An Encounter with the Representante

Yesterday afternoon I went up to the pueblo to take pictures of and gather information about the Potrerillos library and, as it turned out, the little museum.  After chatting with Marisin and Jovanna and taking pictures, I shot some footage of Jovanna's blue and yellow macaw who lives out back and of the front of the building itself. There was a man standing there who wound up being incorporated into the picture.

After I finished filming, he introduced himself as the representante for the area. His position corresponds more or less to a member of the US House of Representatives. I had met him once before and reminded him that he had visited our house after our bodega was robbed. He looked a little blank, and I put it down to the fact that perhaps all us gringas look more or less alike. Plus I'm not a voter. Yet.  It did occur to me that since everyone seems to know about the proposed change in immigration laws (the government appears to be notifying various people including my physician) and thinks that they are going to be approved, he might be making sure a potential voter got to know him.  He is a politician after all, and they're all alike.

First he spoke in rather bad English, which I could barely make sense of, so I replied in my good if not fluent Spanish, and we went on from there with no problem.

I had heard from Jovanna and he confirmed that the small building that houses the library, museo and Infoplaza sits on 15 hectares of land that used to belong to Cítrico, a major citrus growing and processing company in Potrerillos Abajo. At that time, Cítrico was owned by an American whom everyone refers to as Señor Louis. He sold it to a Columbian, and to listen to the locals, everything has gone downhill since then. That may be just the Panamanian prejudice against Columbians or it may be true, but anyway, Señor Louis, the American, is always spoken of quite highly. In any event, he donated the land, not to the municipio, which is the governing entity of the pueblo but to the community itself, which I gather is administered by something known as a Junta Comunal. You see that phrase a lot, on bus shelters, for example.  I'm not sure exactly what that means but it seems to be a sort of community committee that handles little projects outside of the official government municipio.

We walked the area and talked (actually, like any politician, he talked and I listened), while he described to me the very ambitious projects that he would like to see happen.  To summarize: he would love to see a recreational area in back of the Infoplaza/library building--there are already some swing sets there--that would include a swimming pool for the kids, a reforestation project, gardens, and a home for the aged.

The last surprised me.  In a family-oriented culture such as this one, it's not something I expect.  I know that the only place you find them in Brasil is in the large cities in the south; in the northeast, it is amazing to what lengths adult children will go to take care of their aged parents.

When I asked him about this, he told me that there were many poor, elderly people who were ill and who were abandoned.

He also talked about the poverty in the area.  Once a month he and an American (I think) woman go in his truck to deliver food to the poorest people in the area.

This is where I want to get involved in helping out the community.  Next time he goes on his rounds, he'll notify me, and I'll go with him.  We can go from there to figure out exactly what Mary and I can do to help.

What interested me a lot is when he began talking about the foreign community here, which, he said, is a great deal smaller than in Boquete.  I muttered something about quality vs quantity which I'm fairly sure he didn't understand.  Just as well.  What he wants to do is to have a meeting with the interested foreigners ( I kept reminding myself that I wouldn't be a 'foreigner' technically anyway for much longer) in order to discuss his projects.

Ah.  We come to the heart of the matter.  The American money machine.

When we first moved to our rental house, our helpful next-door neighbor described what the basis of some of his problems with labor were.  Campesinos, he claimed, really and truly believed that Americans actually made money in their houses--we had printing machines (if they thought that technically) and we could make as much money as we wanted.

With ever-increasing exposure to Americans and other foreigner nationals, I'm sure that particular belief is long gone.  However, it lingers in many other ways.  There is the solidly-held conviction that all Americans are rich and therefore it's quite all right to steal from or cheat them.  I've gone into this cultural attitude extensively so I won't say more.  I did however point out to the representante that the three rural communities of Boquete, Potrerillos and Volcán were home to three very different colonies (using his word, by the way) of foreign nationals.  Without question, Potrerillos is far and away the "poorer" of the three.  On average, there are far more of us Americans, Canadians, and British, for example, who are living on Social Security or its equivalent and who are definitely and absolutely not rich.  There are a few well-off but they are the exception not the rule.  We correspond in income and life style in general to the Panamanian middle class.  Boquete has the rich Americans and Canadians; while there are people of modest means there, they are outnumbered by the well-to-do.  It seems to me that Volcán is somewhere in between.  The attitude in the three foreign communities is also very different but that's something else again.  Overall, we here in Potrerillos appear to be very much closer to our Panamanian hosts.

I wanted to get that across to him because I know what's coming.    He wants the "rich" foreigners to help out with his pet projects.

I have extensive experience in Brasil with what happens to foreign aid of any kind, whether from governments or from private sources.  The overwhelming majority of it is wasted, thanks to cultural assumptions or from ignorance of the realities of Brasilian life and politics.  To give an example of what will be my main concern here, an Irish missionary priest made several trips to the US to get the funds necessary to complete a second day care center in the poorer sections  of São Paulo so that mothers could leave their children in a safe place while they went to work.  This is a massive problem in Brasil, because unattended kids get out--and all too often get lost on the streets to become a staggering social problem.  The priest had a commitment from the São Paulo city government to pay salaries and expenses for the day care center once it was erected.

I went to São Paulo on my first trip and saw for myself the day care center.  It was gorgeous.  Then I visited the first one he had been instrumental in building in another area--and ran into the realities.  

It was clearly not as well kept up as the one that had just been built.  The major problem was that the São Paulo city government had decreed in increase in salaries for day care workers and other such service personnel--and then didn't have the money to pay the salaries.  So they stopped paying.  They also ran out of money for whatever reason to pay for food and upkeep.  The workers all signed petitions saying that they would be happy to have the lower salaries and pleaded for the money for at least food for the children.  Nothing came of it.  When I visited, the staff had not been paid in several months (this was standard for Brasil at that time and may still be in the northeast).  The way they were getting food for the children was to go to the open-air markets after closing time and begging for the left-over vegetables that the vendors had been unable to sell.  Sometimes they were reduced to picking up the garbage that had fallen under the tables in the stalls.

I have more stories like this.  I have examples of aid wasted from both the US, the European Union, and major non-profit outstanding charitable organizations.  I learned the most from the last-named ones, because the people there told me the lessons that they learned and how they did things differently now. 

The point I want to make is that you have to look long-term at the consequences of what aid you're prepared to give.  It's a wonderful idea to build a home for the elderly--but where is the money going to come from for staff and upkeep?  It can't come from the foreign community.  

Years ago, I heard that the foreign community--mainly Americans--in Boquete had raised money to do something for the local schools.  The story as I heard it said that the local teachers did not want to accept the money/aid because then, they said, the government would cut the money it gave to the school, reasoning that the foreigners were going to support the school.  I have no idea whether or not the story is true, but based on my experience in Brasil, I tended to believe it.  Panamá has a centralized, corrupt government, and believe me, there are problems like that here.  Money just sort of disappears here.  I've already posted about the disappearance of money from the Public Health program.  This is in addition to the fact that Panamá is a poor country that doesn't have sufficient resources to begin with, and that most of those resources go to Panama City anyway.

I had a lot of contact with different Catholic (and some Protestant) missionary groups in Brasil.  One such group was composed of lay American Maryknoll missionaries, hard working people who did their utmost to help the poor especially in health education.  I remember one night where there was a lively discussion about Mother Theresa's organization, and the missionaries were really indignant with her efforts.  They claimed that all she did was treat the symptoms but did not address the root causes, which were political in nature.  Most missionaries sooner or later start sympathizing with reform political movements in South America because of problems with corrupt governments and endemic poverty.

I have come to agree with Mother Theresa herself who said that while all the reformers were arguing and fighting for reform, people were dying.

She and Dorothy Day are two of my greatest heroes (along with Abraham Lincoln).  I agree that political solutions are necessary.  But in the meantime, I have watched children dying of hunger, cattle already dead of starvation, and the homeless building pathetic shelters in garbage dumps and along the beaches of the Amazon River where the rising waters will destroy them.  I've also seen, as we do in the news today, aid misdirected and misused.

So yes, I want to help and yes, I'll go to the meeting, but with both eyes open and some hard questions in mind.  In the meantime, if the representante is serious, I'll go with him in his truck to help distribute food and do what I can to ease the suffering--if only in very small ways--right now.

I used to have a small plaque hung on our bathroom wall with a quote from Mother Theresa: "We can do no great things.  We can only do small things with great love."

Helicopter Crash in Panama City

The Panama News has a pretty thorough account in English of the helicopter crash last week in one of the busy shopping areas of the capital. 

Rainy Season Weather

West side of house, 4:29 pm, October 15, 2007.  Looking out from dog run attached to house.

