I haven't posted many pictures of the town I'm staying in, so I thought I'd remedy that with this post. Here are some pics I took last Sunday morning when I walked into town.
This is the road into town from my Mom's house. Many of the indigenous people who live up the mountain walk this road into town everyday (as do many Panamanians and myself). From my Mom's house, it's about a 20-minute walk to downtown.
This is my Mom's dog Daisy (Margarita in Spanish) who loves walking into town.
This is a view from the fairgrounds. Every January, there is a huge coffee and flower festival. Coffee is one of the main exports here.
Here's the Caldera River (which flooded a few weeks ago) and floods at least once a year. The bridge by my Mom's house has been washed away twice so far and the government won't rebuild it, which means we have to go the long way into town.
This is the local chicken shack by day, disco by night. Don't ask.
Local supermarket by my Mom's house. Panamanians love them some chicken.
Another view of the outskirts of downtown.
Hopefully, I've given you a small idea of what life in Boquete is like. More to come!
Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to a little town called Volcan. It's not much of a tourist destination and I wouldn't really recommend going out of your way, but it was a nice trip.
From Boquete, it's about 1.5 hours driving each way (even though it's only 7 km and a popular day hike) but there's no direct road there. However, the drive is beautiful and at times, vertical, since you're going around a volcano (hence the name of the town).
Driving in Panama is crazy because you'll be out in the middle of nowhere and you'll just see an old man walking along the side of the road. I'm talking miles from anywhere.
Or you'll see a teenager sitting on a tree stump along side the road (again out in the middle of nowhere) and he's talking on a cell phone!
At one point we passed a cow that was running down the middle of the road and got caught behind a herd of cattle on the way back.
It's run by an American couple and it's absolutely beautiful (although hard to find--you have to turn left at the big red octoganal restaurant, then bear right and turn onto the gravel road and it will be half a block down on the left).
There isn't a menu because everything's made fresh that day so they use what's in season. I ordered coffee and they brought out a mini-French press accompanied by a mini alarm clock timer so I'd know when to press the coffee down. So cute.
We both ordered vegetable soup and salad. However, when the soup came it tasted like warm honey or caramel--it was that sweet. It was inedible, so I asked the waitress who asked the cook. The cook came out and said it was sweet because of the carrots and that they never put sugar in their soup (it tasted like someone dumped a 5 lb bag of sugar in it).
She must not taste her own food, but we were like whatever, it's fine.
10 minutes later (nothing happens fast in Panama), the waitress comes out with 2 new bowls of squash and pumpkin soup and told us she tried the other soup and didn't like it either, lol.
Overall, a really cute restaurant and I hope they succeed. If they do, it will only be because of the small ex-pat community there, since the vast majority of Panamanians can't afford organic food.
Which is sad, because this area is known as the bread basket of Panama and we could see all the farmers in the fields (they farm about 50 feet up the side of the volcano) and you could smell all the chemicals they use on the produce. The smell literally turns your stomach. It was worse (although not as pungent) as a dairy farm if that helps give you an idea.
Speaking of the ex-pat community, it's not nearly as big as Boquete, and according to my Mom, since there's nothing else to do, there's a lot of infighting and back biting. There's only 1 main street and it's not that exciting.
In fact, one ex-pat got in a huge fight with everyone else, and wrote this scathing 5-part expose on everyone in town and posted it on the Internet. It caused quite the scandal apparently. I searched for it, but couldn't find it.
It really is a beautiful area though and there's even a small town they call "Nueva Suiza" (New Switzerland) which has A-frame houses and thick foliage. It's like you stepped onto the set of Heidi or something.
Since it was raining, this was typical of the shots I got, so I stole one from the Internet to give you an idea how pretty it can be (in the dry season of course).
Let me just say this is my last doom and gloom post (even though it hasn't stopped raining since 10:30 in the morning).
Part of why I've been so cranky is that I was attacked by a rogue band of coffee flies. Apparently, some people have a terrible allergic reaction to them and I was one of the lucky ones.
My feet looked like I had leprosy for almost a week and a bite on my arm turned my left forearm bright red and was hot to the touch (and hard at the bite mark).
Gross I know. That's why I'm sparing you pictures.
I spent the better part of the morning on Tuesday at the doctor's office. However, how they conduct appointments here is entirely different than the States.
Here, they don't really make appointments. Rather, they tell everyone to come at 10 a.m. and they allegedly take you in the order you arrive.
However, the doctor didn't even arrive until almost 10:30. I was about the 4th or 5th patient in line and I swear to God, everyone before me must have had the plague, syphilis, or IBS or something hard to diagnose because they took FOREVER!
Maybe they were all just chatting in there, who knows? It's definitely different than the assembly line mentality in the States. Although, the military's health care I've always thought was great. Much better than civilian.
A $15 doctor's charge and $32 in pills and cream later, I was on my way.
I'm getting better but they still itch like crazy and since it's the rainy season, there are a million more bugs out than normal. Lucky me. This is the worst rainy season they've ever had apparently. Usually, September and October are the worst so I only have more of the same to look forward to.
