New Dog Number 2

We adopted Sophie out to a couple in David. They returned her the next day because he had a severe allergic reaction to her.

This amazing dog adoption group in Boquete went to David, a hour away, picked her up and are keeping her until they get her adopted back out.

Our house was not safe for her with our terrorist original dog, Emmy. Emmy was too aggressive and just plain mean to Sophie.

Meanwhile, a young male has been hanging around Culture's, a restaurant. This dog is a professional affection getter. He will go up to a patron, put his paw on their leg, then his head and look up at them.

An affection hound for sure.

A woman claimed he was her's but the dog was always loose around town looking uncared for. She has 8 dogs and most people say she is crazy. Crazy, of course, applies to most of us down here so who knows what to make of that.

My friend who is a dog lover has been trying to get me to take the dog home. I wasn't all that interested because he was claimed by this woman and this is a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone.

We kept running into people who would talk about how they spotted the most loving dog in town. This dog was becoming famous and getting a following.

My friend got Yella's attention and they teamed up to get the dog yesterday.

Damn, another dog!

Yella immediately took the dog to the vet for a look over, shots and stuff. Then home to meet the intrepid Emmy. It went OK.

The dog is remarkable. So loving. And he holds his own with the terrorist Emmy.

We were told that a male would do better with Emmy and they appear to be right. So far, if Emmy gets to rambunctious, he attacks back.

Take that you terrorist Emmy!!!

This new dog is a lover. He is more interested in humans than dogs. Strange??!!

Time will tell. I hope this one works out!

Things Work Out

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a few friends in the high country outside of town.

It was gorgeous...sunny in the morning, overcast and foggy in the afternoon and a bit cool. They had a fire in the fireplace, much camaraderie and food, food, food!

After dinner, we played music for a couple of hours then headed home at dusk.

Before we left, I got a telephone call from the optical shop telling me my new glasses were ready. Great! They were here better than a week early.

Whoo hoo! Christmas early! I really need new glasses.

Today, I ate breakfast with some friends, then went to the optical shop.

Now, in the past, they haven't always been open in accordance with their posted hours.

Typical!

So, on the way, I tried to prepare myself for the shop being closed.

When I got there, of course, they were closed.

Damn! I thought I could weather the disappointment but I was pissed...and thwarted!

There was a little, tiny hand written note letting us know they would be back.

When??? I called the phone number and got a bunch of noise and that was it.

I told myself, settle down. They will be open latter.

I went to the gym and worked out. And, I got a call from them saying that they were now open.

I drove down and got my glasses and they work great!

This is the way of this land. Things do work out, just not the way I want them.

In the US, if I was going to run some errands, I would figure out how to run around town in an efficient manner, stopping here and there, ALWAYS expecting stores and offices to be open.

I would tolerate NO delays! And, most of the time, in the US, in works out PERFECTLY as EXPECTED.

You have to forget that here. Oh boy, this must be forgotten!

I does work out. Just not in the nice, neat order that I anticipate.

Later in the day, I went back into town today and had to kill 45 minutes. Now...here...that is nothing. Really no delay at all.

In the US, a 45 minute delay was a l-o-n-g t-i-m-e . . . . .

Oh, how life has changed.

Thanksgiving

It's 7 in the morning and I'm sitting on my porch...in a short sleeve shirt. A bright, clear, calm day.

I'm trying to write this blog while Emmy keeps interrupting me, nudging my leg with her toy, wanting to play fetch. So I toss her toy and write a sentence before she returns, then toss again.

Flowers are blooming every where, birds are singing, all the tress and plants have their leaves.

It is a glorious Thanksgiving Day morning!

I am grateful for all of this. Today, I am.

I know, you have had to endure copious amounts of my whining over the past 2 years in these blogs. Sometimes out and out rage. This place has thrown me against the wall more than once. It has stretched me to my limits and then some.

But on this morning, I am grateful.

A friend had a quote in Facebook that said we get into a rut and live our lives in that rut, rarely struggling out into life newly.

Yes, I am grateful for the warm weather and absence of winter, but much more than that, I am grateful for the opportunity to get out of the rut.

So here's to adventure and reinventing life.

