Balconies

This is the building we are in, Balconies,Torre 3, Apartemento 1B

This past week we moved to Playa Blanca. It was not the move to our long awaited house but almost as good. We moved out of that horrid little house we had been renting and into a lovely three bedroom condo at the beach. It is so close to our house that we can see it clearly from our kitchen window.

View of our house (centre)from the condo. Nice view of the mountains too.

Since our lease expired, we had been debating a move but hadn't done anything as we just didn't feel like moving twice. Recently, however, we met a couple named Mitch and Jean at the dump demonstration (previous blog) and in conversation we learned that they would be willing to rent their condo for a few months. So we decided to do it. Not only is it just one floor off the ground(easy for taking the girls out) but will be very handy when we start to get furniture deliveries and the like. I haven't found anything I don't like. It is dead quiet during the week but yesterday there were a lot of weekenders here with their families and there was a party that went on to 4:00 a.m. I didn't bother me or Bob though, we mostly slept through it.

Yesterday we took the 5 min. walk to our house to see the progress and found that they had been working on wiring and our nice glass shower doors had been installed. The carport is also installed and you can see the red sticky clay of Panama splashed up against the side of the house. Local artisans make all kinds of pots and planters from this clay soil, which is everywhere. It reminds me of Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai,where we saw this bright red, volcanic soil for the first time.

Finally, I will add some pics of the interior of the condo and bid you farewell until next time. I should go and hunt for the things we know we packed and have yet to locate from our move. We were so anxious to get out of the house at Santa Clara that the packing was somewhat less than methodical!

Living room of Condo

View of Condo Pool Area (See the ocean at the top between the roofs of the houses)

Walkway to the Pool (Neat as a pin)

Me relaxing on the balcony

Text By Chris, Photos by Bob

Panama, Protests and Politics

On August 2 Bob and I participated in a demonstration at the dump, which is located on the road to Playa Blanca. Since March,2009 residents of Playa Blanca and surrounding areas have been trying to effect the closing of this dangerous dump. The trash, being brought here, is not being buried but piled high and then burned, plastics, chemicals and all. The toxic smoke has been blowing over the resort areas and also the town of Rio Hato for years. There are actually people who live at the dump and eke out a tiny subsistence from what they find in the trash. The vultures and feral dogs do too. There hasn't been any burning but there is no guarantee that this is a lasting change.
There have been several protests and meetings with officials, who make promises but don't follow through. On several occasions, out and out lies were told about the status of the planned sanitary landfill, which is supposed to replace the current dump. The local resorts have even donated a reported $50,000 to get the job done!

Bob at centre holding a sign

One of the people, who has been involved from the beginning, Mitchell Kenoian, summed up yesterdays efforts in an email he wrote:

On Tuesday 8 AM a group of residents, about 20, demonstrated with signs at the dump and Channel 2 was there to cover the event. After the TV crew and some folks went into the dump to document the amount of trash there, we went to Anton where there was a town council meeting scheduled at 10AM. We had heard that the Governor of Cocle Province was going to be there to address the dump issue. We were fortunate before the meeting we met and were able to speak to the Governor and told him what our history with the mayor and the government was. His English is perfect. He agreed that the situation was not handled well by the local authorities and he would take care of it. We all went up to the council meeting and the man kept his word. After hearing a number of council people speak and defend their actions the Governor and his advisor on the issue, Enrique Ho, spoke. Again, after a lot of conversation and posturing by politicians, he closed the meeting by making the announcement that the council had the next 2 weeks to get the Rio Hato dump cleaned up and to simultaneously work on opening the new landfill in Anton. From what I heard it may take a couple of months but the new landfill will be open and there will be no more dumping in Rio Hato. He charged that if the local government did not do this he would send in his equipment to get the job done. The Governor said they should bury all trash until the dump was permanently closed.
Also, the councilman from Farallon spoke at great length and passion and said they should all be embarrassed that it took foreigners to get this problem brought to their attention.
All in all I think we have found an ally to force the mayor to act. I might add, that at the council meeting, the mayor was visibly angry and did not say one word.
Mitchell Kenoian

Mayor at left with Enrique Ho and the governor of Cocle province.

I think Mitchell summed it up very well. We'll see what happens next . One of the other members of the group, Alcides,made the contacts to get the media involved (two tv stations and both Panama daily newspapers) and now has made contact with a woman who has a show on environmental issues. She is very willing to help the cause too. We seem to be making progress so we'll keep up the pressure. The health of all the local residents is at stake and this is a cause with significant consequences. Both Bob and I are seen in the pictures taken yesterday.

Lyn Melso and I in Front of the Dump

Dogs and Vultures at the Dump

Progress and Promises

Our House so Far

Hi all;
The posts have slowed down, I know, and I guess that's the natural consequence of living. Chores must get done and when the sun shines, the beach and pool beckon. It was a really lovely day today and there was a great breeze, which is unusual in the rainy season. We high tailed it to the laguna pool at The Sea Club after lunch as did quite a few others. The best news we have to share is that our house now has windows and they are preparing to intall our carport. Tomorrow we are gong to visit Mauricio and pay our next installment on the house.

