Oops!

Don't know how it happened, but it did. I put gasoline in my diesel car.

Fortunately, it only cost me $53 to get it fixed including $10 in diesel and $8 for a new fuel filter. Oh, and a day of aggravation without a car.

Most filling stations are full service but I used one in Dolega that is self serve. I swear I pulled up the lever underneath the diesel logo but that apparently didn't happen. I need to go back and see how I messed up.

Don't want to do that again!

We had our first Spanish lesson at Habla Ya on Monday.

It was fantastic!

This school is so much better than the other one we attended last year. We were speaking Spanish with the professor from the first moment of class.

She was prepared with handouts that were just right for our level of knowledge. She engaged us in a hour of conversation then we did a few exercises with laminated phrase cards. We did a couple of short written things then spent 20 minutes on new vocabulary.

What a difference! This school has it's act together.

We both left feeling good about our Spanish proficiency (or lack of it) and we want more.

I feel that we will get some place with 10 weeks at this school.

I am very hopeful that we will be able to converse in Spanish, on some level, in 10 weeks.

I am grateful. It is simple unacceptable to live in a Spanish speaking country and NOT speak Spanish.

Tropical Storm Matthew

We got home last night at 12:30 am and it was still raining. That is unusual. We normally get rain in the afternoon, tapering off in the evening.

I woke up this morning to rain. Yet again unusual. We rarely get rain in the morning, even in the height of rainy season.

I wondered what was going on.

When I checked various websites for info, I found out that we were getting hit by the outer bands of rain from Topical Storm Matthew which is oscillating between a tropical storm and a hurricane north of here. (We don't get hit directly by hurricanes)

We are projected to get rain for 3 more days...like this...rain all day and all night.

I am sure this will get old. I love the beautiful mornings in paradise!

Grand Slam Theater

I suppose you are going to get tired of me writing about the phenomenal theater in Panama. I can't help it...it is just stunning.

I saw "The Beauty Queen of Leenana" last night and I was blown away with the acting. Or should I say the lack of acting. When actors move beyond "acting" into the assimilation of the character so they become the character, it gets outrageous!

And it was outrageous.

The play, set in Ireland in 1989, is about a 70 year old mom who is mean, manipulative, cunning and, of course, CRAZY! And her 40 year old virgin daughter is equally crazy and, as it turns out, homicidal. It was a black comedy...made funnier by the once-in-a-lifetime performance by the old lady who is actually 76 years old.

I have seen Susan in several roles over a couple of years. She is a top notch actress with plenty of experience. In the past she has been from good to excellent. Last night she transcended excellence and moved into the phenomenal!

With my limited experience in theater, I am realizing more and more that the part makes a huge difference in how well an actor does on stage. It takes a perfect storm of writing, the actual part, directing, the actors abilities and work-work-work-work-work...to make a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

Rare, very rare.

That is what we saw last night. It was so good it moved me. Not because of the emotion in the role but the actually perfection of the acting.

Somehow she put together a palsied yet sane, sly yet drooling, addled yet wicked and absolutely hilarious, sloppy eating, food spitting character. With facial expressions to die for!

She turned a depressing, black comedy into a comedy with an edge.

Bravo Susan!!!

The 3 other cast members did great jobs. Just not roles of a life time.

They put this play together in 4 weeks. How in the hell did they do that? I asked my friend Jim, the director, how they did it and he told me they practiced a lot. I've been in his previous plays. We practiced a lot with a 6 week schedule. I can't imagine how they crammed all that rehearsal into 4 weeks.

I tell you, we have some potent theater here.

If you want to read a review of the play and see a couple of pics, follow this link: http://www.boqueteguide.com/

Dilemmas!

There are big and little problems in Panama. These are a couple of the little ones.

A friend of mine who was a one man band in the US (Think of a guy playing in a bar that sounds like a computerized band) is trying to put on a future event. It will be a hootenanny.

Remember hootenannies?

You may be too young to remember because this is a concept that goes back to the 60's. It involves folk music, not my favorite music. It was a gentler time, not my cup of tea. It was a provocative time, this I like but not the political stuff.

The piano player has been trying to get me to play guitar with him so he can expand out of the one man band thing. The only problem is that he is so used to playing all the instruments...with the help of computers and sound patches...that there is no room for a guitar, unless it is a lead guitar.

I am not good enough to play lead so I am at a loss about playing with him.

