Buying a Bed

My brother Richard is bringing his bride Tammie to Panama for a week, and Nora took one look at our youngest son's left-over bed in the guest room and declared it unfit for my brother and his wife to sleep on. We didn't want to spend a lot of money because this bed would be used only occasionally, but we also wanted a sturdy, attractive, bed with a decent mattress.

First I went to Econo Precios in Los Pueblos where I experienced some serious sticker shock. We hadn't bought a new bed in years and I wasn't happy with some of the prices, especially for mattresses. Not to say you can't find reasonably priced, even cheap, mattresses in Panama. You can. You just can't sleep on them. I was quite pleased to note that they had some sturdy, metal framed beds with wrought-iron designs on the head and foot, at very reasonable prices. They had the old-timey look I prefer. Their mattresses were uniformly hard as a board.

Nora and I went to the same store where we bought my recliner, Muebleria Panama on Ricardo J. Alfaro (Tumba Muerto) in Edificio Alcala. They had a few beds we liked, but all over our upper limit. I was hoping to get by for less than $500.00 and Nora was willing to go $1,000.00 but we didn't find what we were looking for.

Next we went to Palacio del Mueble (Via Espana and Calle 101). This is one of the big stores specializing in imported, mostly Chinese made furniture, like Econo Precios in Los Pueblos. Here we found more attractive prices, and for my taste, more attractive beds. Again, most of the mattresses were rock hard. We looked around for almost an hour before Nora spotted a metal frame bed with old timey style wrought iron on the head and foot that she liked. I liked it too, and by happy coincidence it had a mattress that felt pretty comfortable. I gave it the bounce test and no squeaks or groans came out of it, so we asked the price. Much to my delight, the bed was only $129.00 and the mattress listed for $220.00. Because of a small rust-like stain under the factory applied protective plastic cover, the manager offered the mattress at a large discount. We also bought the matching end tables and got the works for $301.00, delivered. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The following day, two young men delivered and set up the bed. I sat down on it and the mattress that was so comfortable the day before was now rock-hard. I protested and they swore that it was the same mattress. Then I noticed that the label was missing. I had them turn the mattress over and realized they had put in on the bed upside down. I suspect that is also the reason so many of the mattresses in the store seemed like they were stuffed with concrete. I tipped them a couple of bucks each, which is appropriate for delivery men who unpack and set up your purchase for you.

Diesel in Your Gas Tank

A young friend who grew up here but has lived in Atlanta for about 10 years is visiting and borrowed the family SUV to go to Isla Grande last Saturday. On the way he stopped in Sabanitas to top off the gas tank and told the attendant to fill it up with 'regular'. For those of you who don't know, Panama has four types of automotive fuel. There is "91" and "95" octane gasoline and "regular" and "premium" diesel. He paid for the gas and headed for Isla Grande, but a short way down the road, the car started running very rough and lost power. He turned around and went back to the gas station where he discovered the attendant had filled the tank with diesel.

Fortunately, after draining the tank and refilling with gasoline, the problems went away and all is well. This story illustrates the extreme ease of something going wrong when you mix very low-paid and frequently undereducated employees with a bit of technology and stir in a dash of cultural difference. When buying gasoline, make sure the attendant puts the correct fuel in your car.

Learning to See Again

I would never have dreamed that a simple skill like focusing two eyes on the same object is something you have to learn how to do, but now that I've realized I can't do it well anymore, I've given it some thought. One of the first things that popped into my mind is how babies' eyes wander all over the place until they get the knack of focusing and controlling them. It's learned at such an early age that most of us don't even realize it's a skill.

I really don't know how long my left eye had been on strike, but my vision got dramatically worse after I came home from the hospital following heart surgery, and within a month, I was effectively blind on that side, having only lower left peripheral vision left. So, now I've got my retina reattached and the left blinker gets a bit better every day, but apparently the trauma of surgery changed the shape and position of my eye enough that the old skills, shaped by 63 years of practice, don't always put my left eye exactly where it needs to be to achieve agreement with the right one. This can result in slight disorientation when walking around inside a large store where the focus has to shift constantly. To combat that I sometimes wear an eyepatch when shopping. I was wearing it Sunday in Price Smart Los Pueblos when a young girl looked around and spotted me. "Mami, mira ese hombre" (Mommy, look at that man) she said in a loud whisper, and the family shushed her and appeared embarassed. I eased up behind her, bent down to her level, and in my best Bluebeard imitation, growled "Soy pirata." (I'm a pirate.) That broke the tension, everyone got a good laugh, and the little girl acted properly startled.

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