Are you ready for what I found? Are you sure? Drum roll please.

As you can see in this photo, the young lady has a box containing an APPLE iPhone in her left hand. They had two in the case. I asked if they really worked in Panama and they said you only needed to buy a Cable and Wireless or MoviStar sim and activate it. They said it worked on either service. You may not keep up with these things, but someone recently traded an expensive sport car to a fellow in the US that had unlocked his iPhone.

You probably want to know how much it costs. The price was $1,100. Now that is about double what it would cost in the US for the phone alone. However you also have to agree to a 2 year commitment with AT&T for something like $80 a month.

Needless to say, I didn’t buy one. However, it did give me a good excuse to take the phone’s photo. If you go up to the frontera and happen to enter Almacen Jerusalem and look at the iPhone, tell them you read about it on Chiriquí Chatter. Thanks to the stores management for allowing the photo. I have the manager’s email, in case you want to write him before you make the trip.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. Terecita, I want to thank you for brightening up my day and assisting me by holding the iPhone.

Tags: Businesses