Online, I saw a used office chair similar to the one I had in my old office. The guy selling it was in the hills north of downtown Boquete (I live just south of downtown). So this morning I set out through the road construction in town (actually, it’s more like DEstruction, right now), and headed north on one of the loop roads.
I had never gone out of town in the car I just bought, so I was a little fearful of the steepness and curves on one of the outer loops. Actually, the road turned out to be really nice and not too steep. There were lots of curves, though, and people did tend to come around them pretty fast.
Since there are no street addresses around here, the guy sent me a photo of his entrance gate to guide me. When I got to his neighborhood (Alto Lino), I started looking for the design on the metal gate. Well, I didn’t see it on the first pass and kept on driving a mile or two more, until it looked like I was about to head out of the neighborhood.
I stopped at a restaurant and showed them the photo. The girl knew whose house it was, and told me it was back where I had come from. I kept a sharp eye out this time, and found it. He had both sides of the gate open this morning, and it was a little difficult to see from the road.
So the expedition was a success! He loaded up the car for me and I headed back to town with my prize. Getting it up the stairs was quite an effort – it’s kind of heavy. I backed up the stairs, one step at a time, grabbed the chair on either side of the back, and hauled it up gradually. Once I got it up the stairs, it was easy to roll it down the tiled hallway and into my apartment. There was an office chair in here already, but it was extremely uncomfortable. My back has hurt for two days. This one is MUCH better!
I also got a 6-foot folding table today to use as my clay work station. There’s a lady in town who goes to PriceSmart (a membership store like Sam’s Club or Costco) in David every Wednesday and shops for people. She charges $10 over the cost of the items she picks up. Nice service – saved me a trip to David and the confusion of trying to find the store, not to mention the cost of membership. Well worth the $10, and she even carried it up the stairs for me!
You’ll get used to the curves pretty quickly. After a while they are fun. I had to get used to fast moving traffic on crowded expressways but before too long it was second nature.