My Irish buddy Will has asked a question about what the weather is like here in the rainy season.  Immediately I have to start out with the fact that it's going to vary some from area to area. For example, the Potrerillos area is considered to get more rain than does David; I think Boquete has about the same rainfall as we do, but at times they get what is called the bajareque, a fine mist/drizzle/light rain that comes down that valley when we're having good weather.  It's hard to say without hard data.  Lloyd Cripe has a Web site, Boqueteweather.org (sidebar) that reports the weather in and around Boquete, and has a year's worht of solid data.  While our friend Ricardo Espinosa keeps rain data, he does so manually and I haven't yet asked to see his records, which I imagine are in notebooks.  In October, we're purchasing the same weather station that Lloyd has, and we'll be able to compare rather nicely at least between Boquete and here.  David, of course, has official meteorological records that can be accessed pretty easily.

The Pacific side of the country does not get as much rain as the Caribbean side.  Everybody jokes that Bocas has two seasons:  wet and wetter.  

OK, that's one thing.  The second is that it's hard to talk about a "normal' year because that varies.

The rainy season here starts in April or May and runs through December or even part of January.  Most years, January through March is drought season--little to no rain.  Not this year.  We had enough rain so that I only had to water first-year trees and shrubs once.

Trying to strike some average:  usually, after the rainy season starts--usually--we start out with maybe 2-3 days of rain per week in the afternoon with lovely mornings.  It's the reason why May and June are my favorite months.  In mid-June, we have what the locals call "San Juan summer".  The feast of San Juan is June 19, and in most Latin American countries (especially Brasil), it's a big event.  Here, we get 2-3 weeks of dry, gorgeous weather.  In late July, the rains set in in earnest.

What happens after that is usually--usually--the mornings are sunny or at least high overcast and the rains come in the afternoon just about every day.  As the rainy season progresses, the time of day that the rains start gets closer and closer to noon.  September and October are normally the worst months.  Not only does it rain every day, but it's possible to have 3-4 days of nothing but rain.

And what rain!  The phrase "tropical downpour" must have been coined for Central America and the Caribbean, because by August, we really have the aguaseros regularly--the heavy downpours that can last for up to several hours where the rain comes down so heavily you can't see to the end of the hood of your car if you are so unfortunate as to be driving when it occurs.  We always try to get any driving done in the morning and really work hard at being back at the house by noon at the latest.  It's extremely dangerous on the roads.

By November, the rain usually starts to slacken off a bit, and December is pretty good.

That said, there are all kinds of variations on this theme.  But that's the "normal" pattern.  Because of this, our hottest month here is April, because by July and August, the afternoons are overcast and rainy, driving the temperature down.

And of course, as I sit here typing this post, we are having a weird combination of the low pressure variable rain bands along with an electrical storm!  Never let it be said that this area lacks drama.  Contrary to my last update on the previous rain post, the rain re-intensified.

 Glad you liked the picture, Will--just for you I uploaded the above picture which was taken last year on the west side of the house, looking out from the dog run.  I haven't cropped the picture so that you can get some idea of the length and volume of this stream of water ruuning down on the opposite side of the house from the earlier photo.  If there is suffficient resolution, you'll be able to see that it was still raining when I took the picture, on October 15 last year. Could have been taken today--both streams are running just as enthusiastically down the property.  It's been raining now for over 36 hours straight, maybe even longer.  The ground is utterly saturated.  Fortunately, we live on the lower slopes of the mountains, we don't live anywhere near a river, and both quebradas are both deep enough and far enough away that we have no danger to us.  That can not be said of Boquete; I've been wondering if they've had flooding from the river there.

Indeed, do bring your wellies!

Gasoline and Diesel Prices

Today at noon (legally, but usually sooner than that) we'll see the rise in gasoline and diesel prices here.  This one will be a whopper.  Don Ray will do his best to depress us all by posting pictures of bombas in David with their new numbers. 

When we moved here four years ago, we bought a truck with a diesel engine for two reasons--better fuel efficiency and the price of diesel was 40-50 cents cheaper per gallon than that of gasoline.  Double win.  this was unlike the situation in the US where diesel has always been significantly more expensive than gasoline every place I've ever lived there.

When fuel prices started their upward trajectory about two years ago, we all noticed that the gap between diesel and gasoline was closing.  About a month ago, diesel surpassed gasoline in price--by a few cents, true, but it was the first time we'd experienced that situation here in Panamá.

As a chemist, I do know the broad principles behind refining, but nothing more.  Since I'm a biochemist, I really never had any reason or interest in worrying about the different grades of crude oil.  I always assumed, thanks to the price differential here, that diesel was a lower "cut" from the refinery, never thinking through the better fuel efficiency.

So I was quite surprised when reading the other day that diesel is produced from light, sweet crude, the exact grade that is pushing oil prices up to record highs.  It certainly made the difference in prices understandable, although not the earlier gap.

But one way the Panamanian government earns its income is through fuel taxes.  Unlike the US, where the Federal tax, as we all now know, is 18.5 cents per gallon, the tax here in Panamá, according to an article in La Prensa earlier this week, is 60 cents per gallon, for gasoline.  Because of public transport and transport in general, which uses diesel, it may be that the taxes on diesel were considerably lower.  Now the gap may be closing due to the price of the crude going ballistic.

The same article reported a proposal that the government lift the 60 cent tax until the end of the year in order to alleviate the extraordinarily high burden placed on the average Panamanian. I've already mentioned that we've had one death here in the area, thanks to high fuel prices--an old man returning from work on his bicycle hit (by someone we know) and killed by a motorcycle.  the victim was riding his bike because he could no longer afford the money for gas.  That was back in November.

I'd be more in favor of it if the "average" Panamanian weren't driving a d____d SUV.  That seems to be the ego, status vehicle car for many of the relatively new middle class here in the province.

But does that apply to diesel?  The article just talked about prices of gasoline, as I recall.  One of the real problems with the Panamanian press is that the articles are not as well-written as is usual in the first-world press.  If an article in a US paper is misleading or vague, you can just about bet the farm that it's highly probable that's deliberate.  Here, it seems to be standard, and exasperating.  

Of course, you always have to deal with the fact that the government officials here can be vague and misleading, too, just like anywhere else in the world.

Update:  According to La Prensa, diesel has reached a historic increase in price, going up today 39 cents per gallon.  91 octane gasoline will go up by 20 cents, 95 octane by 13 cents.  That means that given the lowest price I've seen around here for diesel has been $4.09, we'll be paying a minimum of $4.48.

The government also is not going to subsidize diesel more than it already has for transport, at least not immediately.  The government subsidizes (doesn't say how or by how much) 2.6 million gallons of diesel per month.  Ye gods, that's a HUGE amount!  The "red devil" buses alone use 1 million gallons per month.  The government says it wants to see what happens to prices in the next few months before deciding if more steps need to be taken.

Rain

We had an odd sort of rain experience here, over 24 hours of what sure seemed like rain bands--heavy (but not aguasero) rains, then a dry interval, then rain again.  To me, it seemed like everything I've ever read about rain in hurricanes which, fortunately, I've never experienced.  No wind, though.  And definitely coming from the south.

Then today I received an email warning of potential flash flooding in mountainous regions of Central America thanks to a massive tropical depression just off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  Tropical depressions, of course, are the forerunners of hurricanes, so it made sense.  Thus the warning of flooding.

We don't need storms like this to provide drama through water.  Last year was a particularly wet one, with flooding in Panamá in areas that rarely experience overflowing rivers.  We had several flash floods in a quebrada near us.  The picture shows the stream that forms from runoff water in back of the house that is diverted to the east side and runs down a little gully that passes underneath our driveway.  I took it from our side door while it was still raining.

We always have runoff like this in September and October during the height of the rainy season.  Last year, though, it occurred far more frequently than in previous years.  Yesterday, thanks to the rain band phenomenon, we didn't have that kind of severe runoff.

The tropical depression was supposed to move north yesterday, and it finally did--the rain stopped about 3 am this  morning.

Addition and correction: 

Latest satellite image shows that we're probably not done with the system yet.  Evidently it's gotten bigger.  True to report, just as Mary was telling me this, the rain started up again.

Yet another addendum:  the rain is much worse than yesterday--the rain is lasting longer between intervals, the intervals are shorter in duration, and it is coming down much, much harder, although in waves.  I have a feeling that instead of dry intervals, all we're going to see is a lessening in intensity, almost like surf.  I'm glad we went to David yesterday, because I wouldn't dream of driving in this rain--suicidal.

Lloyd Cripe, whose Web site (Boqueteweater.com) is on the sidebar, has just cracked that if this keeps going on, we're all going to have tropical depression!

Another update:

La Prensa this morning reported that the Panamanian Weather Bureau has issued an alert for heavy rains and possible flooding and mud slides until 4 pm today for the provinces of Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro, Veraguas, Los Santos, Herrera, Panamá, and the Ngobe Buglé Comarca.  Yesterday's rains caused flooding and mud slides in the capital.  Another article reported that Bocas del Toro had been cut off from the rest of the country by land because of a mud slide on the highway, but our friends (whose son works there) tell us that that's so common as to be unremarkable.  However, it's one of the reasons why he hates working there.  He likes to come home for the weekends and sometimes he can't due to problems like this.

