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I’ve heard that there are Push Buttons all over Latin America, and I have seen many in Panama. A push button is a hotel that you can rent by the hour. From the outside they look like something fancy and … Continue reading
Kris and I love taking our cameras down to the river behind our house, we never know what we’ll see. I was busy taking some close-ups when Kris called to me to come quickly, NOW!. I got up to see what she was talking about and was quite surprised to see a small caiman floating about 20′ from shore.
I say small because in Sarasota, Florida, where we lived before coming to Panama, I had seen many alligators from 8′ – 10′ long.
I did some research and found that the Panama caiman can grow up to 8′ long, that’s a lot bigger than I thought they grew!
i don’t feel particularly threatened by the presence of this little guy but it may have a big brother, SO…..I now will be a little more vigilant if I decide to take a dip in our beautiful and possibly dangerous river.
Later,
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This weeks photo challenge is patterns. To me, a pattern is something that repeats, a predictable element – an idea, a color, a texture. I had no idea where I was going to go with this until we took a walk down to the river this morning.
Many types of grass are flowering, and when you look down on them the flowers look like stars, or snowflakes, or patterns of lace.
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There were many leaves with interesting color patterns and textures.
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A few other things that caught my eye.
The sounds of the river behind our house have been much louder since all the rain this afternoon, so we went down there to investigate. It does not look the same! The water is very muddy, flowing fast, and a bit higher than it was before. Apparently we got quite a lot of rain.
It was very late in the day when we went down, and so dark we were glad for our flashlights as we made our way back up to the street. The photos have a dusky bluish tint because of the low light, but you can see how muddy the water is. It’s quite different from the calm, clear water of less than two weeks ago.
We need rain. This last dry season has been usually hot, dry, and windy, and the rains have been slow to return. There is a serious shortage of electricity because there isn’t enough water in the rivers to run the hydroelectric generators. So, it’s hard to complain when we get rain. It has been pouring most of the afternoon, often with lightning and very loud thunder. There is a little wind, especially considering how much thunder and rain there is. Back in Florida a storm like this would have debris blown all over the place!
It’s good to have the rain. The air is cool and comfortable. We already went out on our bikes this morning and we have no where else we have to be. The electricity seems to be hanging in there, so what does one do on a rainy afternoon. Update the website!
I’ve had the website for quite a while but haven’t done a whole lot with it yet. I’m sure it will always be a work in progress, but I have made a bit more progress today. Hopefully it will be a useful place to visit for some of the many people who are interested in learning more about this part of the world.
Zemanta brought up some news articles (which are all pretty much the same article). It’s interesting though to see how our water problems in Panama have made the news in so many US newspapers. I’m curious about the canal – two ships in a lock at once? Those ships are SO big! I’ll have to watch the webcam and see what is going on. I also like the Live Marine Traffic page to identify the ships. Right now I see a cargo ship from Denmark entering the Miliflores Locks, and another from Libera in Miliflores Lake.
This was our other adventure on our trip to Volcan. I’d never seen these animals before, let alone held them!
Kris and I had always wanted to visit “Raquel’s Ark” in Volcan. I first found Raquel’s posts on Gringos in David where she has often mentioned that people are welcome to visit and see the various animals. Raquel says “I have an organization called Raquel’s Ark that was set up to help injured or abused wildlife of Panama. I am located in the mountains of Panama near the Costa Rica border. I hope to expand to help as many animals that I can. Presently I have owls, tucans, ferrots, kinkajous, raccoon, coatimundi, neque and two-toed sloths. To support my project I have to find work.”
Raquel bought the land 10 years ago and little by little she added many areas designed to house the animals. The Ark is a work in progress that Raquel self-finances from her Oracle consulting outside of Panama. Volunteers take care of the animals while she…
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This is a very interesting site located about six kilometers outside of the town of Volcan. It has artifacts from A.D. 300-900, and is named for the barrel shaped object which was the first artifact found here. Archaeologists from around the world have been studying it since the 1940’s. Some of the artifacts have been taken to the National Museum in Panama City, but many can also be seen here.
For more information see the articles on Wikipedia, yourpanama.com, La Prensa (in Spanish), and Portal of Tourism of Volcan,
The site is on a private family farm, and the owners are the custodians of the site and the artifacts. You can see stone carvings, ceramic artifacts, and excavation areas. Many of the stones are unusual because there is little to see until they are wet, and then the designs become visible. The boy who greeted us on arrival requested $3 per car to walk around on your own, or $3 per person for a guided tour. The owner was busy with another tour so we decided to walk around on our own.
Our friend Ryan has also visited this site and made a video of his trip. The link is HERE if you want to check it out. He took the tour so in his video you will see the owner explaining everything, and there is a lot of very interesting information.
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I expected to see artifacts, but I did not expect to see so much other beauty. It is a spectacular area full of flowers, trees, and many birds.
There are paths for walking, and I really enjoy exploring this area.