If there's one lesson to be learned here, it's don't come to Panama from August until December.
On to why I'm wearing Crocs and loving it.
The only pair of sneakers I brought here are suede (which will get ruined in the rain) and my flip-flops get my feet all dirty since it's so muddy here (and I think that's how the bugs were able to feast on the tops of my feet and toes so much).
Plus, it hurt to put too much pressure on the tops of my feet.
I spied Mom's Crocs one night when we were getting ready to go to dinner and waffled. I've always hated Crocs. They're an, no make that THE, abomination in footwear.
I don't care how comfortable people say they are--they're hideous. (They also make a high-heeled version but that's another entry entirely).
Once I slipped them on though, I was hooked. They are perfect for the rain. They dry immediately, they have a decent amount of traction and who cares if they get ruined? Plus, they're loose enough they don't kill my feet.
Yes, they're disgusting and I'm slowly slipping into the senior lifestyle down here, but hey, they're comfy and I'm not looking for a date.
aMy Mom helps take care of a 21-year old handicapped girl down here (she has cerebral palsy and her family won't/can't really help her out).
So yesterday, we picked up the little dog--Estrellita "Little Star" to take her to the low cost spay/neuter clinic run by a local volunteer group.
The clinic started 5 years ago and has fixed about 5,000 dogs. They have 2 vets, a Costa Rican and an American, who volunteer their services. When they first started, it was only foreigners bringing dogs (either stray or their Panamanian friend's dogs) but today it's about half Panamanians bringing in dogs. Which is a nice thing because it shows their attitudes towards pets is changing and they realize it's not so nice having packs of wild dogs running the streets.
My husband grew up in Puerto Rico in the 70's and he's told me some horror stories about all the street dogs and how horrible their life was.
Today, the group did about 70 dogs, including Estrellita.
I know this is going to sound terrible, but I really want to tell the handicapped girl the dog died on the operating table and smuggle the dog back to the States.
Now I know there's a special circle of Hell for people who steal dogs from handicapped people, but this girl has a history of not taking care of animals.
She got a kitten and she almost starved it to death. My Mom had to take it away.
She got a rabbit and let the neighborhood dogs kill it.
She can't look after herself without assistance, so I don't know why she thinks she can look after a dog. My mom figures the dog has only eaten rice it's whole life and it had ticks on it when we picked it up.
If you still want to condemn me, just take a look at her picture.
She's too, too cute!
I know there's no way I can keep her, but I made Mom promise to check up on her every week.
I would hate myself if something happened to this cutie.
After a grueling 24-hours of travel to get to Boquete, Panama I arrived yesterday morning around 6 a.m.
The trip involved a 6 a.m. flight from Detroit (forcing us to get up at 3 a.m. to be there by 4 a.m.), an 8-hour layover in Atlanta, a 30-minute taxi ride from the Panama City airport to the bus terminal; a 2-hour wait until the midnight bus to David (Panama's 3rd biggest city) and then a 6-hour bus ride through the Panamanian countryside and up into the mountains. Crazy! But I made it.
I thought the humidity in Toledo was bad, but in Panama City it's ungodly. You step outside and there is literally sweat dripping off your face within 2 minutes (and down your back which is especially icky).
I thought I could wait in the bus terminal's waiting room, but it was like an Indian sweat lodge in there. Although, I seemed to be the only one bothered as everyone else was taking it in stride. I guess people can get used to anything.
5 minutes later (and 3 pounds of water weight lighter) I had had enough. I remembered I saw a bar in the terminal that had it's doors closed (which meant A/C).
Stumbling over with 3 bags in tow, I was greeted by the 2 bouncers.
Remember, this is a bar in a bus terminal so I don't really see the need for bouncers, but whatever. Apparently, it's quite the destination nightclub in that part of town.
It was pretty crowded in there (also remember this is 11 p.m. on a Wednesday night). The bouncers told me they don't normally allow luggage in the bar, but this time they would make an exception.
Silly me. I hadn't realized I'd stepped into such an exclusive place. I guess it all depends on your perception. But it was nice to finally get cool.
One bus ride later, Mom picked me up and we went out for breakfast and bought some groceries.
Then for the 30-minute ride to Boquete.
I managed to survive 2 airplane flights and a long bus ride, only to almost be smeared on the side of a Panamanian country road by my mother.
Deciding she wanted to pass the truck in front of her, she pulled out into the other lane.
However, she didn't accelerate enough and then tries to downshift into 3rd gear, but missed and almost put it in 1st gear. By this time we have no acceleration and the guy coming at us at 50 mph isn't slowing down.
Seeing my life flash before my eyes, she finally swerved into the ditch, narrowly missing the guy that almost creamed us. And he never slowed down. Nice.
I think I'm going to suggest (read insist) that I should drive from now on.
One thing my mom had neglected to mention is that we're currently in the rainy season. Which means it gets dark at 1 or 2 p.m. and then rains the rest of the day. Not the nicest time to visit.
