What I packed

How much did I bring with me to Panama?  I think the question of "what they carried" is always fascinating, no less so for a nine-month trip to a foreign country.

Despite being a kind of DIY person who likes to have the right tool to do all the things, I did NOT bring a bunch of stuff I consider essential to my home life in Lancaster.  For example, I left behind . . . 

• my sewing machine
• cordless drill and other power tools
• canning jars (hundreds and hundreds of them)
• three-hole punch (which I use almost weekly when in Lancaster)

We're renting from an airbnb, so I also am not bringing furniture, kitchen equipment, etc.

I decided to try to travel lightly: I bought a large suitcase from a nearby thrift store and hoped to use only that one suitcase.  Although, actually, the suitcase is two in one -- a rolling suitcase and a duffel bag that zip together to make one large contraption.  I think I lucked out at getting something so cleverly designed, because this should give me options for packing on smaller trips!

I'm still loving my two-suitcases-in-one.

Per the advice of former Fulbrighters and current Panamanians, I packed:

• lots of medicines.  They tell me that meds like Tylenol are sold by the pill here, and that I should have a year's supply of prescription meds.
• five pairs of shoes.  It rains a lot in Panama, and multiple people said I'd want to have an extra pair of dry shoes while the wet ones are drying.  To be more specific, I packed
• a cute pair of thigh-high rain boots a friend gifted me,
• two pairs of everyday walking/dress shoes,
• one pair of water shoes that I can use as slippers,
• one pair of running shoes. 

Aside from that, I also packed

• exercise clothes: two complete sets of shorts/shirts/socks
• ten days worth of everyday hot-weather clothes.  I am hoping this will give me enough variety and not require overly frequent trips to laundromats.  I figure I can buy more/different clothes in Panama if I need them.
• two cold-weather outfits because I'll go to Seattle in January for the math meetings, and summer dresses won't cut it there and then.  The Seattle mathematicians I collaborate with suggested I could mail my clothes to them there, but 
• (a) showing up to Seattle in a sun dress and waiting for mathematicians to bring me a winter coat sounds uncomfortable, 
• (b) it's possible I'll go into cold places in Panama (mountains??), and 
• (c) my husband reminded me that airplanes are always cold, and so I could wear much of the cold-weather gear on our travel days, saving room in my suitcase while also offsetting the discomfort of AC-of-AT (Air Conditioning of Air Travel).
•  A kindle, instead of several large books that I read aloud to my husband or myself
• toiletries
• a lock
• calendar pages for my planner
• three small umbrellas.

There were math-y things I brought that I'm going to leave here in Panama.  I packed a second suitcase (thanks to my husband, who packed even lighter than me and who could fit some of his stuff in that second suitcase and the rest in a backpack).  This included

• two copies of both of the math/art books I wrote,
• a big bag of rulers,
• a big bag of erasers,
• a big bag of drafting tape, and
• a collection of pop-up books showing hypercubes.

Also, I brought (as a carry-on) the planner bag I made that goes everywhere with me, with my computer, charger, planner, spoon and chopsticks, glasses, dongles, wallet, etc. 

Neil packed a very small number of clothes, his computer, a bike outfit and his bike helmet. 

Now that I'm here, what do I think about this?

As of one week in, I think I did okay -- I haven't smacked myself on the head and told myself, "how could I forget that!?!" yet.  So far, 

• I think I scored a 10-out-of-10 on the shoe selection;
• I probably brought more clothes (and yet fewer pants) than I needed to;
• the lock is basically useless;
• 2 umbrellas would have sufficed; I think I'll try to find rain ponchos as well.  

My husband packed much, much lighter than me, partly because he loves doing laundry daily, partly because he'll be here for only 2 or 3 weeks before returning to the U.S. where he can grab other stuff, and partly because I was in charge of shared supplies like medicines and umbrellas.  Not that medicines and umbrellas fill a suitcase, but I'm trying to rationalize why I seem to be so much more materialistic than he is!

At any rate, after I arrived, I realized I have a lot of t-shirts here, but not a lot of pants.  

Pants: that's a cultural difference here for sure.  The temperatures here consistently reach upper 80s or even low 90s, and the humidity numbers are the same (80 or 90%), and yet people here wear jeans.  Seriously, full-length jeans. I'd hear rumors of this, which is why I didn't bring my summer shorts.  At the same time, I can't bring myself to wear my one pair of heavy jeans in this climate.  

To try to rectify the situation, I took a bus trip to the mall and scoped out clothing stores, looking for capri pants or long shorts, and let me tell you: they're not a thing here.  The stores in the mall were full of rack-upon-rack of full-length jeans.  I eventually found a long knit skirt and a pair of lightweight knit pants (both with pockets) to add to my collection.  

The Embassy sent us Fulbrighters a pre-departure guide that urged us to pack lightly, saying we could buy the rest of what we need when we arrive.  As a planet-loving, frugalista who hates putting my money toward purchasing newly manufactured junk, I normally resist this kind of advice.  

Case in point: to deter shoplifting, purchases are often place in plastic bags,
stapled shut with the receipt on the outside,
and then scanned by a guard at the door of the store. 
I tried to refuse this bag, but I had to accept it.

So I got two plastic rain ponchos ("capetes de lluvia", or literally "rain capes"),
each in its own plastic bag, and all of that in a larger plastic bag. 
Sigh.  $4.26 in exchange for guilty feelings.

I suppose if I could find the equivalent of yard sales/thrift shops here, I'd be a tad more likely to follow it.  (I checked: Craigslist in Panama seems to be effectively inactive). 

At any rate, from what I've seen so far, I think I did a mostly decent job of packing for this unknown place. I didn't keep it to one backpack like my husband did, but I kind of kept my supplies to one suitcase, with nothing major left behind.