After all the whining, complaining, rage, spoiled brat antics, pessimism, doubt, confrontation, resignation, and disgust...

Is gratitude...

I am fortunate to have this opportunity!

Yuck...Spanish

I really, really, really don't like learning Spanish.

Our teacher talks to us 95% of the time in Spanish, of which I understand only a small portion. This is tricky because I am trying to learn it and only a portion of the explanation is understood.

Now, here is an interesting distinction in learning.

The teacher gave us a test today and I did well, only missing 2 things out of about 30. The test evaluates what you know...knowledge.

But I can't understand what she or any other Spanish speaker says.

Yella, on the other hand, didn't do as well on the test...but she understands the majority of what Spanish speakers say.

So it just goes to show you that knowledge is worthless. At least for learning languages.

This kind of shit pisses me off to the max.

I am used to dealing with the world through thinking, analyzing and knowledge.

But that doesn't fly for learning a language.

There is some other skill involved that eludes me.

And I don't like it!

This all leaves me feeling stupid. I don't do well with stupid. I want to strike out and hurt someone for making me feel stupid.

I better go hide in a cave for a while.

One Hell of a Party

Las Ruinas threw a party celebrating it's 1 year anniversary.

This is a cool place. A circular open room with a thatch roof that accommodates about 100 people...normally. I think about 150 were there last night. People were packed in and sitting on the low wall which goes around the room on the outside...plus a couple of dozen smokers outside.

Yella and Rick played the music. He is a one man band...highly computerized full band sound...with Yella singing. The sound was great. This is unusual for here because most places have a tile floor, concrete walls and drywall or metal ceilings.

Not here! The thatched roof dampens the echos and the sound is crisp and clear. And loud...very, very loud.

That part I can do without.

I have found over the years that drinking is recommended for loud music. And I don't drink so I am loud noise challenged. (I like loud music at a concert. Just not at a social event where visiting is a big part of the party)

This restaurant has the best food for the best price in town. And it was great last night.

He was giving away free shots of rum all night...the rot gut stuff, maybe 3 days old before bottling.

No one cared that it was crap...a generous splash of coke took care of that problem.

I stayed longer that normal so you know it was a good time.

And it was drunk out. EVERY ONE was dancing. Even me for one dance!

As it turns out, I was sitting at a table with a woman who had 32 years of sobriety and a guy who had 25 years of sobriety. Plus mine of course. Not much danger in us getting drunk.

The party season is officially in session!

The Nickname Culture

Most people have a nickname in Boquete. It's kind of like back in college or high school...remember?

Some of the names are mundane like "Backpacker Jim", which is self evident.

Or more colorful like "Dr. Pepper". Don't ask, I have no idea what it means.

Or functional ones like "Keith-the-Car-Guy" and this is self evident again.

Now for some of the interesting ones...

There is Rebar Dave and Pain-in-the-Ass Dave. Rebar Dave picked up a length of rebar (steel reinforcing bar for concrete) and beat Pain-in-the-Ass Dave to within an inch of his life over some dispute which is unknown to the rest of us.

Clearly, with a nickname like Pain-in-the-Ass he probably deserved it!

Oh, by the way, the US Marshall showed up in Boquete 2 months ago and arrested Rebar Dave for fleeing the US will out on bail pending a re-trial for the first trial that got him 45 years. I met the guy several times and you couldn't meet a nicer guy. Hmm???? Are most criminals nice guys?

Then there is Hillbilly Phil who is from Tennessee. He gave his mother a box of shot gun shells for Christmas last year. No explanation needed for this one. I don't want to know how their family get togethers play out.

This is such a small town!

I was going into the supermarket this morning and I saw Garn standing outside. This is the 92 year old man that I hiked with last week.

He asked if I would help get him a taxi. I offered him a ride home. I could see the relief on his face when he knew he didn't have to negotiate with a taxi driver.

Such a small thing to do for him and such big results. This country and town offers so many opportunities to help out. And the rewards for helping out are huge.

I returned home feeling pretty good. A great way to start the weekend.

Several Things

As I was driving into town, 4 miles and 15 minutes, I noticed how often I waved at the other drivers.

I need to back up for a minute.

In the US, when you are in your lane, it is your lane totally. If a car was coming at you from the other direction, in your lane, you would react in some negative or angry way. You have the right of way in your lane.