Unfortunately, political pressure and media coverage have not resulted in the closing of the nearby dump, as had been promised by various politicos, from the president of Panama on down. A new sanitary landfill has been promised for the community, the money and the permits in place, so it's stunning to find that the old "dump" is still operating on the road to the three local resorts all of which boast . Millions have been spent on highway improvements and the byways are really good to drive on so it's weird that the tourists are treated to a whiff of the dump and a potholey road on the way to their vacation. It seems like a total disconnect.

Until very recently garbage was being burned on a regular basis, plastic and all. There is no recycling out here in the hinterland either, so it goes into a big pile, to be picked over by dogs,vultures and even some poor people looking for whatever they can salvage. Some of the newcomers have been trying to influence the local politicians and there was a noisy demonstration in February. Nothing has happened, so our friends Alcides Ana Maria have got the press and TVN to come out and report from the dump. The TV report and the print articles in the Panama City papers were good but still no action. Tuesday we will be participating in another protest at the dump and then going to the mayors office as he seems to be the stumbling block. Hopefully if we keep up the pressure, we might get some action. I'll keep you posted and take some pics of the event.
Here are a few more pics of the house.

View of the living room and master bedroom to the right.

The neighbourhood

The Wild, Wild West, Panama Style

The last major project on our Must Do List. is DONE! We now have our Panamanian Drivers Licence and can legally drive here; not that we weren't driving anyway but we were quite overdue to get our local licences. We have done many things on our own but decided that it was worth paying a concierge service to help us with the four step process. One of the reasons is just finding ones way in Panama City. The "ciudad" has many one way streets and driving is complicated by a lack of street signs and no numbering system for buildings. Addresses are more like written out directions.... the white building across from the HSBC Bank on the corner of Avenida Balboa and Calle 50, next to the McDonalds Restaurante. You also have to contend with insane drivers coming at you from god knows where. Shiver, shiver.
Last time we took a taxi there we nearly got bashed twice in one short drive of 6 blocks.

The first step in the licence process was to visit a lab and get our blood tested for type. This info is shown on the actual licence. The clinic also tests your glucose but Sertracen, the private company that issues licences, doesn't want this info. Nobody told the lab.
Once you have this documentation in hand, you go to step two.

Our concierge was Tyrone, recommended to us by friends. Last Wednesday Tyrone drove us to Los Torres de las Americas, a very modern complex in the Punta Pacifica area of Panama City, where sparkling office towers sprout up by the day. This complex of two towers houses many companies, including the Canadian Embassy office we had to visit. After parking underground, we had to lineup at the reception desk, where we were photographed and then given a paper like a movie receipt with a barcode. We then went through turnstiles where your barcode is read and you gain access to the elevator area. Here you preprogram your floor selection and arrive at the designated floor in 10 secs. (I read the website)

From there, you pass another checkpoint before arriving at the embassy office. We presented our Ontario licences, which were photocopied and paid $50 bucks each. For this price the embassy authenticates your licence and produces a letter saying it is what it seems to be. When leaving, you pay $1.20 at the central reception and they give you a token to get out of the parking garage

The third step we left to Tyrone. He had to return to the embassy the next day to retrieve the letter and take it to The Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Here the Canadian letter is verified as legal, stamped multiple times and this costs you $8.00 for the required stamps that are purchased at a bank. This step takes another day and then he picks up the paper and brings it to you.

Yesterday, we drove the 30 km.to Penonome, to do the final step. Here you present your papers and passport, answer some personal questions...height weight,address etc. and do eye and hearing tests. You pay $40 each to the cashier and in a few minutes you have a licence card with your picture and holographic symbols on it. Your licence is good for four years. All in all the process was painless and I'm glad we had Tyrone to do the running back and forth to P.C. That was a bargain at $75 and he is a personable and well spoken man. We will definely use his services again when we move our car licence from P.C. to Anton in January.

We were happy to hear from Tyrone that new drivers will now have to complete a private driving school course before they are eligible to take the written and road tests for their first licence. Hopefully, enforcement of the rules of the road will improve with time also.
If coming to Panama, be sure to pack your defensive driving skills. Don't let the skycrapers fool you. It's the wild west on wheels! Woo Hoo!

The Wild West

P.S. My avocado tree is growing! It's a foot tall and currently growing in a yogourt container. Avocados are grown in abundance here but it will be cool to have my own avocado tree in my own garden.

This Old House

A view of the kitchen

Ah, to be a home owner again. We're longing for the day we have our own place again.It will soon be a year that we left Shaws Creek and it seems longer. Waiting for what you dream about is never easy but the little house on the River Road was a fun interlude in a gorgeous setting. It had its draw backs,(the furnace was broken and would have killed us with fumes had we used it)but all in all we both enjoyed our time there.It was cozy and cute.
This old casita we are renting now has quite a checkered past. Because it's been a rental property for so long, things that we would fix immediately have been patched together as cheaply as possible,tolerated or just neglected. There have been a litany of problems to address and that's where being at renter is a drag. The toilets have overflowed, the kitchen faucet broke and the roof leaked. Oh yes I forgot about the collapsing shelves that caused all the crockery to smash on the flagstone floor. Particle board is not a tropics friendly material!It just absorbs too much moisture, softens and collapses.Being supported on a tiny screw isn't useful either. Luckily the wine bottlw didn't break.
Our neighbour, Justin has taken over fairly recently as the super and he has really been working hard to get things repaired and up to par, as much as is feasible. He has had to deal with a broken gate, bees under our roof, a leaky, noisy broken water pump for the watertank, an overflowing septic tank and a broken drainage pipe that secumbed to powerful old tree roots right behind our house. While he was busy fixing that, the water company showed up to say that the water bill hadn't been paid since 2007 and they were going to cut off the water. The owners rep thought we were on a well so didn't worry that there were no water bills!

