Normal

First day of normal in what seems like a month.

All our guests are gone. Sad! It was so much fun to hang out with one of our best friends.

We took him to the bus depot last night. I haven't heard from him so I am assuming he is well on his way home.

Great visit!

And I have to love normal.

Got up this morning, met a couple of my friends for breakfast at the usual place. Then I went to rehearse music. Then lunch, practice more music, off to the chiropractor and home for a nap.

Ahhhh....I love a nap.

Now, after dinner, we will watch a movie.

Normal...got to love it.

Last night we went to the last open mic at Tammy's Restaurant. They sold the place. This makes me mad and sad. We have grown fond of Henry and Tammy and we love their restaurant. They will be missed.

This is a place of constant change. I think it is the hardest part of living here.

We played a couple of songs last night. A bass player and drummer helped us out. I think it sounded pretty good. But, who knows? In a bar, with people talking and kids running around, it is hard to tell.

Tomorrow we play at The Oasis Restaurant and Hotel. It should be a more attentive crowd. But, who knows?

I will be playing over a set with Yella and Rich. I hope I do better than my first time a couple of weeks ago!

I have set up guitar lessons to start next week with a wonderful musician. I am really enjoying learning the guitar. Slow going but satisfying. These lessons should supercharge my progress.

Retirement is now focused on music. I am surprised. I didn't really think it would go this way.

And I am liking it!

Whirlwind of Activity

For the last 2 years, we have had few guests.

This year the dam is breaking and people are visiting. 2 visits with our son already this year. Now one of our best friends is here. More coming in June and July, and I wouldn't be surprised if our son doesn't make it back again this year.

Wow! So many friends! It is always a pleasure to show people our new home.

With guests comes activity. This is a good thing! And, when the visit is over, I can appreciate my new retirement once again at a greater level.

Yesterday we went to the beach. I love this part of showing Panama to friends! The beaches are miles and miles long, very wide and ALMOST no one is around. All this empty beach all to ourselves!

Today, I am finishing up some business in David and we will purchase a bus ticket for our friend's return to Panama City.

There is a never ending stream of "stuff" to do here associated with simply living here. The paperwork mill moves on and on and on...

We often wonder how someone could live here with a full time job. All the extra errands and tasks that come with living in a 3rd World nation take up plenty of time. And we have friends that are still working and making it all happen.

Amazing!

Yesterday we had torrential rains...the first of the season. This morning, we awoke to fog and a blanket of thick dew on everything.

Beautiful...quiet...birds singing...still...calm...

Now, time to get the day started.

Fresh Tuna!

Nothing gets my blood going like fresh Yellow Fin Tuna.

We were out with our visiting friend, seeing the sights and we pass a pickup truck with coolers in the back...a sure sign they are selling fish. So I slide to a stop, jump out and, low and behold, they are selling tuna!

For as much tuna as they catch off the south shore of Panama, you would think it is easy to find and buy.

But nooooo...

I bought 3 pounds. After a little bit of trimming, I have 5 large (10 oz) servings of tuna. Can't wait!

Next topic...

I spent a couple of days in Panama City, always a treat.

I picked up one of our best friends from the airport Tuesday night. And in the fashion of Panama, I found him while I was wandering around trying to figure out if his flight had landed. Panama works out when you least expect it.

I looked up and there he was. Doesn't get much easier than that!

I love to host people who have traveled extensively in 3rd World countries. They immediately get the whole place.

Others tend to look down their nose at the place. After all, it isn't clean, there is mold everywhere and many buildings are not finished and never will be. They look at us like we have a third eye or something for living in "That-God-Foresaken-Place".

Our friend was thrilled to be here from the first moment he left the airport.

Now that is a guest!

We are going to Tammy's tonight for open mic. Play a little music, visit with some friends, relax and eat fantastic food...oh, and visit a best friend.

Life is good! Doesn't get much better than this.

Panama City

We drove to Panama City from Boquete after a late start.

We had to run to David for a couple of errands, then Los Anastasios, then Dolega and back to Boquete before we got on the road.

I don't recommend that. It is a 7 hour trip to Panama City with a stop for a quick lunch, on top of the 3 hours we spent driving around Boquete.

I was traveling with a friend who smokes and likes the windows down. So the trip was WINDY! I forgot how hard the constant wind is on me. I prefer the peace and quiet with the windows up, not to mention the cool air.

I do love Panama City. Vibrant, bustling, traffic & traffic & more traffic. Fortunately, it is a vacation week with Eastern at the end of the week. Traffic was actually light...still hectic for sure but not as bad as it can get.

We checked into a hotel that I haven't used before. Very nice and only $3 a night more than the hotel I normally use.

A word about hotels in Panama...

The rooms are huge, but there is almost no furniture in them. Strangely disorienting! At least this one has reading lights, normally absent from rooms here.

Also, when we called for a reservation, they had no rooms. On further prodding, they had 2 rooms. They knew we were jubilados, getting the 50% discount, so they don't want to rent too many of the cheap rate rooms. This is confusing and needs some getting used to.

We ate breakfast on a 2nd floor balcony over looking the street. It is cool and beautiful in the early morning...soon to heat up to oven temperatures!

As we sat and ate, a variety of people sat and talked. I like the travel culture. People reach out and connect because they are either alone or anxious for information.

I met a guy who at the age of 65 got a masters in International Business. He now travels the world selling fork lifts. Go figure! He loves it. He did mention that you can't do what he does and be married.

In a few moments, we start on a hectic day of stuff around my friends car selling business. And a side trip to buy guitar strings which are not available in Boquete and David.

