Riddle of the week—

If you bought a package of Planet Pop microwave Chicharrones that was right next to the microwave popcorn, what do you think you would be getting?  Silly me—I thought it was going to be some good salty sweet snack, with a little grease,  like those long skinny doughnuts they make at the state fair. Well, they were greasy and puffy all right.  Chicharrones  are pork rinds!!  Microwaveable pork rinds!! Can you believe it?!?   That qualifies of nasty surprise of the day.  (I did not eat them).

So, here it is 2 days after Christmas. We had a merry unchristmas.  It was a picture perfect day—blue skies and balmy winds and moderate surf.  In between cleaning a rental house and prepping several others to receive guests, we met our friends Maribel and Joe here for lunch and a swim. They came over from Isla Cristobal a half hour away and we hung out at Punta Lava, the beach restaurant. Maribel, who is from Costa Rica, brought some of her favorite Christmas treats—homemade eggnog and a delicious almond shortbread, on a beautiful red ceramic dish (now a lovely soap dish in the bathroom). I prevailed upon her to send me the recipe and here it is—I think you can figure it out.   I found her version to be quite charming!

Maribel’s almond cookies

1/2 cup almonds, quarter-cup sugar, half-cup melted butter, half-spoon almond extract, half-spoon vanilla, one cup 2/3 flour, half-spoon salt.---

how to cook ... smash almonds, add sugar, little butter--very little, mix. add almond extract, add vanilla with flour and salt...mix...to make the mixture...put in plastic bag, put in fridge for 30 minutes...put oven at 350 f, put in cookie maker with butter on base, make into balls and put in, bake for 15-20 minutes until gold color/.

Here is her eggnog recipe:

Heat 2 quarts of whole milk in a saucepan with a cinnamon stick and a little sugar. When almost boiling, remove from heat. Beat two 2 egg yolks in a large bowl and very slowly add the hot milk, while stirring furiously to prevent the egg from cooking in shreds. Put in the refrigerator until cooled, add rum to taste and serve over ice (add a little grated nutmeg if you want).   YUMMY!! Like liquid ice cream.  

Tons of people vacation during the holidays. They pay big bucks to go to resorts and they may even expect it to be perfect and, you guessed it, it isn’t, especially here!!  This is the wild west and if you want perfect go to a 5 star something in Maui or Cancun or somewhere plastic where no one makes mistakes, the weather is the same all of the time, and there is a mono culture of people who are super- organized robots. (Now, that’s a little sarcastic or maybe even defensive, would you say)?!  Anyway, it has been a trying few days and will get more so over the coming week as we totally fill up. We are finding the flaws in our systems—every  single one (and there are more than a few). AND we are learning from each one. (I am learning that I am not cut out to be a resort owner unless I can stay behind the scenes). We are very over stimulated at the moment, so I think it’s time to have a glass of wine and chill out, as they say. OR maybe I’ll try my hand at the eggnog and double the rum!

Happy New Year everyone!!

 



Clarissa, Fany and Malena at the employee Christmas party at Kayukos last Saturday.
We had a DJ and it was loud and crazy.



Ginger plant creating a root structure on the middle of the plant

rain, rain, go away

Steve made it home--that Saturday evening near midnight. It was so exciting to see the light on the mast glide closer and closer and then to finally hear their voices over the water. This photo is the next morning, getting ready to move the boat (Moana Roa, meaning "endless sea") to the other side of the dock. They had quite a trip-- very challenging, lots of wind, rain, 20 foot waves. His crew, Jeff and Dave, stayed here for a few days before heading back to Minnesota and it was fun hearing their stories. They caught a lot of fish, too, so we have some tuna in the freezer. It has  been almost 2 weeks and we have been so busy I haven't had a chance to sit down and blog. We have been getting ready for the high season-- expecting a full house (about 150 guests at one time) over the holidays.We needed to provision for that (buy more sheets, blankets, and such) so we took another trip to David. That means 2 boat ferry rides, a taxi, and a 4 hour bus ride through the mountains and back again, which we did in about 36 hours.

This picture is some boats along the waterway into Almirante. This is banana country and the waterway is also home to a lot of people in small huts over the water and lots of barges that take bananas to other ports.

I include this picture, just because it shows a little about what's going on here at the project. We are doubling the size of the marina and this  worker is putting together the floating platforms on land before they are moved onto the water.

