Turtlecon

"errrr! errr! clucclucluclcuclukcluckcluck!" patio chicken.
Yesterday we went shopping for clothes for Jose and the trip to Spain. Jose and Rosalina are going to Spain for a couple of weeks soon with Jose´s brother Miguel and his wife and daughter, Anais and Diana and a group of people from the University in Panama City. Today a box of clothing (including a men´s winter coat) from Rosalina´s well travelled cousin Titi is expected to arrive. It is quite a challenge to find clothing suitable for winter in Panama! There are a few coldish weather options, like sweaters, even a few lightweight jackets. Last year Jose and Rosalina took me and Luis to Volcan where there is a little thrift store with quite a selection (for some reason) of Land´s End sample coats in big cardboard boxes. Some of the shirts and coats are embroidered with the names of companies and organizations like,
"Turtlecon Technologies."
"Turlestick Christian Ministry...."
There were some very nice ones. I remember Rosalina had said
"You can use these in Montreal."
At the time that seemed to make sense, after all when you are here in Panama it is hard to imagine the cold, at least not a cold stronger than a crisp mountain evening in Boquete. Luis found a navy blue jacket that says "Hunter" in black embroidery. You can barely see it and if you could it seems like the brand of the jacket. I chose a red one with the word "SAMPLE" written in black marker on the inside back panel. Sadly when we arrived in Montreal last year (where the cold hits you like a brick to the chest) and we had to crack ice off the taxi cab door in order to get into it, we remembered what cold is. At that point the new jackets seemed more like light raincoats for a late spring afternoon.
Yesterday we stopped by a couple of the nicest stores in David to find men´s clothes. In Conway the sales lady held up a khaki zip up jacket. Jose tried it on.
"What do you think Erika?" Rosalina asked. Jose was smiling feeling proud in the jacket.
"Alex and Luis have similar ones, but they are for spring and late summer." I said. His smile got a little bit smaller. In another store he tried a few jackets. A blue one looked especially nice on him.
"I can wear this with a scarf in Spain." he said smiling.
"No you need to wear a coat with it." I said. Again, his smile got a little smaller.
"This is not a coat?" he said.
"This jacket is good to wear inside." said Rosalina.
"How cold is it in Spain right now?" I asked.
"I don´t know. We´ll have to check the weather report." Rosalina said.
I am not sure how cold it is there. Probably not bitter.
Our next stop was a thrift store called "American Clothing"
There Jose found a very nice blue pure wool jacket from Ralph Lauren. It suits him and he is very pleased with it. It´s a bit big, but he´s going to have it altered. Jose is funny. He really likes shoes from the brand "Rockport." He borrowed a pair one time from Luis I think and thought they were so comfortable that he always wants to wear Rockport shoes. Rosalina got Luis a classy pair of black boots for Christmas this year. (They are a good addition to his soon to be Dr. Luis Miguel wardrobe.) When Jose saw them he had to have them too and went back to the same store for his own pair. (Maybe you saw the picture of them in matching boots I posted?)
At the thrift store when he saw a sign for Rockport shoes he got excited looked at me and said
"ROCKSport!" (With the emphasis on ROCKS)
Among other news, the term "turtlehead" has now officially spread to Latin America. I have used it a couple of times around Alessandra and now she likes to use it. She used it just the other day when she was frustrated with her boyfriend
"Que cabeza de Tortuga!" she said (What a turtlehead!) She has also said.
"Que Tortugota!" (big turtle!) hahaha!
Have a great day!