The Panama Adventure

I was going to say it was just an ordinary day, but days never seem ordinary here. There is always something new and interesting. This morning we went to the supermarket and saw a police truck in the parking lot, and two policemen with dogs getting out. Except for the drug sniffing dogs at the airport I don’t think I have ever seen a policeman with a dog. Many Panamanians are extremely afraid of dogs so I don’t know if that is a factor. These policeman were just strolling around though, and no one seemed to be paying them any mind.

It was surprisingly quiet at the shopping mall. Since it’s only three days before Christmas we were expecting it to be nuts. There was parking available and as you can see in the photo above, not a lot of people out and about. The supermarket was quiet for even an ordinary day.

I don’t think we are supposed to take photos in the store but I couldn’t resist a few things.

Whipped cream from Arabia?! Why? There are two big dairies just up the road. Avena is oatmeal, so the product on the right is milk with oatmeal. They make things into drinks that we don’t usually use in that way. I remember someone being astonished that we just eat the watermelon. They make a drink out of that too.

Tamales are a very traditional part of Christmas dinner. I’d never seen them for sale in the supermarket though. These were 6 for $6.59. Home made ones are usually $1.25 each so this is a fair price if they are good. They are a lot of work to make so if I see someone selling them, I’m always happy to buy a few.

We were waiting our turn at the checkout counter and had some fun with the ad. Look honey, there are air vents in the back of the case! Is he wearing any pants? t always strikes me as odd to see very gringo looking people in Panamanian advertising, but it happens a lot.

As we headed home I saw one of the many fireworks stands that have popped up all over town. Christmas Eve is the big celebration with social gatherings and fireworks building up to a big, noisy climax at midnight. Then, everyone goes indoors to have Christmas dinner, call absent family and friends, and open gifts. Christmas day is generally quieter and a social day for family and friends. New Years Eve has even more fireworks building up to midnight, so I’m sure a lot of fireworks are sold for these holidays. We sort of miss the large extended Colombian family that went totally nuts with the fireworks on our corner, but there will be a lot of beautiful ones all over the neighborhood.

We usually don’t see many scorpions but this week we have seen four. There was a mother with babies in the corner of the terrace. Joel was surprised in the kitchen by a baby who ran across the counter top. He found this nice one today between sheets of plywood behind the house, no surprise since they are frequently seen there. And then there was one in the laundry room when he went to move the gas can. That one got squished by the gas can.

My Panamanian friends say that the best treatment for a scorpion sting is to kill the scorpion and put the material inside the scorpion’s body on the sting. If you can’t catch and kill the scorpion, the next best thing is scorpion juice made of alcohol with a dead scorpion in it. So, if we ever get stung by a scorpion we are ready now.

Panamanians have also told me that the baby scorpions eat their mother! I have looked for information and none of it says this, but what do I know? I did read that some scorpion mothers eat their mate though, or their young.

Avoiding problems with wildlife here isn’t much different than Florida and other places. Shake out your clothes and shoes before you put them on. Don’t put your hand in places you can’t see. Wear shoes outdoors. Be aware that you share your environment with various forms of wildlife who have ways of defending themselves.

I’m sure that is more than enough about scorpions for one day. I was house and dog sitting last week, and the iguanas were driving the dogs crazy. The iguanas seemed very interested in the seeds of a tall palm tree, but their activity caused noise in the tree which sent the dogs running every time. One time I went out and managed to catch the iguana with my camera.

Do you see the head of the iguana right in the middle of the photo?

Another fun thing today was Enrique, our fruit and vegetable man who comes every week. He gets up at 4AM to go to Cerro Punta and other places for his produce, and then drives around town the rest of the day selling it. His stuff is always really fresh and now that he knows what we like, he picks out the best broccoli and green beans and stashes them under the seat just for us. This is what I bought today – $15. I see people on line complaining about high costs and bad customer service, but this certainly hasn’t been our experience. I enjoy having a really nice guy show up at our door every week with yummy produce.

Lots of nice things today. The band is practicing here today too. And, I had better gardening karma. I went to do some work and it didn’t rain a drop! Another good day in Panama.

We are going through the transition from rainy to dry season here on the Pacific side of Panama. The Caribbean side, just a few hours away, has an entirely different weather pattern. It rains whenever it wants to and there aren’t the distinct seasons we have here.

But, here on the Pacific side we have fairly predictable weather patterns. People worry about the rainy season (April – December) thinking we might be soaking wet all the time, but that isn’t the case at all. Mornings are beautiful, clear and sunny. That is when you hang out laundry, do errands, and anything else that is better when it’s sunny. In the afternoon the clouds will start to gather. Maybe it will rain in the middle of the afternoon, or maybe closer to dark. Maybe it will pour like crazy for a little while followed by a gentle rain, or maybe it will just rain a little bit. It should be finished no later than bedtime though and you can enjoy the cooler, fresher air when you sleep.