Last night we had a little pre-holiday get together at our house for the "interns". The interns here are young American college grads who are looking for adventure and a chance to gain work skills and prove themselves. (We aren't able to hire any more interns because of Panamanian labor laws). In this group we have a concierge, canopy tour director, two chefs, marina manager, hostel manager, marketing guru, and construction manager.
I just realized I haven't talked about the title of this week's blog- rain!  It has rained almost every day since I got back here and I was starting to get depressed from it!  I spend a lot of my day outside, so rain means wearing a poncho over my clothes and tall rubber boots, and then I end up the day soaking wet and full of mud anyway. So, I am happy to report that the skies cleared at noon today. It was a beautiful afternoon and
I went for a swim before supper.
Finally, I want to recognize today as a special day-- my son, Tim's 30th birthday, and also my granddaughter, Addie's first birthday! Happy birthday you two-- wish we were there to celebrate with you!

sweet Saturday...

because Steve gets back today. He has been sailing our boat here from Grenada for the past two weeks. It sounds like it has been a rough ride and he told me that he has some good stories to tell, so I’ll leave it at that for now. He should get into the marina around 11pm or so. Next  week I will  regale you with tales of waves and wind and who knows what else.

I arrived back on “the project” this past Monday after 2 weeks at home for Thanksgiving with my family and friends—such a wonderful time!   Re-entry into Bocas reality is usually rough and this trip was no exception. I arrived back to the news that a number of vehicles were in the repair shop, which is hard because all of my workers need transportation, not only of themselves but also of their equipment (weed whackers, machetes, mops and buckets, ladders, etc).  Then it started raining and hardly let up until Thursday afternoon--three depressing wet difficult days. Yet there is always something glorious about the rain here. It forces one to realize that rain is just another way to be outside—indeed one can work outside in the rain because it’s so warm, and I even like pruning plants and weeding in the rain. The main inconvenience for me is that you can’t weed whack in the rain because the grass is too slippery and it’s not good for the motor. But the grass grows fast with all the moisture so you have a major problem—you can’t cut the grass while it is raining, but the rain makes the grass grow faster. And you have to keep the grass down in order to keep the bugs at bay (especially scorpions). It also looks tidier. So now I am buying another weed whacker so that I can have two guys whacking away when the sun shines, so to speak.

Now to the pictures of the last few weeks since my last blog:

Addie and Tara

Sylvia and Bonnie

This is Santos, our large equipment operator, in the vehicle I call “T-rex.” Santos  is one of those people who spreads happiness and contentment wherever he goes.

Friday morning I went into town (Bocas, on Isla Colon). I entered the street off the dock and immediately sensed that something was up. There were people all over and an air of excitement, like there was going to be a parade or something. Then I saw the director’s chairs and the cameras. There was a motion picture being filmed on the street in Bocas!! The film is by a German producer and the title, in English, is “Treasure Hunter.”   (somehow, I don’t think it will be up for Best Foreign Film). The guy with the beard and mustache is supposedly a famous actor in Germany.

All for now. I am so excited- Steve just called me on his satellite phone and expects to arrive in the marina in an hour. I feel like a school girl with a crush- need to go spritz on some perfume and get ready to go down to wait on the dock for my husband who has been out at sea! 

