January 29, 2011

No matter where you live, kids love to go sledding. Guess it is no different in 85 degree weather. The Panama Canal Administration building sits high on a grassy hill and when we pass by it, you can see all sorts of left over cardboard from kids sliding down the hill. Looks like fun. You can’t see how steep the hill is from the pictures, but you can sort of get the idea from the cardboard that you see.
I am tired today. Our neighbors had one of their parties last night. I have come to realize that the Panamanians, being really nice friendly people, really don’t care or understand how their behavior affects their neighbors. But it is one of those cultural things and I am not going to change it, so we just have to deal with it. But their parties don’t start until very late and go all night and well into the morning. However, for some reason, whatever they were doing last night kept setting off someone’s car alarm every 15 minutes or so. With our windows wide open all night (yes in January!!!!), the alarm was very noticeable.
Interesting, with ALL the cars on the roads (and there are seemingly MANY), most of them are later models and in good shape (not so for the taxis, though). Most of the newer cars have alarms on them. Theft is an issue here. And of course, there are few garages. However, so far there hasn’t been single morning where I had to scrape ice, snow, etc from my car or worry about warming the car up. Somehow I don’t think that will happen from the temperatures dropping all the way down to the low 70’s at night.
Met my friends last Sunday at an outdoor restaurant with our dogs. If you think dogs are spoiled in the states, you haven’t seen anything yet! Remarkably, there seems to be a lot more dogs here in our neighborhood than we ever noticed in our neighborhood back in Cincinnati. Plus, I can’t believe how many neighborhood dogs actually wear cute sweaters and t-shirts. Frankly, Ace would just as soon not. His fur is plenty more than enough. We keep him trimmed pretty short (unlike before), just because it is hot here.
We keep watching the weather up there. We can’t believe how hot it was this past summer (more so than here) and how cold and snowy it is NOW. OK, granted, I did covet that snow day you had, but oh well.
I have mentioned traffic on more than several occasions down here. When driving, you can’t leave more than about a foot in front you or someone (especially a taxi) will try to sneak in. Really, we do nothing but laugh about it. So far, we haven’t been annoyed just because we don’t believe it! But, we also discovered that when standing in line at the grocery story or anyplace for that matter, you don’t leave more than that same amount of space between you and the person in front of you. People actually try to cut in front of you! If you give them an annoyed look, they move back and smile and nod. No one seems to ever get mad or angry. But I guess they just “think” it is OK for them to cut in if you leave that tiny space. You know, right now we look at all this as cultural differences. Plus, it is just plain funny.

January 22, 2011

Just had a FULL week of school. We started back on Monday. Unlike my friends in Cincinnati, we didn’t get off MLK day or a snow day or even a snow delay. Just five full days of school. But all was ok when I was up at 6:00 am this morning ready to go out for a walk and noticed at that time the temperature registered 1 degree for Cincinnati in my little computer widget, while it showed 70 here. I will take a full week of school under those circumstances. Actually, it sorta looks like Fall here. We watch all the leaves falling off the trees in our back yard area. Granted, we are clueless as to what happens around here, but imagine it is a consequence of the dry season. We did go two days without a drop of rain and were surprised at how quickly everything dried out. But, still having an unusual amount of rain due to La Nina (or so people tell us).
The record flooding occurred early in December. Thankfully, we have not had any problems with our water supply, except for that one day. But many areas of the city are still having major problems. They may go for two or three day without water or only have water for several hours in a day. Plus, the water that is available is not directly drinkable. What a bummer. For us, it just affects the one treat Wayne loves: unlimited Diet Coke at PriceSmart (Panama’s version of Costco). So far, it is the only place we have found in Panama that has unlimited fountain drinks (OK, it might not be unlimited, but Wayne gets his money’s worth). Yep, quite a change from the states! If you get a soft drink at a restaurant here, you savor it, slowly! There are no refills. Unfortunately the PriceSmart where we go is affected by the water shortage, so there are no fountain drinks available.
Doesn’t seem like much has happened this week. After the whirlwind four weeks off and doing so much, it was strange to slow down. We were going out last night (Friday) to meet friends, but the traffic was so incredible that we turned around and came home. One of the two bridges that cross the canal is still partially closed. It is making traffic a total nightmare. And it is always Friday night, because so many leave to go to the interior (beaches, mountains, etc) for the weekend. Now they are saying the one bridge won’t be repaired until September. The bridge is fine, it is just the approach to the bridge that was damaged by the flooding.
Ace has a play date with a couple of cute gals. Several of us are meeting over by the canal at an outdoor restaurant for an early dinner with our dogs. Ace is the only boy. (Ok, Nancy is probably the only person that will appreciate that last paragraph!)

