Bairnhess Panama Adventures: We are not alone

Pedasi Semana Cuatro.

I can't believe we have been here a month. The good news is we are settled and have found where we like to shop (El Rey), get our laundry done (Lavanderia), our favorite beach (Destiladeros), made a few friends (Karen, Lolita & Robert), are able to drive into Las Tables and Chitre without getting lost (an enormous feat in a country with no maps or street signs) and even recharged the WiFi connection (everything is pay as you go here). The not so good news is that our espanol is coming along much slower than we hoped. It seems like every time we figure out how to say one thing we need to say, there is something else we can't figure out and then we can't remember what we just learned. We are getting better at conversing with the local shop keepers, but we are always amazed when they stare at us with that deer in the headlights look when we thought we were speaking perfect Spanish.

Favorite new friend Karen

A nice lady washes, dries and folds for $8 per basket - drop off, pick up a couple of hours later!

Favorite new drink - not really sure what it is but it tastes like vodka and is cheaper

There were hundreds of crabs one day at our favorite beach. Look closely and you will see them on top of the rock

Our new favorite art - we call it crab art and yes it is crabs making the design as they run through the sand around their central hole/home

Our favorite new butthole - we don't have to feed it or clean up after it. It is the same frog from an earlier blog but he has changed sides of the porch and is now standing up on his hind legs. He stays like that all day!

I don't think I have mentioned that it is an election year here in Panama. There are three candidates running for the office of El Presidente and the campaigning has been amazing. Hoards of people walking up and down the streets all dressed alike, carrying flags and banners. Cars and trucks painted with the faces of the candidates blasting music and propaganda. They have a law here that all campaigning must stop one week before the election so there were big finale parties on Saturday night. The election is next Sunday. Everyone is saying it is a very close race so it will be interesting to see.

Different colors represent different candidates

Entrance to Pedasi

Every tree, pole and building is covered in political signs.

There is large fresh vegetable truck that comes to Pedasi once a week. We missed it the first few weeks we were here, but were finally able to get to it this week. What fun! We were officially introduced to Gererado by Ingrid, the woman that owns our Spanish school, and then we jumped up into the back and started pointing and ordering. We purchased fresh spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, garlic, avocados, lettuce, mangoes, papaya, peppers, beets, carrots, and our new favorite root vegetable yucca (pronounced you-ka) all for $14. Yucca looks like a 2 foot long tree branch that you peel, cut up and cook pretty much like potatoes. We have had it boiled, fried and mashed - all delicious. We will definitely be hitting this truck every week. We are working on knowing the names of the vegetables for next week.

Yucca. Not as easy to peel as you might think. It is just like peeling bark off a branch. The knife gets sharpened before we begin! If it's fresh the inside is softer than the outside but not as soft as a potato.

Peg turned some of those fresh veggies into delicious salsa! Thank goodness she brought her knives and chopper. She makes my batch without cilantro but loads hers up with the nasty stuff.

The animals are all doing great and are very comfortable here, a little hot maybe, but happy. The dogs have actually adjusted to the noise of the neighborhood pretty well. And it is noisy! Unfortunately, we did have a couple of incidents with the cats. They both love to be outside and only venture out on the front porch and into our fenced backyard which is great because there are a lot of dogs that roam freely in the streets. Well one evening just after dark, we hear loud cat fighting on the back porch and run out as Miciou quickly runs in with fur flying. It took her two days before she would come out and relax and thankfully she was not injured, but we decided to be more careful after dark. Well, wouldn't you know that a few days later we were eating dinner as it got dark so the house was still open and we hear fighting on the front porch then Midnight comes running in. She has a whole different attitude about this. She just sits on our bed growling and hissing! She is pissed! Again no permanent damage, but we close up the house as soon as it is dark so they can't get out to be attacked. The problem is this is the coolest part of the day, but we don't know how else to keep the other cats out of our yard.

Caclite's favorite time of day - she has become quite the body surfer.

Miciou just minding her own business on the porch.

Karen introduced us to another couple that have been here a bit longer than us and are already in the process of building a house here. We went to their house for happy hour on Friday night and had a great time. Robert and Lolita Stricker lived in Houston eons ago and have since lived in Dubai and Abu Dabi. They were a wealth of information and we look forward to seeing their new home and taking copious notes about the do's and don'ts of building in Panama.

We have been talking with Mike our new builder and had a meeting for Saturday to review our design ideas. Karen made the trip with us as she had never been to the other side of the peninsula. It was a great day and boy is she great to take along. She brought a cooler filled with drinks and snacks and seemed to have everything we could possibly need for a day trip. Mike has some great ideas and we have decided to move forward and use him as our builder. Let the decisions begin!

Peg hiking our property

Discussing ideas with Mike.

Things you never see in the states......

Herding cows along the road.

These little piglets were just wandering on the side of the road. Peg tried to get out to converse and maybe grab a pet but they ran from her instantly as she called "come here piggy, piggy"