I'm coming up on my three month anniversary after arriving in Panama back in January. I figured this'd be a good excuse to do a mini review on how life is down here, beyond the fact that I now know exactly how many days it takes me to go through a stick of Right Guard x-Treme. This'll be a progress report of sorts—though I won't be giving myself grades or requiring any parental or guardian signatures. Every three months I will write this report from my local dojo while snacking on fresh blintzes. This'll be quick though--won't hurt a bit.

I have a confession to make: I'm 21 and have a drivers license, but I don't use it. It's not that I can't drive, just that circumstances have made it difficult for me to have a car available.

After asking around a little bit, I found two stores that could furnish my whole apartment without eating a radioactive whole through my wallet: their names El Costo and El Machetazo. These are both air hanger sized warehouses that sell everything from bed boards to ball bearings, and all at totally reasonable prices. As for transportation, I recommend that you either rent an SUV for this project or perhaps find a friend with an SUV who you can exploit because the amount of things you will be purchasing probably will not fit in a taxi nor do I believe either store will deliver.