December 9, 2012

 

Above pictures are just a few of the summer flowers (summer being December through March).

We went to a wonderful Christmas concert this afternoon at a beautiful church sitting on a hill. No a/c, so all windows were opened and the fabulous dry season breeze came blowing through.  Looking out the windows, you could see the tops of the palm trees and jungle in the background.  Still seems strange to me sitting there in my sundress and sandals listening to Christmas songs!   And to hear songs that had “snow” in them???   But we got to the concert at 1:50 (it was starting at 2:00).  But, there is no problem in Panama  getting someplace on time and finding a great seat, since the general population runs late and seats were certainly available.  It did get pretty full, but we got our pick of seats, just because we were on time!

Speaking of immigration, I was told by someone to get as much done as possible right now.  I was warned that about a year before the next election, people in government offices stop working.  Yes, they are still on the job, just that they don’t work.  In Panama, the presidential terms are 6 years and they you can not run again. So, once someone gets into office, they hire all their friends/cousins/family/ etc for all the positions.  So they all know that when the current presidential term is up, all will be fired for the new family members, friends, etc..  Therefore many just essentially stop working.  One friend said he went for an appointment at immigration at 10:00 in the morning and had to wait until noon to see someone, since there was a birthday party going on and all office activity just stopped!!

I had one of my “ah ha“ moments on Friday. I had to go to a new lab for a simple test.  But I maneuvered to the lab via the car, found my way, found the lab entrance, got through the paper work by myself and made it home. Granted, in the states that would just be one errand to check off the list for the day. But, here it is an adventure and when successful, you feel like you really accomplished something!

It certainly seems like the dry season is coming early this year.  Weather is incredible. Lower humidity, wonderful breezes and fluffy clouds in the sky.  Wow!!  We should have about 90 more days of this. This is the time to come to Panama.  Generally, the dry season doesn’t begin for a couple more weeks, but it appears to be early this year.

December 2, 2012

 

December 2, 2012

The pictures is just all the "green" along the street.  Remember, it is December!!!

 

Christmas season is upon us.  Wow, just seems really strange.  Wearing shorts and tank tops just doesn’t seem seasonable.  Our church looks beautiful with all the decorations.  We finally put our little 4 foot tree up today but still……  doesn’t seem like Christmas, since it is 90 degrees outside in the middle of the afternoon.  Not a lot of outdoor decorations like in the states.  The mall is exactly like the states, though with Christmas music, decorations, etc.  But not the light displays that you see in the states.  No constant TV ads like in the states. Hum, maybe there are, just that we can’t grasp the language enough to know what they are saying.

I have to get my passport renewed. I ran out of pages for visa stamps.  I am within a year of renewal, so figured I might as well just go ahead with it, while at a point in immigration where it makes sense to do so.   Went to the store to get my passport picture taken.  Pointed to the example photos in the “book” that said USA passport.  Went through the process, paid, took them home and they were totally wrong.  Ahhhh…I do believe I have mentioned customer service before (or the lack of).   But, thankfully when I went to the embassy, they had plenty of vendors outside the gates of the embassy taking photos!  They did a super job. Getting my passport renewed so far seems like a piece of cake when you are out of the USA.  In ten to twelve days, I go back to the embassy and pick it up. 

Today, going to church, there was road race for runners.  In our little city (community) in which we live, there are lots of races, but this one was on the main highway (one of two roads going to one of only two bridges going over the canal, so it can be busy).  This is a two lane highway (fast driving when there is no traffic, which usually only happens on Sunday morning).  But people were running on the road (with no shoulders), sometimes two or three abreast on the highway.  Talk about gutty people.  The way the locals drive that would be totally scary. 

November 17, 2012

The pictures are from Aruba.  It is less than ninety minutes from here!  So we went there for just a few days last week.  It was beautiful but just so American. 

OK, I’ve been in Panama for over two years now.  Not bad for a simple sabbatical leave that was to last for 10 months?  But, this place never ceases to amaze me. When I think I have it figured out and I have had all the experiences and then – POW – another experience hits me in my face.

Early yesterday morning, Wayne and I had blood tests at a hospital on the other side of town.  The “other” side of town is 12 minutes away without traffic, but it could be “days” away with bad traffic.  But, we were sailing along on the main four lane road thru town, because there was no traffic at 6:30 am.  We had to get there early, because the lack of caffeine was doing me in.  So, on the four lane road with no shoulders, where people were driving at 40 / 50  miles per hour (actually kilometers per hour here) and no cross streets, someone actually stops in the right hand lane to let someone out of the car!!!  Not once, but twice, plus a cab also simply stops in the roadway to pick up a fare.  So, Wayne had to repeatedly swerve to avoid hitting these guys and almost side swipes other cars!   Now, I totally understand that it is probably much safer to be in rush hour traffic, when it crawls and you have time to react!!!  We see these crazy “driver” issues on a daily basis.  Guess in our neighborhood, we have multiple speed bumps that hopefully slow cars down.  (Wayne said Panamanian drivers are either accelerating or braking, nothing in between).  Of course some drivers have realized that they can sometimes go at the regular speed and just go right over some of the speed bumps without slowing down.

