May 8, 2013

Somehow May arrived.   Our dry season typically and very sadly ends around April 15. This year is different.  It still hasn’t ended and I have loved it.  These dry, low humidity days are wonderful.  Evenings are incredible, as are the mornings.  Afternoons get mighty hot and especially as the dry season continues and it seems that it has been hotter than any time since we have been here in Panama. That has been confirmed by the long time residents.  They can’t remember it ever being this hot. But with the extended dry season, there come a lot of problems.  Panama gets over 50 percent of their electricity from hydroelectric plants.  And with the lakes falling below optimal levels, electricity generation has been reduced.  So the country is taking some pretty drastic measures to conserve what power they have.  The first step was to have government offices open at 7:30 am for shortened hours.  The second, which began today, was to close all public and private schools for the remainder of the week.  So, an unexpected 3 day vacation just began today.  Yep, just like those snow days, except the weather is beautiful!   People were screaming, because casinos and malls were left open, but schools closed.   The minister of education said schools were going to reopen on Monday, but conservation measures would have to be put in place.  What that means exactly, I do not know.  But perhaps by Monday, the rains will return.   We still have about 6 weeks of school left, so wonder how this will all work out. The Panamanian public schools keep going to school through December. Their school year starts in March and ends in December. Also, tonight at 10:00 pm, everything is supposed to shut down - bars, casinos, restaurants, grocery stores, everything, until 6 am!   Wonder how that will work.  And offices etc. are not to turn the a/c on until an hour after they open. 

Earlier this year, some farmers were burning off a sugar cane field in the interior of the country.  The fire was right under a major power transmission line.  Anyway, the line overloaded, tripped the circuit breakers and the entire country (I mean the entire country) lost power.  Thankfully, we only lost our electricity for about a half hour or so, but parts of the city were blacked out for hours.  Our traffic is such a nightmare anyway, but when no stop lights were working, well, let’s just say it got worse!

I had an appointment at immigration today to get my permanent resident identification card.  Yes, no more crazy stamps in my passport to get in and out of the country when I travel.   The good thing was the immigration office opened at 7:30 am and I could easily get back to school. But, then there was no school, so not a worry anyway.  I got in and out of immigration in 45 minutes. That was a record to put in the books!! 

Pictures above are just some more of the incredible flowers that you can find here. 

March 31, 2013

 

March 31, 2013

Protests happen here in Panama a lot, as I have mentioned before.  But last week was a crazy one.  The firemen were protesting about their pay or whatever.  But typical of protests, the police toss tear gas into the group to try to quickly break it up.  So, as that happened, the firemen put on their gas masks they normally use during a fire.  Then, they started fighting the police by turning on the fire hoses at the riot police.  Meanwhile, during the “battle”, there was a major fire in one of the department stores at a nearby mall.  So, the firemen quickly stopped the silliness and tried to leave to fight the fire.  But, then the police started to arrest the firemen for protesting!    Really, I do wish I understood the language a lot more, so I could actually understand the dialog during the news casts.  All I can get is the American translation of the events or translate the captions as they stroll across the television screen.

 

Once again, I am going through the immigration process which really never seems to end.  My temporary card expired and I was leaving the country and had to get everything going again quickly.  Wayne and I had to have our second “marriage” interview.  This one we had to have a licensed professional translator.  Going into the immigration building was a trip in itself. There was a gal ahead of us in a spaghetti strap top.  They stopped her and wouldn’t allow her to continue without covering up.  Me, I had to remove my sunglasses.   I got caught on that one when I went in to get my driver’s license renewed also.  The government offices are very strict around here about sunglasses, proper shoes and clothes.  No shorts allowed, no flip flops, no sunglasses.

