The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Pedasi, June 17, 2014

As we are nearing the end of our first three months of actually living the dream here in Panama I thought I would take time to move away from all of the glorious things we have found here (beautiful beaches, 50 cent beers, friendly people etc.) and talk about a few of the things that we never thought we would do in our lifetimes.

Chasing chickens through our house.  I so wish I could get a picture of this.  As we have mentioned before, our next door neighbor has a veritable farm including chickens.  When we first moved in the babies would come under the fence, so we blocked them with the dog crates much to Zoe's chagrin and haven't had more than the occasional mother hen in the yard since.  Well during the last week the adolescent chickens have started wandering into the yard.  The first one was caught in the jaws of the Labrador before we could stop her and subsequently devoured by the Beagle who now has acquired the taste for freshly killed chicken.  She paces the perimeter like a Sargent at arms waiting for her next victim.  Unfortunately they oblige her several times a day.  We hear the squaking and run out to capture her and then we have to catch the chicken and put it back over the fence.  Yesterday she chased one right into the house and it jumped onto the shelf and hid behind the pans.  They do not appreciate the rescue as much as I think they should.  Who knew they we so soft!

Perimeter secure.... for now.

Really!  Fresh from the grocery store with its head still attached.  Oh my.

Killing insects on a daily basis.  OK OK I know we moved to the rain forest, but the hundreds of different species of insects we have seen, relocated and killed since we have been here is unbelievable.  They seem to come in shifts.  There were the giant June bugs, the tiny bees, the colorful crickets, the scary waspish guys, cockroaches that need a saddle, flies and maggots by the pound, mosquitoes, ants in all sizes - tiny, small, medium, large and OMG, moths, noseeums, barelyseeums, and the don'twannaseeums.  I have never seen so many different kinds of bugs in my life.  Our gardener and now friend Einar was enjoying a few cervesas with us after his weed-eating the other night and Peg shows him a nest of itty bitty bees in our backyard.  He quickly before we could stop him, takes a plastic bag wraps it around the nest and ties it off. Then he makes the universal sign for choking complete with sound effects.  It turns out they don't die as quickly as we hoped.  We erroneously put the bag in our kitchen trash can and when we opened it a couple of hours later we had bees frantically flying around the house!  I won't even mention the gecko droppings!

Sticky plate for catching flies after one day.

Not a great picture, but those red things are crickets.

Having to sweep the beds and walls.  Not only do we have to sweep the floors every day at least once, but we have to sweep the walls, window sills and occasionally the bed!  When I did a thorough clean on Sunday I was amazed by the life forms we had unknowingly been supporting.

Utilities are optional.  Much of the electricity here in Panama is hydroelectric and since the rainy season came late and slow this year the entire country is required to have rolling black-outs that last anywhere from an hour to eight hours.  And when the electricity is out, so is the water and the igniters on the stove.  We live in front of portable fans so this can be torturous when there is no breeze.  Our solution is a trip to the beach... not too shabby!

No power, no water, no problem!

Guess which can the TP goes in?

Driving is a blood-sport.  I am sure we have mentioned before that the driving "style" here in Panama is very Central American - not a surprise I guess.  There are no rules to follow except this... you can stop your car anywhere, anytime and put your flashers on.  The rest of the drivers will simply go into oncoming traffic to go around without hesitation.  Stop signs are optional.  Speed limits aren't really necessary since the Panamanians are rarely in a hurry which means that the few that are will be recklessly passing the others. And when driving down a two-lane road the proper placement of your vehicle is right down the middle!

We followed these piggies to the slaughterhouse!

They call it the rainy season for a reason.  It doesn't rain all of the time, but when it does... carry a change of clothes.  When I moved to Texas I couldn't believe how hard it could rain, well this is one thing that is not bigger in Texas.  There is so much water flowing through the streets that a car size pothole can literally develop overnight.  It is filled with brown water so you really never know how deep it is.  Also since it rains every day at some point, it makes it really hard to do laundry.  We washed our beach stuff out and hung it on the line where it remained soaking wet for a solid week.  The locals seem to know when it is going to rain ahead of time, but they don't share that information with us.

That rug has been wet for three days.

Fruit and vegetables are scarce but delicious.  There are few vegetables that you can get every day, but what you do get is amazingly fresh.  It is a whole new experience planning meals.  We have found that it is just better to hit the Chino every day to see what they have and then plan from there.  We do get deliciously fresh avocados, mangoes, star fruit etc. from our neighbors and Peg makes the best salsa ever with the fresh tomatoes, peppers and jalepiños.

Platanos - twice fried plantains - Delicious!  We may never eat french fries again.

Fresh tomatoes and avocados YUMMY

Need I say more?

We have really enjoyed our time here in Pedasi.  We will miss our new friends, our fabulous Spanish teacher, and the beautiful quiet beaches.  Our little house has taught us some invaluable lessons for our new home. Screens on every window, back up generator and water supply a must, air conditioning in every room necessary, concrete floors are amazing, outdoor shower and sink very useful, closets and cupboards are missed, ice maker not a luxury, and roosters are not your friend.

Our friend Karen's homemade bread will be missed!

Dania - the best Spanish teacher in the world!