The other day (Monday July 22, 2013), one of the Yahoo! pages ran a story about Panama boarding a North Korean ship that they thought was suspicious (maybe carrying drugs or ???), and it turned out that underneath several tons of sugar they discovered some old MiG fighter jets.  On the US news broadcasts there were shots of President Martinelli climbing aboard and looking down into one of the ship's holds, and all in all it was pretty much a big deal, at least for Panama.  But the reader comments under the story were simply hilarious, so I wanted to paste a few of them here for you:

In one fell swoop, Panama has captured the entire Cuban air force.

Jason

Next time they will be going around the long way

Pauley

Just waiting for North Korea's claim to have missiles that can reach the Panama Canal and will use them if the ship and its crew are not released.

Bob

"..sending it to N. Korea for repair" ??! Why not fly the repairman to Cuba with a wrench and a screwdriver??

Jonny M.

Don't you just hate it when your jet falls in the sugar bowl?

Jeff

There goes North Korea's show of military might for there next parade.

Rusty

We got better planes in front of the elementary school near the base in my town.

Padewan

Kim Jong Un (aka Fat Yung Foo) was hoping to make an appearance on "ANTIQUE ROADSHOW"

Quint

Sending 60 year old fighters to NK? Ought to fit right in with their Acme Rocket Kits!

Snowdog

Better test the sugar for cocaine.

Jim

1950's vintage MiGs??? Wow, collectors items!

Michael M.

Also found, but not mentioned, a 53 Buick sedan,some old Elvis Presley 45s, and some Bill Haley and the Comets posters.LOL

Barry

Cheap North Koreans. Ya'll didn't bring enough bribe money.

Jamie

Great! Now we're going to have to ramp up our F-86 production to keep pace with North Korea.

SeaCay

Yes, it must have been a gift. What else can you call a "Sugar coated MiG-21"?

Dan

How did they miss the Sopwith Camel and the Fokker DVII.

Christopher

Did not find Snowden?

Chalis

If this were the 70s, 80s, or 90s, this would be part of some action movie with Sylvester Stallone or something

Joshua

Well, the ships manifest did mention "Bennie and the Jets".

Gary

And the reply from N Korea was , gee, how did those planes get there?

Trooper

I think North Korea planed on renting them out to the History and Military channels to make a little extra money!

Smarty Pants

Now all that's left to find is a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang, and Jimmy Hoffa

Sempfiguy

Next time try Cape Horn. You people could screw up an iron ball.

Diogenes

What other old stuff did they find? Cuz I sure would like to get my hands on some

Dippity Doo. It's been discontinued and maybe Cuba still has a few jars from the 60's.

MossGarden

The North Koreans still use Windows 95!

Terk Er Jerbs!

You mean to tell me there were no Cuban cigars?!

Jim C.

Better watch out. North Korea might just declare war on Panama. Then Panama will have send them fuel and money too. Little fat boy is already on WWO (world welfare organization).

Keith

The MiGs were for their air shows.

Steve

I didn't know that North Korea was opening an air museum!

Steel

Always declare what you got at customs.

Dude

   

Ok, sorry, I'm still new at this so even figuring out how to get the Google instructions to stay in English has been a chore. Everytime I log in, everything's in Spanish. Maybe I've fixed it this time, maybe not. Not your worry. Anyway, I wanted to put some images on here and figuring out how to do that has taken awhile. So now here's my first image! A loaf of bread! Huh? Yep, our local grocery store started carrying a new (to me) brand of bread a couple of months ago and I about dropped my eye teeth when I saw the name, Bimbo. I don't have to tell you what a "bimbo" is in English, you probably already know that, so finding the word on a loaf of bread I thought was hilarious! Turns out this is an old Mexican brand from years ago and they own a bunch of other names that are a lot more well known in the States. It's just that "Bimbo" really threw me the first time I saw it!

Santiago Lives

Just a note to let everyone know that, thanks to the suggestions of my old friend, Tom Steffen in Florida, I am starting this new blog about the goings on in and around Santiago, Veraguas, Panama. Any suggestions or comments will be most welcome!