golf cart caper

As you may know, we get around the project with golf carts, 4 wheelers and a few trucks. We built all of the roads and they range from flat gravel that is easy to drive on, to steep and rocky with patches of mud and drop offs on either side. There is one short road of pavers in the villa neighborhood just above Turtle Beach and that is a dream to drive on.  The walk from the marina and logistics (warehouses, machine shop and office) to the villas is just 20 minutes, but tough to impossible if you are lugging a weed whacker and a jug of gasoline or a mop and bucket and other cleaning supplies. Two members of my work crew, Javier and Licinia, have never driven any kind of vehicle before, so I have on several occasions had them switch places with me and started teaching them to drive a golf cart. On Saturday, on our way to clean the marina bathrooms, I asked Licinia if she would like to try driving the golf cart again and her eyes lit up. We started slowly and she was doing much better than the first time--- she was able to keep the cart on the right side of the road and go at an even slow pace. We went on like this for about 15 seconds and I was so pleased that she was doing so much better than the first time. Then all of a sudden she put the pedal to the metal, so to speak,  and cranked the wheel to the far right, don’t ask me why.  I yelled “STOPSTOPSTOP!!!” (no, she doesn’t speak English, but I was reacting in the moment and hadn’t practiced yelling PAREPAREPARE!!!! )   I reached my foot over to press on the brake, but not in time—we barreled straight off the side of the road and about 10 feet into a marsh. We were stopped by the soft vegetation in front of us (luckily there were no trees in our path) so we weren’t hurt. Licinia’s eyes were wide as saucers and we both were exclaiming various things I can’t remember in our respective native languages. Finally I laughed and said, Esta bien. No problema!  (everything’s cool- no problem!) Then we sat there and laughed for about 2 minutes. I was able to back the cart part of the way out but couldn’t get it over the hump along the side of the road. So Licinia walked the remaining 100 feet to the marina to start cleaning and I walked back until I encountered some “helpers” to pull the cart back on the road. They were all laughing their heads off- a hilarious start to the day, I have to say. (and next time I will have her practice stopping and starting and it will be in a parking lot instead of on the road). 

Oh, by the way, to follow up from last week- the beach was back as beautiful as ever by Tuesday.  And a few pictures….

"mama and baby" coconut palms

neighbor kids with machete and homemade wheel barrow, on their way to scavenging for coconuts

beautiful leaves

blossom on banano tree prior to fruit budding

Maguly, Anselmo, Enilda, Javier and, in back, Licinia-
on boat at end of work day Saturday

Passion Fruit and Pelicans

Crème brulee. Ahhhhhhhhhhh…….  The first time I had crème brulee was at the home of my sister, Joy, also known as the Martha Stewart of the Peterson family. Always on the culinary cutting edge, and first in the family to acquire the requisite blow torch and little ceramic ramekins, she could quickly whip up this dessert of silken richness with the little surprise crunch that was enough to make a chocolaholic say, “Chocolate? Hmmm, maybe tomorrow.”

Anyway, we went out for dinner in Bocas (next island over) the other night and settled in at one of our favorite spots, El Refugio.  After several delicious appertifs and shrimp spring rolls, we enjoyed a fabulous miso -encrusted  sea bass over coconut rice, and were then faced with a choice  between two  desserts—a peanut butter and oreo ice cream pie or Passion Fruit crème brulee.  Don’t ask me why, but this chocolate lover quickly leaped on the crème brulee, much to Steve’s amazement and consternation, as he has hardly ever met a crème brulee that he liked. When it arrived at the table, it was enchantment at first sight.  Served on a primitive wooden platter were two creamy yellow passion fruits, the tops cut off and the flesh scooped out-- delicate containers for the shiny crust and pale custard inside. I dipped in my spoon. Part of the pleasure of eating crème brulee is, of course, that nanosecond when your spoon first breaks through the hardened sugar top and plunges into the custard below. There is some small sense of discovery and accomplishment in that brief moment. And then spoon to mouth.  Ahhhhhhhh…. could this be? My immediate thought was, ‘This is the most delicious and surprising dessert I have ever eaten – in my whole life!’  I slowly savored every heavenly mouthful --tiny pieces of caramelized fruit in darkened sugar, and smoooooth custard. I scraped every bit out of that little fruit shell, and licked the spoon clean.  I will never forget this crème brulee--barely sweet with just a hint of passion fruit. Who knows- It may inspire me to try creating a pumpkin crème brulee for the coming celebration with family in Minnesota!

As to pelicans, I have had interesting moments watching them over the years that we have been coming to Panama. The first pelican in particular that I remember was a tragic bird who I call Senor P. He just sat there on the beach, one of his wings clearly broken, close to where we were staying in a little surf camp on the pacific side of Panama. I was stricken with a sense of impending death and couldn't take my eyes off him. There were tinaqueiros (street dogs) chasing each other in and out of the surf, paying no attention to Senor P.   A turkey buzzard of large proportions waited about 30 feet away, also just sitting there. After a while we finally had to leave the beach and headed back to our little surf shack. We went back out later and the spot where Senor P had been sitting was smooth, flat sand -- not even any feathers or blood to mark the spot. Gone without a trace. Yeah, I know, why personify a bird- this is simply Mother Nature at work, right? But, my thoughts kept going back to this poor pelican and I never see a pelican without remembering Senor P. I went so far as to make up a story about him, with a cast of other characters including the dogs and some crabs. Maybe someday I will add pictures and make it into a book for Addie.

