Peculiar Things

Yella and I were driving up Volcancito Road, one of the rural areas outside Boquete with many gringo houses. This is a steep hill going up the side of the volcano.

An old man was pushing a wheel barrow loaded with a lawn mower up the hill. He was going slowly but steadily. We passed him 15 minutes later and he was still pushing.

We wouldn't even thing of doing this is the states. We would get a car or truck to move the lawn mower.

Well, most people don't have a vehicle so it is typical to see men walking down a street loaded down with tools or bottles of propane.

And women too. Hauling bags of groceries or children in their arms.

Many things are done by hand rather than with a machine. When the gravel and sand truck is loaded with a couple of cubic meters of material, it is shoveled into the truck by hand. They don't use a backhoe or loader to do it.

Septic pits are frequently excavated by hand. It might take an indian a week to dig it, but it is cheaper than bringing in a backhoe to do it.

And, the object of working here is not to complete the project. It is to keep working. With labor so cheap, most people don't mind the "never-ending-job" syndrome. It keeps people in work.