The Panama Adventure

I should be writing about the Panama Canal. They have been working for years on the expansion project, building new locks, deepening and widening the route, and getting ready for the huge Panamax ships. Sunday June 26th was the opening with foreign dignitaries, celebrations all over the country, and much excitement. A Chinese ship won the lottery to be the first ship though and made the trip without incident.

It was a huge project with delays, cost overruns, concerns about the concrete, size of the locks, etc. But, it is done now and I hope everything operates successfully for many years to come. If any of you want to know more about the project or the festivities last weekend, a google search will bring up a lot of information. It’s quite a big deal and will affect shipping and commerce world wide. Panama has every right to be proud!

I, on the other hand, have been enjoying my little world in our little corner of Panama. I spend a lot of my time at my table on the terrace, and at night the light attracts a variety of bugs. Occasionally there is a large moth or other interesting critter. The June bugs have been frequent lately. I also see a lot of tiny bugs that I can hardly make out until I see what my camera and macro lens have captured.

This little one looks kind of like an elegant lady

This one looked like a shiny dot on the table.

Is this little bug looking at me

this one was a big larger and could be seen fairly well with the naked eye

today this little yellow fly landed right in front of me like it wanted to be photographed

Usually the flies are very active and don’t sit still at all, but this little one was very cooperative

It seems like everyone is getting sick lately. Almost everyone I know has had a cold, or two, or more. Joel and I are almost never sick but both of us are recovering from our second bout of colds in as many months. The H1N1 virus is making the news here. People are hospitalized and some have died, and the health minister is urging everyone to get vaccinated. I know the flu is a problem every year but I don’t remember hearing about it nearly as much as we have this year. Then, there is the Zika virus. I haven’t heard of cases in our area but I know the health mister has had people going door to door to educate people on mosquito control and inspect yards for standing water. I don’t keep up with the news so I’m not a reliable source for anything, but even I have been hearing about all this.

Other than that, my neighbors are adding on a bathroom and bedroom since the daughter and grandson are now living in the house, along with mom and the son in a 2 bedroom. There is a lot of banging and sawing going on but they seems to be making fast progress. Band practice is currently going on in our living room as wel. My neighbor who doesn’t like noise probably isn’t too happy, though she swears she enjoys the music.

I have been woken up more than usual by birds chirping early in the morning. They sound like wrens but when I come outside I never see them. Today I realized it sounded like they were coming from inside the house. After some investigating I caught a wren coming in through a small hole under the roof on the back side of the house. Apparently they are nesting in the attic. Mom probably gets up every morning to feed the babies, who get all excited and wake me up. When they leave the nest we’ll plug up the hole and encourage them to raise the next brood elsewhere.

Life goes on in Panama!

An Ofertasimple deal came through today for Boquete Tree Trek, $78 a night with breakfast and either a coffee tour or a zip line. Click the link HERE.

We have been there and it’s a beautiful place. People say it’s an excellent zip line. That isn’t my thing so we did the coffee tour, and it was very interesting and we really enjoyed it. It’s way up there in the mountains though so it takes some driving on steep bumpy roads to get there, and it’s cold. It never got out of the 50’s when we were there. Bring warm clothes. I liked exploring the area though, and the sunsets and views of Volcan Baru were spectacular.

I happened across this article on renting in Panama – Tips for Renting in Panama. I can’t seem to reblog or repost it here so you’ll have to click on the link.

I think the article is accurate and well written. He seems to be talking mostly about furnished rentals though. I live in David where unfurnished rentals are more common, and unfurnished means with nothing – no stove, no fridge, or washing machine.

I have met a lot of people lately who are considering moving here, or are in the process of making the move so I thought this article would be a good one to share. It is highly recommended that you rent for at least 6-12 months! Then you can try out the country, the area, and your new life here before you make a commitment that may not be so easy to undo.

I recently came across an article in Brain Pickings about books. In the words of Herman Hesse “Among the many worlds that man did not receive as a gift from nature but created out of his own mind, the world of books is the greatest… Without the word, without the writing of books, there is no history, there is no concept of humanity. And if anyone wants to try to enclose in a small space, in a single house or a single room, the history of the human spirit and to make it his own, he can only do this in the form of a collection of books.”

Herman Hesse

I have always loved books. I was pretty isolated as a child so books were my world. I grew up, life got busy with work, children, and responsibilities so I didn’t have as much time to read. Then I discovered audio books and all that changed. I spent a lot of time in my car as a visiting nurse so this was a wonderful opportunity to listen to books. I could also listen while working around the house and yard. My audio book habit has continued here in Panama.

Technology is a wonderful thing. Between audio books and eBooks, a whole world of books is available and they don’t take up any space or weigh a thing. The internet allows you to access all these books from anywhere you have a connection, and save them to whatever device you prefer.

The article referenced above raised the question of the continuing success of books. Would they be pushed aside by radio and movies, and now in these times, the internet? He says no, no more than photography has hurt painting. “We need not fear a future elimination of the book. On the contrary, the more that certain needs for entertainment and education are satisfied through other inventions, the more the book will win back in dignity and authority. For even the most childish intoxication with progress will soon be forced to recognize that writing and books have a function that is eternal. It will become evident that formulation in words and the handing on of these formulations through writing are not only important aids but actually the only means by which humanity can have a history and a continuing consciousness of itself.”