I think I have mentioned before that smoking here is illegal in most places.  It is just frowned upon  by most everyone.  Cigarettes are very expensive (how that compares to the states I really don’t know since I don’t buy them), but they do whatever they can do deter smoking in Panama.  We were out the other night with a couple where the guy smoked.  I noticed his cigarette pack on the table and was shocked.  On the cigarette package, they had the most unbelievable pictures of deformed children/cancer/ whatever they find something that smoking can cause.  Really very ugly. I was going to put one of the pictures on here, but they are just too gross.

 

We just returned from a week visit to Michigan.   It was cold.  Thankfully, our boys met us at the airport with coats, sweatshirts, etc.   We froze for a week, but at least being with the grandkids made it all worthwhile.  Lately, traveling gets more and more interesting. We have been out of the country now for almost three years.  When back into the range of “USA television”, we are glued to the commercials.  The new products coming into the market that we have no clue about are pretty amazing.  The pictures are from the last visit to the cold cold Northern territory!

January 18, 2013

It has been so long since I added to this blog. But, I love keeping it as a diary so I decided to add a few things that I certainly don’t want to forget.  Also, it is a repository for some pictures.  So, if you are still reading it, super!  If I don’t get on occasionally, I forget my password!

I had another “one of those days” at immigration yesterday. My initial immigration status is over and I am now applying for the next step.  As always, it was an adventure like no other.  We had a marriage interview 18 months ago to prove we were married and it went great.  But, now the law says you have to have another one (brand new procedure).  Our interviewer seemed to be someone who obviously hated his job with a passion.  I also had to have a professional translator (one that is certified, whatever that means). We had to wait only 2 hours for our appointment.   They are trying to “prove” that we are “really” married.  Part of the process is to ask you questions in an interview. They take me first and ask, then bring in Wayne and ask the same questions to see if they “match”?  Well we missed some questions, which is a real NO NO.  I guess we aren't married after 36 years!  They asked what color towel Wayne dried with after his shower that morning. I had no clue, nor did I have a clue what color mine was and I told them that. They insisted on a color, so I named a color of one of the stack of 5 towels we have.  I missed !!! We are not newlyweds with a beautiful set of perfectly coordinated towels anymore. Arggggg.. Then, I missed on the color of our toothbrushes.  We share an electric one, but Wayne also uses a regular one. I had no clue what color it is. They insisted I give a color. What a stupid stupid interview.   Really???   So after the "officials" review it, we may have to do the darn thing again.  But, I did get another temporary card for a year.  Like, will this visa process go on forever???  Seems like I go from one temporary card to another.  The country has a tremendous problem with illegals from Columbia.  But, we are an older couple from the US??? Really, are we  sneaking into the country and to do what?

 

Two weeks ago, I went to the US Embassy for an appointment to discuss Medicare. We could go over there and get information about whatever Medicare might be, since I am approaching that age.  The service at the Embassy was terrible, the people had no clue. In fact, I asked a question and she went to her computer, left me standing at the window for 20 minutes only to reappear and tell me what I knew already because I had looked online before.  Then, we went to a Panamanian bank thinking we would have issues with the language and being understood, but the service was excellent with an English speaking service representative. They were amazing. So, that day our expectations were certainly switched!

 

There is a beautiful food court being built in our neighborhood. It will be amazing when finished.  It has been under construction now for over two years.  In the states, it would have been totally constructed and operational in 6 months.  I asked someone (a Panamanian) what the problem was.  He said it was too many bosses that don’t speak to each other.  One says build a wall, the next week the other one says tear it down. They are already being fined for being many many months late.  Oh well!!!

 

We are now in the dry season. Our children were here for Christmas and I was so hoping the dry season would begin while there were here, but it did not.  On Saturday before they left, it rained hard while we were at an open air restaurant.  Since then it has not rained a drop.  The dry season probably started as they boarded the plane to return to the cold cold north.  Now, there will likely be no rain for 90 -110 days.  Beautiful!!!!  Very hot in the afternoon, though if you are directly in the sun. But early mornings and evenings are heavenly.  And the shade in the afternoon.  No humidity!

Ancon Hill and BYC December 2012

Beach with kids December 2012

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.