banano-blog: 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!