TheExpatJournals.com

I realize I haven’t been posting or writing and offer up my apologies to those of you who are here for no other reason than that. My work schedule is so grueling and I’m pretty much spent at the end of the day. The good news is that in about another month, I’ll then have about 3 months off. Like a teacher, my work revolves around the school year. The best thing about the work I do is that I can do it from HERE!
So, maybe somewhere in the US Easter is the kind of big deal that it is down here, but I don’t remember it. Our Trinity seemed to be Thanksgiving, Xmas and New Year’s Eve. Yesterday, absolutely nothing was open…NOTHING. On Thursday, locals descended upon Casco Viejo in droves. Apparently, the tradition here is to visit and pray in 7 churches on Thursday, the anniversary of Christ’s death.  And in Casco Viejo, there are 5 churches within the 15 or so block radius making it a prime location for observers. There’s the Cathedral, the golden Altar Church, Assisi beside Teatro Nacional, the large church as you’re heading towards the Peatonal on Ave. Central, La Merced, and I can’t remember where the other one is. If I attempt to give you the proper names of those described above, I’ll fail miserably without looking them up. On up Ave. Central are two more…Don Bosco near Novey and one other.

Apparently, you are forbidden to buy alcohol from Thursday midnight until Friday midnight. I hear the grocery stores even tape up their aisles, like not crossing a police tape.

Only writing this did it occur to me that Cafe Asis (no longer open, but for a very long time, the cultural edge of Casco Viejo) must have been named after the church it sits across from. And the prayer of St. Francis de Assisi is a lovely prayer…

Okay, so I’m not in the least bit religious and I must admit, Cathedrals don’t capture me in the way that, oh say seeing roughly 40 vultures adorning the roof of the Mercado Marisco will do, but I’m happy for those who feel it to be such an important part of their life. I truly am finally avoiding discussion of religion or politics living here. And that leaves a lot of room for a lot of beauty instead of angst.

In addition to the work, there have been lots of Americans in town. 3 friends in particular. So, I’ve had no time for anything. I will report that there is a fledgling Chamber of Commerce being birthed here in Casco Viejo. They’ve asked me to participate in an advisory capacity I think primarily to volunteer to help out with a newsletter. It will be a lot of fun to learn a lot more about this neighborhood. I have heard such colorful stories, past and present, that this neighborhood has begun to take on a whole new character beyond the obvious feast of the visual senses it provides. Buildings begin to house stories as well and that enriches on a whole new level.

So much of my discovery these days has been out of town. I work so hard during the week and then explore Panama on the weekends. It’s like a mini-vacation every week! And oh God what amazing places there are to explore and all so near. The Atlantic side is a different creature altogether. The mountains. The jungle. Honestly, if I could add about 2 days to every week, I would!

Humidity is increasing here. Yesterday, we had a full rainy season type storm. How wonderful! It’s interesting to feel the change of season coming. I’m still trying to sort out the ebb of each season and the differences in vegetation, the air, the breezes, etc. In some ways, late summer here is akin to winter in the US, without the drop in temperature. Trees lose their leaves and are now bare. Everything is brown. And again, I can feel the humidity increasing in the air and you can see it in the sky, which is no longer as bright blue as it was, but now grows increasingly white during the days and obscures the stars at night as well as fuzzying the full moon at night. I did see a nearly full moon rise two days ago, just before it turned dark but as the sky was beginning to darken and therefore was a rich color of dark blue. This moon was a color I had never seen before. Amazing! It was like a lighter shade of a huge full orange harvest moon. It was like the perfect shade of coral/salmon verenera that has become my favorites of the different colors on my balcony. Especially mingled with purple.

I walked over to the Paseo to look at it across the Pacific and my enamorado was overwhelmingly disrupted by yet another of my senses…smell. I will AVER that either the government or the Decameron people need to do something about the side of their building being a public, open air bathroom. I don’t really mind watching men and women, police and Kunas, tourists, (still remember a father and son in tandem),etc whip it out or squat, as the gender may demand, but the smell is atrocious! Wouldn’t sprinkling lime take care of it? And where do you buy lime? Horrible. I suppose the heavy rains will do the trick, but in the mean time, the ocean breeze brings it into my living room and walking up the Paseo is now something I’m more inclined to steer clear of.

I do have a ridiculously strong sense of smell. A couple of weeks ago, we were driving between Isla Grande and Portobelo. I was sitting in the back seat of the car and suddenly said, “I smell beer.” The woman seated beside said the car well in front of us had just poured some out on the road. Might as well have been spilled in the front seat to this nose, so perhaps the stench of the Paseo Entrada isn’t as offensive to some as it is to me.

Work is progressing nicely upstairs. Slowly, but coming along. His estimation of finishing in one week is now in Week 3. But at least I learned not to give him any money until the job is complete. To back up, I gave the guy a deposit of $275 and he instantly disappeared for 4 days. I was trying to be fair in the way I would know how and assume the best rather than listen to everyone’s warning of not paying until the job is done. Now, I understand why that particular practice makes sense. And it cost nothing more than some frustration which makes me lucky. I’ve heard horror stories.

For what it’s worth, those Diablos y Congos photos I had so much fun doing have created a little stir. I still love the fact that one friend now uses one of those as his screen saver! As some of you may know, I have been using the most useless Olympus 1.2 megapixel camera with a broken lens cover and a broken memory card cover. I’m too cheap to spend a few hundred to ‘tide me over’ and when I decide to make any kind of ‘major’ purchase, I research it to the point of nausea to most. But I like to know what my options are, so I do my homework. You can imagine how much research I did on Panama before coming here! Suffice it to say, hundreds of hours. I only had to experience and flesh out what I already knew by the time I got here. But because Panama has provided me with a real passion for shooting photos, I decided to graduate to a DSLR. Bought a Canon the other day and am anxiously awaiting it’s arrival. Like anything else, I’m sure there will be a learning curve, but if it’s as gentle and adventurous as the move to Panama has been, then I’m in for a whole wonderful new dimension in my life. I just wish I had been doing simultaneous research on lenses all along…trying to play catch up now. Like anything else in life, hindsight is 20/20. Two sayings from my youth that make so much more sense as an adult: No use crying over spilt milk, but my absolute favorite is “Don’t borrow trouble.”

Happy Easter everybody!