The hootenanny is an opportunity to play acoustic, rhythm guitar which is my thing. I hate to pass it up because I want to do something with him, just not this mamby pamby schlock.

Oh what to do? I think I will do it and regret it along the way!

We were invited to 2 parties last week.

One was a big affair with maybe 75 people and loud music. Great food, interesting people but I got tired of yelling to talk to them.

These houses have tile floors, concrete walls and high ceilings...in other words, an echo chamber. Blahh!!! I don't like it except I got to meet some people I otherwise wouldn't get to meet.

The next party was a small dinner party with 8 people. Low key, no exceesive drunkenness, a great fire in the fireplace on the patio and wonderful food. Conversation that was pleasant and low volume.

I am so grateful for small, low key parties.

Like I said earlier, small problems. Hardly worth mentioning. But I hadn't written a blog in 6 days.

Mmhhmm???!!!! Maybe the well of blogs is going dry.

The Land of Unfulfilled Expectations

Yesterday, Yella came home from the grocery store with chicken. I pulled it out of the frig to cook it and noticed that it wasn't chicken breast but chicken tenders.

I asked her what happened as neither of us really likes chicken tenders. She said, "I didn't even think to tell you that they were out of chicken breasts so I got something else."

Now this seems insignificant but it indicates a change in us that is significant.

When we first got here, it drove us nuts that you couldn't go to the store and get what you want. Think about it. Almost every time you go to the store in the US, you get what you want. It is a given that stores are well stocked and consistently stocked.

Not here. It drove us nuts.

Now, we don't even notice it most of the time.

When we go to the store, we scan what is available and what isn't. We buy more of what is available because who knows when you will be able get it again.

This has become normal and is transparent to us. We just do it.

Plus, we have developed work arounds for various things.

Take having only one car this week when we have no public transportation to rely on.

This morning I drove to town at 7 am to pick up our fence workers, returning to the house at 7:15. Why you say? Because our contractor's truck broke down and the part is still missing so he can't get his workers to the job site. Remember, almost none of the locals have a car.

At 7:30, I hopped on my bike to go to town to eat a quick breakfast and meet some guys for a hike. Yella needed the car to go to David and pick up supplies not available in Boquete so the car was not available for me.

On the way, I stopped to visit with a few of my normal breakfast friends, then moved on into town where I passed another friend. We visited for a few minutes.

This is the way of a small town. Constantly running into friends.

I got a ride to the hike with a friend. We hiked, returned to town for lunch, then another friend picked me up to go to a party at a town 20 miles away. Yella had an afternoon party for the women in the Broadway Review so I didn't get the car. She returned the workers to town on her way to her party at 2. There was a loss of 2 hours of work. The price of all those cars that don't work at the moment.

When I returned to town from my afternoon party at about 6, I called Yella and she left her party to pick me up with my bicycle and we returned home. Why didn't I ride my bike? Because this is the tropics in the rainy season and there was a down pour.

(I should mention that another friend saw me standing by the road and offered to put my bike in the back of his car and drive me home. A generous offer since we live way out of his way and on a bad road. And it was raining cats and dogs making the loading process very wet.)

We start this rat race again tomorrow with me going to town to pick up workers at 7 again. Who knows what the rest of tomorrow will look like.

Another little wrinkle. I made arrangements to pick up the contractor at 7. Yella made arrangements to pick up the workers at 8. We can't get any one on the phone to straighten this out. So we might go to town twice tomorrow morning, just to get the work on the fence going.

Hmmm????

Strangely, all this seems normal. I even enjoy it. Today (if you catch me on another day, I might cuss this stuff) it beats the mundane simplicity of life in the US.

Odds & Ends, Round 2

I took the Hilux into the body shop for dent repairs.

The front passenger fender, the passenger door and the roof had major dents. Plus the rear driver bed panel had very minor dents. Plus the passenger side minor was off with the bracket broken.

Cost of repairs...$380. Should be ready in one week.

Some things are dirt cheap.

A friend celebrated 50 years without drinking alcohol today. He almost didn't make it. He had a heart attack a few months ago and almost died. It is a wonderful thing that he made it. So few people ever celebrate 50 years of sobriety.

A few months ago, I was complaining that I had no one to hike with. All that has changed.

I now hike with 2 groups, almost every week. I love to hike. I love to eat lunch after hiking. Sometimes we even see the Resplendent Questales, maybe the most beautiful birds in the world.