But anyway, we had our blood tests done.  Made it through with our increasing, but yet still deficient Spanish.   Comparing the prices (before insurance) from the states to these prices was like … unbelievable.  A urine analysis  test, which tested for about 20 things was 7 dollars.    Plus, I had the results of our tests in my email by 3:00 pm the same day. Some tests that take longer were not there, but most were.  No more waiting days and then begging the doctor to give you a copy of your results during your next appointment that he charges you for.

Anyway, today my friend and I had an appointment for a couple hours at a spa that we had gotten from a Groupon coupon.  We were totally excited about the experience.  We have been at this spa before, knew where it was, knew it was a great place at a great price.  So, we get there 30 minutes before our appointment (again, you never know the traffic situation).  A very poorly made sign on the door said they had moved.  OK, where to ?  They gave an address, but there really are no real street addresses here in Panama.  So, we walked for a half hour trying to follow the directions.  Nothing.  Got back and looked at the sign again and it had three phone numbers.  So, we tried all three phone numbers. If someone had answered, we really didn’t know what we would say in Spanish.  But it was no issue, since no one answered.    Needless to say, we now need to fight with the agency that sold the coupons to see what happened.  Thankfully, the coupon agency is one of the few companies in Panama that is said to have excellent customer service.  Yes, customer service needs to improve here, if the country plans on developing tourism.  Funny.  In my Spanish class, we were talking about the word “Ordener”.  It means order. It is said to be a “bad” word here.  People do not like to be “ordered”.  If you use that word, people get mad and won’t do a thing for you.

November 2, 2012

The concept of “thank you”.  Having been here for going on three years now, I question the concept of “thank you” and “you are welcome”.  I have always been of the mindset to “thank” people for services provided, for help they give me, for almost anything.  Gratitude is a wonderful attitude for those that are receiving it or giving it. So, in this country where customer service is pretty limited to say the least, I really make an effort to “thank” people all the time.  I will not check out of store (even with bad service, which I generally get) or frankly anything without a “thank you” and a smile.  But, in return I have often noticed that all I get from the person is “OK”.  I suppose that I didn’t’ realize this until last week when I was checking out of a grocery store,  I  said “Gracias” and the clerk said “da nada” (which in  Spanish is “you are welcome”).  I was so shocked, because generally I just get an “OK” .  So I started asking people just why was this?  Most reflect that it may be because people just do not express gratitude here.  They really are not “trained” to respond like those of us from the USA with a simple “You are welcome”.  I find that very sad.  So, if nothing else in my time here, I will express gratitude and hope that maybe, just maybe someone will see that gratitude is a behavior that can make the world a better place.

I am trying to update my blog regularly.  It is difficult at times.  I do not want to repeat myself.  But, I am still in a “foreign country”.  There are people that just don’t realize what living abroad might look like. I totally know that I don’t.  I need to be moving to other places in the world. I just don’t want to move that far away from my grandkids, so I stay here!!!

October 28, 2012

It has been a long time since I updated this blog, I thought I would.  Panama has been rather interesting lately.   In Colon (a city at the other end of the canal from Panama City, but only about 50 miles away), they were having some serious political issues. The government was trying to sell some property and people were furious.  So, as in many Third World countries, one of their only recourses is to stage protests. The protests then turn into riots, looting and mayhem.  People on this side of the country (mostly activist construction union members) decided to assist in the “noise” that was being made by planning a protest in the capital city.  A typical protest means they block traffic.  It doesn’t take much to make horrible traffic jams in a country that already has traffic problems and so everything came to a quick standstill.  Using barricades and burning tires, the major roads were blocked by union members.  Schools didn’t know what to do, so many of them closed early on Wednesday, trying to get the kids home before a huge protest was to be held down in the city.   On Thursday, all was well, but there were plans for an even bigger protest and a general 24 hour strike that were to take place Friday.  Schools were not forced closed by MEDUCA (the Panamanian ministry of education), because teacher unions were said to also be involved in the strike and they wanted to keep the teachers in school.  Many of the private schools (with non-union teachers) either closed or told the students they would not be counted absent.  So Friday was a mess, needless to say.  I wandered down to the entrance to our neighborhood and traffic on the main road was being blocked by construction workers.  We were watching the local news on TV (which, of course we still don’t understand the rapid speaking of the newscasters), but videos of the protests downtown were pretty incredible.  Even though all the stores had closed in the city, the mobs broke into stores and started looting. The TV cameras caught a lot of it.  We were watching people looting by carrying out a case of beer, then the guy behind had a big screen TV.  One guy carried out a refrigerator!!!! On his shoulders!!! Then, it was found later by the side of the road. Guess it got pretty heavy.  Plus, it was likely hard to load it into a cab or take it on the bus.  Many were saying this brought back memories of Norega’s days when looting at times was really bad.  In fact, a guy mentioned today that when all the horrible looting was taking place 20 years ago, the only stores in Panama that never got looted were the bookstores!!!  Guess you can tell it is not a culture of reading.   Now, I understand why the malls here will not allow anyone (except employees) into the malls before the mall actually opens.  Someone said the “riot” gates were pulled down over the all the entrances of the huge enclosed mall nearby to avoid any problems there.  Obviously, everything was closed for the day.

