Fixing the Car

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the costs associated with car repair.

In late March, I tried to get my older car aligned but no deal...it needed new inner and outer tie rods and upper and lower bushings.

I waited 2 weeks until Keith the Car Guy was available to buy the parts. It is difficult to buy parts when you are not a mechanic but that is the way things are done here.

You buy the parts.

Then Yella drove the car into a Panamanian car wrecking trap, otherwise known as a camouflaged ditch inlet, so we needed body work. We only had one car so we decided to wait until the first week of May when we would get the second car.

But no! We didn't get the new car until the end of May.

With the help of Keith, I took the car to a body shop in Los Anastasios, way out in the boondocks. The said it would be done in a week.

Ya, right.

It was done in 2 weeks, which is amazing in any country.

They had to pull out the rocker panel below the rear passenger door, fix the dented door, fix the rear bumper and we had them fix a couple of small dents in the hatch back door. They ended up painting the entire passenger side and the rear.

All this cost $350. Amazing! Bodywork is cheap here.

Now back to the tie rods.

I waited until the bodywork was done to replace the tie rods. The mechanic had the car for a day. In addition to the tie rods, he adjusted the fuel injector motor to reduce the amount of smoking from the engine.

He got $40 for the labor. The parts were expensive, maybe the same as in the US. They were $300.

I went to David this morning to get it aligned. Magically, the rack was open. Everything completed in 20 minutes for $19.

The car drives like new!

Only took 3 months to get it all done but it is worth it. The bodywork alone would have cost thousands of dollars in the US.

Now if only we could find the leak that keeps the driver's floor wet in rain.

Police & Beer

As we were sitting at Amigo's yesterday afternoon before they closed for good, I couldn't help but notice a couple of peculiarities.

A National Policeman, in full uniform, walked out of the bar carrying a couple of beers for the road. Ha ha... That will never happen in the US, at least not now, although it could have happened a few decades ago before we lost our national sense of humor!

Then, thinking I had seen it all, another local cop walked out of the bar with his hooker, both drinking beer.

I must say there is a freedom here that is invigorating. You can park your car anywhere you want, even in the middle of the road and not much will happen. For that matter, you can drive any old fashion without much consequence.

Tolerance is the rule. You can pretty much do what you want.

There is a cost as you can imagine.

It is dangerous to drive. Only a continuos watchful eye, in every direction, will keep you from running over something or being run over.

Hell, it is dangerous to walk here. I injured my ankle getting up from a picnic table, for God's sake. The sidewalks are uneven and non-existant in some places, so "watch out" is the motto for the day.

I do have a deep affection for Boquete, even if it is a little dangerous.

I'm Funnier that I look

After last night's performance, a friend told me:

"You are funnier than you look."

This cracked me up! I think it was a compliment but I'm not sure.

The final night of the El Grande was a good one...the audience was responsive and good natured...a big help in comedy.

This morning we broke down the set. All in all, 2 hours of work.

It was weird to look at the end of the restaurant where the stage was set and see nothing. So much happened there...so much sweat hit the floor...so many cues were called...so many memory moments locked into my mind.

And then there was nothing.

How's that for waxing poetic?

It was a busy Father's Day.

After breaking down the set, I met a welder and took him to our house to fix the garage door.

Then I helped my car dealing friend deliver a car way out in the boondocks.

Then on to Amego's...they are closing and this was the last night.

It was sad. They have been the main stay supporting live music in town. I visited with some friends, drank too much coffee then we left.

No more Amigo's.

Then back home to play with the dog. This is the new "I got to deal with the dog" activity in my life. With Yella back in the US, I have to care for the dog.

It does take some time.

But she is a comfort during the night...she is a great watch dog!

A Bad Night Went Good

I was dreading the play tonight. Only 5 tickets sold as of yesterday.

This play is too much work to perform for a few people.

I picked up the piano player on the way to the theater and mentioned that I was dragging. He was too. So with trepidation we went on.

Much to our surprise, the house was almost full! Yippee!

And they turned out to be our second best audience.

I do love a good audience. I was fun tonight.

On to another topic...

As many of you know, we bought another truck. This one has the new diesel technology.

Toyota calls it D4D and others call it diesel on a rail. These are high tech engines that are smokeless and odorless, and the run quite and start fast. All new stuff for diesels.

And, they are NOT available in the US. In a moment you will wonder why.

I ran a full tank of fuel through the truck and calculated the fuel mileage.