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This was only one of our stops on this trip to Volcan. We visited Raquel’s Ark, and I will repost Joel’s blog post about that visit. On our way home we stopped by a Janson’s Coffee Farm. We were tired and didn’t have enough time to really explore this, so we will return on another day. It’s a beautiful spot with a lot of things to do, and looks like it is well worth a return visit.
Cows are everywhere! Our neighbor Roberto even had a couple calves in his yard for a while. They have gone to his farm now, but there are plenty of others in the area. When I see cows I think of my blogging friend Karen and her stories of the vacas (cows) in her neighborhood looking longingly at her green garden while they eat brown grass (pray for rain in her neighborhood!)
We came across this playful calf near our house a couple weeks ago.
Today, we spotted Roberto feeding a bit of corn to the cows in the field next to his house.
Roberto told me that he was giving the cows a treat because they are having a hard time getting by on grass after such a hot, dry summer. Here, cows fend for themselves with minimal human intervention. Things are looking much more green now but we need a lot more rain to catch up after months of hot, dry, windy weather.
School has been canceled for the rest of the week too. There is not enough water in the mountains and the rivers are dry. The dry rivers can’t run the hydroelectric generators so the government is trying to decrease electricity usage, saying the problem has reached critical levels. All schools and universities are closed. Businesses and government offices are allowed only very limited hours of air conditioning. Nightclubs, bars, casinos and supermarkets are to close at 10PM. (we have 24 hr supermarkets)
Roberto explained that some of the problem is the harvesting of trees in the mountains. Without the trees, the earth is bare and water just runs off it. Trees help the water soak into the ground. This water runs into the streams slowly over a longer time, and the rivers are much less likely to run dry in dry weather. The rivers are dry now though, and this is also a huge problem for the Indians who rely on the rivers for fish, and the water for farming and drinking.
A while back I read something about a big meeting with government officials, the people who want to protect the environment, and people who want to harvest lumber. The officials became convinced that harvesting lumber is a bad idea because of these water concerns, and will not allow the harvesting of trees to continue. I hope this is true. This area is growing rapidly and adequate water is going to be more and more important. Many also say that part of the problem is climate change, and this has caused this last summer to be usually hot, dry, and windy.
Roberto explained his thoughts about the loss of trees in his normal speaking pace, in Spanish, and I am really happy to say that I understood pretty much everything he told me! Lately I have been feeling like my Spanish is getting better. I’m sure there will be another day when I can’t seem to understand a thing and that will knock me down a peg or two, but today I think I’ve got it going on 😀
I am also thankful that our water seems to be doing well here, and it’s been quite a while since we have had a water shutdown in the neighborhood. Hopefully the electricity will hang in there too. For me, no electricity means no internet and no communication with the US. For the country, no electricity means a multitude of problems.
Ahh, I see Zemanta has found a news article on this subject
One of our requirements is internet. This is how we keep in touch with everybody. Communication was never as important as yesterday when my grandson was born!
This makes me think about people in the past who set out for unknown new worlds, leaving behind people they would probably never see again. I don’t know if I could have done that. How would it feel to watch your children leave, and not know if they even survived?
But now, things are different. Panama has internet. It even has free internet in many public places. It isn’t always reliable or fast, but if you have to get in touch with the world you can go to the city park, the airport, or the hospital parking lot, hookup to http://internetparatodos.gob.pa/ and get connected.
We have internet at the house through Cable Onda. In the seven months I have been here it has not gone down once. We have a mid range plan (Internet and TV) for about $52/month.
I have a cheap Panamanian cell phone for calls in Panama. For the US I have a Skype plan for about $6/month. I have unlimited calls to anyone in the US, and I have a US phone number so I can also receive calls. If I’m not at my desk it will let you leave a voice message, and an email will alert me to go pick it up. I can also video chat with other Skype users which is wonderful. It’s about as close as you can get to being there.
There are other options like Magic Jack that people have used successfully, and I’ve also used Google chat with video which works fine. Many many people here also have smart phones so you can have all this in your pocket.
For me though, this works. It has been an adjustment to not have a smart phone with me at all times. When I was working I needed it and used it constantly. Now it’s different, and giving up my smart phone was almost symbolic of my changed life. I’m not attached 24/7 to my phone, or my work, or my old life anymore.
I will not give up communication though! Yesterday I was able to talk and text message with my daughter throughout the day, talk with my other daughter when there was news, talk with the other grandmother when we needed to support and congratulate each other, and hear the most wonderful news from my son in law when he told me that the baby was here and all was well with both him and my daughter. Today I was able to video chat with my daughter and see both her and the baby (they both look wonderful!) To me, this is more important than anything, to be able to keep in touch with my family. We are so lucky to be living in this age where this is possible, and I’m glad to be in Panama where the technology is available.
Another thing we can do is share pictures, so I had to share just one more. Thank you all for the congratulations, good wishes, and happy messages. The arrival of this new little person in our family is a wonderful event indeed!
On a personal note, if you will excuse a very excited new grandma….
My daughter’s son, my first grandchild, born this afternoon. Mom and dad and baby are all doing fine! We’ve known for months of course, but it’s still almost unreal. Wow