So, the funniest incident was a government owned car that pulled up to a store that had MEDUCA (the Panamanian government ministry of education) on the side.  Someone got out of the car, ran into the store, stole a TV set, put it in the back seat and took off.  All of this was on television!! Guess the driver to who the car was assigned should get found pretty easily.

Things seem to clear up by later in the afternoon.  Our president, who was in Asia at the time, finally returned home and overturned the law that everyone in an uproar.  Street protests seem to be about the only way for the lower class to be heard.  Ahh, living in the Third World does get interesting at times.

opyright 2012 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Don't forget to follow Panama Guide on Twitter. Salud.

 

August 8, 2012

We had a discount coupon to go to a Westin resort on a beach that was only 20 minutes from us.  Great price, so we grabbed it for one night.  Our shock, and believe me, it was a shock, was that the customer service from the moment we got out of our car was fabulous!  Perhaps, it may be expected in the USA, but I haven’t seen any sort of customer service here in Panama that was worth mentioning. So, it just goes to prove, it CAN happen.  Maybe, they will set a new standard and others will follow. We can only hope.  Panama has neglected to get into tourism much and is just starting to build more resorts and make this a tourist destination.  But, they can’t find enough qualified employees to make it happen just yet, let alone finding employees that are service oriented.

 Snake stories are abundant here.

  Not that I like hearing them, but apparently there was a boa constrictor only (ONLY???)  about 6 feet in length found in the park across the street from our apartment. This is the park we walk in several times a day.  The people who found it called the fire department and they came and got it, probably to release it back into the jungle.  When hearing that story, someone else mentioned being on a two lane road recently and the traffic was stopped going both directions.  Guess a boa was slithering across the road, took the entire width of the road, and had traffic stopped going both directions until it finished crossing.  Brings new meaning to the speed bump signs.  Anyway, I would prefer they just remain in jungle.  Don’t really want to see them.


Well, the public schools here in Panama are supposed to go on strike today (nationwide) because one of the labor union officers was fired.  The reasons he was fired were actually videotaped and the evidence is THERE. But anyway, the union called a nationwide strike until they reinstate him.  Wonder what will happen?  The public schools are horrible anyway. Then, there is my school (an international IB school) . We just started our in-service this week. Granted, the pay is horrible (compared to the states, not to Panama), but every kid from kindergarten through grade 5 gets an iPad issued to them, and the 6th grade through 9th get a laptop AND an iPad issued to them.  I have the privilege of helping the teachers figure out what to do with them and I think that is a BLAST!!!

July 30, 2012

I DID NOT write this. It was an editorial from the Panama Visitante  Newspaper (July 26 edition) that we read.   We loved reading this article, because most every word is just so true.    When we were back this summer, we experienced everyone one of these except for the Police officer one!!  Hopefully we don’t have that experience but it is doubtful  if you live here. 

When my lovely wife and I were visiting Italy recently, people we met, fellow travelers, divers, tour guides, waiters – even pickpockets  -- they all naturally asked us where we were from. We got a big kick out of saying “Panama”.  The look on our newfound friends’ faces was almost always confused surprise.
Since most people in the world don’t know much about Panama, they don’t know what language is spoken or what the natives look like, so even though we spoke with an “American” accent, most were reluctant to fire back “Oh no You’re NOT!”

The point is we are expatriates, which is simply defined as people who reside in a country and a culture other than that of their upbringing. 

My wife and I were very lucky and sold our house some and then we “jumped off the cliff” and came here. We do  not have anywhere in the states to be from and saying you are “from the States” is a bit vague if not downright evasive, at least from where we are standing these days.

So how do you know if you are a true expat or not?  One way is to go back to your country of origin and see how you feel.  How does where you used to live compare to where you are now?

You know you have become a TRUE expat, when you are “back” because:

...you are annoyed in US airports at having to pay for a cart for your bags.
….you catch yourself saying “gracias” instead of “thank you”.
…you find US traffic structured in an overly-orderly manner.
….the road lanes and parking spaces seem inordinately oversized.
…you have to remind yourself not to bribe police officers
…you just can NOT believe that you have found a parking space at the grocery store or the mall.
…everything seems manicured – not only people’s front yard and public parks, but parking lots, median strips, the roadside, farmer’s fields.  Everything.
…you have to remind yourself not to bribe police offices.
…you say hello to strangers on the street AND wonder why they DO NOT say hello back.
…you head for the local supermarket and spend hours walking around because there is so much more choice.
…you can’t read in a coffee shop or on the bus because all the English being spokenis distracting
…or you find yourself eavesdropping on nearby conversations just because you can!
….you think gas prices in the US are low
…you realize you are NOT the tallest person in the country anymore.
….you get tired of people asking you “So what is it like??? Is it scary???
…you count the days until you can go “home”. 