Before I tell you, I want to let you know the type of driving I was doing.

All the miles were short trips into town. No highway miles at all. About 10% of the miles were in 4 wheel drive and another 10% were in first gear. Rarely did I get out of 3rd gear. And the terrain is hilly with about 20% rough gravel roads.

So you get the picture. This is low fuel mileage stuff.

And this is a big truck. A crew cab pick up.

I got 28 mpg.

Can you believe it?!

I am estimating conservatively 40 mpg on the highway.

Doesn't it piss you off that this kind of fuel economy is available everywhere else in the world and not in the US?

RAIN!

We had 4.41 inches of rain in an hour this afternoon.

We had a lot more than that yesterday but I didn't see any statistics on it.

This is not an exception, it is typical!

It comes down so fast that nothing can contain it. The house gutters over flow, the ditches on the roads are full, the roads are under running water. Our little farm track road is a river, flowing solid across the lane, several inches deep.

Yet, somehow, the place doesn't float away. The local river, Rio Caldera, doesn't even approach flood stage during these rainy season rains.

It does flood, but in Nov, Dec, Jan, when the rains fall on the continental divide above town. Then all hell breaks loose. This phenomenon is called Bajarqeue. It is a mist in town but heavy rains above town.

Good news, the power stayed on through out the rain.

The Direct TV was another story. The clouds are so thick that the picture pixelates and the sound gets lost. So no TV during the heavy rains.

For some strange reason, the wireless internet keeps on working.

El Grand de Coca Cola Pics

I thought you might like some photographs of the play. These were taken at dress rehearsal with the English student class attending. If you would like to see all 168 pics go to URL: http://picasaweb.google.com/markopanama . Select the Coca Cola folder...should be the first one.

Rain, a Dog & a Sore Ankle

It's 4:30 in the afternoon and I've haven't done much other than nap, read and snack.

The sore ankle put the kibosh on any physical activity. My ankle was so painful and swollen this morning that I debated going to the hospital for some treatment.

Instead, I laid low for the day with my ankle elevated and iced at times. By 4:30, I could lower my leg without massive pain, a good start on recovery.

My dog has been bugging me all day to come inside but I didn't want to have to get up and deal with the dog. She is a major pain in the ass. She is like a little kid who wants to play constantly.

So I left her outside until about 4.

That's when the rain started.

So it sit, with my leg up, a great book in my lap and the dog curled up at my foot.

R e l a x e d !

Ah...

I might visit a couple of friends tonight but that's it on the activity.

Feels great.

Redemption!

Night 4 was a hit!

We could tell before the performance started that the night would be a good one. There was a good feel and murmur in the room, people up walking around visiting, a lot of smiles.

All before the performance even started.

I guess audiences have personalities.

Interestingly enough, we are not selling out the house. It only holds 42 people and we are still not selling out.

That is bothersome. It indicates some problem. Maybe the pricing or to many different shows in the area or something.

We should be selling out a 42 seat house. This was and is a lot of work for a limited audience.

But, in the end, tonight was a blast!

Live entertainment is a partnership between the audience and the performers. This group got a much better show than last night.

They demanded it and they got it!

Thanks you to a great audience. It was a joy to entertain you.

Can't Win Then All

Now I know how it is to bomb in a comedy.

One word...gruesome.

We had a small gringo house that didn't laugh much. That is a problem.

I didn't know this but the dead space in scenes and between scenes is covered by the laughter. No laughter, massive dead space.

That kills comedy.

Laughter is an interesting thing. It begets itself. So laughter, at it's best, rolls and builds and rolls and builds.

But there has to be laughter for all this to get going.

Standing back stage, I would hear funny line after funny line without a laugh.

That is ugly.

Now another problem arises.

The cast starts to get pissed. We knew we were doing our job and the audience was letting us down.

This is called a downward spiral. Getting behind the power curve. Lost without a map.

We tried to cover up our anger but I am sure it communicates at some level.

One comment after the show was over: "Good effort." Hell, he might as well as kicked us in the balls.

The truth is better than being patronized, I'll give you that, but it still stings.

I am glad the night is over. We had a stinker in Sylvia too, so it is to be expected.

But not enjoyed.

Review of El Grande de Coca Cola

This is the first review of our play. I copied it from a blog and pasted in this blog so the picture quality is marginal. I think we will get some more professional grade photos in a few days.

