The Panama Adventure

We may be living in Panama, but after living in Florida for 17 years before moving here, events in Florida have been very much on my mind. I still have many friends there and I’ve been following their Facebook posts. There was a crazy amount of fear and stress before the hurricane hit. I don’t know if it was whipped up by the media, or people between each other, or panicked friends and family from afar, but it sure made things harder for people in Florida.

Today though I have been very happy to hear the news that is now coming from Florida. Everyone I know is safe. Most are without electricity and have debris everywhere, some have damage to their homes, but I can sense the relief that it is over and the aftermath is only cleanup and repair.

Panama does not have hurricanes. There was a very rare event last year when one came close but all it did was stall north of us and dump tons of rain. Panama really doesn’t have much of anything in the way of weather related problems. It’s hot, the sun is strong, it rained, it’s going to rain…. that is the extent of the weather related conversation around here. If you really want to spice things up – earthquake! That gives everyone something to talk about for a few days but it’s rare they do any damage. They just shake the ground a bit.

I love Panama for many reasons, and freedom from worry about weather related disasters is definitely one of them! I really feel for the people in Florida and Texas, in the Pacific Northwest who are battling fires, the Mexican people trying to recover from the earthquake, not to mention Cuba and the islands in the Caribbean who were so hard hit by Irma. It’s been a really tough time for so many people. Many people are helping though. Even Panama is sending tons of relief supplies to Cuba and Caribbean islands. There are so many good people in this world.

Fires in the northwest US, three hurricanes at the same time, and one of the biggest earthquakes hits Mexico. It seems like crazy times on our side of the world.

My west coast daughters are getting used to smoke in the air, and sometimes ash falling on everything and the sun looking like an orange ball in the sky. It has been record breaking hot and no rain has fallen in a long time, conditions that make fires thrive. I’m thankful that they are both in cities and not out in the forest somewhere.

Then of course there was Harvey that hit the Houston area. Those affected are already slipping from the radar in the face of Irma who is poised to hit Florida. Katyia is making landfall in Mexico right about now and though less than Irma, I wouldn’t want those 100+ mph winds coming at me. Jose is out in the Atlantic and if it follows its projected path it shouldn’t hit the US, but those islands already pounded by Irma don’t need Jose coming at them next.

Then, Mexico gets hit by an 8.1 earthquake, southwest close to the Guatemala border. The pictures on line look really bad. Word is that it was felt as far away as Mexico City. We didn’t feel anything here, and neither did my friend in Nicaragua but I have heard that others in the area may have felt some tremors. I was afraid the hurricane was headed to the same area as the earthquake but thankfully it looks like it’s a bit north, but as widespread as the effect of both can be there could be overlapping.

Of course for me, Irma hits closest to home. We lived in Florida for 17 years and are very familiar with hurricanes. We narrowly missed Charlie when it turned into Charlotte Harbor just a short drive south of us. I saw what 150 mph winds could do and it wasn’t pretty. Now many of my friends are facing another at least that strong.

I’ve seen comments from some of my Florida friends on social media who have been asked – why don’t you just get out?! Or friends freaking out thinking of what is headed their way, and none of this is helpful. Now it is time for them to prepare, hunker down, stay calm, and ride it out. Later, people will need resupplies of food, water, building materials, and assistance with recovery. I saw this good article on evacuation- Why So Many People Don’t Just Leave. It’s not that simple or advisable.

Here I sit on my terrace in Panama…. thankful, so thankful. We have an occasional earthquake tremor that rarely causes damage, and it rains. That’s it. High drama here is the cows are in the road, the iguanas ate every flower off my neighbors hibiscus, the sun is hot, it rained a lot, and our veggie guy is recovering from having his appendix out (but his totally charming daughter is covering). Oh, and grasshoppers, we have big ones and they also eat plants, but you can’t kill them in my yard because I still like them.

I’ve noticed a little brown bird coming and going from one of our bushes by the driveway. When I investigated, I found three little bluish eggs in a nest. On Friday when I checked on them, I saw that two had hatched. On Saturday, and again today I saw two birds so apparently the third egg didn’t hatch.

I plan to disturb them as little as possible but I’ll try to look in on them occasionally. We have found many similar nests in the bushes, and the doves like to nest in the bushy palm plant in front of the house. Another bird likes to make a nest on top of a pillar and manages to drop a lot of nesting material and make a mess below. We also have countless visitors from hawks, falcons, and vultures to tiny finches, wrens, and hummingbirds. It is said that there are more varieties of birds in Panama than in the whole of North America, and since we live next to a wooded area we get to enjoy many of them.

We also have more varieties of insects than in the whole of North America. I’ve never seen so many kinds of bees and wasps. I noticed a bunch of little ones on a small branch of our guanabana (soursop) tree last Monday. By Tuesday I could see the definite beginnings of a hive, so I snapped a photo every day to see their progress. I’ve seen many of these hives on houses and in trees and some say they are good luck. They are like the most delicate paper and very lightweight.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday. They seem to be finished.

Bees here seem to be very easy to live with. I’ve only been stung once when I was pulling vines off the fence, not realizing there was a hive on the fence post. Even then they only sent out one bee, not half the hive. I’ve seen big bumble bees, very tiny brown/golden bees, and everything in between in brown, black and/or gold. Many of them don’t even have stingers.