Absolutely...you can count on it...take it to the bank!

In Panama, the entire road is at your disposal. Everyone swerves into the other lane to dodge pot holes, pedestrians, drunks passed out in the road, animals, bicycles, children playing or whatever.

When buses pull over to get or let out passengers, they only partially pull off the road. The traffic behind the bus swerves out into the on-coming traffic's lane. All the time. Everyone squeezes by the on-coming traffic.

So, the road is SHARED by all, in any way you want to use it. You can park or stop in the road...in either lane. Doesn't matter.

Needless to say, you have to pay ATTENTION!

The difference here is that all this is approached with courtesy. Cooperation. Working it out as you go.

Thus all the waving. Friendly acknowledgement of letting someone use "your" lane.

This is a much more appealing way to drive, I find.

Now about soap...

If there is soap in bathrooms, it is liquid soap. Frequently, in is weak, watered down stuff.

Why?

Well, when the soap is about half gone, they fill it back up with water. So now it is 50% watered down.

This process is repeated several times until the soap is essentially water.

Just a little quirk of Panama!

I was hiking on the Pipeline Trail in Bajo Mono. This is a beautiful 90 minutes hike. It ends at a 200 foot high waterfall. My favorite hike to date.

This morning, I met a local farmer and an old one to boot.

I told him I didn't speak much Spanish. He still rattled on with a blistering pace, ignoring my lack of understanding.

He was so charming that I didn't mind. At one point, he pulled out his pensionado card (retirement). I said "tambien" (me too) and he started to laugh. I guess because we had something in common.

I find that the older farmers are the nicest people in Boquete. That is saying something because most people here are nice.

Even though I didn't understand much of what he said, there was a pleasant sense of relationship, based more on way of being than words.

We parted friends. I'm sure I will see him again.

Gringo Funeral

A service, not really a funeral, was held for the 48 year old man who died of a heart attack last Sunday.

It was at 11 this morning with about 100 people attending. That's about 10% of all the gringos in Boquete. This is a small, intimate community.

It was held at a house outside Dolega, lower in altitude and hotter than Boquete by 5 to 10 degrees. It was a magnificent location for the service with perfect weather, partly sunny with a cool breeze on a day that didn't know if it wanted to get hot or not. We were on the veranda over looking pastoral fields.

Our friend lead the service. He has a PhD in psychology and a master in Divinity. He is also the best musician in town, playing both bass and piano. He was the Number 2 minister of a mega church in Calgary, Canada. It burned him out so he came to Panama to re-charge his batteries.

We are very fond of him, his wife and family. You would never know this guy was big minister in his past life. Never any preaching or even a hint of it. He is one of the most unassuming men I know.

He lead a wonderful service.

The support for the widow and daughter is amazing. She will be well taken care of.

This is an interesting difference in cultures: When she went to the hospital after they notified her that her husband died, they expected her to take the body with her...in her car.

As you can tell, there is a lack of funeral services in Panama!

Also, she was informed of her husbands death without any sugar coating. The doctor who called identified himself and then said, "Your husband died, come get the body." That was it...nothing leading up to the statement and nothing added after it.

Just...he died. Short and simple.

Hiking With the Boys

I got a call from my friend who sets up a hike every 2 weeks or so. We scheduled it for this morning.

When I got to the meeting place, the normal four including me were present and another, Garn.

Garn is 92 years old...very spry for his age...and alert and quick witted.

But a strenuous hike?

I first met Garn when he was 90. He was signing Frank Sinatra's old standard, "I left my Heart in San Francisco" in a musical event. He still has a good voice although he had no idea where he was in the song and he was driving the band nuts figuring out where he was headed.

Didn't matter. The audience loved him. He is very, very charming with a twinkle in his eyes.

We started the hike on a steep hill. He couldn't keep up but his pace was still pretty good. Better than a coach potato.

A strange thing happened. One or two of us would drift back to keep him company. Then someone else would take over and it kept changing.

All of this happened without any planning or conversation about it. It was a natural progression of movement.