If it had been a movie, I and the others at the dress rehearsal of El Grande Coca Cola would have been included in a first rate production of a third rate troop of performers working in a second rate club someplace in Central America. But it wasn’t a movie and we, the audience had the opportunity to witness a first rate group of actors performing an imitation of how bad it can be and that put us in stitches. That was the goal El Grande de Coca Cola is refreshing fun, the real thing ™.

This third performance of the Chiriqui Players establishes them, their director, their support staff and amazingly talented actors as capable of creating straight faced hilarity. El Grande de Coca Cola is a play that is really a night club act, which is really hilarious. The act of Pepe Hernadez and his troop of totally lackluster performers, allows the talented actors of the Chiriqui Players a broad canvas for making us, the audience roll on the floor in laughter, even as they are tripping over each other on stage.

The venue, Tammys Restaurant, has been morphed into a second rate night club. We the audience get to eat a meal and be entertained as if we were really watching the pratfalls of Pepe Hernandez and company. It reminded me of the La Cava in Nogales Sonora in the 1970’s. The integration is so seamless that it become a question of, are you watching a play or are you engaged in watching an actual performance of Pepe and company. The result is, who cares, it is great fun and we left laughing.

The Play is in Spanish, Spanglish, German, English, French and other tongues. Fear not, you do not need to understand one word of Spanish or any other language to get 99.9% of the act. The visual images, costumes, stage work and body language convey the message perfectly.

When you go, you really do want to go, check out the amazing performances of everyone but you will not be able to miss Miguel, Julian Bonfiglio, Julian is seventeen years old and put on a performance to rival any of the more experienced talent.

If you are a frequent visitor to Tammys and know Henry, you will be startled that he, quiet Henry could be Pepe Hernandez, Impresario Extraordinaire. I had to ask who was playing the part, I never would have guessed it was Henry. An amazing performance for his first time on stage.

Since his Boquete debut as director of the Vagina Chronicles, Jim Hatch has proven that many local people have incredible acting talent, he has pushed, coxed and nudged them into demonstrating what they can do. In this performance he has once again provided some of the amazing talent in Boquete an opportunity to demonstrate how good they are.

I salute the entire cast of Henry Spierer, Marni Craig, Pam Pankratz, Tom Werder, Julian Bonfiglio, Conner Craig and Paul Day, you were all amazing. Tom I had no idea your face was made of silly putty! Also the people behind the scenes who are too often forgotten but are becoming more talented with each opportunity, Tammy Smith, Sandi Stephens, Heather Macaulay, Shirley Maffitt, Clare Edmonds, Ann Barrett,Vicky Phelps, Amelia Stroup, Jakki Champ, Barbie Degafferelly, Marilyn Jenkins and Fene Cartlidge.

I understand there are still some tickets available for some performances this weekend and next Thursday through Saturday. If you want a really great experience, something you will remember, go to Mail Boxes Etc and clamor for boletos por El Grande de Coca Cola.

Well, Well, Well

Last night the final dress rehearsal was played to a full house of Panamanian university students.

They loved it!

(Remember, this play is done in Spanish, or rather bad Spanish or Spanglish. I could see them correcting our Spanish and enjoying it.)

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I didn't expect this play to be such a big hit.

It started out on the cool side in the restaurant where the play is presented. This was a huge improvement from previous rehearsals. It was an evening rather than afternoon performance and there had been rain in the afternoon, all helping to keep the room a little cooler.

Not cool mind you, but cooler. I didn't start to sweat until I put my costume on.

The opening scene had the emcee and the 2 girls doing an intentionally bad performance of La Bamba. The crowd applauded it! What? And laughed! A good start.

The laughs came in a steady stream, frequently with rolling intensity.

What a difference the audience makes in a comedy. I can now say rehearsing a comedy is disorienting without the feedback from the audience.

Now for the weird part...

After the play, the director actually hugged me and told me I did a great job. And, he hugged the entire cast. He was smiling, no grinning ear to ear!

Never, and I mean never, has this director told any of his previous casts they "did a great job" much less hug them. Even in the magnificent Vagina Monologues, effusive praise was missing. If any performance deserved praise, it was the Vagina Monologues.

Hhhmmm??? I don't know how to interpret this. Maybe slapstick humor is that powerful.

We will see how the gringo opening night goes.

At least I am now hopeful!

Dress Rehearsal

We started with makeup...fake mustachios, heavy eyebrows. It was all gone in about 3 minutes.