Life in Panama… In most places you get to live with a lot of wildlife. We also get to live with a lot of rain most of the time. Yesterday it rained hard for hours and I heard about flooding in Panama City and I’m sure there were problems here too. When it rains that hard the water just can’t drain from the streets that quickly. But this is nothing compared to Texas. What I’ve seen in the news is beyond awful. It’s going to take a very long time to recover from that and even with the help of many generous people, many lives will never be the same.

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I had an interesting experience the other day. Someone who has followed my blog for a while, and who has seen me out and about said she was nervous about approaching me to say hi, but she finally got her courage up and came over.

It always surprises me to hear that I am seen as some sort of celebrity because of my blog. I don’t feel at all out of the ordinary. I enjoy writing and I just write about what is going on, what interests me, or what catches my eye. I’m always surprised that people know me, or know things about me because I don’t think about the blog when I’m out.

But, I really appreciate knowing that people find the blog interesting and helpful. I forget how I latched on to any information about Panama before moving here, and I never thought about becoming one of those sources of information. I started out because a blog is an easy way to keep family and friends updated but since I’m living in Panama now, it is also a way to see life here through my eyes. I worry sometimes that people will come here because of my happy experience and find it doesn’t work for them, but so far I haven’t heard about that happening. Keep in mind though that everyone’s experience is unique and success is based on many factors, so do your own homework.

I get many emails and comments, and if you take the time to write I appreciate that and will respond. If I don’t please poke me because it’s an oversight. I have also met many people in person through the blog, many of whom have become personal friends. I am not shy and I have no problem talking with people I don’t know so if you see me, please feel free to say hello.

Joel saw this funny video posted by a Facebook friend. A “northerner” was terrorizing Londoners by *gasp* saying hello to complete strangers!

But, much of humor has truth behind it. In some places it is not customary to greet strangers and it makes people very uncomfortable. Here in Panama it is quite the opposite. Greetings are customary with strangers on the street, on the bus, in a waiting room, everywhere! After five years here it has become my normal and I really miss it when I’m in the US. It makes you feel good to be aknowledged by everyone but isn’t the custom in many places.

This is what you expect, right? You turn on the faucet and water comes out. I learned on my first day that this is not always so. I was alone in a new country, new house, half bottle of drinking water on hand, and when I turned the faucet nothing came out.

In the summer when there isn’t any rain water shortages are common. When it rains too much the lines get clogged with mud and the water is off until they can be cleaned. If they are fixing something, the water is off. No one seems to know why the water is off most of the time and no one seems to get very upset about it either. Thankfully the water always seems to come back on later. I can only think of once when it was out for more than a day and a water truck came through the neighborhood to fill any container that you gave them.

Panama is working hard to upgrade infrastructure, including the water systems and we have fewer outages than when we arrived five years ago. But, it still happens. Last Saturday the water slowed to a trickle, and then went out. It was back at night but Sunday was more of the same. Monday was variable, but mostly low water pressure. We are in a lower part of the neighborhood so we often have a trickle where the higher houses have nothing.

We have gallons of water on hand so it’s only inconvient when the water goes out. Laundry and cleaning wait, and hair doesn’t get washed. Many houses have water tanks to see them through outages but with just the two of us in a rented house, we are ok without one. I’m always thankful when the water is back on though, and think about the many people in the world who never have water in their homes or even access to any clean water at all.

If we are without something, I’m glad it’s water. Electricity has been very reliable. It goes out once in a great while but almost never for very long. Internet has been equally reliable.

Life in Panama means some things are different, or you do without some things that you always took for granted. But we think, for us, these things are very minor compared to the many things that are so much better. It’s also good to think about what is really important, and to be thankful for clean water even when it occasionally comes in a gallon jug.

What does having a bad day mean? An annoyance? A cranky boss or client? Losing your job? Losing the fight for your very survival?

I saw a story from National Geographic. This girl was born in Rwanda in 1994, prematurely, as her mother was running to escape the genocide. Her mother died soon after the birth, the baby girl ended up in an orphanage where it was arranged for her to be adopted by a Belgian family. She made it out on the last plane, now suffering from malaria, days before all the other children were massacred. She survived though and has now returned to Rwanda where she works to help people with education and medical care.

The article and video are HERE

People get upset sometimes. There is no water today, and it was off on Monday too. We had to go downtown and the traffic was nuts, and then we had to sit around and wait our turn for a car inspection. They didn’t even look like they were trying to hurry. The ants are eating my moringa tree, again, and the darn frog who croaks at night is so loud. It’s sunny and too hot, or there’s too much rain, and they still don’t have season salt in the supermarket. Why does every conversation have words I don’t understand, and they talk so fast?

Some people aren’t happy with the expat life. It’s too hard to adapt, to tolerate the frustrations. There are for profit companies promoting the expat life in various countries but they won’t tell you of the problems and challenges. This is something each of us must learn for ourselves, and then decide if we can be happy.

But, when I hear about the suffering and challenges confronting so many of the worlds people, I see how fortunate we are. We have clean water and at worst, we have to grab a gallon jug from under the sink. No one is shooting at us or bombing our city. We aren’t suffering from diseases with no available health care. No one even looks down on us for our differing religious, political, or lifestyle views. We have everything we need – food, shelter, affordable medical care, friends and community ties, and freedom from worry.

My worst day would be an incredible gift to so many of the world’s people. My worst day is a good day, and I am very thankful. Continue reading →