I haverecently become aquainted with a group of pelicans here at Red Frog. At the lava rock point that lies between Playa Tortuga and Red Frog Beach, are some big trees where about a dozen pelicans hang out. I have spotted them all sitting in the trees overlooking the point at the same time, and that is a site to behold as they are very large birds. They must have a sixth sense about which branches will support their weight as they don’t have to reposition themselves- they just glide into the trees and sit facing the water. I love to walk into the ocean and turn and watch them as they sit and look around for signs of fish in the surf below them or take off into the wind currents overhead. Sometimes they cruise in little groups, sometimes all alone.   Yesterday I saw one bird glide in circles and figure eights for 40 seconds before beating its wings-- it seemed to be floating in the air. Perhaps a similar vision partly inspired the song, Poetry in Motion?

Today my pictures are from the beach, which has changed greatly in the past 3 days, as the inter tropical convergence system (did I get that name right?) is hovering over us, bringing big surf, high tides and lots of wind and rain. The beach is halfway obliterated and it is high drama—roaring crashing waves, giant sprays of water off rocks, and the sense that something big could happen. (I always think of “The Perfect Storm” in weather like this, although this is small potatoes in comparison. I was amazed that it really ended that way, and that the ending seemed all right). We are hoping this system heads back south and that blue skies and calmer waters return soon.

Bob Marley Sunday

Bob Marley Sunday

What a week!! I have alluded to the ups and downs of life in Panama-- building a resort on a remote island, in these times, in a foreign (third world ) country, away from family and friends.  We keep making progress and then we get blind -sided by some new seemingly insurmountable challenge. For example, a powerful  local official refuses to give us Certificates of Occupancy (already paid for) for recently completed houses because we have not agreed  to his off- the- books demands (you could call it extortion, but here it is how things get done and how the “have- nots”  get SOMETHING).  We’re not talking small potatoes—his initial demand was for an insane amount of money (try 7 digits). Well, after months of negotiating we are now down to a manageable (or at least POSSIBLE) sum of ~ $28,000 in building materials. And the irony is that things like this happen on a regular basis. You know that saying, “If I had a nickel for every time,” well ….I would love to have a nickel for every time I have said, “You’ve got to be kidding- this is a joke, right?!”

Anyway, back to Bob Marley Sunday.  I guess we have been subconsciously fighting all of these seemingly random things that happen here on a regular basis and not taking time to care for ourselves and each other because there are so many demands on our time here. Earlier this week Steve and I reached a zenith of frustration and suddenly everything came tumbling down. We both at the same time hit a big thick hard wall or a very deep dark pit and it was scary. Over a few days we got through it but I have to say it was like getting caught in a riptide when the surf is up, and being tossed by wave after wave, struggling to catch your breath to the point where you are panicking- pretty frightening. Anyway, after a few really tough days we reached what I think of as a reconciliation with the reality here-- we bobbed to the surface, saw the sky above, filled our lungs with sweet air and touched sand underfoot. (Sorry- I now think in beach metaphors).   I think we know that together we can get through anything and… everything will be all right (thank you, Bob Marley).  I now add to my initial mantras, “No one got sick or died, so we can handle it.”

We also have reaffirmed that we really don’t need much to be happy and that getting back to a daily spiritual practice helps us a lot (another one of those “duh” moments).  One of Bonnie’s friends from Madison, Dylan, was killed in a car accident last weekend and we are sad with her. We are also reminded  to cultivate thankfulness as we head into November and are getting psyched about stuffing and pumpkin pie.  We are hopeful that we are really over the hump this time.  We’ll see—stay tuned and thanks for your interest and support.  Hope you have a good week in your own adventures ( yet another “duh”-- one need not travel far from home to live life as an adventure)!  Just a few pictures from the week…

This used to be a gravel parking area and now is
ready for playing ball and other horsing around in front of the hostel
(sod new on Friday).

Someone told me to get a picture of the beach this weekend as there is a huge swell coming in off the Caribbean from the hurricane going through, which often washes away a lot of the beach (don't worry- it always comes back).

I just decided to walk off the road into the jungle and snapped a photo.