July 21, 2012

Been a long time since I posted on this blog!   Will try to get back "at it"!
But this is an article that Wayne found on the internet.  We both laugh when we read it because we have seen everything in this article and it is right "on target"!!!

Honking car horns are a way of life in Panama.  They are most important when traffic is totally stopped, there is absolutely no place to go, so everyone honks their horn.  Most Gringos are conditioned to think that if they hear a car horn, they have done something wrong or are in danger. Not so in Panama.  It can often mean, “I am coming by on the left”, or “Do you want a taxi?”(if walking) or “You are really hot”(female walking).  Panamanians love their car horns.



Traffic Lanes

Panamanians will make a traffic lane out of anything.  Road shoulders, sidewalks, literally any place that can support four tires (and sometimes only 2) can be a traffic lane.  There is no regard to the fact that at some point the shoulder will disappear and all traffic must merge into actual lanes thus making the traffic jam way worse than it actually had to be.



Open Holes in Sidewalks

Throughout Panama there are numerous open, unmarked holes in sidewalks.  You have got to love a country where the philosophy is: If you are too stupid not to fall into an open hole, then you deserve what you get.



The Canal

A main source of pride for Panamanians is The Panama Canal.  Rarely is a country so dependent on a single source of income.  And Panamanians appreciate it.  To work at the canal is one of the most sought after positions in the country.  Working at the canal immediately vaults a Panamanian into an elevated social status.



Employment

Panamanians are extremely proud of the low unemployment rate in Panama.  The unemployment rate  hovers around 4%, the lowest in Central America.  It matters little that there are maybe 4 people doing the job of 1, everyone is employed and proud of it. You realize this if you go into the Do It Center on Sunday and there are literally 2 clerks on each isle trying to “help” you as you pass through.

May 27, 2012

Link to a movie about the rug!

Not my story but certainly an interesting one that I saw on another blog.  But this is so "Panama".

Before I left Panama last May (2011), a 4'x6' shag rug appeared on the sidewalk in front of the Banco General parking lot off Via Argentina. When I returned in November, the rug was STILL there. Throughout the year I've watched the women in orange clean AROUND the rug, people walk over it, cars drive over it...but no-one's bothered to move it to the trash can, located no more than 5 feet away.
I decided that one of my last acts, before leaving Panama this May, would be a proper disposal of the rug. It was soaking wet this morning and too bulky to squeeze into the trash can but at least it's now off the sidewalk. My friend, Dixon, memorialized the event for me.



Rare time where there were two CRUISE ships in the locks at the same time



The breakfast place for dozens of parakeets that sing to us every morning



Mangos mangos mangos  EVERYPLACE



Beautiful flowering trees



Beautiful trees


Another long weekend.  Got notice on Friday that Monday was going to be a National Day of Mourning for a guy that died that had been president for 8 months many years ago.  This happened once last year as well when a guy that had been president for only 24 hours had died.    This is sort of like snow days that I will have down here - that unexpected “day off”.    But a day of mourning means: NO loud music, No Parties, No alcohol sales in restaurants, bars, or stores.

Some pictures here. One is a tree that we walk under every morning. The unique thing about this tree is that it is FULL of parakeets.  Dozens of them. Adorable little green parakeets that are feeding off the berries in the tree. It is just so neat.  The sound brings back memories of walking through the pet department at WalMart where all the birds are singing.   It is impossible to capture the birds on my iTouch so doubt that you can actually see the birds.  They don’t seem to like to sit still for a picture.
Now that rainy season had come again, trees are beautiful.  Flowers all over.  Never have I seen so many flowers in my life.  Absolutely breathtaking.

Another picture is one of the canal with two cruise ships in the locks. Generally there are always two ship but never two cruise ships.

Another one is of one of the millions of mango trees.  Mangoes are literally everyplace now and daily I see a new unique ways that the local people try to harvest them in the park.  Various ways include standing on their cars, piling things up to grab one, tossing various things in the air to knock them down, never ceases to amaze me how they get those things out of the tree.     But the trees grown everyplace here and mango are loved.  Apparently there are over 100 varieties of them
Did you know that:  the mango tree is a symbol of love.