Llloyd Cripe reports that he's recorded 3.9" of rain since midnight over near Boquete.  I'm really anxious to get our weather station in October.  Our rain bands are decreasing in intensity and frequency.  We've got our usual streams (one of them in the above picture) in both gullies on each side of the house, but they're lessening in volume.

News Briefs, 28/5//2008

Fred, Rickie the Cat, and Ethel

It is pouring here, and has been through most of the night.

The biggest story in most of the on-line newspapers today is the report of a mula--a large, flat-bed truck, falling on top of a house in one of the Gatún neighborhoods in Colón.  I've linked to La Prensa's front page.  

Another brief article states that while the water level at Fortuna is increasing, Bayano is still below normal, so there's increased production of electricity from "thermal" sources in order to keep up electrical production.  I'd read that earlier in the week.  I'm not exactly sure what that means.  Normally, I'd assume that meant geothermal energy; while there are hot springs in Chiriquí, I don't think they're large enough to generate electricity.  So I'm assuming that fossil fuel plants are what's meant.

Another article that appeared earlier in the week in Crítica quoted the ex-director of IRHE (no idea but a hazarded guess is some governmental agency that oversees energy), Gonzalo Córdoba, as saying that the current energy crisis is a created one, thanks to self-serving decision-makers (I assume in the electricity-generating businesses) who don't listen to the experts but only act to increase profits and against the interests of the country.  According to Córdoba, one of the big problems is that there isn't adequate regulation, and those that are in charge of regulation now are the same ones who are involved in the privatization of IRHE. 

Well, I see that they've certainly learned from the US.

Don Ray from Chiriquí Chatter sent me this link to a blog that has a post with more complete information about governmental food subsidies here in Panamá.  The blog also mentions the potential for a "social explosion" to hit the streets here if something were not done.  I have been reading brief references in the on-line papers to demonstrations: University of Panamá students, other students, labor groups.  The Panama News has mentioned "restlessness" about food prices.  I was really surprised to read in the blog that the price of a pound of rice (I would guess in Panamá) had risen to $0.70/lb.  I have not seen anything more than $0.50/lb here, but that's one advantage of living in an agricultural area (and is one big reason why we chose to live where we are)--food prices are almost always lower.  Still, we're going shopping today, and since we have to buy rice, we'll see.

I should mention, for those who are in the area that, at 3:00 pm on Sunday, there will be a presentation (in Spanish) at the Potrerillos Arriba Infoplaza about the history of Chiriquí province, as an adjunct to the celebration of the 159th anniversary of David.  We intend to go.  I'm bringing the cam corder--this time, complete with tape.  I still haven't forgiven myself for Easter's faux pas.

News Briefs, 27/5//2008

La Prensa:  "English: A Stone in the Shoe."  The article reports on the failure of colegio students to demonstrate proficiency in English as evidenced by poor performance on exams.  According to the article, a 60% grade is passing; average grade was 53%  for 12th grade students.  The test has been mandatory since 2007.  It's bad news for the universities, too, because, since 2007,  proficiency in English is required to get a diploma.

La Prensa:  Panamanian economy, while growing, is slowing in rate, down 4% from this time last year.  Those sectors that have slowed: pretty much all the agricultural sectors, which is very bad news at this time of higher food prices, tonnage passing through the Canal, manufacturing in the food and textile industries, among others.  Officials are blaming the slowdown on high fuel prices.

La Estrella: Hydroelectric production at the plant in Bayano stopped this weekend due to low water levels.  However, the situation at Fortuna, here in Chiriquí, is getting back to normal with the steady--and at times--heavy rains we've been experiencing over the past week.  Heaven knows it's beginning to feel like August around here.

Interestingly enough, there have been demonstrations (reported in La Prensa in the past week) over Volcán way, protests by farmers and residents against a proposed hydroelectric project that would reduce if not outright eliminate water that has traditionally gone to small farmers there.

There have been accounts in La Prensa recently of demonstrations by parents and students at different primary schools that fiberglass removal has been inadequate and badly done. Today in Panamá Américana, there's an article quoting the Vice Minister of Education as admitting that many companies don't have experience in that work. Always leads me to wonder if there's a money trail there.

La Estrella: Torrijo's plan for assisting the agricultural sector with high costs consists of reducing the interest rates on loans to that sector to 2% and broadening the insurance coverage in case of natural disasters, accidents, etc affecting crops and harvests.  The president of ONAGRO (Organización Nacional Agropecuario) congratulated Torrijos on this measure, but also requested steps to reduce the number of middlemen between the producer and the market, saying that this is a major cause of the increase in costs to the consumer.

There's a much longer article in Dia a Dia on steps being taken to give consumer relief over high prices of basic foods.  It doesn't say when, but a program was started in the Azuero Peninsula that introduced measure to help producers and guarantee lower prices to the consumer.  One of those measure is that the government would buy 100% of the rice crop, which has at its base the rise of oil to $135/barrel last week.  this also would help eliminate speculation.  Urea, which is a prime chemical fertilizer used, would be sold at half the going rate.  The hope, of course, is that these measures benefitting producers will lower costs that will be passed directly to the consumer.

But meantime?   At the beginning, the article does mention some steps taken in other countries, such as the issue of food vouchers.  That certainly would help the poor in the short term.

Yesterday, I went to our local mercadito to buy a bag of cement, since our favorite construciton worker is coming here today to do a small project for us.  I shelled out $7.35 for the bag, remarking as I did so that the price had risen $0.06 since I last bought one.  The young woman at the cash register, someone I'm not familiar with, shyly started talking about the rise in food prices.  Then we got to talking about the increase in fuel prices.  

Panamá regulates the price of fuel, adjusting every two weeks; the next price adjustment is on the 28th.  Right now, we're paying $4.10 for a gallon of diesel, which about as cheap as you can get it locally.  Boquete is traditionally $0.10-$0.15 higher.  We were surprised last weekend to see stations in David $0.15 higher than our local bomba.  

For dead certain, the price is not going to drop, not with oil reaching ever higher records.  All we can do is wait and see, and continue to implement our plan to do even less driving than we are now.

So much for a brief post.

Time Out

Lucy

It's raining today, so I'm going to take the time to catch up on reading I've let slide.  Much of the latest edition of The Panama News is available, and from hurried peeks at the briefs, it looks extremely  interesting.  Also, I'm behind on my reading of the Panamanian press, which has articles on the electrical generation situation, malnutrition among children, and other articles.  I haven't read much in Crítica, La Estrella and others, so I really can't make any sort of informed opinion about them, but I hope to correct some of that lack today.  However, I have updated the Links section to include the URLs for those as well as other online newspapers.  So, in case you're interested in browsing these publications (which are in Spanish), the links are available.

Nice thing about the rainy season--I get to read more!

Good Help Is Hard To Find

                         Katya the jacaré (caiman).  Amazon River, Brasil, 2007

There has been a scarcity of workers in the area lately, since construction has soaked them up.  I have no idea what unemployment figures were and are (and doubt that the government does, either--not real figures) but there's no question that the last 2 years has seen a decrease in the people who were available for hiring as handymen, gardeners, light construction, the like.  The fact is, many workers can make far more in construction or construction-related jobs such as driving trucks, than they can as unskilled labor.  More power to them.

But there are other problems that have existed for some time--certainly as long as we've been here (4 years).  There are a number of facets. 

1) Cultural attitudes towards work.  Originally, we were more than happy to hire young men, especially teens, because we knew the high unemployment rate among those age groups.  But we've learned the hard way, believe me, not to hire young men either in their teens or early twenties.  Only possible exception: if they're married and have a family.

Otherwise, the experience around here is that they'll work for you for anywhere from 3-6 weeks--and then suddenly never show up again.  Doesn't matter that you pay them more than the going rate or treat them much better than most Panamanians treat their workers.  

I refer a lot to the book I reviewed in one of my earliest posts: Path to Empire: Panama and the California Gold Rush.  It's fascinating history.  In the very earliest parts of the book, when there was no other transportation across the isthmus except by mule and boat, travelers desperate to get to the Pacific from the Atlantic on their way to the gold fields of California, complained about the fact that Panamanians worked until they had whatever money was good enough for them, and then disappeared--along with their boats, mules and knowledge of the country.  This behavior isn't limited to Panamanians by any means but it's not universal across Latin America.

2) You get what you pay for.  One of the topics I hear about most frequently from those who want to or are about to move here is the joy over cheap labor.  It's quite a different story from those of us who have been here for a while but the newbies or wannabees are quite enthusiastic.

Sure.  

