Though I refer to the dry season as summer in the title, it's quite different than in a temporate climate. The leaves have been falling off many trees for the last two months and the ground is littered with dead leaves. Many trees are also flowering and growing seed pods, while others like the cashew tree we just discovered on the property has set fruit. This tree is called a Maranon in Panama, according to Wikipedia. I 'm going to try to pick a few if we can reach them and taste the edible "false fruit", which looks somewhat like a pear. The cashew nut is attached to the bottom in a little green pod.
The tiny hibiscus bush in our yard has recently yielded three awesome blooms that Bob photographed. I'm going to see if I can root a cutting, as I would love one in my yard.
In the next week or so we'll be renting a car so will go check on the progress of the house and get the girls their haircuts. They're feeling the heat a lot today and are pretty hairy. I tried to trim Maggie but don't want to tackle Gracie. She has so much more hair than Maggie! Then Bob toyed with the idea of growing a beard too but it's gone now.
Bob has been "tearing his hair out", well you know what I mean. His email on phone was cut off and he couldn't figure it out but finally has things straightened out. He made numerous trips to the "Movistar" outlet where he wasn't treated like one. Sometimes you feel that someone is jerking you around but then maybe they really don't have a clue and don't want to say so. It's really hard when you are dealing with technical stuff and have a language barrier too.That seems to be the most frustrating thing about living here. I have found that Panamanians also like to butt in line, so I'm getting pretty assertive out there, and then I will get on the bus and a young man will offer his seat. You never know.
Yesterday, Bob met me at Xoko Restaurant when I came back from my Mahjong game in Coronado and we had a really good dinner. Next week we will sally forth to the expat monthly event, which is being held at a restaurant about half way to Coronado. I hope we will meet more Canadians to put on our list of acquaintances. The ladies I have met at Mahjong are very nice. There were two women visiting their sister from western Canada and one from Kansas, visiting her friend, Alice. One of the other members brought her mother in law from Panama City. Deanna, an avid player, picks me up and delivers me back to the main corner where I can catch the bus back to Santa Clara. She's so kind. They have all been so welcoming, which means a lot when you are far from home. The game of Mahjong is very complicated and is a real challenge to learn, which I like. It's not the same as those matching games on the internet that say they are Mahjong. The only thing that is the same are the pictures of the tiles. Well it's time to make dinner so I'm going to the kitchen. I'll take a picture of the cashew fruit if I can, to include with this edition of our blog.
A couple of the leaves that have fallen. Kinda big, si?
The cashew fruit or maranon. Both parts are edible but the cashew is inside a hard shell.