• Mango leaves are used at weddings to ensure the couple bear plenty of children (though it is only the birth of the male child that is celebrated - again by hanging mango leaves outside the house).
• Many Southeast Asian kings and nobles had their own mango groves; with private cultivars being sources of great pride and social standing, hence began the custom of sending gifts of the choicest mangoes.
• Burning of mango wood, leaves and debris is not advised - toxic fumes can cause serious irritation to eyes and lungs.
• Mango leaves are considered toxic and can kill cattle or other grazing livestock.
• Dermatitis can result from contact with the resinous latex sap that drips from the stem end when mangos are harvested.
• Every part of the mango is beneficial and has been utilized in folk remedies in some form or another. Whether the bark, leaves, skin or pit; all have been concocted into various types of treatments or preventatives down through the centuries.

April 30, 2012

Day off today. It is Labor Day here.  Actually Labor Day is May 1st (which is a Tuesday).  So it has been on our calendars from school since last August.  Everyone made plans for Tuesday being off. Then, on Thursday, the Minister of Education in Panama change the day off to Monday.  Then, on Friday, the government changed the day off to Monday as well for everyone.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute! 
Yesterday afternoon, we went to Pricesmart (our Costcos) for our weekly groceries.   Lines at the registers were 10/12 deep with everyone shopping for the holiday weekend.  Mostly, people’s carts were filled with beer and believe it or not, boxes and boxes of donuts.  Never thought those two would go together.

April 22, 2012

This week was a gentle reminder that we really do live in a third world country.  We were getting used to things going right.  This week changed that secure feeling.  Monday, our internet went out at home around noon.  It didn’t decide to come back on until evening.  Then, that same afternoon, the power went out at 3:00.  It did come back on for us at 5:00, yet others didn’t get it back until midnight. Then Wednesday, the water went off at school.  It finally reappeared after several hours.  Later, the electricity went out again in our neighborhood and for many, it lasted the entire day.   After all that, we had a rain storm that was so heavy that you couldn’t see the canal (which is across the street!). Once more, the electricity was off again on Thursday.   I guess it is bearable as long as you don’t lose all your services at the same time.  A/C is really necessary now that the dry season has ended and the humidity has returned.

There was an article in the news today that a new system for hiring teachers was being put in place this year. With the prior system, the way teachers were hired in a public school was you needed to have connections (lots of connections).  Along with these connections, you needed brides.  With all that, you got the best jobs in the better schools in the nicer neighborhoods.  Experience and excellence in teaching had little to do with your teaching appointment.   Also in the article, a student responded to the comment “you need an education to get into a good college”.  He just laughed and said, “No you don’t, bribes get you anywhere you want”.  Well, unfortunately, there is a lot of truth to that.

Another article I read which intrigues me greatly is that the Panamanian government is spending 26 million dollars to put a computer in the hands of every public high school student in the country.  Of course, there doesn’t seem to be an implementation plan that I saw.  The article went on to say that they did this in 2009 as well.  Those computers now are either missing, stolen, sold, etc.

April 15, 2012

Pictures: The cruise ship out the window of my classroom, and one over looking the playground at my school. Tough when you have a cold, it is late in the week and you are tired, and you go to work and see a cruise ship out your window! Just dreaming. Also pictures of COLD Michigan with my adorable granddaughter whol loved my ipad, and my son and our newest granddaughter!

Hummm, been awhile since I have posted to the blog. Actually, it is getting difficult to find differences. I guess we are getting used to the culture, the climate, the people, so things don’t seem as strange. Panama is becoming “home” to us. BUT, we still cannot communicate in Spanish, no matter how hard we try to listen to conversations.

We had a big swim meet a couple weeks ago for our school. Lots of parents, lot of cheering, guess it wasn’t much different than if I was in the states. But, what really got me was that in spite of all the trash bins/cans sitting around, people would toss their trash on the ground. Few took the extra couple of steps to toss it into the trash can. Again, I take it this is part of the “classist” mentality. There is always someone to clean up your messes, since most everyone has a maid. In the states, you need to buy a house with a dining room for resale value; here you must have a maid’s quarters in your apartment for resale value. I still do not have a maid! I would just as soon clean my own place.

Just came back the other day after spending spring break in the states visiting family. When we left, everything was brown, large cracks in the dry ground. Coming back from the airport it was all green. The rainy season has started and it took just a week to green things up. The humidity has returned as well. However, after being gone a week and the apartment being closed up, we had very little mold, which would be common after a week during the rainy season. Anyway, I am thinking I love this weather. My skin was so dry in the states and I had to use Chap Stick constantly. Here, not a problem. Granted, you have to enjoy the humidity. But, the humidity in Panama is not the oppressive type you encounter in the Midwest during the summerComing back to the heat and humidity was welcome after being “cold” in Michigan. Why, the temperatures got down into the 30’s and 40’s. Getting home from the airport was amazing. Instead of the typical horrendous Saturday afternoon traffic, the streets were empty. Apparently, everyone had left town for Easter weekend, which is another holiday where Panamanians head to the interior to spend time with their families.