Fixing the electrical issues just isn't possible.That's a nightmare that can only be solved by tearing down both houses and starting fresh.
Luckily for the Canadian owners,the property itself is worth a ton of money. It was a very smart buy from that perspective and it's location near the beach can't be beat.The property is in the middle of the Jewish enclave and the houses around us,as previously mentioned ,are worth millons apiece. So again the old adage remains.....location, location, location.

We still have a few months to go before we can move into our own house so we will be thankful the roof doesn't leak (for now) and focus on the positive. We are relaxed, healthy, and enjoying setting our own schedule. The sun is shining so we're off to the beach!

p.s. We are finally going to Panama City this week to get our Panamanian drivers licences. More on that later.
The bedroom closet

The garden and bohio

Follow up to Creatures-- Sharks Fin Soup

Just wanted to follow up with a little more information about the last post. Bob had mentioned the event we witnessed on Facebook where he got a lots of comment. Erin Fritz, Karens daughter,talked today about a recent article in the Toronto Star. It discussed the practice of finning and efforts to eradicate the horrid act. If the demand for the fins to make the traditional chinese recipe of Sharks Fin Soup were eliminated, so would the market and thus the practice. I learned that my hometown of Brantford is the first North American city to ban the use of sharks fin. Go Brantford! Now we just have to make that world wide. Yesterdays June 13, Star article www.thestar.com/news/article/1007701
I'm not surprised that finning is practiced here in Panama as the independent fishermen eke out a subsistence income and it would be very tempting to go after the fins that fetch a handsome price. Hoperfully the new co-operatives will help these workers to bring in a better income. The government has built a new modern fishmarket very close to us and I think it will be open soon. The building is on the highway next to the site of the new international airport. More on that next time.

Creature of the Deep

It's been a while since I posted a blog. I apologize to those who have been following us regularly. I haven't had anything to write that I thought you would find very interesting. I think what we saw today qualifies as "muy" interesting.
This morning we went over to Playa Blanca planning to use the Laguna Pool. I wanted to practice my Aquafit exercises and Bob wanted to sit under an umbrella and read his Kindle book. As it happens, the Laguna Pool is closed Mondays for cleaning. We headed for the beach where the bohio and chairs were ready and waiting for us. I had completed my walk down the beach and was settling in to read my book. The vultures that had been feeding on a small fish over by the entrance to Rio Hato * suddenly became interested in something that had come in with the surf. I spied a large body, about 5 feet long. It had an unusual head and I guessed that it was a hammerhead shark. Bob and I headed out to the outer beach as the tide had gone out and the shark was at the far side of the beach next to the surf line. The shark was quite dead and had really been through it. It's top fin and half of the tail fin was missing. The big shocker was that she had been giving birth to her young and a baby shark was half way out of her. Though it is a very scary looking creature, it was fascinating to see such a creature up close. The teeth were truly awesome and I can't imagine what it would be like to have them coming at you.
The shark soon drew a crowd and a local man came along. I could tell he was a local by the pintada** he was wearing and by his long pants. The fish had only died a short while before and I think his plan was to take it home and carve it up for the freezer. He sent a little boy to get some family and friends, I think. Several of the horsemen, who sell rides on the beach, were coming to the scene as we were leaving. I don't know what became of the sharks body but since it was already dead, I hope it was put to good use. I resolve to always take my camera when going to the beach!
We have realized form information that we read on the internet that this poor unfortunate creature was the victim of a vicious harvesting of its fins for what is considered a delicacy and thought to have medicinal properties by some. There is a lot of information about "finning" on the web and we were shocked that it is so prevalent today, apparently still brisk activity in Costa Rica. The shark actually suffocates and drowns as it is no longer able to get oxygen from the water by rapidly swimming through it. What a waste and how cruel. I'll try to give you a link to more information. If this doesn't work, just type in Hammerhead Shark or Finning. The Panama Guide has good info if you interested in this subject.



*The river, Rio Hato, flows into the ocean, right where we sit under the bohios. It runs around our house site to the ocean. The nearby town by the same name is part of our future address. At low tide you can cross the river where it joins the beach and walk down the beach toward the town of Farallon and the Decameron Resort.
**I bought a pintada yesterday to display the earrings I am selling at the Farmers market on Saturday. It’s a straw hat in a traditional style I have only seen here. It has a flat crown and mature men wear them with the front brim turned up. I think they are common in the farm areas of Panama.