Day 19—Taco Bell & Discovering El Machetazo

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am not great at “vacationing”.  I am way too goal-oriented.  If I don’t accomplish something, I feel like I have wasted my day (and I don’t consider sitting around a pool, surfing the net, swimming, and waiting for cocktail hour really accomplishing anything).  

So, we have been here almost 3 weeks and what we have discovered is that we can’t really explore the beaches (because of the extremely rough roads & lack of access), the restaurants are only mediocre (so it seems a waste of time and money to go to them), and every other place we would like to explore would require lots of time in the car (I hate driving for hours in a car), 4 wheel drive, or risking the craziness that is the city.  So here we are doing what most people would consider heaven: swimming, reading, sleeping, and just being.  Sigh.  At least we are not being stared at. 

So, for something to do, I decided I needed a new bathing suit. (As my $18 Walmart one is de-laminating).

Hard to see, but this is bathing suit de-lamination.

“Let’s go check out that Costo Store at the Westland Mall. We can have lunch while we are there.” 

So we schlep the 45 minutes on the highway, admiring the lush beauty of Panama.  We got to the mall, and we decided to eat first.  My husband laughed when I told him I wanted to eat at Taco Bell.

“I knew it! I think we now  hold the world record for the greatest distance driven to eat at a freaken’ Taco Bell!”

“What! I need a new swim suit!”

“Right…”

So after we ate, we went to the Costo.  What I quickly discovered is that Panamanian people might just be the lost people from the Land of OZ!  THEY ARE TINY!  I am 5’4” and I actually look down on the property manager, Dimas.  (I don’t mean culturally, I mean literally! At 5’4”, a full grown Panamanian man is shorter, and far slimmer than I am!) So, of course, there was NOTHING that was going to fit me.  (This just fueled Sean’s desire to apply to the Guinness World Book of Records .)

“What? I can’t help it if Panamanians belong to the Lollypop Guild! I swear, I came for a bathing suit! Taco Bell is just the icing on the cake (umm, yuck?)”

So we headed back toward Cornado, because (as usual) we needed  a few things for dinner.  We decided to show Emma the (redundant, I know) El Machetazo grocery store.  

Oh what a place of beauty.  It’s a big, open space with gleaming white floors.  The place is spotless, and has an amazing selection of groceries. 

And the best thing, that’s just the first floor.  There are two more entire floors of other goodies.  The second floor is like a Target (well, except in Spanish), and the third floor is like an ACE Hardware store! You never need to shop anywhere else.  They have a bank and a café as well! Wow! I want one of these in El Cerrito!

I thought taking a picture in grocery store would be let awkward with Sean standing in the picture.  I was wrong.

Then I discovered they have a special American-Mexican food section.  What I mean by that is they have everything you could possible want to create American Mexican food.  There are cans of refried beans, powered taco seasonings, pre-made taco shells, salsas, and queso con salsa.  YUM!!! I realized the thing I miss most is American Mexican food.  But I don’t really like the boxed taco shells, instead I prefer the fresh corn tortilla’s fried till they are soft ( just like mom used to make) and we haven’t been able to find those at the Rey or Super 99 markets.

I discovered that there are two of these sections set up in the store.  Can anyone say "Gringo alert!"

Oh, and El Mechetazo has  a whole section devoted to crackers.  It even says “crackers” on the sign at the end of the aisle.  (The crackers there are more like English biscuits than American Crackers—but still it’s a start!)

As we were walking through the store, out of the corner of my eye I spotted fresh corn tortillas! Yes! And right around the corner, jalepeno jack cheese! Now we wouldn’t have to drive to Taco Bell for a fix! (Or try to buy a bathing suit that  I couldn’t fit my left thigh into).   I quickly grabbed the tortillas, and bee-lined back across the store to the American Mexican section, for spice mix and refried beans.

Now we could have TACO NIGHT! OLÉ!

And we did.

But now I’m sick of American Mexican food…