I've said it before in another post, but what you find here is a population of unskilled labor that is exactly that--unfamiliar with the powered tools such as lawn mowers and weed eaters that we take for granted and assume even the most unskilled can use.  Wrong.  10 years ago, give or take a couple of years, the overwhelming majority of the workers here had never seen never mind operated one.  That has come with the latest American Invasion.  Now, everyone has seen one--but very, very few know how to operate them.

The first worker we hired as a gardener cost us two burned-out carburetors for our weed eater and a burned-out power drill.  That's the damage I'm sure of.  Others that we hired, who assured us that they knew how to operate a weed eater wound up costing us a damaged starter, damaged heads, and damaged shafts, as well as motors that after a while just simply gave up.  I'm on our 3rd weed eater now, and no one--I mean NO ONE--touches my obscenely expensive but tough Stihl F55.  I have refused to lend equipment out to other ex-pats, knowing perfectly well that they are not going to the do the work but have their Panamanian workers use the tools.  When I first ran across that attitude with a neighbor, very early on, I was a little indignant; I now have exactly the same one.

The ignorance coupled with lack of money means that Panamanians themselves don't care for their equipment.  We use a very good welder for all our ironwork.  He installed our puertas and verjas for the house.  For this he needed a power drill because his, he explained, wasn't working.  He wanted to know if he could use mine, until he could get his repaired.  Far along the pathway to becoming a Panamanian, I lied and said I didn't have one.  Since I'm a woman, he accepted that.  Saves face all around.  He borrowed one from a Panamanian friend and I noted with interest that he was still using that same drill (at much too low a speed for concrete) months later when he came to install a gate.

The correct oil to use in the weed eaters is NOT the common 2-cycle one found everywhere for both water-cooled and air-cooled engines, but just for air-cooled engines.  It's not easy to find, and it's far more expensive.  Guess which one most Panamanians use.  The only exception I've seen is my friend Ricardo Espinosa who knows how to use and care for his tools and does so.

God bless Darío and keep him healthy and safe for many years to come, but he, too, has no clue about power tools.  I know perfectly well that he contributed to the demise of our last weed eater.  I won't allow him within 10 meters of my Stihl, with the excuse that I like doing that work (another flat-out lie) because it gives me needed exercise (true).  He has, however, taken over the operation of the lawn mower, which he treats lovingly and carefully, taking pride in his work.  I've believed for some time that Darío unconsciously views the lawn mower as "his".  Good.   Mary keeps an eye on oil levels and changes the oil while I sharpen the blade--all when Darío isn't here.  We are incredibly fond of Darío, who has been a godsend after literally years of being unable to find decent help, and take very good care of him in many different ways, including preserving his pride.  We depend on Darío but I know his limits and do not ask him to go beyond them.  

So if I look at just what its cost me to replace tools and to have them inadequately repaired after unnecessary damage--I'd have to add about $1000, minimum, to the labor costs.  We only recently started having Darío come in twice a week; before that it was only once a week for everyone else and for the first year he was here.  So the damage and repair/replacement costs have almost equaled our labor costs.

3) Most workers will lie to your face about all sorts of things, including their competence.  We're so used to references, being able to check on people and to assuming that people will represent themselves more or less correctly.  Plus I think that most Americans coming here are blinded by that seemingly cheap dollar value on labor here.  It's also hard to nearly impossible to get formal references.  Most Americans wouldn't do so anyway, because it would mean, heaven preserve them, speaking Spanish.  Chances are pretty good that the references would lie, too, so why bother.

The best possible advice I can give you is treat everyone as if they are lying to you and depend on word of mouth.  Our original gardener made all sorts of claims which in our naiveté at the time were true because his brother worked next door, was pretty good and assured me that his brother would work out well.  I should have noted the ambiguity.

We fired that young man for many reasons, not the least of which was that he was nearly totally incompetent as a gardener.  Thanks to his ignorance and neglect, some precious fruit trees died.  He had no idea if plants needed sun or shade, and didn't know how to plant trees.  The trees that I planted did well from the beginning, and are now fruiting.  The trees that he planted either died or are just now starting to take off.

He lied because he was desperate for work and his brother lied for him.  Never, ever underestimate the strength of family here.  Americans, who love to jabber a lot about "family values", have no clue whatsoever because culturally we really place very little value on family values.  It's too often just a code phrase for homophobia, anyway.

We hire no one anymore--don't even consider consider them--unless they have been referred to us by people we know and trust: long-time ex-pats and Panamanian friends who really understand what we need.  Darío recommended someone to fix our lawn mower because he naively assumed that this man, who can indeed work on car and tractor engines, could therefore work on small motors.  Wrong.  Another lesson learned but a cheap one.

Another nice young man whom we had for a few times assured me that he could run a weed eater.  By this time, I was a sceptic, so under the excuse of well, this one is a little different, I went through the steps of staring it.  Yes, yes, I know.  OK.  I watched from the window as he worked and worked the pull cord--and couldn't get it started.  So I went out (by that time the motor was flooded and he didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of getting it started--of course, he didn't realize that) and asked him if there was some problem.  He complained about the weed eater, but when I went through the steps with him, he had left out a small detail like turning the switch from "off" to "on".  In reality, after I started it for him and watched him work, it was very clear from his clumsiness that he had never touched a weed eater before.  Heaven knows how much life he took off  that particular starter and what other damage he did to the motor.  They do not understand about loads on  a motor and thus are prone to burn out motors because they don't run them fast enough.  And the reason they don't run them faster is because that uses up more, precious, expensive gasoline.  Then they abandon their weed eaters and either revert to machete (the honest ones) or steal another if they can.  So the cycle goes on and on.

4) Arrogance, which is in large part cultural.  I've written already about "playing the game".   It shows up in different ways.  When we first came here, a neighbor whose advice was invaluable during our first two years here, warned us never to let a Panamanian feel that he's "gotten ahead of you".  If that happens, he said, they will have nothing but contempt for you and you'll have nothing but trouble.  That applies either to lending them money or in fact treating them too well.  We did, with our first gardener, by giving him lunch AND paying him $10/8 hour day, which was extremely high at that time.  Now, it's nearly standard, but not then.

We also wanted to encourage him in his career aspirations.  He was going to the university in David at the time, and we started paying his tuition (which was an entirely $30/term).  Like most Americans, we wanted to help someone better himself.

He repaid us by starting to slack off on his work and slowly, slowly decreasing the amount of time he was spending here.  When I came back from a trip to Brasil, I found that he regularly was leaving an hour early.

We decided to have a talk with him, and put him under contract which he had resisted.  I had everything all ready one day, when he came to work without the power drill I had lent him and that he had promised to return that day.  When I asked him where the drill was, he nonchalantly said he wasn't done with what he had to do at home.  And of course, never bothered to call me on his cell phone to ask permission.

In my quiet and restrained fashion, I blew sky high, started yelling in Spanish, and fired him on the spot.  Drove him home, got my drill, and told him I'd find out about what was due him in severance pay.  Then contacted my lawyer in Panama City by email--we work very, very well that way--but inadvertently did not give her the entire picture.  As a result, we wound up paying him a severance package (pretty low--we had not employed him for that long and we only had him over once a week) that I now know we could have avoided because we had just cause.

Panamanian labor law is very generous to workers, and they have rights to severance pay that US workers do not have under the same conditions.  If you employ someone for tiempo completo--full time--over a period of just a few years, you can wind up owing the worker several thousand dollars in a severance package depending on how your work relationship ends.  If they quit, no problem.  But if you fire them, and you do not cover your buns, you can be in deep doodoo.

Case in point with our next door neighbor who is smack in the middle of an all-out fight wither their former employee.  He's claiming $3000.  He did very well in manipulating, over a period of months, our neighbors into just this side of firing him.  Had they done so, they would have no choice but to  pay the money.  That's not quite what happened but he's claiming they did.

There's even more that they did for him but I don't want to get into it because I don't want to identify people.

Over the years, they've lost a great deal of money through naive trust, doing things they never would have done in the US.  But I've never heard them so angry, furious over what they view as betrayal.  This time, I think they've learned.  Finally.

Fortunately, they have someone at the Department of Labor who agrees with them and is helping them out.  But it can be totally dependent on who you deal with as to which way the law is interpreted.

Me, I don't make a move without checking it out with our lawyer.  Everything I do goes past her.

6) Bordom.  It's a fact that Panamanian workers don't like to stay in one place or one job too long.  Darío has a real mix of work, for instance, that keeps him from getting bored.

There are no doubt other points except that I'm getting tired of writing.

However, you can find honest, competent workers who will give you real value for your money.  It's not easy, but you can find them.  When you do, hang on to them, because they are worth more than gold.