Sweat, sweat and more sweat!

This place is like an oven, then we each have 3 or so costumes layered on our bodies. For me, a suit jacket over a long sleeve white shirt, over a wife beater tee shirt, over bicycle shorts with a tee shirt top, over underwear.

It is almost unbearable.

We are searching for fans but that won't really help much.

We are close to opening and the energy is WAY up in the cast. It went extremely well. The few people there in the audience, mainly support and technical help, were laughing a lot.

That is good. I have been worried.

I am strangely detached to the outcome of this play. After each practice, someone will ask me to stay late and re-work something. I always refuse. I am beat and not very enthusiastic after a sweat drenched rehearsal.

I thawed some chicken to prepare tonight when I got home. As I left rehearsal, I didn't have the poop to prepare it, so I went out to eat. I intentionally didn't call anyone to join me.

I was too worn out to be good company.

I think I will avoid anymore major plays for a while so I can recoup.

Problems in Paradise

One of my good friends went off his rocker today.

I got a call from his wife. She said he took off from the house on foot, without a cell phone, and intended to commit suicide.

Oh oh...

This guy has neurological problems and minor seizors. They came on late in life and cause any numbers of inconveniences in his life.

Plus he is on powerful meds to deal with the seizors.

I didn't know being suicidal was one of the problems. I am assuming that his meds need to adjust, among other things.

People were out combing the roads in and around Boquete with no luck. Pretty hard to find someone if they don't want to be found. There is a lot of jungle to disappear into.

Another friend was driving up Volcancito Road, way up toward the entrance to the trail up the volcano, and found him walking along, in the open. He was willing to get into the truck and accept a ride home.

I don't know why we didn't think of checking the road up the volcano. It is the dominant feature in the region, the obvious place to look...in hindsight anyway.

I have heard that his wife will take him to the hospital tomorrow for evaluation.

A good ending to a tricky problem. After all, suicide is final. No chance to help if it is successful.

Car Wars

Owning a vehicle is difficult here!

I have been trying to replace the tie rods in the beast for over 2 months. It took me a few weeks to buy the parts. You have to buy your own parts and take them to the mechanic.

Then I had to wait on getting another vehicle so we could put one in the shop.

Then I had to wait until my friend had time to take me to the shop. (I never would have found it. It was way off the beaten path. A personal intro is required)

Finally, we got it into the shop...for the body work...not the tie rods...that will follow in a month or so.

So you get the picture. It takes a long time to do things here.

Today we dropped the car off in Anastasio where the body shop was located. Then we proceeded to David to get some title work done.

Title processing used to be done in Dolega, a 20 minute drive from Boquete.

But suddenly and arbitrarily, they closed the Dolega office.

Now, only the David office does this work. And they only take 10 people in the morning and 10 in the afternoon. So you have to show up at 7 in the morning to get a number to complete your stuff.

Well, this morning, we couldn't get to David by 7 because we were dropping off my car. So we had to wait in line for 90 minutes, just to talk to a clerk about the process.

Now, here is where a good knowledge of the system comes into play.

My friend has lived in Central America for over 15 years and knows the ropes. He submitted his 7, count them, 7 title changes to the clerk. She explained to him how he had to get there before 7 am and take a number.

He pointed out that the paper work was complex and she should page through it. On the third page she found a 20 dollar bill.

Promptly, she looked up and said all would be ready at 2:30 TODAY!

Amazing how well it all goes when you know the ropes.

Good Sunday Morning

I have been frustrated trying to get my old car into the body shop for repairs. And, trying to get the paperwork for the newer truck so if I get stopped they won't haul me in for lack of proper title, etc.

All of this requires Keith The Car Guy to lend me a hand. And, he has been in Panama City all week busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

So, no progress.

First thing this morning, I open my email and find out the Keith lost his dog while he was gone. The neighbors last saw the dog on Friday. He returned yesterday afternoon and no dog.

Buddy, the dog, was a low key, loyal, home body type pet. Someone probably stole the dog.

So, I drive by Dorado Park Cafe at 8 this morning and see Keith drinking coffee. I stop in to get some of this stuff done.

But... I can't get too pushy. After all, he just lost his dog.

Keith is also a good friend so we spend some time yakking and joking around. Eventually, he brings up the subject of my cars and we start to get things done.

Keith is a profession and I can rely on him, no matter what. In the Land of Unfulfilled Expectations, this is fantastic.

Someone reliable!

