Is it Winter or Summer?

So many things aren't clear to us anymore. We keep getting different answers on the naming of the seasons and it appears that there are only 2 in Panama. Rainy season and the "dry" season. Not sure what they did with the other 2 and we don't know that we aren't getting different answers depending on which coast we are on when the question is posed. Then there was the misunderstanding at the house today when a young woman asked to borrow a brush and I thought she wanted a scrub brush so when I handed her the scrub brush; not to appear ungrateful she began to brush her hair with it! I then understood the non verbal and immediately provided her with a hair brush.

The neighbor's pig had to be rescued today as it seems our friends Rottweiler isn't fond of tiny wandering pigs. In the end it was safely returned to it's own yard to continue on to it's ultimate destination onto a plate or a spit. Last week our neighbor called us over to look behind the plumbing in their soon to be completed bathroom. There was a tiny nest of tiny birds stuck back there. Eric decided that the right thing to say was to pretend that all would work out fine in a few more days when they grew a bit larger but it looked to me like they were stuck for life, once again no clear solution; the pig was simpler once the dog was corralled and tied up.

Panamanians are truly too polite sometimes. I had read before moving here that this was a normal characteristic of this culture and it has proven to be true. A great quality for sure unless you need a straight answer. Then you just might be in for a surprise as in general they will not disappoint you by telling any truth that might not be what you want to hear. Added to the challenge of us not possessing a great command of the language this can be quite the brain teaser. Additionally they will be very surprised by anyone who is overly direct so of course I usually have my foot in my mouth; Eric fares a little better on this. We will keep practicing and paying attention.

We spent the entire week traveling this past week for immigration and other important business. In the latter part of the week the van broke down and we had so many knid people try to help us (most could speak no English and went to find someone who could) in this tiny town called Rio Hato. We were lucky to find a mechanic there but discovered we would have to stay over and travel by bus and cab to Panama City to get the parts. Normally you can get parts (or anything else, dogs, mattresses, chickens) shipped around the country by the bus but in this case the Ford Dealership did not take credit cards by phone. The parts clerk was kind enough to tell us the whole saga of why they no longer take cards via the phone but we will save you the details and get to the guts of the story. We found a reasonable hotel with optional hot water (extra $5) and jumped up at 5 am for the bus trip to begin. In Panama City and at the Ford Dealership at 8 am and there was our new phone friend Freddie the bi-lingual parts clerk. In his possession were the much needed parts; of course they were the wrong parts (in spite of being told in both languages what exact parts were needed). So the good news was that we did not pay by credit card and by phone for the wrong parts! 4 bus riding hours later we were in a rental car on the way home having made a call to Eric's friend Howard in the US to procure and ship the parts to the mechanic via DHL. We will see how this works as the part is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and we have our fingers crossed! We will be very happy to get Eric's van back since we are moving to new digs on the weekend and will definitely be needing it. No it isn't the pig or the incessant rooster calls at 3 am that is compelling us to move; bottom line is the lack of Internet here. So after June 1st we will be writing from Boquete and I will stay there to market properties, promote the soon to be "World Famous Punta Linda Eco Adventure Park" and Eric will go back and forth a few days in each place as he supervises the building of the trails and bridges on the property. We have hired a great foreman to help with this who is bilingual, used to work in canal zone and extremely over qualified. A person like this gets paid $75.00 per week and we are thrilled to have him!! The manual laborers (Indians) get $1 per hour.

We will write soon from cool, mountainous Boquete where we will be comfortably surrounded by our personal possessions finally albeit temporarily.