It is the height of the rainy season and this place is still full of people. Last year, Boquete was like a ghost town in September and October. What a change! I know more people this year, I have more activities and a few people that normally aren't here are here now. It adds up to a pleasant rainy season.

As I adjust to retirement, friends sure do help. This is one mean adjustment.

A friend of ours hired our old Panamanian builder to finish a house for them. We tried to talk them out of using him. We told all the bad stories. We re-told the stories. We begged and pleaded.

Didn't work.

Why did they hire him? He was soooooo cheap. Much below anyone else.

And, they were developers and builders in the US. So they know how to handle ANYONE.

Oh, the arrogance of the Type A Americans! I should know. I am one too.

They have hired their own crew to finish the job. It will end up costing them what the other contractors bid.

There is no free lunch. Even in Panama!

3 Days of Sunshine at the Beach

In the past, it has been blisteringly hot at the beach. Not this time. I have no idea why it was pleasant but it was.

We stayed with 2 other couples...always risky in a small place. All went pretty well except a woman got pretty aggressive with me when she was drunk. Not hard to shake off. After all, she was drunk.

At Las Olas beach, the water is dangerous. Big waves, steep beach and heavy rip tide. All a formula for trouble. I did get in at one point and rolled around in the waves. It took me 2 hours to clean the sand from the most amazing places on my body.

The sunshine was wonderful. Three full days of sun. Wow! I don't miss the sun in the rainy season, so I think. But when I get in it, it is luxurious.

Once again, there weren't 10 people on this beach over 3 days. Amazing!

We rented a 3 bedroom condo at Las Olas for $100 a night. It is very modern and America. It tries to fool you into thinking you are no longer in a 3rd World country. Something always brings you back. The power was off yesterday for 5 hours...a transformer blew up. Go figure.

It is also good to be back home.

Broadway Review Pics

Here is a link to pics for the show...more pics than you probably want to see but you can pick and choose.

http://picasaweb.google.com/109418415479569898744/BCPDoesBroadway2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCJfO2KiL9Lntbg#

The entire link has to appear in your browser address line. We have had some trouble with the ling when the second line isn't used.

The Broadway Review

I have to eat a little crow...best eaten cold.

The Broadway Review is a huge hit! People love it!

I guess people are suckers for a musical.

The majority of acts are well done with a couple of them brilliant. Mainly due to the choreography.

The choreographer is a pro. She danced in LA and NY for 10 years and taught dance for some more years. She has utilized simple but effective dance steps and hand gestures that have impact and beauty. Fantastic! Even with very, very marginal dancers.

And there is some talent in the group, Yella, of course, included and at the top of the heap!

And there is some creative directing. Each of the eight segments has it's own director. Ultimately a mistake...one director works best...but it has it's charms in this show.

My skit in most ways is a flop. But it is saved by good directing and staging. Plus I do give a solid performance even though the real lead, Annie Oakley, is played very weakly and disappears in the act because she can't be heard...a blessing really because she can't sing.

The audiences have gone crazy over this thing. The booze served before the show and at intermission helps mucho!

It is a thrill to be involved in something this popular.

This show was video taped. I hope to get you a link to Youtube.com so you can see some of it.

Fall is in the Air

The weather back home in Colorado got cooler with a hint of fall in the air yesterday. Several of my friends commented on it on Facebook.

When I lived in Colorado, this always made me a little melancholy...indicating the end of summer was near...summer being my favorite season by a long shot.

One of the reasons I moved to the tropics is my disgust and hatred of winter. I don't like the cold. I don't like forced air heating. I don't like the loss of green and the washed out gray-brown of winter.

A blight on the eyes and an assault on the skin.

But for a moment, the haunting beauty of winter snowfall hit my memory. Especially the windless, thick snows of the Colorado mountains. Soft and quiet like a giant pillow.

We used to sit inside looking out our huge vaulted windows, watching it snow...for hours. It was so beautiful.

We would scamper out onto the deck and into the hot tub. The snow so cold it would "burn" our skin until we could submerge into the water.

Do you know you can hear snow fall? You can. It has to be completely quiet and still. The snow makes a soft murmur as it hits the ground.

Sitting in a hot tub during a heavy, still snowfall is one of the best experiences in life.

And the only memory of winter that I like.

As I sit in Boquete, watching it rain, with the temperatures in the 60's, I am grateful to be here. No snow, no cold.

But the memory...not the actually being there...of a quiet snow is wonderful!