Sunday on planet Bocas

Its' been a rough week. What did I learn in the last 7 days? Being in a foreign country as a tourist is different than living and working in a foreign country-- in fact sometimes you feel like you're on a different planet!

Duh. I know it sounds so obvious, but I regularly have experiences here that click into a new level of awareness of how different it is here. Segue back to the experiences with pest control here, but this time it's bugs, not bats…. We were working with a local pest control company to spray inside houses along the baseboards for ants, roaches and spiders, and also spray outside to prevent those same critters from procreating in the yard. We also sometimes have this company deal with specific infestations of pieces of furniture—could be some little  bugs, or worst case, termites. Well, I had had them previously treat specific pieces of furniture and that worked fine. However, this time I told them that there was a piece of outdoor wicker furniture at one house that I suspected had some termites in it and would they please check it and treat that piece of furniture. I had previously been charged about $25 for this service. Anyway, without my permission or knowledge, they treated that entire yard and under the house for termites. AND they also treated the two neighboring houses. They did not tell me until 2 weeks later when they presented us with a bill of $300 per house.  Well, as you can imagine, I was not happy, especially since the chair I had them check didn’t have termites, it had some wasps that make nests that mimic the appearance of termite trails. So we told them they had done that without our permission or knowledge, and with no evidence that they even did that work, and so we would not pay the bill for that. In the meantime we decided to try another pest control company and they have proved to be totally incompetent. Well, you guessed it—there are only 2 companies locally that do pest control. One of the guys in the office heard me bemoaning this situation. He has lived and worked  here for 2 years and said, “Look- this is what you need to do—you need to pay the bill for the termites and then have the first company back because at least they are competent. You have to pay that bill because essentially you have insulted them by refusing to pay it and they have lost face, and even though you are in the right, you will have to pay that bill if you ever hope to do business with them.”  This same guy said he is acquainted with the pest control company owner in Panama City and would be happy to contact them and work out a deal (subtext " and make a little on the side while doing so"). Sorry, as much as I am interested in the local way to do things, I am not going to give in on this one, at least for now. Little things like this happen regularly that ratchet up my awareness that things here are REALLY different and I can’t just change the rules—which leaves with me a certain level of anxiety that I am constantly dealing with. Pretty tough on a Swede who likes a certain amount of predictability and order to things.

After writing the above, I took a break. It’s Sunday, after all, and time for a little R & R. I went to the marina and beach to empty  trash in the bathrooms, as Saturday is a high traffic day plus yesterday there was a beach volleyball contest and beach party. I strolled along the beach and soon the sand and water started to work their magic. I walked the whole beach (Steve is working, otherwise he would be along) and then laid down for a few minutes with my hat over my eyes. When I started to feel hot, I stashed my camera under my hat and headed into the water. I suddenly remembered being in the lake at my grandparents’ cabin at Mil Lacs with my sisters (can't you see us--early 1960's, big front teeth in freckled faces, retro bathing suits?) and how we played and played all day in the water, making up dance performances, playing tippy dunky with our inner tubes, creating mud pies to serve our grandfather. Why not here, alone, at age 56? I  made a few moves in the water- doing hand stands and flipping over, yoga poses (much easier when buoyed in salt water!), pretending to be a mermaid, and then floated on my back and looked down at my toes or nothing in particular. After half an hour of this, who cares about the business of bugs?

Here are some pictures, and these remind me that many of the different things here are wonderful!

still life on beach-- breaking wave, washed up timber, and coconut

looking at Wild Cane Cay through some beach grape trees

Rufina and Antonio (from neighboring village) at the beach this morning

May you all find time to play this week!  Miss you very much!

 

slothful sunday

ooh-- what is that marking on his back?  is it a marking to call attention to the ladies? maybe this is a girl sloth-- I can't tell-- the color of the spot goes with the color around the eyes in the below picture

  what a cute face!