Went to the store yesterday and encountered a bad traffic jam. Discovered, as we approached it, that someone’s car had stalled. It was on a road with a slight downhill, so it would have been super simple to push the car off to the side and out of the way of the traffic. But no, who would do that??? Instead, a couple of men had their tool box out and were working under the hood right there in the middle of the road, making traffic a bigger mess than it normally is. A simple shove of the small car would have helped immensely with the traffic situation. We had another couple in the car that had lived in a number of other foreign locations and they said that repairing broken down cars in the middle of the road is very common with absolutely no concern about blocking traffic.

March 11, 2012

Take a country where traffic is hell to begin with. Then, close some of the lanes on major roads all around the city, as well as close some of the side streets for the two to three years to construct a metro transit system. So, the traffic becomes even more unbearable. THEN on top of that, have a couple more major roads close down because of repeated protests.
The indigenous people are still closing roads to protest the construction
of hydroelectric plants in Panama. Some of them are on their land, while many are not, but they want to close all of them.
In fact, last week, there were talks between the indigenous people and the
government. These talks were in an area that was close to the Presidential
palace, but they decide to move them because of small clashes that broke out frequently
between the police at the palace and the Indians. So, where did they move it to??? Right next
door to my school. Needless to say, parents were worried, but we didn’t even know it was going on. I guess the Indians are complaining because they live off the land and everything is so “natural”. However, if the talks begin to break down, they are quickly on their “natural” cell phones and contacting the others to get out and block more roads.
Then, there were the cab drivers that were protesting they were being harassed by the police. Apparently, the cops were beginning to actually enforce some of the driving laws in the country and the cabbies believe it was harassment. So the cabbies were gathering together and en
mass driving slowly (as if you don’t have to drive slow anyway) on the main roads
to cause more traffic jams. Then, the government is paying big money to the drivers of the Diablo Rojos (Red Devils) to purchase their old, almost broke-down busses and remove them off the road as they are dangerous. Some people are purchasing a junky bus, driving it a short time in hope they too can cash in with the $$$ the government is offering. But, they never get
their paperwork done, drive illegally and then get stopped by the police to
check for proper vehicle registration.
These drivers believe they are being harassed, so they decide to block some roads around the airport to protest.
Ahhh, the fascination with all this.

March 4, 2012

Dry season is still here. Can’t remember seeing everything so dry, but we are still enjoying it. Occasionally, we go out onto our balconies and find lots of ash that has landed from fires in the interior. Now, last week, we actually saw a fire nearby. It was in the jungle just up the street from us, so we took a walk and watched it for awhile. Unbelievable. I have never been in a forest fire, so this had to be the biggest fire that I have ever seen. Just the noise from the fire was incredible. But there were plenty of firemen, forest fire fighters (so their uniforms said), lot of spectators, and people behind their homes wetting everything down with garden hoses. Later, we found out that the fire was likley set on purpose to thin out the jungle. It is interesting to notice the jungles appear much thinner because the grass and underbrush has dried up so much. You can actually see into the jungle some.
But, with absolutely not a drop of rain since before Christmas, you can only imagine how dry the jungle gets when it normally gets inches a day of rain. Someone told us that it won’t be long before the canal is complaining of a lack of water to work the locks. However, we are so enjoying this weather. Low humidity, strong breezes and no mold. The middle of the day is so hot when in the sun, but early morning walks and evening walks are absolutely delightful. Trees have dropped their leaves, but strangely, beautiful flowers have popped out all over the place.
We just noticed Thursday that another brand new private school is opening in our little town. This one is a British school with a “British” curriculum. Private schools are every place around here. Then, another IB private school is opening right across the canal from our neighborhood. Only the very poor put their children into the public schools. It is very sad for a country with a booming economy to put very little money into their public schools, or so it seems from our perspective. I do know one gentleman from our church that teaches in a public school. He teaches in a rather middle class neighborhood, but the school has few students. The parents in that particular neighborhood have enough money to put their children in private schools.
I met a gentleman a couple of weeks ago that has been talking with me about hopefully placing some computers into a town in the interior. Apparently, once a child finishes 6th grade, he can go to high school if he takes a long bus ride into the nearest “big city”. The bus costs a dollar each way and the kids can be on the bus for well over an hour. Being that someone in the interior may only make 7 dollars a day, that cost is a big part of the family’s salary. Also, they usually need their older child at home to work. So maybe computers in a supervised location nearby could help remedy the situation, if a kid was motive to get school online. I don’t know if Panama City is 2nd or 3rd world, but the interior is certainly 3rd world. The gap between the rich and the poor is wide.