We are blessed with Darío, who is 68; he's retired and collects his Social Security, but still works, both for us and at a job in David.  I thought it was for the extra money, but our friends in Potrerillos, after much laughter and giggling, told us that it's more likely that he wants to get away from his wife! He is proud to the point of vanity about his ability to work harder than a younger man.  He has saved us enormous amounts of money, has given me invaluable advice when I've asked him.  Because of the incredibly hard work he's done in the heat of summer, my part in maintaining the property--weed eating--has been cut to about 25% of what it has been in the past 3 years and will go down even further when other areas can be mowed.  We joke and laugh together, we trade horror stories about near misses (he was polite when I told him about the near-miss on the lightning strike but it was clear that he thought I'd been an idiot), we share outraged self-righteousness over the prices we have to pay, and trade tips on the best places to shop.  He tells me what's going on in Potrerillos, and asks me about extremely intelligent, informed questions about events in the US.  We are completely comfortable with one another.

Being a male, naturally he adores being fussed over by women, and believe me, we fuss (I have this terrible feeling that we even coo).  He's something of a hypochondriac, and we more or less indulge him.  If he has a headache, he comes to us for Tylenol, which he loves.  We exchange remedies for various ailments and aches and pains.  I've learned not to scold him for working too hard in the sun, because latino machismo takes over, and he works even harder.  Almost always, I give him cookies, or part of a cake, or muffins to take home to his family.  One of his daughters and her children live with him and his wife, and I'm pretty sure he's supporting them.  The kids are cute and incredibly polite.   He's fascinated by the leaf lettuce I'm growing now, and I plan to give him a head when they mature.  

Yes, he most certainly has his limitations but then so do I.

Recently, we decided to raise his salary from $10/ 8 hour day to $12, starting the first of June.  Given the steep rise in the cost of living and truly grateful for his work, this was something we felt we wanted to do.  When I told him that, driving him home for some reason or another (usually he takes the bus), he was unable to look at me, choked up, and thanked me feelingly.  Since that time, he has worked even harder, if that's possible.

He's more than a worker but less than a family member.  Not quite a friend but not outside our our circle, either.

95% of me believes that he will continue to be so.  But there is that dispassionate 5% of me that knows Panamá, and that will sit back, watch and wait.

More Wildlife Encounters

Three toed sloth in the Brasilian Amazon region.  Has absolutely nothing to do with the post topic.  I just like the picture which I took a year ago.

Anyone who spends time in the tropics certainly discovers a zoological fact: insects far outnumber any other form of life (other than microscopic) on the planet.  That includes not only numbers but varieties.  I've always been grateful for the fact that the percentage of insect species more or less incompatible with  human life is very small.  Otherwise, our species wouldn't be able to survive.

Those that aren't compatible range from the uncomfortable to the downright lethal.  Of the former, I give you the common ant.

Living in the Pacific Northwest as we did, we were aware of a few species of ant.  The most exasperating to deal with was the carpenter ant.  Nowhere near so bad as its cousin, the termite, carpenter ants could pose a serious problem to your wood-based house if left unchecked.  OK, from time to time I had to call in an exterminator, but it could be dealt with.  Other ants were pretty harmless.  Sugar ants could be a problem if you were careless around the house, but only seasonally.  Then there were the large black ones who seemed to mind their own business and pretty much operated on a live and let live basis.

Then we came to the tropics.

Our first year here, we rented a furnished Panamanian house not too far from where we live now.  It was, I discovered rather quickly, not well sealed, and we had a variety of unwelcome insect guests, the worst of which were the at least 5 different species of ants, some of them truly scary.  The most frightening from a size and numerical viewpoint were the black ones with red heads.  They were huge--almost the length of my thumb joint--and their heads were disproportionally large, or at least it seemed so to me.  They colonized everywhere in the house, and especially on the second floor which we were using to store some books and a few other thing that we didn't need in our rental house.  

I'll never forget going upstairs one day for some reason or another, and hearing this very strange, ominous rustling noise coming from one of the boxes.  I opened one of the boxes---

--and there was a HUGE colony of these ants, all in motion, it seemed.  I felt as if any minute they would rush out of the box in some irrepressible wave and carry me off.

I did what any sane person would do in that situation--I yelled for help.

Mary came running, and between the two of us, we managed to haul out what we could of the things inside, stomping ants like crazy.  Then we took the whole mess and tossed it over the side from the balcony to the garden below.  Left it there for a few days before we had enough nerve to approach it.  By the time I gingerly rolled it over, all the ants were gone.

Another time I found a colony under a decorative pillow on the rocking chair upstairs.  Must have used a half gallon of Raid.

Oh yes, you bet--this environmentalist kept Johnson and Johnson's profit levels up that year. It does work--and yes, it does have a residual.  I used it in corners of the floors and outside in cracks that ants were using to come in.  Killed them dead, I'm happy to say and would work for about 6 weeks or more.

The worst time I had with these ants was was during the time when Mary was in Missouri visiting family.  I was using the downstairs bedroom.  One night, while I was reading, I happen to glance up and over to the floor just in front of the bathroom door.  There, to my horror, was a line of ants coming from the bathroom and fanning out, headed straight for my bed.

It was dark, I was alone (dogs and cats really don't count in a situation like this), and I was unreasonably terrified.  I don't even remember what I grabbed, but as the ants had now reached the floor underneath the bed, I started a killing frenzy.  Then I raced for my handy cans (yes, plural) of Raid, and started spraying in the bathroom until there were nothing but ant corpses littering the floor.  I shut the door so that the dogs and cats wouldn't be able to go into the bathroom, and tried to sleep that night, ever afraid that ants would make it into the bed.  Not an irrational fear that one, since it had happened before, but with smaller, less threatening ants.  NOT your most pleasant memory, waking up in the middle of the night feeling something small crawling around on your legs.

However, the bloody ants were back again for the next two or three nights.  

I finally figured out where the armies were coming from--behind the bathroom cabinet that was under the sink.  there were two consequences from this discovery: 1) approximately 1.5 cans of Raid were used to saturate the area behind the cabinet and 2) I swore that we would never EVER have built-in cabinets.  Three and a half years later, we still don't, although we do know now what type to have to prevent this problem--no backs, built on to the wall, no place for the ants to hide.

You can't imagine the  lengths I went to while we were building this house in order to have sealed exteriors.

However, the Ant Wars went on after we moved--just a different location and with yet different species.

The first time I had a run-in with leaf cutter ants, we had moved in but there was still some exterior work to be done on the house.  I had already fallen prey to my craze for bougainvillea, and had bought my first small plants, which I put along side the car port driveway.  One of the workers, Joel, pointed to a conical-shaped hill of dirt and told me that I should kill "them" because otherwise they would kill all my plants.  I had no idea what he was talking about until the next day.  I had three or four potted plants; not one had a single leaf on them.

That hill, of course, was the mouth of a leaf cutter ant nest.  Our then-gardener told me what to do.  I bought a powder dispenser, quite common here--it looks like a bicycle tire pump.  you put an insecticide in powder form--in this case Hormitex--in the main compartment, shove the dispensing hose into the ant hill, and then work the handle, pumping the powder into the nest.

It worked.  Well, sort of.  The ants picked up and moved to another location.

One of the real problem with leaf cutter ants is that they will forage a very long distance from the nest--10 to 15 meters is as nothing to them.  What you have to do to eradicate them is to keep following the trail of nests until you've cleared them out.  It took me quite a while, but I did so.  We haven't had leaf cutters in years.

And finally, my favorite ants of all time--the stinging ones.

When we first came here, we were told that there were fire ants here.  After my first encounter with stinging ants, I was sure I'd run across them, but I now don't think so.  There may indeed be fire ants here, but the nasty little devils I've stepped into I think are just stinging ants.  "Just".  The bite stings like crazy thanks to the formic acid the ant secretes ("formiga" in Portuguese and "hormiga" in Spanish are derived from the Latin name for ant from which "formic acid"comes).  It stings like crazy for about 15 minutes and then goes away--to leave behind a blister filled with a white semi-fluid.

There are at least three different types of stinging ants that I am aware of, based on color and the way they build their nests.  Some nests are obvious and can be avoided, and others are not.

Doesn't matter--I hate them all and if I find a nest anywhere near the house, I haul out my trusty Arrivo and spray the nest.  I have some evidence but am not entirely certain that even some forms of stinging ants eat the leaves from young plants.  If I see a plant that is slowly being nibbled to death over a period of days (leaf cutters will strip a plant overnight), I look for a nearby ant nest, and almost always find one.  If I spray the nest, the problem seems to go away.  That's not enough proof to be certain but enough to keep on with the policy until I find out otherwise.

Another thing I really like to do is disrupt a nest if I find when when I'm weed eating.  This morning, I came across one near the bougainvillea (which are now too large to be in danger from that type of ant although a few would be susceptible to leaf cutters) while weed eating, and I ripped it open at half speed.  Why just half speed?  Having disrupted ant nests accidentally,  the line has thrown the miserable little beasts onto my feet and legs--whereupon they proceeded to climb towards various unprotected parts of my body.  Half speed avoids this.

Have you ever read the phrase "and they boiled out of the building" or something like that?  It perfectly describes what you see when you disturb in any way, including just brushing the edge, of one of these nests.  The ants come boiling out--no other description does it justice--by their hundreds and possibly several thousand.

