Whirlwind in Town

Dan's here!

When Daniel visited in late December, people found out about his tattooing. And he got many requests for his work.

So he said he would return with his gear and do a few tats.

And now he's back.

Yella lined up appointments for the last 3 weeks...a considerable effort...and filled up his schedule. That in itself was amazing!

Mucho work!

First she contacted those who said they wanted a tattoo. Then, she tracked them down to get their deposit. (Much running around in the car) That separated the wheat from the chaff. It always amazes me who is full of shit and who's not.

Money is a great way to see who's serious.

Then she got their requests for artwork and emailed it to Daniel...and back and forth that went. No small feat.

Round one of "Getting The Supplies" was accomplished last week.

Daniel arrived last night at 5 PM in David and started working this morning with his first appointment at 11 AM. Not much down time for him. And considerable set up involved too.

As you can imagine, after he started working, there were a few glitches.

Now enter dad...ya, that's me.

I was going to David anyway, so I was the runner to get all the additional stuff. A new desk chair that actually rolls, more lights, more paper towels, etc.

I stopped at 4 places trying to get all the stuff and still didn't get that One-Last-Thing. You know, the one that makes you feel like you got the job done.

But NOOOOOO, I couldn't find it.

A lot of activity. That's what kids are all about, right? Or am I getting old?

Dan did some amazing work today! A beautiful hummingbird on a lady's shoulder and more.

As I pulled up to the house and casita late this afternoon, the place was buzzing.

Feels vibrant around the ole homestead. It's great to have Dan here!

Trying To Make Money In Paradise

The gravy train is coming to an end. Money is getting a little tight. Nothing disastrous, but tight.

Making money in a 3rd World nation is tricky.

You see, a WELL paid Panamanian makes about $800 a month. A regular worker type person makes about $400. Professionals make about $1200.

By US standards, this wage range is a drop in the bucket. But that is the economics of Panama.

So you can see that making money is challenging.

The things that sell best to gringos, who have the most money, are personal services...hair care, massage, chiropractic, help buying cars, etc.

All these services bring about half the amount as in the US. Which is good here! A massage is $30, chiropractic treatment $20-30, haircut $10-$15 (Note: a haircut by a Panamanian is $2.50-$5). All great prices in this economy.

Yella is having better luck making money than I am.

She is plugged into personal services better than I.

She is teaching voice lessons. And she is doing personal and spiritual counseling. Plus, she is putting on an event with a girlfriend who is experienced in putting on events.

All this may amount to several hundred dollar a month. Nothing to be laughed at here.

Through Yella, we are doing some couples counseling. I have never done this but we are both well trained in some counseling disciplines. And, our first session with a couple went really well.

Maybe we will hang out a shingle...Werder & Werder.

What do you think? Catchy, huh?

Mean while back at the ranch, I am still looking for something to do that makes money.

Still looking...

Still looking...

Still looking...

P. S. We cancelled the concert planned for May or June because the guy we were trying to get to be the music director can't do it. Without him, the quality would be marginal and we are tired of low quality shows...so we cancelled the show...we'll try at a later date...maybe.

The Bloom is Off the Rose

Been a while since I blogged...

Not much is making me scurry off to the computer to blog on yet another quirk about Panama.

And I noticed this.

Actually, I was feeling guilty for not blogging. I have been dedicated to informing and entertaining you about this strange land for over 2 years but not much is coming up anymore.

I want to have something to say. I love writing a blog about this Adventure in Panama.

So I took a look at what is up. And discovered...

I have truly arrived in Panama.

Yes, I do notice all the quirks and idiosyncrasies of life here. But they are fleeting thoughts that don't "stick" in my mind. So when I think about writing a blog, not much comes up.

I love this crazy place! I love (and hate) the weather. I love the local people. I love the gringos, well most of them anyway. I love the strangeness of the vegetation...the jungle, don't you know. I love discovering all the things that can not be known living in the US...they are transparent to us when living in the US.

There is a new normal now.

For example, we had a Boys-Day-Out yesterday. Three of us loaded into a car and went on a trip to the BIG city of David (125,000 population). We wandered around 6 stores, picking up all the stuff that can't be found in Boquete. This took about 3 hours...hey, it takes time to find stuff here, damn it!