I was driving (in my golf cart) down to meet my work crew on Thursday morning and I encountered this sloth. I have seen quite a few sloths before, but this was the closest I had seen one- I could have reached out and touched, but had no desire to do so (they have very sharp defensive claws). He/she had just gotten off the road and was heading into some trees and had started his breakfast of leaves, buds and tender plant shoots. It's very hard to break down all that cellulose, so a sloth  stomach is large, comprising 3/4 of its body weight. The plants don't give them much energy and therefore they have a very slow metabolism and move in extremely   s l o w  m o t i o n. Notice the fur-- it is an ecosystem in itself, hosting many insects as well as moss and algae. The specialty of the sloth? Hanging from trees, which is why they have such long curved claws (about 2 inches long). They eat, sleep, and even give birth in trees. This is a 3 toed sloth, a relatively rare creature. On a nearby island, there are pygmie sloths, the only ones in the world. So, that is the word on sloths for now. 

Last weekend was a wonderful whirlwind - a quick four days in Minnesota and back to Panama on Tuesday. Thursday night was Scott (my nephew) and Heather's wedding rehearsal and Caribbean theme dinner afterward (I was appropriately attired right off the plane!)   Friday night was a lovely evening with my mom and sisters, then the wedding and reception on Saturday, Sunday afternoon in Madison visiting with Bonnie, and a quick trip to Rochester on Monday to see Tara and Addie. What fun Addie is! She is crawling up a storm and she does this thing where she pumps her leg muscles from a crosslegged sitting position, and moves her whole body in the air about 4 inches off of the floor. It seems to be her way of saying, "Isn't life wonderful! I am having a blast!" I hope Tim and Tara get a video of that-- some day she will say, "Oh no, why did you get THAT on film?"  Here a some pictures-- of Bonnie and two of Addie. 

I am having some challenges moving the pictures around to a more pleasing arrangement, so will leave them as is and hope you enjoy them. Have a good week everyone!

lazy Sunday

Such a nice lazy day-- slept in until 7am and stayed in bed until 8:30, reading the chronicle of a couple circumnavigating the globe, whose boat sank 1200 miles west of Panama after being attacked by a school of whales. They have been drifting  in their little life raft for almost 30 days, their food stores now exhausted, and have to catch fish to eat raw-- can't wait to get back and finish the book. Also, it's good for me-- makes me think any challenges here are small potatoes.

I made pancakes for breakfast today ( a nice change from peanut butter toast) and have been cleaning and doing miscellaneous chores with Steve this morning.  I enjoy  putting our house back in order-- it gives me a sense of rest and relaxation. My friends Janny and Lisa have been here since Wednesday ( from Minneapolis), moving furniture into 3 houses that were just completed, and "staging" them for rental. It is an exhausting, chaotic process that involves pulling furniture from shelves in 2 different warehouses, putting it in a truck (with crew of 4 guys) and moving it about 1/2 mile up the steep windy rocky road. Then you unload it, take it out of the boxes, clean it before taking it into the houseand lots of the furniture has to be assembled, etc. Anyway, it's quite a workout. It usually takes 6-7  truck loads per house.

I am SO glad they are here doing it, because otherwise it would be me trying to do it. No thanks!

I am excited to be coming home to Minnesota late this Thursday for Scott (my nephew) and Heather's wedding on Saturday. I will be home just a few days and back here on the project the following Wednesday morning. Here are some pictures from my week--- yesterday we spent some time looking at plants here and taking some pictures of things we might want to plant in our yard. Many of these plants are relatively easy to propogate, so we can just go into the jungle and take shoots off of plants we like and get them going that way.



beautiful flowering tree up by Kayukos restaurant



Lisa and I relaxing in our new pool after a hot tiring day.

Lewis and the famous white truck

another gorgeous flowering plant

two adorable little girls from neighboring rainforest

we just put in sod in along the sides of the new road in the lower nieghborhood-- left a lot of dirt on the pavers, but this is a sight for all of our sore eyes to have this milestone reached

All for today-- I hope you all have a wonderful week. I look forward to seeing my family this weekend!!

trip to David

Tidal Pool Red Frog Beach 8am Sept 25 2010

                                                                                  