February 25, 2012

This past week was Carnival here in Panama as well as in the rest of the world. I suppose in the states it is rarely noticed, except for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Here it is a HUGE DEAL. I guess the country basically parties for four days and everyone gets drunk. So we decided to escape, since I had a week off school. Apparently, many of the locals in the Panama City escape to the interior and party (ie LOUD music and beer). I think the locals think that everyone in the world wants to listen to their music and they play it loud enough that you really have no choice. Anyway, everything is closed down on Tuesday, and then doesn’t open again until noon on Wednesday so people have a chance to sleep it off.
The government pays their employees monthly. But, there is what is called a 13th month pay check, which means that three times during the year (April 15, August 15 and Dec 15), the government pays out an equivalent of a “13th month” of pay (1/3 at a time). While the next payment was to come in April, the government decided to pay their workers this past Thursday. The new school year begins this coming Monday (for the local schools, not the international ones, since we are on the USA schedule). Anyway, the government figured people needed to purchase the school uniforms and supplies. But, they were wise enough to NOT give the money until after Carnival!
Another story I heard from a cab driver this week is how REALLY special a child’s 15th birthday party is. Many kids go on trips (without parents, but with chaperones) outside the country. Some go on island vacations, others to the states. It is a BIG deal. But, many parents cannot afford this and consequently have to take loans to pay for everything. Come on, this is for a 15th birthday party. Some forego the trip to host a huge party (like a wedding reception) for family and friends. Again, at 15?????
To avoid the chaos of Carnival, we went to St. Martin in the Caribbean for the week. Beautiful island with our favorite beach. The coolest part was that it was “just” a two hour direct flight from here. No more spending the day trying to get there worrying about connections and flight delays because of snow! It was fun to be in another culture (French) for the week. But the French, even though we couldn’t speak it, at least tried to speak English. That is so unlike here in Panama, where no one tries to speak English. Granted, it IS a Spanish speaking country and I need to learn the language, but few Panamanians even attempt to communicate in English. Apparently, when the USA left some 20 years ago after turning over the canal, English was pretty much outlawed. It wasn’t allowed to be taught in the schools, no one was to speak it, they just wanted to eliminate it completely. Then, they realized it was terrible for tourism and international business, so now are trying to bring it back. Meanwhile, an entire generation can’t understand or speak English.
Also pictured is the FULL MOON party. The park in my neighborhood has this beautiful gigantic tree that I have shown pictures of before. But once a month (at the full moon), they have a drum concert under the tree. We went for the first time a couple weeks ago. Some guy was chanting, most everyone brought either a drum or a 5 gallon plastic bucket to pound on. Beer was a dollar, soft drinks $1.50!!!! One of the biggest paella pans I have ever seen was being cooked over an open fire. Pretty cool. Plus, as if on cue, a huge full moon slowly rose on the horizon.
On the sports front, Lance Armstrong was here two weeks ago. There was a Half Iron Man triathlon in the city. He was here competing and came in 2nd place. All we saw from the triathlon was even more traffic jams. Generally on Sunday, traffic is light, but not that Sunday.

February 5, 2012

Always something interesting down here. This week, it is street riots again. Apparently in the interior several hours from here, there is an indigenous tribe that is rather upset about some mining that is going on. So they decided to protest in the way they know how. That is to gather together on the Pan American highway (the only road from Panama to Costa Rica) and block the road. This road closure effectively cuts Panama in half. The government (so we have heard) really doesn’t know what to do, because if they go in and force them to stop with riot police, they will be given a bad name for demeaning the tribal people. So they decided to just wait it out and allow everyone to get mad and stop it themselves. So the people living closer to Costa Rica can’t get supplies from Panama City that they need (gasoline, etc.) Panama City is not getting the produce that is grown in that part of the country. And people and tourist traveling back and forth obviously can’t get to where they want to go. Traffic is backed up for miles in both directions. The highway has been closed now for five days and counting, it is crazy! The government actually leased a plane that is flying back and forth to form an air “bridge”. Also, the local Panamanian airlines have doubled their service to that side of the country. Many thought this would over within 24 hours, since most of these riots generally don’t last very long. It is just too sunny / hot, too rainy, too whatever. However, this one is not ending. Blocking roads is one of the only ways for people to get their opinion know. Apparently, some truckers are in sympathy and have blocked some of the roads going into Costa Rica. Glad that I am where I am and not traveling to that part of the country right now.
Last week, I was in the states for an educational technical conference in Orlando. It was strange for me to be in a place where I didn’t have difficulty communicating. But on the other side of the coin, I had no challenge. I think that I really enjoy living here in Panama and having the challenge of trying to survive. Yes, it is difficult, but I feel like I have been successful when I get my point across and communicate successfully.