We ate lunch. We laughed, we howled, we had a great time! I love these guys!

But this is now a normal activity. We do it every month or so.

My new normal is Panama.

I guess I have arrived...finally!

Waiting for the Tsunami

When we were at the beach hanging round the pool, Yella talked to a little neighborhood girl who said, "at 2, my mommy is taking us to David so we don't get hurt by the tsunami."

Tsunami? What tsunami?

This was last Saturday. We did have some information about the earth quake in Japan but give me a break, we were at the beach! We were not up on all the latest stuff.

Into the condo we go, turn on the TV to CNN and, God forbid, Fox (the only major network that we got at the beach), and we start watching the news.

Yep, they were forecasting a tsunami for Panama starting at 5 PM in the west at our beach and 7 pm in Panama City.

We watched the news for a couple of hours. Every indication was that we would get hit with about a 3 foot wave, enough to raise havoc with our beach.

We discussed it at length, thinking that the wave simply couldn't be very big here. We were all the way across the Pacific from Japan and the point of land between Costa Rica and Panama which juts40 miles out into the Pacific should shield us from the wave.

Round and round we go...should we leave...should we stay.

The news said that people in low areas should evacuate. Someone said, "is the beach a low area or what?" Duh!!!

At 5 minutes before the wave was to hit, we scurried out to our car and drove inland, returning in 20 minutes.

No wave. We were right.

But should we really have been debating whether to risk it? When it was so easy to get in the car and drive a few miles inland.

Such is human nature.

I'm glad we finally took some precautions. After all, by the time we actually saw the tsunami wave, it would have been too late to do anything about it...except kiss your ass goodbye.

The Mysterious Ways of Panama

We were loading up for our beach trip last week.

We went to Las Olas which is the closest beach to Boquete, only an hour and fifteen minutes away. We stayed at a 3 bedroom, upscale condo on the beach. One of our friends rents our her condo for cheap.

We are grateful!

During a grocery store stop in David, I was searching for Soy Milk. I don't normally drink the stuff but I was going to eat cereal for breakfast, another thing I don't eat often.

When I found the Soy Milk, it was ALL chocolate...5 brands of chocolate. Why?

I don't know. The last time I check on Soy Milk, it was all regular stuff.

Ah, the ways of Panama.

We proceeded on to the fish market and got fresh, fresh, fresh Corvina (Sea Bass). They filleted them while we watched.

I love the David fish markets!

The beach was great, as always.

Five college students were at Las Olas on Spring Break enjoying surfing. They were good...the waves were perfect, about 6 feet.

Two days of hot beach then returning to cool Boquete.

Got to love the various climates within an hour of here.

Trouble in Boquete

I guess we have been here long enough to experience this.

Some of our good friends sold their house and are returning to the US to live in Florida. (Their house sold in one hour!)

What??!!

We had no idea they were unhappy. They had a big Christmas Eve Party and things seemed great.

I have another friend, a single guy, who is considering returning to the US as well. Why? He has a rental property in Florida that has become vacant so he may have to return to live in the house for economic reasons.

I have another friend, who is trying to build a house, who decided he and his wife would only be visiting Panama for 2 months each year...rather than live here full time.

There is another acquaintance who moved here with her boy friend last June, got married a few months ago, lives in Disney Land (Valle Escondido) and they are returning to Texas in June. (Returning to the US is one thing, but going back to Texas is just wrong!)

I guess this is a continuation of my previous blog about what it takes to live here.

Two of the above examples are folks that were fairly well adjusted and still decided to return to the US. And two of the examples are people who never could adjust to a new country so they are returning.

On the other hand, every day I meet someone who just moved to Boquete in the last few months. People keep coming to Panama.

And they keep leaving too.

Makes me feel a little blue.

I was eating at Olga's yesterday morning and bumped into a good friend. He has been here for about 8 months, loves Panama as his wife does.

But...he told me he is soooooo bored and has nothing to do.

I do understand this. I struggle with it also.

Some of the adjustment for us in Boquete has nothing to do with Panama but rather retirement.