And come straight for you.

Fortunately, they don't go more than a foot or two away from the nest, so there's safety in distance.  But you do, believe me, want to put distance between you and them.  Which is why I prefer to do my malicious mischief with a weed eater, with that nice long shaft between Me and Them.

I do not have a concern in the world about killing these ants.  They are not now nor ever will be on the Endangered Species list.  However, I don't wantonly go out and kill them if I don't have to.  If they're in the orchard area or any place some distance from the house--and don't look like they're threatening my new plantings--I leave them alone.  

Make no mistake, though-- it's war and the battle lines are drawn.

Electricity Rate Hike

A neighbor

Electricity is expensive in Panamá.  According to The Panama News, electric rates are about $.19/kWh for most of the country and about $. 26 in Bocas del Torro province.  We pay $.145 /kWh, but that may be the jubilado rate. Rates where we lived in the US (which had a high percentage of hydroelectric power) ranged from  just under $.05/kWh up to a certain use limit and $.06.something/kWh to yet another limit, which we never passed.   Of course, that was 4 years ago, and I 'm sure the rates have increased since then.  I doubt that they've doubled, though.  Even if they had, the rates would still be higher here.

According to our electric bill, since we use less than 600 kWh/mo (we use under 300), we get a 25% discount on top of that.  So that reduces the cost dramatically.  Because we're careful about electrical usage (not draconian--just common sense) and we deliberately designed energy-saving features into our house, our monthly bill is under $30.  With the July rate hike, that translates into roughly $4/mo more, taking into account the discount. I think we can lower our usage enough to minimize that hike significantly without causing a ripple in our life style.  Actually, we've already started.

Most of Panamá's electricity comes from hydroelectric power, and I read somewhere that the majority of that comes from here in Chiriquí.  But hydroelectric is not enough to supply all the needs, especially at peak hours, and the rest comes from fossil fuel-consuming plants.  So, given the price of such fuels, the request for the rate increase is hardly a surprise.

Because of the discount for using either less than 600 kWh or less than 500 kWh (depending on who you are),  most Panamanians won't be affected directly by the rate increase but of course it will affect other costs that will then be passed on to the consumer, no matter in what income level.  Most likely increases are bound to be in food costs, not so much at the producer level but at the processing and distribution level.  However, just about all goods and services are going to be affected.

There's an excellent article on the power generating situation in The Panama News, which covers background info, political aspects, government policies, the works.  I highly recommend it.

 When we first arrived here, I was astonished at the number of businesses and shops large and small in David using air conditioning--with their doors left standing wide open.  For example, when El Rey opened in David, the exit doors were open just about every  time we were there.  Even then, I wondered at the cost in electricity--not cheap here at any time--in maintaining environmental control is such a large space.  I've noticed lately that Rey's doors have been closed.

Paradoxically, in a lot of the stores downtown, the lights would be off!  Sometimes it was hard to tell if a store was open or not because the interior would be unlit.  It was bizarre to see a store with an unlit interior, doors open, and (inadequate) air conditioning working full blast.

We're not in David that much anymore, and when we do go, we tend to go to the smaller, more traditional shops and kioskos, with the exception of Rey and a few of the construction supply places like Cochez.  So it's hard to tell whether that combination of open doors and air conditioning is as widespread as it used to be.  I'll have to make it a point to check it out next time we're in town.

This hot off the press in La Prensa:  prices for 95 and 91 octane gas and diesel will rise today 9, 8, and 14 cents per gallon, and be in effect until May 28.  For diesel, which we use, the range of prices will be from about $4.06 to $4.13/gallon.  Fortunately for us, our closest bomba usually has the lowest prices.

Yesterday's paper had an account of yet more protests in the country over a number of issues, among them the pollution of the rivers (Panamanians have a strong environmental sense) and the cost of the canasta básica.  I want to write about all this, but it will have to wait until I get more time.

The Mangos Are Here, The Mangos Are Here

Actually, they've been here for about 2 weeks now.  We've been watching a huge mango tree on the carretera outside of Dolega, as first it flowered, then set fruit--and is now dropping ripe mangos.  We have two mango trees that are growing like crazy (like any good Italian mother, I feed them generously) but they are young yet and it will be years before they produce.  Demorra, as they say here.

We buy almost all of our fruits and vegetables in David, at Productos Yaneth near the stadium.  They're not the cheapest but they have the most consistent high-quality fruits and veggies that we've found.  We discovered to our satisfaction, that our friends the Espinosas shop there, too, and for the same reasons.  Sort of puts the stamp of approval on our decision.

We've been shopping at that stand for nearly the entire time we've lived here.  They used to have a much smaller, shabbier place about a block away, but moved within the past year.  It's owned and run by two sisters, I think.  They're quite friendly, and if only one of us shows up,we're sure to get inquiries about where the other is.

Almost every morning for breakfast, we have a big bowl of mixed fresh fruit and usually a piece of toasted pita bread.  The fruit is whatever is available: bananas of course, pineapples, melons, sandia (watermelon), papayas--and right now, mangos.  They are so sweet!  They make almost every other fruit except pineapple seem bland in comparison.

Last week, we loaded up on mangos, buying about a half dozen huge, ripe red ones.  I almost always make small talk with the women who run the place as well as their employees.  Last week, it was (I assume) Yaneth.  I happened to remark that we eat mangos for breakfast.  That comment set off a flood of excited Spanish in which she told me how much she loved them, that she eats them for breakfast herself and tries to restrain herself but just keeps eating and eating them!  Ah, a "fellow" addict!  I envy her her easy source.

I'm not sure how long the season lasts, but we will be gorging on these wonderful fruit for as long as we can.

Waiting for the mamon chino harvest in June.

House Maintenance

I don't care where you live, if you own a house, you've signed on for perpetual maintenance. For us, we also have to deal with two recurring problems.

With one exception, our house is well built. After some research, we opted for traditional Panamanian construction and we have not been sorry. In fact, it's turned out even better than we expected.

The one exception has been the roof, which is NOT traditional. That material is correagua, the stereotypical 4' x 8' sheets of galvanized metal you see everywhere in the tropics. In the worst decision we made in construction, we decided not to go with correagua but to use instead a relatively new roofing material made of recycled plastic. It looks like the old-fashoned roofing tiles. It comes in sheets (hojas) that are, I believe, 4' x 2'. It meant we had to have more cariolas set closer together than with the correagua, but they are not as heavy as the standard cariolas (they don't need to be), so cost was probably a wash. The factory is just outside of David and we were captivated with the idea of building "green" as well as supporting the local economy.

There was a house recently built by a young professional Panamanian couple, close to us, that had this roofing material and we talked with them as well as toured the house. They had already gone through one rainy season, and were quite happy with the roof.

So--we went with it.

The first rainy season--perfect. No problema.

Then came the second rainy season--and we had our first leaks.

At this point, after 3 years of dealing with this stuff, I think the problem is the winds here, which are ferocious especially in January and part of February. I think that they're causing the roofing hojas to move and abrade against the screws, creating minute channels. Plus our builder made a few bad screw installations.

I finally resorted to using silicon gasket-type sealer working from the inside of the house. It is an awful job, since given the pitch of the roof, I have to get up on our 12 ft stepladder and work very close to the ceiling. Let me tell you, that's a hot, dirty job. But it did the trick for all but the worst leaks.

By "worst", I don't mean a leak so bad we have a bucket underneath (although we have had two instances of that but easily fixed). I mean leaks that wind up causing small areas of minor splashes on the floor. Not serious enough to be really dangerous, but annoying and inconvenient.

A month ago, I had our all-purpose construction worker, who is very good, fill the worst of the holes from on top of the roof and also seal as best as he could around the screw heads where they met the roofing material. I also decided to have him paint the screw heads with a siliconized paint that a friend told us stopped the leaks in her roof (she has the same roofing material).

Don't waste your time with that one. Not only didn't it work, but also by moving around on the roof, given the flexible nature of the roofing material, the pressure broke some of the silicon seals on the inside of the house, ones I'd already successfully repaired. The rainy season has started, we've even had aquaseros, and the situation was very clear. A half dozen "new" leaks.

Panamá is not for the faint-hearted.

So this morning, we once again struggled with our heavy, awkward, absolutely essential 12 ft stepladder, and once again rivers of sweat poured down my face as I manipulated the d____d gun, working around electrical tuberias and the cariolas to seal the holes.

If my experience holds true, I'll have managed to seal all but one, and I'll see two more that I need to fix next time. And there will always be a next time.

Oh, well. Keeps me from being bored.

Some Good Links

I've had very kind reactions to my last post. As a result, I want to add a few more links to this site and would urge you to use them.