January 15, 2011

I think we are almost real Panamanians. On one of my early morning walks this week, I stopped by a nearby pizza parlor to check their hours, since Wayne needed to go pick up a pizza as we were having a friend over for lunch. (yep, still don’t cook). Typical - no hours were posted. So I picked up my little dog and walked into the bakery next door. I figured, hey in Panama who cares if you bring a pet into an eating establishment. Apparently, no one does. Anyway, I got out ENOUGH words in Spanish that the gal at the counter actually understood me well enough to answer my question. And what is even more important is that I understood her one word answer to tell me about what time it opened. Talk about a mountain top experience! Today, we went with some friends to a couple of local places. Wayne, trying to get out of a parking lot, went down a one way street the wrong way. I, of course, mentioned to him the arrow pointing in the opposite direction we were going and he just laughed and said that he is NOW a Panamanian driver. Hey, we got where we were going must faster than we would have doing it the correct way, so that makes it alright. Does this sound like we are finally “getting into the country???” Of course, our friends have lived in other countries and honestly think the driving is “sane” around here.
People use these large tanks of propane gas for cooking, hot water heaters, and dryers here since electricity is so expensive. There are no main gas lines. You have two tanks and when one tank is getting low, you order a new one. You don’t want to order it too soon as it might get stolen, so you wait until you feel like you have only a few days left. We were at that position today. So, we look up the telephone number, but knew we couldn’t just call and order it. It is really, really hard to use hand gestures and charades over the phone. We had to wait until we saw our neighbor and ask her to call for us. We got from point A to point B, but we still need lots of help to do so.
Met a new friend in the park today. The park close to our apartment is a fertile field to meet new and interesting people. Today, I met a gal that actually came up to me asking directions (in English). She was on her way to a Peace Corp breakfast (in our neighborhood / town). Guess she, along with a group of 39 others, were on their way to outlying areas of Panama to do Peace Corp work. Each person was going into a village by themselves for 27 months with no water, no sewer, no electricity (no nothing) to teach English to local people. They drop them off someplace 3 to 5 km from their final destination and point them in the direction they should go. Sometimes, they actually use a pack animal to help haul things. Yikes. It sounds interesting, but something that I would certainly not want to do?
This has been a marvelous four week vacation. Perfect weather in my mind. Hot, humid during the days, but cool and windy at night. Our a/c is off every evening and it is as pleasant as can be. It is still raining a little every afternoon, which is really strange since this is the dry season. Probably for the first time in my life, I am not ready to go back to school. I think it is the weather. I would rather be outside. In the states, I am always ready to go back as it is hot in August, cold in January, and rainy in March.

Janauary 11, 2011

There are a lot of beautiful pictures of Taboga Island on my Facebook page if you want to see them. I only have room for a few here. The scenery is too beautiful for words. Check them out.
I went to a ladies luncheon on Saturday. There are some 20-30 of us that meet once a month at a nice restaurant to eat and socialize. Really FUN! But it is typical (probably because it is agreed upon prior to going that we get separate checks) the lunch can drag on forever! We met at noon, good service, etc and probably finished eating by 1:15. Then at 2:30 we still had not received our individual checks. Good grief. One time, I saw four men at the cash register trying to figure out the checks. It was almost comical (ok, it was very comical). In this country, you can NOT go up and try to hurry people because that will just work against you. If they see you are disgusted in anyway, you may never get your bill. They don’t worry about the tip because a 10 percent tip is automatically added onto your bill. So go figure, 20 ladies and 20 minutes a check. I thought it was some weird plot to keep us there until dinner to have us get yet another meal. By the way, we were the ONLY people in the restaurant at that time. We finally got out and I rode home (thankfully) with a gal from Panama. There was a huge traffic jam on one of the main roads going through town and she (having grown up in Panama) knew the way to get around it. We drove through areas of Panama that I would never go into. But she had not an issue and just acted like the cab drivers and aced out several of them on the way home. Never a dull moment here.
Sunday, we had a great day. We left early in the morning with three other friends to take a trip to the island of Taboga. To get to Taboga, you have to take a about a fifty minute boat ride from Panama City. What an amazing place. Sandy beaches and plenty of places to walk and sightsee. Some call it the flora island and true to the name there are hundreds of beautiful flowers growing (yes, in January). Us old folks took quite a challenge, as we took a six kilometer (round trip) hike to the top of a mountain where there was a large cross. The trail was fine until we got to the last kilometer or so, when it got very steep and narrow with lots of loose rocks on the path. Going up was fine (for me), but I certainly feared trying to get down. But, then going down gets a lot easier once you slip, fall and roll some down the hill. I think tomorrow my already messed up knees will really be hurting. What an incredible hike though. And the biggest thing is that we “DID IT”. All the hundreds of other people on the beach did not. Well, if you see the scrapes and scratches I have, perhaps “they” were the smart ones.
Also, Sunday was another Panamanian holiday, the Day of the Martyrs. Again, like All Saints Day in November, no alcohol is to be sold anyplace. However, when we got off the boat at Taboga, the police were there to check all the coolers that got carried off and they took ALL the alcohol. Apparently, you could retrieve it at midnight. Oh my, the stock of alcohol on the dock was something to see. If you went back to the city before midnight (which most people likely were going to do), I guess you are out of luck. Of course, there were NO signs prior to boarding that said you couldn’t take any alcoholic beverages. Only in Panama!!!! And the cops certainly got a big bonus yesterday!