The dry season (December – April)  is, well, dry! Rain is unusual. Plants and grass get increasingly brown and crispy and brush fires are common. The trade winds blow and some days can get very windy. This is Panamanian summer. School is out for summer vacation until mid February and people tend to do more outdoor things like home maintenance, swimming trips to the rivers, and family vacations.

At the moment though, we are somewhat confused. Sunday was clear and felt more like summer and yesterday was clear, windy, and very much like summer. Today though, mid afternoon, the clouds gathered and it started to rain. I was foolish enough to think I could do some gardening which is almost guaranteed to bring rain. 😀 But, as soon as I sat down at my computer it stopped and now the sun is coming out again. Shall I pick up my gardening tools again and see if the rain comes back?

I certainly won’t complain though. In a few weeks we will be praying for rain!

It seems the Boquete folks have been having a video festival, and my friend Phil Bennett has entered his work. This video has a lot of beautiful time lapse video of clouds rolling over the mountains (and I love clouds so I had to watch this a number of times!). And, that is Phil playing the music in the background that goes perfectly with the video. I didn’t know he was so multi talented!

Check it out, and don’t forget to click on the thumbs up “like” button so he’ll know you enjoyed it too. You will find it on the YouTube page.

Many of us retire with a spouse or significant other. This is not only about Panama or retiring overseas. There are things to consider wherever you end up. I have met couples who, when retired with new quantities of free time, were driving each other nuts. One wanted more space or more attention than the other. One wanted to continue the usual activities and the other wanted to go off into new directions, taking the reluctant partner along.

Add the changes that come with retirement to the challenges of moving to an entirely new country, and there could be some bumps along the way. What if one of you is unhappy and frustrated by the challenges, and wants to drag the reluctant other back to the home country? What if your relationship has problems, and now that you don’t have the former distractions of work and a busy life, your problems feel bigger and bigger?

I recently read a good article, 1,500 PEOPLE GIVE ALL THE RELATIONSHIP ADVICE YOU’LL EVER NEED that prompted this post so I could share it with you all. It’s not just about retirement, but about healthy relationships in general. I won’t cover it here but you can easily read the headings, or read it entirely if you find it interesting.

The main points in the article that stood out to me were #5, “A Healthy Relationship means Two Healthy Individuals” and #6 “Give Each Other Space”. Maybe with the opportunity for so much time together it’s easier to lose your own individual space and interests, and that’s probably not the best thing for long term happiness in a relationship.

I have heard about a few relationships here that have failed. I hope they are the exception and as many of us as possible will be even happier in our retirement years.

We decided to go visit the Tuesday Market today and connect with some friends. There is a market every Tuesday morning where they sell food, jewelry, coffee, soap, plants, chocolate, and all kinds of things and it’s one of the events recommended for expats who want to meet other expats. I was surprised at how big the market has become! Part of it is this time right before Christmas but still, there were people everywhere, vendors in every possible space and shoppers elbow to elbow throughout the market.

I was only on a mission to get some hydroponic greens, and then I left with my friend for lunch and some time for chatting and catching up.

Boquete can be just gorgeous and today did not disappoint. This is the view of Volcan Baru from my friends’ front yard. Baru is the highest point in Panama and an active volcano, though thankfully it has been dormant for 400+ years. It’s a beautiful mountain covered with lush forest and I never get tired of seeing it.

As we left our friends house we saw a very common sight, water pipes lying on the ground. Since it never freezes this works though sometimes one gets a hole and then there is a fountain. Boquete has many different water systems and a lot of water problems, but right now they are digging up the town everywhere to put in new and better water lines. People aren’t happy about the disruption in an already congested town but hopefully they will be happy with the results when it is finished.

As we drove down the mountain I couldn’t resist snapping a few more photos. There is a line of clouds that always seems to moving south off the mountain. Sometimes there are lots of clouds and sometimes only a few but I can’t remember seeing it totally without clouds. There must be areas over there that are constantly fogged in but from where we were, it’s always beautiful.

On the way down, just a bit above Las Molinas we passed this interesting construction in progress. It is going to be a lighthouse with great views and the largest children’s play area in Central America. There is an article here.

Then it was a matter of enjoying the rest of the ride home on the great new road, and looking at the clouds and scenery. Now I’m back at my house sitting gig. I was complaining that this neighborhood is too quiet for me, and today the neighbors are having a party complete with a mariachi band. How fun is that!

Usually not a recommended pairing! My last post mentioned my current house sitting and dog tending gig, and the iguana that was chased into the pool, and now I have requests for photos of both.

Don’t get excited. They are not great photos but it is what I have.

This was taken just before I released the iguana. I had to get her (I think it’s a her) over two fences in the net attached to a very long pole, while dodging two very excited dogs, while trying not to lose the phone I had grabbed for a photo, and this is what I got. I am happy to say that when I finally tipped her out of the net she ran for the nearby bushes and when I looked a few minutes later, she was nowhere to be seen.

Here are the iguana chasing dogs.

Ria was very happy to look at me and wag her tail for the photos. Cleo, not so much. I called her into the kitchen where there was light, but she only made a quick circuit of the room and dashed back to the hallway where there wasn’t light. There are  outdoor lights! Let’s try that.