Eric Jackson publishes The Panama News out of Panama City. It is the best English-language publication with which I'm familiar (and I'm certain there are others) to get a feel for what is going on politically in Panamá. Yes, his slant is from the capital, but he does make an effort to visit and talk about other places in the country. In this edition's home page, among other things, he talks about the confirmation hearings of the proposed new US ambassador to Panamá, the "Pink Revolution" in politics that has swept most of Latin America, and other topics both great and small. I don't read every edition, but when I do, I think it gives one of the best English-language views on what is happening in Panamá overall that I know of.

I read La Prensa nearly daily, and I recommend doing that but for the most part, the newspaper is dull and since it tends towards the party in power currently, more or less sweeps ugly political realities under the rug. Still, it's useful.

The other link I would recommend highly is Boquete.org. It's constantly updated and contains a good deal of useful information. It is one of the first places I turn to for possible info on the latest laws that affect the ex-pat community (such as driver's license renewals, for example). It by no means is comprehensive but it is a good place to start.

If there are other links anyone would like to recommend, please let me know, I'll check them out, and if I think they're worthwhile, I'll publish them. Send me spam and advertising of whatever stripe and I promise I will blister your rodent's behind in public. I'm too old to care about what you think of my insolence.

Frankly, most of the time, I would rather post about my bougainvillea, our dogs and cats, the spectacular gardens around here, more on the coffee growing process, and other such topics, and I will. I'm planning a series of posts on the gardens of our Panamanian friends, the Espinosas, and the one of another Panamanian friend, Gladys Haynes. Much closer to my heart.

But I will continue to post, as I am moved (somewhat fitfully) on what I see around me. I repeat: I like Panamanains, I enjoy their culture with all its warts, and I love living here. But I am if nothing else a hard-headed realist. I should put in my profile that on my best days I am a cynical misanthrope (in my book, the adjective is not a redundancy); you don't want to know about the worst.

Thanks for all the kind comments, those of you have have written. I appreciate them.

A Resource-Driven Culture

One of the reasons I chose to live in Latin America (and wound up in Panamá), is that unlike in the US, Latin Americans are real people with whom you can have real conversations about real things. While I can sputter with the best gringo over the near-doubling of the price of sand and gravel over the past two years, most Panamanians aren't really concerned about that. They are far more concerned about putting food on the table, clothing their families and digging up enough money to outfit their children for school.

Those are universal basic concerns but how people go about it varies culturally .

We had lunch not too long ago with a Panamanian friend who had an interesting perspective on US culture and those of other "developed" nations. Let's stick with American, since that's the one I know best.

She said that Americans have 4 cultural assumptions: 1) I like it 2) I want it, therefore 3) I need it, so 4) I deserve it.

Read progressively from 1) to 4), I thought she'd hit the mark perfectly from a certain perspective. There are other American cultural attitudes as well, but these are the one seen from the "developing" countries. I've spent a lot of time in Brasil with poor and marginalized people, politically active ones. While they would not have phrased it so succinctly, I guarantee that this is the way they see the US. And they're right. All I have to do is conjure up the knowledge of how my daughter-in-law--a wonderful, hard-working, decent, compassionate woman, dearer to me than my own children, is raising my grandchildren, and there you have the next generation of Americans born, raised, shaped and ready to consume--by right. Whatever they like, they want, they need and by god, they deserve. A few years ago, I was appalled at what they received for Christmas. The cost would have fed a Brasilian family of 6 for nearly a year. They aren't exceptional. I had acquaintances in the US who spent even more on their children. To me, this is obscene.

Intrigued, I asked our friend what the equivalent Panamanian cultural attitudes were. Her reply: a primary cultural attitude was doing what was necessary to get the job done, collectively.

That's very nice, very admirable. The four listed above, frankly, are not. Yet without much trouble I could list several outstanding American cultural attitudes such as the way we open our pocketbooks to pour out aid to those in distress. And often we even do it without our so-called leaders setting political strings on it as the current administration has attempted to do in Myanmar. Certainly we do so as private citizens. Look at what happened with Hurricane Katrina and natural disasters in Honduras and other areas of the world. Not the governmental response, thanks (same administration)--but the outpouring from hundreds of thousands of Americans. It is definitely a cultural attribute and one in which we can take enormous pride.

I made no comment, but it set me to thinking what my equivalent list would be, as an outsider looking at Panamanian culture the way she, as a Panamanian looks at American culture.

The one I have to deal with the most often is called "playing the game". Another name might be "charging all that the traffic will bear", and another might be "cheat whoever and whenever you can, particularly if they're stupid Americans". This is not new for Panamanians. In another post, I reviewed a recently-published book called "Path to Empire:Panama and the California Gold Rush". From the earliest days of crossing this isthmus to get from the Atlantic to the gold fields in California, Americans and others have come up against that Panamanian attitude. For assistance with mules, boats, food, lodgings, and other services, Panamanians did indeed charge all that the traffic would bear. We would call this rampant capitalism and I'm sure that there are many CEOs who in their dreams fantasize fondly about such an atmosphere in the US. Panamanians don't just dream---they do it.

And lest you think I made up that bit about "the stupid Americans", I actually overheard this in David one day while I was getting my hair cut. Panamanians pretty much assume that no American can speak Spanish. My Spanish is rather good, and I had no trouble understanding her along with her contemptuous voice tone. The owners of the shop froze, practically literally, because I always made small talk with them--in Spanish. None of them speak a word of English.

I got mine back without ever saying a word, and left that shop satisfied with the net exchange. I believe she'll think twice before trying that again (soon).

But that's how many of them see us. And, for that matter, each other except that since they're all Panamanians, they all know the rules of the game and my guess is that it's pretty much a stalemate.

I try to deal with fools as little as possible, but it's hard to avoid when so many are immigrating here. I am particularly entertained when they announce solemnly that they truly understand that this is not the US and then proceed to act as if it is--with all the protections, both formal and informal, that US law and custom gives.

We Americans are a people accustomed to obedience to laws. It isn't because the US has laws and Panama, say, or Brasil, doesn't. The best constitution I know of is the Brasilian one but its guarantees in many instances aren't worth the paper they're printed on because there is so little law enforcement. Panama, for one thing, just doesn't have the resources.

Which leads me to the main point.

We all agreed that day at lunch that Panama was a resource-limited economy--and I would argue, culture--but in reality what our friend was talking about was money. Money is in short supply in this relatively poor country (although its per capita income is second only to Costa Rica in Central America, I believe). And so we return to basic survival needs--such as putting food on the table for your family.

I emphasize the family part because Panama's culture, unlike that of the US, is family-based. Oh we Americans give lip service to it but that's all it is. If Americans were ever given the choice of having a real family-based culture but with the knowledge of what the price is, believe me, most if not all would reject it instantly. I've seen the lengths to which all members will go to aid one another in the family in Brasil, for instance. Americans are far too self-centered and too invested in personal privacy to go to such lengths.

As a diversion, I want to mention the not uncommon sight of seeing older American men with young Panamanian wives and sometimes children. I've seen it in David, I've especially seen it in Boquete, and we even have such a couple here in Potrerillos. We're all familiar with the American male mid-life crisis and what he's most likely to do so there's no need to go into it. I don't think it's a bad thing here myself because usually the man has no real idea just exactly what this transaction is going to cost him. If you get married in the US, chances are really good that you can pretty much ignore each other's birth families, if you want to. But if you marry a panameña, you just don't get her--at no extra cost, you get her entire family and you get them for life. Believe me, the woman is perfectly well aware of what she's doing--as is everyone in the community--I've had enlightening talks with Panamanians in Potrerillos on the subject. Hey, so long as everyone is happy.....

So that's one way of charging all the traffic will bear and feeding your family--all of them.

I've seen in Brasil and heard stories here from Panamanians about the daily struggle to get enough money to put that night's dinner on the table. Not next week, not tomorrow--right now, today. It's been going on for a long time in this poor country, and much of it is due to wealthy Panamanians exploiting poor Panamanians. I've had several conversations with people in Potrerillos who really like dealing with Americans--honest chiriqueños who are not out to cheat. Why? Because Americans pay their bills. They pay their workers. That's not always true of Panamanian employers, especially in the construction industry. Boquete is littered with gringos who have been forced to pay the wages of workers who were left high and dry as the contractor went broke or just left without paying them. By the way--that's panamanian law. If the builder can't pay them--you have to. Because they don't have much money and never have had, they don't know how to manage it when they get it, either. And too many construction contractors are notorious crooks. There are so many ways to fleece "the stupid Americans" in construction. What is particularly funny is to see how those Americans who assure you that they know that this isn't Kansas, think that something like a contract is going to protect them. I should be a TV producer of a comedy show--I have material for years with stories like this.

But still, there's that problem of putting food on the table right now, not tomorrow. Your kids are crying with hunger now.

It doesn't matter that better times have come. It doesn't matter that you have more income now than you've ever had, thanks to the latest American invasion of Panama. Culturally, you're resource-limited and resource driven--and that's the way you act. Tomorrow may never come--your deeply-imbedded, unconscious cultural imperative is food on the table today.

