TheExpatJournals.com

It started at 7:15AM and just never stopped all day. A crew of five clearing stuff out of the apartment above me…bang, bang, banging and every move accompanied by yelling and yelling that echoed through the stairwells and courtyard bouncing into the apartment as though it were happening in here, not up there. I wanted to scream at the constant noise level. So I did. Just screamed and cursed in English for awhile. No louder than anybody else around here. I finally realized I could never work in this and went to a movie. The cab driver picked someone else up on the way and then basically yelled at him the whole way over. When I sat in the theater, they talked all around me in spite of the ‘looks.’
So noise is obviously an issue in the city. Everywhere. When I was first visiting Panama, I was coming from New York City. And I wrote then that it made New York seem like a silent movie. It’s 11:30 at night. Kids are loud below my window. Same house that has the dog that barks incessantly. And as much as I love dogs, I’d like to kill this one. The neighbor to my right has a dog who rarely barks because she’s well behaved. She’s well behaved because she has an owner who takes responsibility. My downstairs neighbor has 2 kids and while occasionally, I hear the 6 year old being loud, it’s never at this hour of the night.

Sorry to dump my frustration with this day, but it does sum up this neighborhood quite well. Anyone making noise in the street right now is one of the ’squatter’ neighbors who are very poor. All those neighbors living in renovated apartments are quiet. And everyone I know who has moved out of this neighborhood has done so because they could no longer take the noise. And today sure felt like a form of torture to me. My living room is now filled with the sound of the Counting Crows as though I had just CRANKED my stereo. At least I like the song. Are there other places on earth where it is apparently not even rude to pollute other’s homes with this much noise?

I really want to learn how to scream Shut the Fuck Up in Spanish. So far, I’ve been polite. And they’ll usually comply in the moment. But culturally, respect for neighbors where noise is concerned does not exist here. At least among the poor. No, here, noise pollution is the cultural norm. It’s complaining about it that’s considered rude.

4 people yelling to help one car park. As though in my living room. It has literally driven me insane. It’s now 11:45. I know them by name so I ask them to stop yelling. It works. Now they’re around the corner yelling where it’s not so obnoxious to me, but there’s a reason Las Bovedas is basically empty on the Ave. A side of the building. If anybody can stand it, there is a beautiful apartment that San Felipe would rent for $300…if they could. It’s been vacant for over a year now. The main noise makers live across the street from it.

My downstairs neighbor moved out over the holidays. She said she just couldn’t take it anymore. She said she’d give me another six months. I’m beginning to wonder. It’s that or spend $500 a month to keep the AC running to block out the sound. And I considered it today, but when the weather is so absolutely perfect outside, who wants to pay what it costs in rent just to keep the noise out?

I really wanted to move upstairs…where they’re doing the work now, but from what I hear, unless a roof is pristine…and my building’s is anything but, the leaks, insects and rodents will drive you nuts. The owner above me just saw her apartment for the first time in a year. She had to tear the bedroom closets and all kitchen cabinetry out because they were so termite ridden. Anything else was rusted. And the moral of this paragraph is that maintanence is mandatory, not just nice. Important in a condominium when especially when not many owners live in the building.

High rises are sounding better all the time. Might be willing to trade in the charm for some peace and quiet. Then again, I seriously wonder if such a thing exists in Panama City and at the very least, it does exist here 3 nights a week for the most part. Maybe the best it gets. If broadband were elsewhere, I wouldn’t even be in the city, even alone. And this ongoing one woman war against something as culturally ingrained as noise is just me pissing in the wind I think. Oh wait, only men can do that. Still, it sums up my mood tonight.

UPDATE: Jan. 21, 2005

The owner of the apartment directly above mine is in town. It’s where I’d most like to live…the views are amazing. Turns out she’s great. Turns out she managed to catch one of her workers in a dumb lie because she’s on this list.

She and I sat outside the new Cafe Neri for about an hour and 5 people who walked by said hello to me. I have to say, that felt good. I liken that to neighborhood living in NYC. They know you in the shops and restaurants you frequent. They say hello on the street. It’s rare to walk out of the house without running into someone you know. There’s a comfort level in living that way that I truly appreciate.

And the noise is gone. Today is much more quiet though I wasn’t willing to risk a second day. My peace is more valuable to me than that. So upon awakening, I turned the AC on and closed the doors. They’ve been closed all day. If you can’t change the direction of the wind, you can at least adjust your sails.

And the sky was so blue as we sat there. And there’s much bustle in the Plaza getting ready for the jazz festival tomorrow. And the wind through her apartment is amazing. Once upon a time, I lived in Asheville, NC and had the most incredible views of the mountains. I swear it made a difference in my quality of life. I took more pictures out my window than the rest of the state combined. And I still want to watch a thunderstorm over the sea with an unobstructed view. I think that goal has replaced the ’snow skiing in New Zealand while I look out over the ocean’ notion I used to have. Snow skiing scares me to death anymore. As I’ve said before, scuba diving is now my death defying sport of choise. And oddly enough, here in Panama you can snorkel so close to reefs that diving is unecessary. Literally. I had no idea you could get so close to reefs without a regulator. They’re so shallow that I’m frequently afraid of swimming directly above for fear my trailing shirt or the movement of my fins might damage the reef.

Nothing quite like a clear blue sky, the perfect temperature, some decent food, some peace and quiet and especially a little laughter to put the world back into order again. HALT. Never get too hungry, angry, lonely, tired….SHALT / HALTS?…or serious.