January 5, 2011

I am sitting here writing this blog because I can’t go outside right now. We are experiencing one of the hardest and fastest downpours of rain that we have ever had in Panama since we have been here. Did I mention that we are in the midst of the “dry” season with little to no rain expected for four months or more? Oh my, someone who opens the faucets up in the sky apparently lost track of their calendar. They are blaming it on La Nina or something like that.
Aw, but what a day. This morning we decided to hit the beach. And this time we were going to the Caribbean side to see what it was like. So we got to see two oceans in one day, the Pacific and the Atlantic, all within less than 75 minutes. And really, they are so many differences with the biggest being that the Atlantic has a very small tide change. As you can see from the pictures, it is absolutely breathtaking. And the drive over was no less than breathtaking. At one point, Wayne passed a Diablo Rojo (the crazy busses that Panama has) on a narrow, mostly two lane road. I think the bus driver was somewhat annoyed that we had passed him, so he started tailgating Wayne. We scurried off as fast as we could, but it felt like we were in a “chase” scene from a movie. Finally got to a hill and left the bus in the dust. But, we passed our intended destination, because this country apparently doesn’t believe in signs. So we had to turn around and stop at the first human being that we saw that “might” know where the beach we were looking for was at. I practiced my phrase for directions to the beach (like Wayne, a typical male, would ever ask for directions). Wow, the person I asked actually understood my horrible Spanish and started his explanation. Needless to say, I understood nothing and we resorted to a game of charades again. I figured out he said “five minutes at the bottom of a hill”. So, after driving five minutes and getting to the bottom of a hill, we turned into a driveway that had no sign and we were THERE! Amazing. Anyway, we had a great day with bright sunshine and tropical breezes. I met a couple of kids in the ocean that spoke no English and I no Spanish, but we communicated with each other for a period of time. So much fun. Had to play charades again at a little beach bar, where I walked to get Wayne some cold beers at 65 cents each. Gotta love that one!
Anyway, a GREAT day of challenges. Life is just so interesting here in Panama. Scary, crazy and interesting.

January 4, 2011

No matter where you shop in the local areas, you see stacks of washcloths for sale. They even sell them in the streets while you wait in traffic. I have seen many of the locals carrying them to wipe their faces etc. when hot and sweaty. But yesterday, I had to laugh. After church, the three of us (yes, Ace gets to go too, down here) went to eat next to the canal at an outdoor restaurant. Many locals were around with their families because of the holiday (New Year’s weekend) playing in the park, grilling, etc. But, it started raining and many people took their washcloths and put it on their head. (to protect their head from the rain???). Just interesting and different. Umbrellas here are often used differently, too. Nice to have an umbrella with you all the time during the rainy season, since you never know when one of those afternoon showers will pop up. But, when the sun is beating down and you are in a no shady spot, many use them to protect themselves from the sun, too. And I actually did that one on a long afternoon walk we took and there were a couple miles without shade. I felt rather silly, but it was mighty helpful.
Had a very interesting past two days. Wayne and I went down into the slums yesterday to visit the outreach center that the church has set up to serve that community. The church is trying to develop a school by growing a grade at a time, which will help some of these kids learn English and technology skills while getting a good education as well. They also get a good meal. There are programs to help the adults, as well as a lot of other services. As mentioned before, public education (which is all these kids have) is not good here. The church is looking for my help in developing something to do with the computers they already have and to use them a little more academically than they currently are. Today, I went back down with a brain full of ideas and ways I wanted to set it up. Unfortunately the equipment was just so old and outdated, nothing worked like I wanted. It was just so disheartening to say the least. I think of all the computers that we had back home in Cincinnati that I had tossed because they were of no use anymore. Those old discarded computers are so much better than what was in this center. But there is no way to get them from THERE to here. But, it is someplace I really want to continue working at and seeing how I can help.