Last Monday we left on the 6:30am boat from Red Frog to catch the ferry boat in Bocas, bound for  Almirante on the mainland, and then to hop a bus to the city of David, on the Pacific side of Panama. We were going there to buy  a used truck—a 1994 extended Ford pickup—2 seats in front and big enough to hold another 10 people behind the cab. Steve has been looking around the whole country for a truck for 2 months and this one seemed like the best bet and much more affordable than new. So, we (Steve, I and a mechanic named Lewis) got on the bus, which was packed with adults, kids, babies and 2 chickens. Mind you, this is not a greyhound- there are 15 rows of seats, each about 20 inches wide, 2 on each side and a one foot aisle down the middle with handles along the top for standing passengers, of which there were about 10. Mercifully, I slept for about half of the trip. About 3 hours later, 45 minutes north of David, Lewis whistles to the driver to let us off. We get off the bus and Lewis says, “Ok, we walk down that road about 300 yards and the truck should be there.” Well, other than a gas station, a cowboy roadhouse, and a few houses there is nothing out here – I mean NOTHING!! We walk in the hot sun for about 10 minutes, round a bend, and sure enough, there sitting at the left side of the road is the aforementioned truck. There is a house off the road behind it, no driveway, just a path over a foot bridge going over a stream. No one is home so cell phone to the rescue. Steve calls Miranda back at the project (Miranda is the “everything to everyone” person) to tell her no one is there. She has the guy’s cell phone and two minutes later calls us back and says he is in David buying a part for the truck and will be back in an hour. Right—someone is coming to buy your truck and you are gone when they come?! Well, seeing as it is lunchtime, we walk back to the bar, which is pretty cute—western saddles mounted on top of the bar stools! There is a TV on the wall over the bar playing a B grade American movie with dubbed -over Spanish (Chevy Chase and Sigourney Weaver, 1980s, very big hair, very bad movie) and Panamanian country music blaring over that. Fortunately, it is open air- just a big metal roof, a patchwork tile floor, the bar, some tables and picnic tables.  We finish eating some good comida tipica and Steve and Lewis walk back to the house and white truck. I put my head down and doze for a while, then start reading my book (Peter Mayle, The Vintage Caper). An hour later the sky darkens, so much that I can no longer read, and a downpour ensues. It rains buckets for the next 2 hours. I am wishing for my Bose headphones--the decibels in the place are literally through the roof, between the music, the movie, and the rain pounding on the tin overhead. About 4p a woman, who has just arrived in an SUV, approaches me and tells me in Spanish that Steve sent her to pick me up. We head back to her house, where all 3 guys are huddled over the open hood, all soaked to the gills, trying to install a new belt and thermostat. The woman then drives back down to the gas station to ask if they can bring the truck down there and get out of the rain to finish the truck repair and they say yes so then we all head back down there. I reclaim my spot in the roadhouse and watch the end of the next bad movie (the Harrison Ford and Ann Heche version of Castaway). By 5p we are out of there with significantly fewer bills in our pockets and a new old pickup, with a special ignition system—you have to spray Raid bug spray into the air intake while you turn the key in order to get the engine to fire.  That means you need another person there to start it with you, unless you have arms that are 8 feet long and you can reach under the hood while turning the key. Good deal, huh?  This story illustrates how things often happen here--which could be enough to drive an organized person over the edge. My daily mantras? be in the moment; two steps forward, 1 step back; go with it;  hang loose; embrace chaos; wine can be therapeutic; when in doubt, LAUGH. 

canopy tour

Today I finally went on the Bastimentos Sky Canopy Tour, here at the resort. I was a little bit apprehensive when I lifted my feet off the platform floor and then it was bliss--- the wind in my face, exotic vines and giant tree trunks whizzing by, with the jungle floor several hundred feet below, and then I see the hand signal from the tour guide at the next platform ahead of me to break (pull down with my right arm) and I am there on platform 2. For 2 1/2 hours the 4 of us (my friends Guy, Christy, Sue and I) flew from one platform to the next-- 12 in all. In the middle we did the ropes, the net, floating steps and a tarzan swing, and the final zip was REALLY fun-- letting go with both arms and flying through the air-- like being a kid again. Next, I would like to go in light rain- that would be amazing! I heard the monkeys (white-faced capuchins) but didn't see any. I hear they get used to the canopy tours and then start hanging around close to the zipline trees again.
Tomorrow Steve and I are taking a boat to Almirante, on the mainland, and then a bus over the mountains to David, on the Pacific side of Panama. We are picking up a truck for the canopy tour and also getting gardening and restaurant supplies. Aside from a variety of machetes there isn't much in the way of gardening tools available in Bocastown and my crew needs some good pruning tools as well as protective gear. The terrain is so rugged here that we can't use mowers at all-- have to use weed whackers and if you don't protect the front of your pants you end up with little bits of wet grass and muck stuck all over your clothes. We also want to find a big pressure cooker and a food processor for the restaurant.We will drive the truck back to Almirante on Tuesday and then take a ferry back to Bastimentos with it. We need a truck that is reliable for transporting the canopy tour guests up the rocky hill from the public dock at Red Frog Marina about a mile to the entrance to the canopy tour. This is the first new vehicle purchased here in quite a while and everyone is excited to have a truck that won't need to see the repair shop for a while. We have our own mechanic shop here right next to the big warehouse. We employ 3-4 full-time mechanics fixing all of our construction equipment and miscellaneous vehicles. Vehicle break-downs here are as common as black flies in a Minnesota June and just as annoying. On Friday we had a truck loaded with cement block roll down a hill (was the emergency break really on or did it malfunction?) and turn over into a lowland. Our excavator showed up and one hour later the truck was back up on the road, with a broken windshield but could still start'er up. (The cement blocks still need to be fished out of the water). No one was hurt so just another day in the life here. Every week there are things like that happening and after being here for a few months you finally realize, 'Oh, yeah, dependable transportation is something of a luxury.'
Our own pool, at our house, was finished this past week and we went for our first swim yesterday. Me gusta mucho!

