PANAMA!! David Lee Roth… hot pants, high kicks, and the way he moves! Couldn’t believe Sam had never seen the video let alone heard this song. Where did I go wrong? How did I fail to expose her to the greatness of David Lee Roth? Ever since Panama was added to our mix of countries, I’ve been waiting to write this Low Down – Iliad opens with ‘Rage’, we open with ‘PANAMA!’.
On our first day we hopped into a local cabbie and ventured into a hood with lots of small shops and street vendors. Spotted a big market that sorta felt like Target. But mos def a Target, not a Tarjé.
We walked up to the 4th floor, to the office supplies section, and it was like walking straight into paper heaven! Shelves and shelves of notebooks AND all from Panamanian companies! So many to choose from but easily picked the winner. Orange and green cover, the unofficial colors of Panama, and a profile of a conquistador!
I turned the corner and spotted clear jackets that perfectly fit the notebooks. They may be simple and clear but they totally up the notebook’s game. Had to include them in this month’s kit as a bonus item, because I later found eraser shields that I couldn’t refuse. The knocked-out shapes remind me of the conquistador profile on the notebooks, and hello?! An eraser SHEILD! Just too gangsta to pass up.
Chasing down enough for our inventory took us on a mad journey over three days, through tropical storms, roughing local cabbies and stressin’ about quantity. But we did it. Counting the very last one, and placing it in our shopping basket? Golden.
I hoped to find a dope pen this month but all I could find were Papermates and Bics. Not gonna happen. No worries, ‘cause we found a shop with a massive selection of pencils that I’d never seen or heard of. The rich metallic colored pencil barrels paired with gold foil stamp jobs also reminded me of the deep history of conquistadors in Panama. We were taken with samurais in Japan and now with conquistadors in Panama. All the imagery of conquistadors and colors felt very pimpin’. Who says lo-fi can’t rock the bling?
oxxo hen