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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

It's been a while!


Well I am finally back after a very long hiatus.
It seems like it has been forever since I have put pen to paper, and looking back on my previous posts it has been!!
I hope I remember how to do this:)

Internet Tower


Our internet tower that we like to call the 90 foot Palm Tree! 
 One of the reasons being that since we moved into our home we have not had internet service here and I had to drive up to the office to do any networking and it proved to be distracting to say the least to do any kind of writing at all.
But now, they have constructed an internet tower right here in the development so I get fantastic service now. At least when the generator is full of gas!
Yes, you read it right.
When we first got the tower running Don woke up early morning like he always does and woke me up saying " Hey, get up. We finally have internet here in our home". 
We went everywhere. In the bedrooms, in the bathroom (even the one without a window), outside, everywhere, and yes, we had internet. And good internet too.
But it was short lived as the next morning it was back to normal. No internet again!
We called to find out the problem, and they informed us that the tower is run by a gas generator and it had run ouot of gas. Can you believe it?
Anyway it has only run out of gas twice now, so hopefully they have the gas company's phone number on speed dial.



Buses here in Pedasi


Well I always marvel at how things operate here. It's why I am in love with this country and all that it has to offere and the idiosyncrasies of the people who live here.
The other day I was driving in town and was behind a local bus.
It pulled over at the local hardware store and a local got out and went inside.
I was behind the bus and was wondering why he wasn't pulling out and taking off. I stayed behind for a few minutes and then the local comes out of the store with a wheelbarrow.
The driver gets out and helps the guy put the wheelbarrow on top of the bus!
After it was secure they both got back in and drove off.
Now that's service. 
I think that North America should adopt this kind of service with their buses. You think that would ever fly? I think not.
Speaking of buses, it is very very common for the locals to stand at bus stops carrying their machetes and jump on the buses with them. 
Can you even fathom the notion that this kind of thing would be the norm in anywhere else but here?
Everyone here owns a machete and they use it everywhere to cut down branches, and even large trees. 
Don tried using it once and almost amputated his leg, lol.
He hands it to the Panamanian's. They sure know how to swing one of those things effortless.
Don has retired his, except he does have one under out bed just in case, but it's on MY side. Hmmmmm :)
  
Our Pool


Our Pool as it is today. They had to repaint it!

I have to say that we are loving our home, but last week they had to drain our pool and sand and remove all of the paint because when they originally painted it they immediately after painting filled it with water.
Perhaps they should have read the can first as you are supposed to wait seven days before any water hits the paint.
Don and I mentioned this to them at the time but they assured us that this would be fine. 
Not!
It all bubbled and the picture above says it all.
It will be over two weeks in total until we have our pool back.
I have to mention the weather here speaking of pools.
We had not been here in the summer before, having come here in August to September before and didn't know what the temperatures would be like.
We had our rainy season, which by the way here in the Azuero Peninsula is 50% dryer than the rest of Panama, and it did rain off an on until about mid December. 
Then it was like a miracle. 
One morning we woke up to brilliant blue skies with the most incredible tradewind blowing across the Ocean which cools the 30 degree temperatures down immensely. 
It's been a carbon copy of this weather since then until now, and it looks like we will be having the same for another couple of months.
It's absolutely brilliant.
Breezy and sunny all day, with virtually no humidity. In fact at night I always need a jacket on. We have not needed the air conditioning on at all since Mid December.
Priceless!!

Cruise Ships


This one sailed by a couple of days ago
In addition to all of the cargo and freighter ships that sail by on a regular basis we are now having quite a few cruise ships as well.
Normally they travel at night as the canal is not far from here and they usually arrive at the canal early in the morning, but once in a while we are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one.
This isn't a great shot as Don wasn't home and I didn't know how to put the zoom len's on the camera, so this is the best I could do.
It's an awesome sight to see these cruise by. It really is!

Trip to the local Walk in Clinic  


Ok, a couple of weeks ago, I was down on my hands and knees cleaning the floors in the kitchen (this statement in itself is SOOOO wrong in so many ways) and for some reason something snapped in my knee and I could barely get up off the floor.
Floor cleaning is not for women! Getting pedicures, manicures and being waited on hand and foot...This is what we are put here on earth for.
But I digress :)
Anyway, my knee just kept getting worse and worse so I bit the bullet and decided to venture on down to the local Walk in Clinic which is only a few minutes away.
I wasn't looking forward to this at all as it was all so unknown and my Spanish is very very limited to say the least.
Anyway I was really surprised when I went in as it was not crowded like walk-in clinics that I have been to before and it was spotless as well.
I made my way over to the correct window after a couple of tries and thanks to one really nice and very 'cute' Panamanian Police Officer, I got all of the information I needed to give to the girl behind the counter and I went to the waiting room to 'wait' to see the Doctor.
I only was there for about half an hour when the Doctor motioned me in. To my surprise he spoke English fairly well. What a relief!
Of course I had to show him my passport for him to COPY my name (which I will expand on later).
Anyway I told him about the cleaning of the floor thing, and he said "Why on earth were you doing that anyway? That's a man's job!"
Ok, that is not exactly what he said, but it was for sure what he meant :)
So I was in his office perhaps 15 minutes, which by the way was soooo cold. His A/C was set to 16, and he filled me out a prescription as he said that I had sprained a muscle and needed some anti-inflammatory pills.
I sauntered over to the Pharmacy which was right across the aisle and she had my presriptions, which consisted of a tube of some kind of Ben Gay kind of stuff and a weeks worth of pills for my inflammation in about 10 minutes.
So most of you don't know that my legal name in Constance Dennis, not Connie, so this is what I expected on the prescription as the kind Doc had indeed copied it from my passport didn't he?
When I got my pills, I looked at the name it was 'Constang Leon'...What the??
How can one get Constang Leon from Constance Dennis when they were copying it right from the passport?
LOLOL .
This just broke me up.
Anyway, with the Doctor's consultation, the presriptions and all else, the bill came to 
$4.45. (Pic Below) 

As you can see by the bill, the Consultation with the "Medico" was $2.00 and the Prescriptions were $2.45.
I just had to show you the bill as some might think I was exagerrating the truth.
It was an experience that turned out to be just fine and non painful at all.



Constang Leon's Bill for Consultation and Prescriptions


Artistry of the Locals



Notice the sandals and the orange peel in the foreground




On our walk the other morning we saw the above. The locals had picked up all of the garbage and made a piece of artwork with it all. As you can see there are shoes, sandals, bottles, orange peels, vines and paper all made into a fence kind of thing.
These people are really are awesome!

Just pictures of our beach the other day and the sunset!




Road Paving



Finally the roads are being paved in the development. It's been an arduous task that has taken 3 months so far and still not finished, but it does look like the end is near.
There are sidewalks going in and street lights. It will be fantastic when done.



Well this is all for now, and as always I want to thank you for taking the time to read my blogs.
I really do enjoy writing, and I will have more of my adventures in this wonderful paradise real soon.
Please be safe and remember to 'Stay in the Light'

If you want to read more about Panama please go to http://www.panama-guide.com/ for many articles in English about Panama and the surrounding areas.