Ok, I’ll come outside.

But I will again run in a circle and refuse to sit still

Then I will go back and lie in partial darkness in the doorway.

I had about as much success getting Cleo to pose for photos has I had getting her in the house so I could rescue the iguana in peace. But, the iguana survived, the dogs are both ok, the house is still intact, and I have achieved my house sitting goals for today.

We are house and dog sitting this week not far from where we live. There is a big yard with lots of flowers so I thought it would be fun to bring my good camera over.

This very interesting grasshopper was in my yard, eating a heliconia leaf (it was relocated after the photos)

Bougainvillea has these tiny white flowers in the blossoms

Inside a tai plant

These small trees are covered with purple and white flowers now

A heliconia

I’m not sure what this is with the tiny star like flowers

A bamboo orchid

The tai plants are flowering too

I’m not sure what this interesting flower is

More colorful tai plants

Another pretty bamboo orchid

Of course I have to include a spider 😀

It’s not a bad gig sitting here on the large terrace watching the clouds float by, enjoying the comfortable breezes, and listening to the birds. The only incident so far has been when the dogs chased an iguana into the swimming pool and I had to rescue it. Thankfully it didn’t try to get out of the net so I was able to get it safely away from the dogs. It was a beauty too, very orange colored.

Yesterday a good friend and I decided to go downtown and look around a bit. It was Mothers Day so it was unusually quiet, but most of the stores were open so it was a good day to go. There is more activity during the Christmas season but it didn’t look like everything was quite in full swing yet.

Street food. We had lunch here and it was excellent.

Amusement park rides

More street food

The Hotel Iris second floor bar overlooking the park is a popular hangout

I think Joseph was wearing the trash bag for transport.

They were in the process of assembling a big Christmas tree here

There were many gift wrapping stations scattered around downtown

The park is a fun place to hang out anytime. There are big shade trees, plenty of benches, lots of people to watch, and if you are lucky you will see one of the iguanas who live there.

The fountain wasn’t on today

Christmas decorations

This iguana had no problem with the people nearby

This tanager wasn’t shy either

Cool iguana

This one seemed to know how to pose for photos

That was yesterday. Today and for the coming week we are house sitting nearby. As we went home this morning to pick up a few things we saw Volcan Baru! Between the rain and the daily clouds that have covered it, we haven’t seen the volcano for weeks.

Life in the tropics. My Seattle daughter is sending me pictures of snow and I am looking at palm trees and parrots.

After travels and crazy amounts of rain, our life in Panama is more or less returning to normal. I’m finally biking a bit again and my muscles are slowing getting some strength back. I like getting out too because I always see something interesting.

This, however, is pretty unique. This guy said he was tired of pushing the lawn mower so he invented this remote control mower. It looked like a regular mower below with a couple car batteries on top, and some other parts that included some bright lights which is what first caught my eye, and a controller is from a remote control plane. How cool is this!

I decided to revisit one of my favorite routes northwest of town through Aguacatal and beyond. The Walmart lot still has corn growing but the sign is gone. Only the frame remains.

There have been rumors that the Walmart sign was only a joke. Could this be true?!

Villa Patricia continue to grow. These houses weren’t there a couple months ago.

The first houses now have people living in them

What a nice road to ride

I love the scenery

This route involves crossing the highway a couple times, and traffic was crazy when I came back. The Pan-American highway is always busy near the Terronal shopping area, but yesterday it was backed up all the way to KFC. I also had to wait a long time to cross the old Via Boquete. Joel and I went out to do a couple errands later in the afternoon and it was even worse. There were long lines of people waiting to turn into the shopping area and probably no parking. It’s Christmas season!

the Pan-American Highway

the old Via Boquete

But, it was one of those perfect days, not too hot, light breeze, blue skies, and really beautiful clouds. We were just a little late though with errands in the afternoon. We saw the sky darkening in the distance, and we were maybe half way home when it started to rain, and then pour, and then do one of those epic downpours that immediately floods anything that can possibly flood. Almost as soon as it started though, it was over.

Beautiful skies

Probably after no more than 20 minutes of downpour, it stopped and patches of blue appeared in the sky. I was able to quickly dart out and finish my last errand.

Today we decided a Pricesmart run was in order. The store was fairly crowded for a Tuesday morning and again, any time you go out there will be something interesting.

It is very common to see people selling things on the street. People walk around with buckets of tamales and bags of other things, put a table in front of their house, and there are many of these more substantial operations. There is always something going on in front of Pricesmart because there is space and many shoppers coming and going.

But, live chickens?! I know the pictures is bad, but there is a cage on the ground with chickens, and a guy holding up bags of guandu (pigeon peas, pretty much a requirement for holiday dinners)

There is another supermarket under construction on the Pan-American highway and it looks huge

The highway also has more and more of these potholes. It looks like whole sections of asphalt have gone missing, exposing the concrete road below. People say the heavy rains are to blame for a lot of this.

Life in Panama, always something interesting.