The Spirit of Helping

Maybe the Panamanian culture rubs off on us.

There is a spirit of helping in Boquete. This propensity to serve is innate to Panamanians. They will drop everything to help you. Sometimes for hours. Whatever it takes. I find this one of the most endearing qualities in Panama.

Some gringos have picked up this marvelous tendency.

Our car is in the shop for 2 weeks. We were using a car left in our care while a couple is back in the US but this car developed a leaky radiator so we had to park it.

No problem. Another friend gave us his truck to use until ours is repaired.

I walked down to Boquete yesterday morning to pick up the truck. Monday was a big day because we were starting the installation of our water system. We had to meet the supplier and the man installing the system.

I stopped by Dorado Park for a quick breakfast on my way to Super Centro Lily. I had coffee and an omelet with cheese and vegetables, all for $2.35. Hard to beat that.

On to the amazing store, Super Centro Lily. Don't let the name "super" fool you. Any store bigger than a phone booth is called "super". (Did I just date myself by saying phone booth?)

However, Lily's is amazing. They have groceries, household goods and construction materials including plumbing, electrical, cement, block and more. All in a fairly small space.

I met our installer and purchased everything...let me say this again...everything (you know by now that finding everything is not possible in Panama) that we needed in the way of fittings for the system.

The day was filled with trips to our house, back to Lily's to get more, to the house and so on...all day.

(An aside...there are 2 things that are expensive in Panama, fuel and plastic. The fuel is obvious but why plastic? I don't know.)

I met the supplier in the afternoon with his truck and our 660 gallon water tank, then we drove to our house.

Now the problem.

How to get a 660 gallon water tank up a slope to it's final location. There were three of us and the tank wasn't that heavy. But it was bulky and all the spaces were restricted with a roof overhang, retaining walls and steep slopes full of brush.

In the US, of course, the truck would have a boom and crane, simply picking the tank up and putting it in place.

We must have looked like the 3 Stooges walking this tank around. We almost lost a guy at one point but he recovered. In the end, we muscled the tank into place.

Oh, I forgot to mention, it was pouring down rain just to make matters interesting.

As we stood talking afterward--a Panamanian, an Italian and me--we did get communication accomplished with much hand waving, a smattering of 3 languages and the camaraderie of a difficult task completed.

These are interesting times, for sure.