We return to his house to get the paperwork. He plays a bunch of YouTube videos of music. We take an hour or so to listen to music and reminisce.

Then on to Olga's for brunch. I missed breakfast while I was hanging out with Keith. I meet a half a dozen friends at Olga's.

Among other things, I get an invitation to play drums in a new band. That's a problem...I don't have drums anymore. I also get a half assed offer to play guitar with the same band. He really wants a screaming lead guitar play, which I am not. And, for some reason, he thinks I'm a great drummer.

I have no idea where he got that idea.

I would like to get back into a band. The guy setting it up is a pro and I like the way he works.

That is important.

Bands are a lot of work and the personalities are touchy. I have been involved in too many bands that put in the work, only to fall apart in a few months because of personality issues.

Hum? What to do? I think I will sit on it until the play is over.

I hope the offer is still there!

I eat breakfast with another friend who is leaving for 7 months. We will be keeping his car while he is gone. That is good. An extra car always comes in handy.

Now I am back home with Emmy. She settled down and is now sleeping at my feet.

Have you ever noticed that dogs mainly SLEEP all day? Ah, the dog's life.

We have a tech rehearsal tonight for 4 hours. This is the rehearsal that brings in the light and sound techs, so it is tedious waiting around while they are brought up to speed.

We have another tech rehearsal (4 hours) tomorrow, a dress rehearsal Tuesday ( 4 hours) and a live performance Wednesday night for a Panamanian university class studying English.

This is ironic because the play is in Spanish!

Opening night is Thursday. I am looking forward to the reaction from the audience. This might be a very funny play.

We shall see...

I'm Beat!

This play takes it out of me. It must be the physical nature of the acting plus the costumes are so HOT! I am wrung out after rehearsal. We were done at 5:30.

I had to hang around until 7:15 when I met some friends for dinner, who were returning to the US tomorrow. Hanging around can be exhausting too. I wouldn't have waited except they were leaving tomorrow.

We met at the Panamonte Bar for dinner. This is a fantastic place. Too expensive for Panama but the ambiance is so exceptional.

The bar is enclosed on 2 and half sides with the remaining sides open to the outside. They have 2 fireplaces which always have roaring fires...big, large fire boxes...with large logs burning.

We ate at a table in front of one of the fireplaces, a highly desired location that we were lucky enough to get.

The food is AWAYS good. Remember, this is the land of inconsistency. Even so, the Panamonte is always good.

I had a mixed salad with fresh slices of garlic. Then, tuna over a bed of steamed vegetables with some kind of soy sauce. Mum, mum! It was good! The company was good.

Even so, I was tired, no matter how much coffee I drank.

I returned to a hyper dog who had been chained up for about 6 hours. She was wild! I let her into the house after she ran around for a while. She then terrorized the house for 30 minutes and promptly settled down and went to sleep.

How do dogs do that?

Should have been me...but I wanted to write this blog while the evening was still fresh.

Intense Days

I met a friend at a new restaurant for breakfast. A steady stream of taxi drivers were coming and going for food-to-go. A good sign.

We both had an omelette, toast and coffee. It was good and cost $6 for both of us. Hell of a price, considering we drank 5 cups of coffee which were charged individually.

While we were eating, the play director called and wanted me to help set up the lighting rig. I told him I was busy. Then, of course, a few minutes later, he walked by and saw me hanging out with my friend.

It is hard to get away with anything in a small town!

I worked out, then I returned to help him out setting up the lights. He was alone, a bad sign. And he was pissed...no one to help.

He started to rant and rave about this town not supporting his plays, blah, blah, blah.

So I made a couple of off color remarks, a sure way to get a guy laughing. And it worked.

The cast and supporting people in the play are starting to get on each other's nerves. We have had a couple of melt downs. Mostly women fighting with women.

Got to love the women acting out rather than the men!

I do love the drama!

Plenty of screaming and yelling, throwing things and stomping off the set. And, of course, talking behind everyone's back.

The play is coming together nicely. Should I be worried? Peaking too soon?

We'll see.

I must say that I was beat tonight. My performance at rehearsal today sucked. I blew the french scene and a few other things. We were using full costumes and props for the first time. It was a strain and HOT, HOT, HOT. My costumes were saturated with sweat.

I was beat. I refused an invitation to eat dinner out. Too tired.

So I'm home now...kicked back...fighting with my hyper active dog. When is she going to settle down for the night.

It's always something!