I spent about 45 minutes with him alone. We discussed our backgrounds. He was born in Utah, a Mormon. At 19, he became a pilot in WWII. He never returned to Utah and I have no idea if he is still a Mormon. He is on his 3rd wife. She won't let him drive any more because he totaled the car a few months ago.

He hiked for 2 hours...up steep hills and then down them.

Truly remarkable! His strength at 92. And as amazing, the way the group naturally and organically kept him company.

I was proud to with this group of men today. A great hike in paradise!

Yes, It Did Happen Again

On request, I have included pictures of the now mildly famous gate. The one that keeps falling off.

Yes, it did fall off again yesterday afternoon.

We thought we knew what was causing it to fall but we were WRONG! When Yella came home, it fell off again.

She immediately called our contractor who said he could come up here at 4:30 in the afternoon. The only problem...we would have to go get him and pick up his tools.

Yella got him, they re-set the gate and welded a stop/gate-catcher to the assembly.

NOW, the gate works and--to date--has not fallen again.

As you look at the pictures, the side view shows the drop from the rail that the gate slides on. It is about 4 feet. Enough of a fall to damage the gate.

The gate weighs about 400 pounds. Too much for 2 guys to pick up so the gate has to be pushed, dragged and rolled back into position.

Hopefully, this phase of our lives is over.

You can stop laughing now...

Summer!

The rainy season ended with a bang...3 days and nights of solid rain caused in part by the outer rain bands of tropic storm Tomas which stalled just north of here.

Now the north winds, bajaraque and SSSSSUUUUUUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!

The rainy season didn't bother me...it wasn't too bad. But, I do love the sun!

It's Back...

I hiked the Pipeline Trail up high in Baja Mono. It was gorgeous! Sunny, cool and no wind today.

Yella took the new dog into the vet in David. She doesn't have distemper. She got her shots, re-stitched the opening for the neutering, got medicine that is supposed to stop the head bobbing. And we found out she is about 3 to 4 years old, much younger than she looks.

She has had a hard life. The good news is that she should regain all of her health from being fed and treated well. Great news! This is one sweet, affectionate, mellow dog. Just the opposite of our original dog, Emmy.

Now, if they would just get along.

Yella got her head caught in the electric gate this morning. Thank God the pressure shut off worked. After, of course, giving her a good jolt and a sore neck.

The dogs follow Yella out to the gate when she leaves. This means she has to close the gate while shooing the dogs to stay inside. Emmy got aggressive and made Yella reach back through the gate to push her to stay inside.

Only problem, her head was still inside the gate.

Walla, squished neck.

What more can happen with this damn gate? I am afraid to even think about it.

WTF!!!

Rafael, the fence installer, was here Sunday to put the finishing touches on the fence, including a physical stop for the gate so it can't fall off again.

It fell off just a few moments ago...again...shit!

Even with a physical stop, it fell off. The stop is not big enough to prevent the gate from rolling over it, or derailing or whatever it did to come off again.

This is the way of Panama. Very frustrating at times.

We lugged it back onto the track.

The gate is suffering wear and tear that was never meant to be. The cyclone wire is tearing off the frame, the magnetic signals to stop the gate are damaged and falling out.

I wired the magnet back in place. That is after we found it. The ground is not only weedy and uneven but trenched down to the footings for the fence. I had to get a flashlight to peer down into the small spaces. No magnet.

I mysteriously looked up at the post and there it was. Stuck to the post. Lucky! We could have looked for days.

All is well now. That won't last!

Onto another subject...

Three gringos have died in the last week.

A young man ran off the road and was decapitated. That had to hurt. (That was a rude comment. Sorry.) No alcohol or drugs were involved.

An older man, about 80, died in the hospital with a severe lung infection. He really died of old age and it was expected. Still a loss for his family.

A 48 year old man died of a heart attack while in the hospital. This was complicated by alcoholism so who knows what really happened.

Many gringos dead. There are only about 1000 down here, alive that is.

They say things happen in 3's. We all hope so.

The 2 younger men leave devastated families and my heart goes out to them.

Dogs & Things

We got our new female neutered on Sunday.

That was an all day job which Yella handled. It is a free clinic. They had 4 vets and neutered 100 animals on Sunday. This is an incredible organization. But it takes waiting around all day to get the job done.

There was so much activity on the back street that there was a traffic jam in front of the clinic.