For me though, the internet has definitely become another source of things to read, like the Brain Pickings that lands in my mailbox every weekend. I also have pocket, an app that lets you save articles to read off line. The pocket folks send me many emails with links to interesting articles, and there is also Stumble Upon who sends me more articles, and all those articles have links to still others. You could spend your entire life reading interesting stuff on line! But, I digress… this post is about books.

When you think about it, books are really an amazing gift. You can read the thoughts and ideas of people long dead, or the writings of the latest best selling author. There are books for entertainment, for learning, for understanding our world and the people in it. There are books on probably any subject you can imagine. All those people, all that wisdom and experience, all those books carefully written by countless people, they are all just waiting for you to read them.

For me, if I could no longer enjoy books, some of the color would go out of my world. My favorite thing these days is to put on an audio book and go weed the yard. I may look like I’m working hard, but I’m actually having a great time. A good book, the outdoors, the birds, the plants, the yard looking better, it just doesn’t get any better than that. Oh, and the bugs, can’t forget the bugs 😀

David is a working town. This is a mainly agricultural province, and the city of David is here to support the needs of the people living and working in the area. It is a great place to live with goods and services to meet all your needs. But, it is not a tourist attraction.

Martine, a French lady and one of my blog followers, spent a little time in David and we made plans to get together. Aside from visiting the downtown park and driving around a bit, what were we going to do? I did need to visit a Panamanian friend though, and I thought this would give her a look at the life and home of a local lady.

My friend Elizabeth is a lot of fun. She has parrots, plants, flowers, chickens, bees, fruit trees, medicinal plants, and is a wealth of information about plants, local food, where to shop, and all the things you would expect of a life time resident of the area. She is descended from a Danish man and an indigenous Panamanian woman on one side of the family, and a Spanish couple on the other side.  This day her sister Emma was also there. This was our first time meeting but we quickly became friends too.

Martine and one of the parrots

Elizabeth and her parrot CoochiCoochi

Martine and the parrot

Martine and one of Emma’s little dogs

We had so much fun! Martine speaks English well and understands quite a bit of Spanish, so with a little translation help now and then we were all able to get along very well. Since we were having such a good time, we decided to all pile in the car and go up to my house. My neighbor across the street was out so she also got involved in the conversation. Since she is a bilingual English teacher, communication was even easier all around. My friends love plants, so the first thing they wanted to do was walk around my yard and see what I had growing. We thought about going down to the river but nobody was wearing good footwear, and they needed to go home after a while because Elizabeth’s son was coming over.

I think Emma was singing for us

and Martine was enjoying the songs

Martine wanted a photo of her three new friends

Then we decided we needed a photo of all of us

Most of these photos are Martine’s, so thank you Martine for sharing all your photos so I could use them on my blog! 🙂

We headed back downtown and dropped off my friends. By now it was getting to be lunch time, and we decided that maybe lunch at the beach would be a good idea. Another friend, Tito, is always up for a ride to the beach and lives on the route out of town, so we stopped by to see if he wanted to join us (which he did).

These huge bulls were lounging on a corner in Guaramal

Mighty Machines! These big beasts are used to harvest rice. Now, big machines always make me think of my grandson and his love for big machines

Someone got loose and went wandering in the road.

It was a nice drive through the countryside, and we talked and laughed talked so much that the drive went quickly. In this area there is a lot of sugar cane, rice, and cattle, and everything is green and beautiful in the rainy season.

The beach! I was a beautiful sunny day, the waves were pounding in the rising tide, and we had the beach all to ourselves

Tito joined us for a great lunch of friend fish and patacones

It was a Tuesday and we had the entire beach area all to ourselves. There is a little restaurant and they only had fried fish but it was really good! They take the whole fish (they said it was rabalo), make some cuts in the thick part so it will cook evenly, and as far as I could tell they just toss the whole fish in oil until it is cooked. It was great!

But like all good things, the time eventually came to head back and call it a day. We had so much fun that we plan to get together again on Sunday and go to Boquete to hear Joel’s band. Well unfortunately, not Martine since she has traveled on now, but we will think of her and send pictures.

Apparently, when you don’t know what to do, you hunt down some Panamanian friends and have a great time doing not much of anything. It was such a fun day! Martine and I got along wonderfully and she really enjoyed having a day with people after days and days of traveling alone. And, she also got a taste of life as a resident rather than a tourist. Since she is considering living here later on this was good. She has to keep working for a few more years but hopefully there will be other visits to Panama before then.

And, something totally unrelated… we have a metal roof on this house, and I heard what sounded like a heard of animals running around on the roof. I finally went outside to see what was going on, and spotted this iguana. It saw me and froze as flat as it could to the roof, but I was still able to catch it with my camera. You can just see him left of center, pointed out by the pink arrows.