back at the project- September 12, 2010

I have been meaning to start this blog for the last 3 months-- no time like now, as I have a day off (Sunday) and my house is clean and the laundry done (both of which I enjoy doing). The exterminator came the other day so I had some dead bugs to sweep up. Not a huge problem in our house- a few ants and other small bugs. We do have a bat problem though. They like to hang out in the dark in the peak of our porch (and many other porches around here). If they didn't poop up a storm while they were here I really wouldn't mind sharing my porch with them. In the past month I have cleaned up numerous piles of guano--not just at my place but at other houses, seeing as I work in Resort Management (RM). Not pleasant, but I now have a strategy-- my bat poop kit. It contains:
10 small recycled plastic shopping bags, a 2 liter bottle with water and a squirt of disinfectant cleaner in it (Fabuloso lavender, it's the best!), paper towels, a scrap piece of cardboard and a metal pancake turner (yes, for scraping up the poop). I did learn yesterday that bat poop makes great garden fertilizer-we'll see if I ever make use of that knowledge. On Tuesday we are getting a different pest control service and they have a new approach to dealing with bats and I will report back at a later time whether it worked and if I can get rid of my bat poop kit.

Yesterday was intense and hot. I spent a few hours moving furniture up to a new house (I get a crew and they do most of the work). Then I went to our nearby native village- sometimes called Pedro Santo, for the patriarch and landowner, and sometimes called Bahia Roja, not sure why, as there is nothing red around there. The picture above is some of the kids sitting on the steps of their school. This village is a group of 15-20 families and they all live in little shacks on stilts, and have no water other than a quebrada (creek), no sanitation, and no power. (Amazingly, their clothes are as clean as mine- how do they do that?) There are 35 kids of primary school age and the village made their own school of wood and thatch. The federal government provides them with a teacher.  I have been working with a non-profit called Operation Safe Drinking Water ( OSDW-check their website for details). They install water tanks and do first aid clinics in native villages throughout the Bocas del Toro archipelago. Last weekend we installed 2 rainwater catchment tanks at Pedro Santo, one for the school and one for the community.Yesterday 3 of us went back and did a 2 hour health clinic. Friend Maribel, who has been doing these clinics for several years and is from Costa Rica, so has the lingo down, and I  saw about 13 families-- about 40 people. Her husband Joe, founder of OSDW, was there, too. Besides giving health advice and some simple medications and reading glasses, we also smile a lot and tell them to drink lots of clean water. At the very end, after seeing her 4 other kids, a mother brought us her 6 year old girl, who pulled up her shirt and showed us her enormous belly- full of worms. We were out of worm medications, so will transport her to the hospital in town on Monday to get the medicine.

Well, I am about to head out and take a swim and then later we are going to our nieghbors' house for supper. Oh, before I close, I should probably tell you why I named the blog banano. It's for the gigantic banana tree in front of our house, looking toward the beach.

Before I close, I will share my latest cute pic of my dear granddaughter, Addie (Adelaide Campbell Ewald) who is almost 9 months old and full of spit and vinegar, as they used to say.