We have discovered that our 2 dogs are essentially incompatible. If any food is around, and I mean ANY, a wild fight occurs. It took 3 of us Saturday to pull them apart.

We are now keeping them separated. What a chore. We have the new dog up for adoption. This could take months. We can't keep these 2 dogs together. Emmy will kill the little one eventually.

Yella discover the stitches for the neutering had pulled out of the dog. No vets were available today because of the holidays.

Our friend who runs the free clinic loaned us lidocaine, a needle and super glue.

Before dinner, we started to replace the stitches. But the needle wasn't sharp enough to administer the anesthetic. So we super glued the incision together.

Hope it holds. This little dog might not make it.

You would think that was enough excitement for the day...BUT NOOOOOO!!!!

We finally had our automatic gate installed. I tested it and it worked while the installer was here.

As Yella and I were pulling out for Spanish lesson, the ENTIRE 22 foot by 7 foot gate fell over with a mighty crash!

It had retracted off the end of the rail and came out of the guides.

It was too heavy for Yella and I to set back up so off we went to Spanish class.

While in class, I figured out how to get it back up. By sliding rather than lifting it, we finally got it back on the track.

Now we have to make sure we don't allow it to fully open. We have to stop it a couple of feet before the end.

It will take a week to get someone back up here to fix it.

The holidays, don't you know.

And, of course, this is the nature of Panama. One step forward and two steps back.

Let the Parties Roll

This is holiday season for Panamanians!

November is their biggest month of holidays, even more than in December.

For reasons to long to include here, they celebrate 3 independence days. (Like our 4th of July) Many nations have had their fingers into Panama. And there is a Labor day thrown in.

Wednesday through Friday, the whole town will be in fiesta with most businesses and all government offices closed. Later in the month there are a couple more days like this.

As gringos say, it is drum season. Endless drumming. Endless parades with drumming. Most streets closed for the drumming parades. Large crowds standing around waiting to drum.

You get the picture...mucho noise.

Late in November, Boquete has a national drum competition, just to cap the month off with The Big Drumming.

Panamanians love this time of year, maybe more than the Christmas-New Years period.

We have a make up Spanish lesson today because we will miss so many classes during the holidays.

I made sure I went to the bank yesterday to get money for the week because there will be no banks open until Saturday, then for only half a day.

The bank was crazy with people in preparation for the holidays. For the first time in Boquete, I used my Jubilado card (Retirement status) to get into the short line so I didn't have to wait for an hour or 2.

Retirees get privileges that include a special line at banks and many other places. I normally don't use it because I am physically able to stand in line and I don't want to be the Ugly American.

But I used the short line yesterday.

Bank lines are extremely long. Much business is conducted at the bank. It is not like the US where we use the mail for most transactions. When I want to pay the electric bill and the internet invoice I have to go to the bank and stand in line.

Businesses sent people to the bank with multiple transactions, requests for cash and other business. This can clog up the line for an hour or 2. Not fun.

Anyway, we are all set for the holidays! Let the party begin!

The Hootenanny

When we got to the venue early to set back up and do a sound check, my worst fears were realized. All the settings and connections tuned in by the professional sound tech on Thursday had been arbitrarily changed by the keyboard player.

Grrr!!!!

Why he did that is a mystery to me. Why use a sound tech if you are going to screw it up yourself?

We tried to put things back together but we never got the good sound like we had the day before during the tech rehearsal.

The best I can say is "the show was a mess but people loved it."

That's about how I thought it would go. Parts of it were really bad and parts of it were actually good. Over all, the audience was thrilled.

I was shocked at how many people I didn't know! Where do these people come from anyway?

It was an old, old crowd. At one point, a friend of ours blurted out, "This looks like a nursing home." I had to agree.

Well, they had a great time at the nursing home!

This show sold out in 2 weeks. Sold out a full 3 weeks before the show. Obviously, there is a huge demand for this type of event. They love music here! And that is a great thing for us.

There were some good parts. I played guitar for many hours a week for weeks. I met Mickey and Squirt, the song writing couple from Nashville and I now know I don't want to do another one of these!

Now that I have my life back, with free time and everything, the Panamanian holiday season goes into full swing.