I have another good friend who owns a house here, has visited for a few months each year for 5 years, and moved here permanently in October. He has solved the retirement issue by NOT retiring but continuing to work from Panama.

He files back to the States twice a month and continues doing his thing. He told me he loves working and has no intention of quitting.

Hhhhmmmm????

This is an interesting place! And a confronting place. And a place of unlimited self awareness, cultural awareness, social awareness and more.

Unfortunately, what is good for the soul may not be good for comfort.

Enough of this reflective shit. We're going to the beach for 3 days.

Yipee!!!

We'll wave good bye as we head out.

Woes of the Expat

Several things have happened over the last couple of weeks that point to the difficulties of settling in a 3rd World Country.

A lady, with her head screwed on right, relocated to Boquete 3 weeks ago. This is a smart, level headed person, no flake here.

She is complaining about her inability to get what she wants. She knows she can't have what she wants, but it doesn't matter...she wants it.

What is it? The perfect brand of toilet paper. None to be found in this fine land.

She knows it is ridiculous. She knows it is a trivial little thing. But it looms huge in her life.

She is the type of person who will probably make the transition.

After she tames the Spoiled American Brat in herself.

And gets used to using sandpaper in the bathroom. (OK, it's not that bad.)

On a more significant note, a friend of my got into a tiff with his previous buddy. His buddy bought an old Toyota Land Cruiser and had my friend restore it for him over the 9 months the guy was back in the States.

During his 9 month absence, the buddy sent increasingly nasty emails demanding that the restoration process be accelerated.

When he got here, it wasn't done so got into a down-and-dirty disagreement with my friend. He ended up hiring a lawyer and threatened ligation against my friend.

The American way, right?

Bad idea!!! You will see why in a moment.

There were problems with title. As there always are...it takes time and patience to deal with this stuff.

If the buddy would have settled down, taken a couple of deep breaths and relaxed, it would all be done now.

But noooooo!!!

His lawyer ended up screwing him out of $1000 by presenting a false invoice for services that the lawyer never performed. The lawyer split the $1000 with another car dealer who was in on the deal.

And the title is still not complete.

This is the Land of Corruption. At least in certain areas. You have to be careful how you use lawyers. If they smell too much money on the table, they will go after it.

So the buddy is out a great friend, $1000, has no title to his car and now hates Panama and will never return.

What a waist!

The big lesson is that you Can't Bring Gringo Ways down to 3rd World Countries.

It will kick your ass!

This is the main barrier to relocating in Panama. About half of the people who come here, leave in one or two years.

Too bad. This is an incredible place. If you can adjust.

I was reminded of how far Yella and I have come by an innocent little remark that Yella made the other day.

She said, "The shower had trouble with hot water today, it was hot then cold, on and off." No anger, resentment or angst.

What a difference! Two years ago, this would have been a huge upset. For her and me. We must have hot water, in huge quantities, all the time!

We have faced dozens and dozens of little, and some big things, we have had to give up or found alternative replacements.

We don't even miss this stuff now.

What a blessing!

It is good for the soul to NOT get what you want all the time.

Planning a Concert

We are both tying up loose ends from the Jazz Festival and initiating the planning process to do a concert in late May or June.

After the disastrous Valentines Day Show, we feel that we have to put up or shut up or we can't criticize anymore.

So a concert is born.

This one will be Yella and Friends.

We have waited 2 & 1/2 years to do this. People have been bugging Yella to do a concert for over 2 years.

I guess now is the time.

We are talking to Paul to be the music director. I have mentioned Paul in the past as the best musician in Chirqui. If he decides to do it, this will be a huge leap forward to a high quality show.

Our friend Keith has offered to be the producer. A generous offer because this is a big, busy job.

With this kind of momentum, the project will probably be a "GO".

We will have to weave the rehearsals into the time left over from all our visiting friends.

We had only a few visitors in the first 2 years. Now the flood gates are open and so many friends are coming!

I can't wait to show them Panama!

One of the privileges of living here, is showing our friends the place.

Out of all the brilliance of the jazz and the pressure to put on a high quality show, I have started practicing guitar again.

I am back to the basics...scales, scales and more scales. Plus a little fun stuff...learning songs.

All in all, it is gratifying to learn and improve skills.

I better get to practicing.