One of the interesting consequences of this is with the small Panamanian businessperson, such as a taller or workshop. In the US and Europe, too, I imagine, one of the assumptions businesspeople act on is that if you give good service and charge fair prices, sell quality goods, then you will profit in the long run by returning satisfied customers. I have listened to Americans here rave about how they're going to get even by never going back to that d_____d store, taller, contractor, whatever.

What they don't understand is that for the most part, your individual Panamanian kiosko owner, vendor, workman, whoever--doesn't even remotely think like that. The fruit and vegetable vendor by the side of Via Boquete in Dolega doesn't worry that you won't come back to his stand because you realized when you got home that he charged you 3 times the price for those tomatoes that he charges his Panamanians customers--who are most likely his neighbors. He's not looking for your "return business". He's putting food on the table today and tomorrow will have to take care of itself. Besides, as PT Barnum put it so well, there's a sucker along every minute. There's always the next stupid American who doesn't speak Spanish and who doesn't have a clue as to what prices really are.

Even relatively large operations will do the same, especially when the target is a gringa, but any American who looks dumb enough--or is caught in a fix bad enough--will do. About 6 months or so, there was a flurry of posts on Boquete.org about an auto service and parts store in David that was just outrageous. Anyone will tell you that there is no honest car mechanic in the US as well, but there you have recourse to law--and here you might as well forget it. As my insurance agent told me when I had to appear in court after some idiot driver nearly killed us by ramming into the back of our truck at high speed in his loaded produce truck, totalling ours, you never know who the judge is--could be the guy's brother-in-law. And family being what it is--he recommended that we take advantage of the free lawyer the insurance company provided. I had already decided on a lawyer; I was ecstatic when it was free. It should have been an open-and-shut case since we had two Panamanian witnesses, but it was not routine--the judge--in this case, the mayor of Dolega--questioned each of our witnesses for nearly two hours each. But we had a Panamanian lawyer and Panamanian witnesses and we won the case. I can name two gringos under similar circumstances who lost because they either didn't have the lawyer or didn't have the witnesses.

Some Americans just plain ask for it. I listened in stunned silence as some Boguete gringo told me how, at the gas station, a Panamanian man came up to him, hailed him in broken English, talking about how they had met recently, asked him how he was (but never called him by name)--and then hit him up for a loan because he was in an emergency. His wife was going to the hospital, his car was broken, and he had to get to somewhere--can't remember where--within the next two hours by bus, and he didn't have the bus fare. He wanted $100. The gringo gave him all the money he had in his pocket--only $70, poor thing. Just for your information, the bus fare to Panama City at that time from David was about $12. The Panamanian walked away, promising to repay him that day. The gringo asked me plaintively if I though that this Panamanian, whom he couldn't recall having ever seen before, would pay him back. I stood there, wondering how the guy managed to put his pants on in the morning without a 10 page booklet of instructions and a set of detailed maps. No wonder they call us "stupid Americans".

Our middle-class Panamanian friends certainly don't approve and by no means all Panamanians are dishonest. But to Panamanians, it's just playing the game, and they have to put dinner on the table for their family--all of them--tonight.

Unless you learn Spanish, leave your gated community, make an effort, talk, and listen (and have on hand at least two functioning brain cells)--you're never going to know "them" and they will continue to play the game against "us".

Gardening and More

We moved into this house on June 15, 2005 and from that moment on (if truth be told, a few months before), I started working in the garden. Never mind that we didn't have electricity (and wouldn't for 6 more weeks), that was immaterial as far as I was concerned. After all, who gardens in the dark?

To talk about this, first I have to amend some of my posts. It's hard, really, to live with one of the Technically Correct Police Force. Give me a Politically Correct Policía any day-- much easier to bear, I assure you. I've been saying that we live in "this valley", in order to distinguish it in the eyes of people who may not live here from Boquete. Boquete is in a valley; we on the other hand live on a savannah or type of plain. Valleys presume mountains and mountain views of which we have none. Of course that begs the question of what those things are that stick up to the north that I was used to calling mountains in another life, and our plain has an interesting angle of inclination but who am I to argue with the Technically Correct Police?

That out of the way--and aren't all our lives so much better for knowing this?--an ex-geologist Canadian friend of ours has called this area an alluvial plain, and alluvial means water. The combination of lots of hard rainfall and sugar cane production, which is a heavy feeder of just about all soil nutrients, in a volcanic area has left us with practically no soil on a hard, rocky surface. Trying to garden under these conditions is not the easiest thing I've ever done, and I've lived primarily in areas that were either heavy clay soils or sandy soils with clay 2-3 feet under the surface.

There is a wild abundance of palms here--I plan one of these days to do one or more posts about them. The very first plants I bought, by sheer accident, were multiple palms, about 2 ft tall. I planted those in April or May, 2005 along our entrada. The fairly recent picture above shows some of them. By sheer luck, I had chosen tough plants that grow relatively easily and rapidly. A couple of them are now over 6 feet tall, and you can see the multiple trunks thickening out.

That was the end of the easy stuff. The rest of the planting, except in certain areas, was agonizingly hard work--digging holes, removing rocks, filling with other dirt and gallanasa. It took us two hours one day to dig exactly one hole for a bougainvillea plant to try to assure drainage, since they do NOT like wet feet.

Which brings up a major point--working in the tropics.

I'm used to hard work. I'm also 71 and under any circumstances, simply can't work as hard as I used to when a mere youngster of 60. At that time, I was working and gardening at around 49 degrees N latitude, and there is a monumental difference between that and 9 degrees N. latitude. The heat in the tropics makes it so much harder. I whine a lot about how little time I have but actually it isn't time I lack--it's energy to do anything with the time after I'm through outside.

I get up about 4:30 every morning, take care of the animals, then do various things until dawn, which nowadays is just before 6. The dogs and I walk around the property where I take note of what needs to be done, what's doing well, what isn't--and enjoy the cool air, the songs of the awakening birds, and the breathtaking beauty of what's around me. While keeping an eye on Fred who usually is looking longingly at the bull next door who, Fred is certain, is just dying to play with him.

From that time on, with a half hour out for breakfast, I'm outside working, and it's usually hard physical labor. This is not puttering around the rose garden with a pair of pruners territory. I remove rocks, fill in gullies with small rocks and stones, repair stone fences, plant, fertilize, weed eat, paint, maintain about a mile of water lines, and more.

By 11, I'm exhausted. Sometimes I'm so tired I have to rest before I have enough energy to take a shower. I've also learned to drink water, an activity I used to scorn as being for lesser mortals. A minor bout with heat exhaustion cured me of that attitude fast. So afternoons are for reading or other light work inside the house, and a nap. There is a reason for the siesta. The dogs certainly understand that!

A real problem with living here is weight gain. Almost every gringo I know regardless of nationality struggles with weight gain; a few lucky souls are genetically gaunt, which I resent. I'm 15 lbs heavier than I was when I moved here 4 years ago and am slowly, grimly losing weight. It isn't easy because your BMR (basal metabolism rate) drops as you move from temperate to tropical conditions. You don't burn as many calories in order to maintain an internal temperature in a tropical zone as you do in a temperate climate. Most of us also can't work anywhere near so hard as we did back in Minnesota, New York, Washington or wherever, given the heat, although that probably varies depending on altitude. Here we're at about 1800-2000 ft and it is significantly hotter than in Boquete ( around 4200 ft and higher) and Volcán, which I think is about 5000 ft. David, at sea level, is truly uncomfortable for me and for quite a few Panamanians, who complain about the heat there.


Since this is a poor country and resource driven, you don't see that many overweight Panamanians, especially not here in the campo. Our part-time gardener/handyman/general savior is a 68 year old man, Darío, who is tall, thin, with the muscles of a man who has been doing manual labor for his entire life. HE can work all day in the sun--he paces himself brilliantly, and I've learned from watching him. He gets an amazing amount of work done, and burns up those calories.

In the US, obesity is so common as to merit no comment anymore. But in 4 years we've seen exactly one obese person here, in David, working at a classically sedentary job, in a computer tech store. Occasionally you see an overweight adolescent, always male, and it's so unusual that it takes you by surprise. Prosperity has come to David (although I think it's about to disappear) and people have more money for food. Which here is high in starch and much of it is fried. We eat in a combination of Panamanian/American eclectic fashion, slowly going over more and more to Panamanian food as we learn how to prepare it. It doesn't help with weight control. One of the hidden costs of living here!

Yet I look at 3 years' worth of if not back-breaking, certainly backache-producing labor and I am well content. Darío is filling holes and leveling certain areas, and more and more of the maintenance can be done by lawnmower instead of weed eater, a true blessing. Our fruit trees and bananas are starting to produce and the bougainvillea, gingers and other decorative plants are a joy to my heart. Life is good.