They had a pretty bad flood here last week because of all the rain. It washed out a couple bridges and ruined quite a few businesses in town.
My mom had 8 inches of mud in her driveway and a couple inches in her house. This is what Boquete looks like when it's back to normal.
I also signed up for 4-hours a day of Spanish lessons, so hopefully I'll finally be able to understand direct objects and indirect objects.
I don't think I even understand those in English...
As you may remember, my "reward" for having to quit my job and move to Toledo, Ohio for 4 years was a 2 month trip to visit my Mom in Panama and brush up on my Spanish.
Well, I leave in 2 days and should I be packing?
Yes.
What am I doing?
Juicing. That's right juicing.
Our "bought on an impulse, used once and threw in the cupboard never to be seen again/housewarming present" from my Dad was a juicer.
Which I love although it is a bitch to clean. I wavered about buying a juicer a.)because they're so expensive and b.) because it takes away all the fiber.
But I rationalized the second point by realizing I wasn't eating enough veggies anyway, so I might as well be getting at least the minerals and vitamins from them if not the fiber.
This is what they want you to think the juice looks like.
It actually looks a lot more like this.
But depending on what you put in it, it really does taste good. I tried raw garlic once and don't think I'll be doing that again.
Fennel is good, as well as apples to sweeten it a bit. A handful of parsley's always nice and celery and carrots are pretty tasty.
I'm also writing little notes to Leo on how to work everything around the house. I once caught him trying to turn on the burner and it wasn't cute.
However, the big news is that I got a job with the federal government!
This is what I've wanted for about 5 years now because I'm oh-so-over having to move to a new city, research employers in that city, put together your resume, apply, interview and get used to a new job again.
As soon as you say you're a military spouse to a civilian employer, it's like you've just said you've got leprosy since they know you'll likely be leaving in a few years.
I just have to pass this massive background check, which I'm sure I will and I'm good to go.
Luckily for me the background check takes a long time, since I really didn't want to cancel this trip. It's been the only thing keeping me sane for the last few months!
Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Panama--hanging with Mom and her crew of senior citizens. Where we'll talk about how cheap everything is, how Panama is like the US was in the 1950's and start Happy Hour everyday at 4 p.m.
(Not kidding about the Happy Hour thing--those oldies can really knock it back).
So we left San Diego on the last Friday in July and began our week-long cross country move. I had wanted to take the more northerly route so I could hit some of the states I haven't been to yet (one of my goals is to see all 50). This route would have taken us through Nevada, Utah (never seen), Colorado (never seen), Kansas (never see), Nebraska (never seen), Illinois, Indiana and on to Ohio.
However, since we were caravaning and Leo had to tow a huge enclosed trailer, we (read he) decided to take a less mountainous route through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and then Ohio.
The only new state I got to see was Missouri and we had a fight right before we got to St. Louis, so we didn't even stop to look around. I did get to see the famous arch though, which was pretty but I wouldn't go out of my way (although it really was huge). Apparently you can go all the way to the top but if you suffer from a fear of heights like me, this is something you definitely won't want to do.
I did get to see a few interesting things though. Like Cadillac Ranch, a public art installation/roadside attraction in Amarillo, Texas.
Amarillo also boasts the largest cross in the western hemisphere. I don't know if this is true, but all the signs along the highway claim it's the largest.
I also learned that the panhandle of Texas is apparently the only place where 90's Swedish rockers Ace of Bass are still popular since they played their two Top-10 Hits ad nauseum on every radio station.
I also found out that Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" is way more popular than I ever realized. I heard it about 10 times through 6 different states. Interesting.
I learned that Gallup, New Mexico was about the most depressing town I've ever seen. Everyone there looked super glum. Places like that you can see how people become meth heads. I don't think there's anything else to do.
A couple "historic" things happened in the states we were in. We were in Arizona when the controversial new immigration law "took effect". I'm still confused on the status of this thing. I know some parts of it were overturned by a federal judge. We were also in Arizona when 3 inmates escaped from prison. To date, one of them is still on the loose (with his fiance and cousin who helped them escape--gotta love that incest).
We were in Missouri when voters there (symbolically) voted to reject the Obama health care law.
Then, we make it to Michigan (we stayed with my parents for 2 nights since our furniture hadn't arrived) and there's a serial stabber on the loose.
Apparently, he had stabbed 15 people and 4 of them died. His MO was that he would go up to men late at night, on the street, ask them for directions or help with his car and then just stab them repeatedly. Weird.
They actually just caught this guy yesterday in Atlanta (he was boarding a plane for Israel, where he's from) and they're extraditing him back to Michigan.
Now, we're just setting up the house and enduring a Great Lakes region summer full of humidity and little breeze. Ugh. I had forgotten about the humidity here.
I haven't posted many pictures of the town I'm staying in, so I thought I'd remedy that with this post. Here are some pics I took last Sunday morning when I walked into town.
ns love them some chicken.
Posts