Sunday is my birthday and I’m looking forward to another fun time with my friends, this time with music and dancing. Life is good in Panama!

We have Ofertasimple here, like Groupon in the US. Every day they send out an email with the latest deals. Most things are in Panama City – hotels, restaurants, spa treatments, all kinds of things but sometimes there are deals for other parts of the country as well.

Photo from the Ofertasimple page

Today they have a deal on the Boquete Garden Inn. I’ve seen this place and it is really nice. It should be since it is expensive, but with this you can stay there for much less, $75 instead of $220.

Here is THE LINK. It’s good for three months starting on June 22nd.

If you plan to travel to Panama, it might be worth keeping an eye on this site. Maybe you’ll find other deals that will also help you out.

We have two seasons on the Pacific coast of Panama, dry and rainy. Dry season starts about mid-December. Schools have summer vacation until early February. Rain is very unlikely and everything gets more and more dry and brown. Brush fires are common. Different trees burst out in flowers and new fruits appear. My favorites are the mariñon (cashew apples) and of course, mangoes!

The rains are supposed to come back around mid-April. In this el niño year there was talk that the rains would be delayed, even by as much as two months but thankfully this did not happen. The rains came back right on schedule.

I like the rainy season and I’m always happy to see the rain return. Everything turns green again and the rain brings welcome cooler air. Sometimes though, an amazing amount of water can come down in a short time! I took this video a few days ago during one of those epic rains but it was even more impressive in person. We have a metal roof so it’s also very loud! Don’t call me on the phone when it’s raining like this 😉

People worry about being here in the rainy season but it is actually quite easy to work around. Mornings are usually clear and bright, though there are some cloudy days. Rain comes later in the day, sometimes mid-afternoon but usually later as it gets closer to dark. (Days are pretty constant this close to the equator and dark is always shortly after 6:30PM) It may rain hard for a little while, followed by a lighter rain in the evening ending around mid-evening or bedtime.

This is just the average though. I can’t say it never rains in the morning because I am sitting here at 10:30 AM and it has been raining lightly for well over an hour. Yesterday it didn’t rain at all. But, generally, if you do your errands and outside activities in the morning you will be fine. Rainy afternoons are good for relaxing and engaging in at home activities. And, even if you do get caught in the rain, it’s warm.

Holes in the head. Sometimes that is my problem. I put an email aside until I can give it proper attention, it gets pushed down below other incoming emails and I never get back to it. I totally overlook a blog comment. I forget to return a phone call. Things just leak out of the holes in my head. I used to be super organized because I had to be but now that life is more relaxed, sometimes I get too relaxed.  Apologies to anyone I unintentionally ignored, and if it happens to you please poke me and remind me that you are waiting to hear from me.

That’s all I have on my mind today. Other than that, life is pretty normal el bario (the neighborhood). Well maybe not totally normal. There was a whole lot of noise this morning. The teak guys were sawing and loading wood. I haven’t seen them again since the truck left though and I have a feeling they are done. The guys across the street are adding a new room so they were banging around. Our other neighbor got a delivery of materials for his work. The yard guy was next door with his weed whacker. About the time I figured there was not going to be any more sleeping, our realtor showed up to collect the rent.

One of our banana trees has had bananas on it for quite a while, so we decided to harvest them a couple days ago. They are still green. I heard you can use green bananas like green plantains so I tried to make patacones out of one that got damaged in the fall. It didn’t smash well into the little pancake like things but it tasted good, a lot like a potato so it is now in the chicken soup.

Man a machete attack the tree

Man and bananas!

My Facebook friends have already seen these photos so excuse the repeats.

I have three plantain trees in the front yard. I used to have two but we had a tree fall last year and it smashed one of them. The roots put up two pups though, and that is why I now have three. The bigger one now has a flower!

Bananas and plantains make the most interesting strange flowers! Our veggie guy told me it should be about two months to plantains now. I will keep an eye on it as things progress.

Yes, our veggie guy came by today. Enrique gets up at 4AM, goes up to Cerro Punta and who knows where all else to get his fruits and vegetables, and then drives around town selling them out of his truck. We look forward to his visit every week because he has the best fresh produce. And, he’s a heck of a nice guy.

This afternoon the thunderstorms came through and really cooled things down! For us, this is quite cool and sent me looking for my long pants. Joel took it as an excuse to make hot chocolate. It poured like crazy for a while but finally settled down, and by dark it had quit (dark here is around 6:30. We are so close to the equator that the length of the days hardly varies throughout the year). Now at 10:30 it’s 73, a nice temperature for sleeping.

After the rain, my neighbor came over. She has been required to take English classes at the university (she is getting the credentials she needs to be the boss of all the special ed teachers!). I have been helping her which means explaining things in Spanish which helps me too. She is very smart and learns a lot faster than I do. I explain something one day and the next day she’s got it. I need things repeated multiple times over many days, and if I don’t use it in a month it’s gone again.

That’s quite a lot for someone who started off with nothing much to say! 😀 It’s late now though and time to wrap things up. So, along with a quick shopping trip, some yard work, computer time, and a few chores that’s what has been going on around here.