January 22,2012

This is our first “real” dry season. La Nina kind of cancelled it last year, so the experience is certainly interesting. It poured and poured with rain for four days in December, just prior to Josh arriving. We were somewhat concerned, since all activities we had planned were out of doors. But the day he arrived, the rain just suddenly stopped. That was it. No more rain now for a month and we have 3 to 4 more months to go. This is considered “summer” time in Panama. Daily weather is 70 for a low and a high of 94. Much lower humidity, windy, just a few clouds, and zero rain in the forecast. If you go out in the morning before it gets too sunny or if you venture out around sundown, it is totally amazing. Parks are filled with people, cricket matches, picnics, soccer games, dog walkers, baseball and even an occasional American football game. Pictured are fall-like leaves dropping to the ground and there is no concern of snow just around the corner. The lake across the street from us is now totally dry. The ground is beginning to crack. The luscious green grass is drying up. The jungle starts thinning out. I can’t imagine what it will be like without rain for several more months. I guess, from what I hear is that toward the end of the dry season, there can be large fires in the interior with the winds carrying smoke and ash into the city. Time will tell!

January 16, 2012

Just when you think there is absolutely NO way the weird experiences and adventures that happen here can possibly continue, you have a week packed full of weird things. And this was the week. From traffic to doctor’s appointments to driving to eating to exploring new places to language difficulties. These adventures just seems to go on and on and on! So I decided this week I just had to take a chance and get out into the horrible traffic. I drive around near where we live, but never down in the city with all the road construction, crazy drivers, people that make four lanes out of two lane roads, others that make a left hand turn on red from the far right lane. But I just had to give it a try. So I went to visit a friend on the other side of town and from there, I had to go to the doctor’s office. It “should” have been a simple three right hand turns, then a left to get me to my destination. But with the roads as they are, it just isn’t that simple. Needless to say, I missed one of the turns and ended up several miles from where I meant to go. So I tried to find a place to park (impossible) along the street and eventually found a private parking lot that you had to get a ticket to enter. Fortunately, there was an empty spot. Got parked and called Wayne to see if he might be able to figure out where I was. Since the only landmarks I saw were banks (but then there must be a million of them here), I had to get out and walk a couple of blocks to actually find a street sign. Wayne finally figured out where I was and directed me back in the right direction. I mean, who could I ask on the street? Can’t even say “lost” in Spanish. Something tells me I should pay a little more attention to where Wayne drives, since he seems to be able to maneuver around the city pretty well now. The one good thing is that traffic here usually moves at a snail’s pace with all this construction mess and lots of car, so that helps.
And to top it all off, we are experiencing our first “dry” season, since it never really happened last year. NOW, I understand the word “paradise”. The weather is wonderful, less humid and sunny every day. And you know it will be exactly the same amazing incredible weather until sometime in April or May when the rains once again start. I am just so glad that I getting to experience it. I love it.
Yesterday I met with the group of ladies that I go to lunch with once a month. We had a rather unique experience this month and went to the new Trump Towers in Panama City to eat. Talk about a decadent place! Prices for the condos are upwards to $2.5 million. I guess it is the first Trump building to be built outside of the USA. And it is one of the tallest, if not the tallest building in Panama. What a beautiful place. It was so much fun. Funny story though, I guess Donald himself came to Panama for the official opening last July. However, we were having one of our massive rainstorms, the streets by the towers flooded and his SUV go stranded in the flooded streets right in front of this place where you can buy a 2.5 million dollar condo. OK, so the infrastructure still isn’t the best.

January 7, 2012

I have mentioned in earlier blogs about the horrible educational system down here in the public schools. Well, now is the “dry” season, also called “summer” from December until early March. Public schools are not in session. So, a local article mentioned that while the students are off for summer, 69 percent of them are attending “remedial summer school”. The article went on to mention that it was 11 percent better than last summer when 80% had to go during the summer. They are there because they fail too many subjects in the normal school year.
My last week of vacation has been an interesting week for me. We have been trying to get in all those annual doctor appointments that we haven’t done since living here. We are sure to get a doctor that speaks great English (easy to find), but seemingly no one, absolutely NO ONE that works with that doctor does. That includes receptionists, nurses, technicians, etc. I had a Panamanian friend go with me to get my mammogram, because there was no way I would have figured that out with my lovely game of charades. And getting to the hospital was an event in itself. My friend has lived here in Panama forever and has certainly learned to drive just like the locals. My always very low blood pressure probably skyrocketed. But hey, we were safe, she knew where she was going and she knew how to drive. I can’t imagine ever getting that good at driving around here. After driving in the Midwest, I would let everyone in front of me like a typical really nice Midwesterner and be rear ended all the time. AND I would actually stop at stop signs. We really don’t see many more fender benders than we did in Cincinnati, though. Most accidents aren’t too bad because you are generally going pretty slow due to all the traffic.
My most fun moment this week though was when I went into my Chinese product market that I go to a couple times a week. It is a little hole-in-the-wall place and the lady that runs it is sweet as can be. Initially, I told her she needed to speak to me in English, but she should also use Spanish, so I could practice. So, yesterday we got through the entire transaction with her speaking Spanish VERY SLOWLY and me being able to understand and respond. She was so happy when we were done that she gave me a HIGH FIVE and the other two employees started applauding! Now that was fun. Just baby steps … just baby steps.

January 1, 2012

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=936GmAf1SS4&feature=player_embedded