Tonight we pick up one of my best friends from the airport, spend the night and head back to Boquete.

I hope he doesn't mind wind...after all, the windows will be open ALL THE WAY BACK!

All Thumbs

I played a couple of songs with Yella and Rich last night at their gig at Las Ruinas.

This is The-Real-Deal, meaning playing with a rock and roll band...not the theatrical productions I have played with over the last 2 years.

One big difference, it was loud, loud, loud. I am not comfortable playing at that level. Any mistake is amplified to earsplitting volume and projected out into the room. And plenty of alcohol is required to tolerate this much noise.

Not an option for me.

We had sound check before people showed up, and all the sound was balanced and under control. I was suffering from the illusion that our volume would be the same during the performance.

I must be getting old. I have little tolerance for high volume bands now. I want the sound to fill the room, not part everyone's hair.

So when it came time for me to play, not much was heard by the audience because the volume had come up considerably. Probably a good thing. I was all thumbs and gave a marginal performance at best.

Before we started, I was talking to a guitarist with a group who put out a rock opera last year. Their album has been reviewed favorably by many including "Vanity Fair". They were doing the middle set last night. Very accomplished musicians and amazing music.

We talked the usual "I'm a guitarist" stuff. He kept telling me how well I play. This makes me nervous because, in truth, I am not that good. Most people think I have false modesty about my guitar playing.

Not so. I am barely capable of playing on stage. And some nights, I am all thumbs.

Which I was last night. It was a good thing that my volume was low.

After I played, he told me, "Keep on playing, don't quit." That is code for, "You have a long way to go...don't let your marginal performance stop you from playing." That is why I get nervous when people compliment me before they hear me play live in front of an audience.

It all left me feeling uncertain about continuing to play with a band.

Even though I practice daily and put in mucho time, it takes me several weeks to learn a song. If I have to learn a lead, it takes several months.

So improvement is tedious. Then I get on stage and most of what I know disappears during the live performance.

Damn!

I am left feeling somewhat hopeless. My re-entry to playing rock and roll was less than satisfying.

I was disappointed.

Big Scare & More

Driving to David at 6 am is not for the faint of heart.

It is dawn, very dark dawn, at this time of day.

Panamanians have a weird, dangerous habit of using only their parking lights at dawn and dusk. I was told that they think they use less fuel with parking lights rather than headlights. Go figure.

I was pulling out to pass a bus when I saw a car up ahead in the on coming traffic lane. I thought it was going in my direction because the light was terrible and the parking lights were dim and weird.

It was actually headed toward me in the on coming traffic lane.

If Daniel and Yella hadn't yelled at me, I would have hit the guy head on going 50 miles an hour.

That rattled me up!

How could I be looking right at something and not see it?

Ya, the dawn light was low, the parking lights were weird but these conditions exist a lot.

It scared me pretty bad.

On to another topic...

Our casita (about 150 feet from our house) has been essentially empty for 2 years. I don't pay any attention to it. I don't even see it, much less think about it.

When Dan was staying in it, the place was alive!

All sorts of people coming and going. Dan was in and out a lot. I ran down to see him several times a day. My attention was on the casita a lot.

Now, as I walk by on my way to my parked car, I miss the aliveness of the casita. It is back to an empty place again.

I do miss Dan...our homestead was alive for a few days.

Finally...Video of Our Antics

With much trepidation, I am posting this link with Yella and I performing.

This is a low quality, marginal performance at an open mic night in a local restaurant. We performed the song for the first time in a year, with no rehearsal, sound check or familiarity with the sound system or stage. And a bass player was sitting it for the first time too.

I am posting it only because so many have hounded me about getting ANYTHING on video with us performing.

So here you go...

Oh...why do I look so serious in the video? I was busy, OK. Or rather, that's what someone scared shitless looks like!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnGODbnl_-g&feature=player_embedded

Pandemonium in the Casita

It all started at breakfast at Olga's...

Yella, Dan and I were eating with Keith The Car Guy when Magda walked in with her partner. Magda was getting tattoos this morning. Her partner was definitely not getting a tattoo.

It looked like a light day for Dan with only 2 small tattoos.

Then in walks a family with adult children. A family of architects and builders...neat people. The daughter wanted to come watch Dan tattoo Magda and the party was on. She is familiar with tattoos in that she has a full sleeve on one arm.

We get to the casita and Dan starts to set up. Before he really gets going, another lady shows up...someone we have never met before who is new to town. She wants to hang out and meet people. How she tracked us down in the boondocks I will never know.

Pretty soon the lady-with-the-sleeve's brothers and husband show up.

I'm up at the house trying to practice my guitar, the electric one with full distortion turned on loud, and they are drowning me out from 200 feet away!

I give up what I'm doing and go join them. Only the place is so full I have to yack at them through the open window.

What started out as two tattoos for Magda turns into 4 tattoos for 3 ladies! Magda's partner got one too, even though she thought she would never get one!

Big day for Dan!

The talk, laughter, camaraderie and raucous energy was so much fun to be around.

Got to meet a new person, got to know others better and Dan got some good money and recognition for his tattoos.

The family of builders and architects will talk him up in the community because they know about tattoos and recognized how good he is.

One of the brothers will be starting a full back piece so Dan will have work on the guy's back for several visits in the future, insuring that Dan will come back a couple of times a year.

Yay!!

Such a great day! And we haven't made it to the evening yet.

(I including a hummingbird tattoo that Dan did on a lady earlier in the week.)