It’s been a really nice day, sunny, light breeze, not too hot, very enjoyable. I’m sitting here reflecting on my day, just a ordinary typical day in my life here (as ordinary and typical as any day can be in a different country).

The teak harvesting continues. They arrived about 8:15-8:30 this morning. It is now 5:30 PM and they are still at work. I caught the truck leaving yesterday. If you missed my previous posts about this work in progress and want to see more, the posts are here and here. It’s been quite interesting to watch.

The guys who load the wood (by hand!) on to the truck all pile on top when they drive off. I don’t know where they go, but before long they are back to load more.

When I went through my photos I saw I had caught my neighbor Lucho who was also watching the truck leave. He said he did that work when he was young and it was really hard. After a year he knew he needed to find a different line of work (he is now a welder who makes security gates for doors and windows, and also does a variety of construction projects). He said the guys doing the heavy lifting make $20/day, or at most $25/day. I also talked to the very strong little guy this morning. He said he is making good money but he’s heading up the whole operation.

Lucho watching the truck. I have such nice neighbors.  He’s smart, hard working, sensible, and has a heart of gold, and just looking at the photo makes me smile.

I hadn’t been on my bike in a while, so I set off for a ride and some errands this morning. As you leave our neighborhood, there is another neighborhood on the other side of the street with a lot of new activity.

As you leave our neighborhood you see this sign pointing across the street to the new neighborhood under construction.

At the end of the street is the new neighborhood that is going on. I still don’t understand the cutting in to the hillside. I notice it also goes around the right side of the hills.

Also, about a block down the street I saw this. An apartment building?? That will look odd in this area of single family homes.

There is a big field south of our neighborhood, and once in a while they hire three guys with machetes to cut the grass. It usually takes them three days. That kind of labor is very cheap, so they probably figure it makes more sense to do this than hire a machine that could cut it in a couple hours. What hard work out in the hot sun though.

Next I headed over to the old Via Boquete and saw this new sign. It looks like a large apartment building is going in there, also in a neighborhood of single family homes. It’s crazy all the construction and growth going on around here!

I was headed to the art school since I hadn’t been there since my trip. I had a good time saying hi to the other teachers but my painting teacher was out doing other things, so I’ll stop by another time. On the way back I passed another view of the construction in progress for the new bus terminal and shopping center.

No tire basura = don’t throw trash. Se vende = for sale. This would be a nice lot with a pretty view.

That’s about it for this morning. I have a cold, nothing serious, just a very runny and sneezy nose but I’ve lost my desire to fill my afternoon with activity.  I’ve been mostly sitting and reading and I’ve found some interesting articles. You have been warned 😀 There may be more off topic posts.

It’s now 6PM. Joel went to Boquete this morning for band practice for tomorrow’s gig. Then he had an afternoon thing with his other group, and now suddenly they have also been asked to play at a restaurant tonight! It looks like the teak people are wrapping it up for today. A couple of the pickup trucks have left, and they have parked the tractor in Lucho’s yard (huh? Maybe he’s keeping an eye on it for them if they aren’t coming tomorrow). It looks like I have a whole baked chicken all to myself! 😀

Life in Panama…