Michael: The Goods are Here

Neck bent in prayer
That someone will get off the bus
So I  can sit down.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Yesterday our container finally arrived at our storage unit in nearby Dolega.
Today I’ll talk about the experience of the move, tomorrow about the cost.

On Tuesday, Pablo, our moving agent in Panama informed us that our container would be out of port and on the road to us on Wednesday, but first we would have to pay the various fees. All right. He wanted me to make a bank transfer which I couldn’t do in one shot because the fees were over $1,000. He recommend we try Moneygram. We tried but it wouldn’t go through on-line.

By the end of Tuesday it was too late to get our container out of port that day, so Pablo said it would be there on Thursday. That would give us two days to withdraw money from the bank and we could pay him in cash on Thursday at the storage unit. That was acceptable.

I still didn’t want to contact Chiriqui Storage or arrange for a truck to move some of our goods to Volcan until I was assured our truck would be there Thursday. Wednesday he gave us that assurance.

Hellmut and Linda of Chiriqui Storage had given us some contacts of local movers, but only one of them spoke English so I called that person first. She quoted me a price of $180, which seemed a bit high to me, but with little time and not being able to speak Spanish confidently enough to be understood, I accepted.

On Thursday we hopped on the bus and arrived at storage just before 10.  While in transit we received texts and calls from Pablo, who was driving in from Costa Rica to meet the container in David, but couldn’t respond. Finally, at about 11, we were able to get his calls. He was in David and on his way. I called Gloria, the person I had arranged for a local truck with, and said two would be a good time for the movers to arrive at storage. Great, she’d come to the storage unit to get the cash payment and we’d be set.

Pablo arrived at 12 with a crew of movers and in an hour we had our goods separated into inside the storage unit and outside going to Volcan. U.S. customs had put their green “Inspected by U.S. Customs” across most of our boxes and had done a reasonable job of repacking the container. On our un-loading we couldn’t see any obvious damage.

We also have no idea what box they removed in the states. I thought for sure it was going to be the box of empty rifle shells I used for a piece of art, but it was there. Guess we’ll just have to wait until Homeland Security contacts us.

Surprisingly, Kimme found our locks we could use on the storage unit in one of our boxes, but I didn’t bring the keys because I thought in all the rush there’s no way they’d turn up. Had to buy a lock from Chiriqui Storage. A small expense all things considered, but sometimes it’s those paper cuts that push you over the edge as opposed to the big money wounds that were being inflicted on my weary financial resources.

Our local movers arrived right on schedule and within an hour we were loaded up and on our way to Volcan. The only glitch was that their truck would only hold three - the two of them and one of us. Hellmut and Linda had been kind enough to offer Kimme a ride to David, but they had to rescind that offer because they had promised another client to stay there until they arrived and they weren’t there yet. So it was wait for the bus for Kimme while I hopped on the cattle/moving truck.

The two local movers, with difficult to pronounce names, and I arrived in Volcan near 4 and were unloaded in less 45 minutes. All of the movers, Pablo’s crew and these local guys, did a great job and were all very careful and patient us.

Kimme was home by 5:30, just in time to walk with me to find gas ( one of our propane tanks had just run out as I wanted to take a shower.) and get something to eat.

The most unusual part of this for me was doing all of this in cash. That was $1800 worth of $20s I handed out in one afternoon. My wallet and I are far more relaxed and comfortable with amounts like the $15 that now reside in its once again slim pouch.