From the Cool Mountains of Boquete

I've been reading about the heat wave in the States and being ever so thankful that I'm here rather than there. Thus far, the rainy season has been perfect: beautiful, sunny days in the seventies until late afternoon, and then a good shower to keep the garden in shape. It's been particularly fortuitous for me because Edwin is on a month's vacation, so I have garden duty. We've brought in Gerardo, one of Dalys' sons, to mow once a week, but I've been handling the weeding and pruning. I also took the opportunity to sweep through the orchid casita, repotting or remounting plants and moving some outdoors to trees which finally have grown enough to provide them some shade. The garden is on the cusp of maturity, and I spend a couple of hours each week hosting tours for folks developing their own plots.

Larry's recovery has been slow, and it's clear that it'll never be complete. We had a setback this week when he began experiencing pain and reverted to using crutches. After five days, the surgical site opened slightly and began oozing a clear fluid tinged with blood. He reverted to soaks in epsom salts, cleaning, and bandaging to forestall infection, but most of the pain went away, along with the crutches. A visit to Dr. Chen downtown confirmed my diagnosis that this is part of the healing process within the foot, that the fluid buildup, most likely lymphatic, needed an escape hatch. After fasting tomorrow, he goes in Monday for a complete blood test to make sure all is okay.

We just went through a three-month period during which everything chose to break at once: the pond pump, the generator, the remote control for the gate, the ice maker, and the under-cabinet lights in the computer room/study. It took an eternity and then some to have everything repaired. Promises made, promises broken. Trip to assess the problem followed by trips to obtain parts. Parts not available, parts ordered, wrong parts received, more promises, more promises broken, etc., etc. Now everything is working, and we're waiting for the next shoe to drop. Interspersed with these aggravations was a multitude of trips, phone calls, and e-mails just to pay property taxes. Panama has many, many charms, but customer service and efficiency are not among them.

In addition to gardening and continuing work with Bid 4 Boquete, I've really been enjoying my book club. Interestingly, although we choose one book a month, everyone seems to branch out and comes to discuss a larger body of work. Tomorrow, for example, we meet to discuss The Paris Wife, a historical fiction piece from the point of view of Hadley Richardson Hemingway, Hem's first wife, about their years in Paris in the twenties. The club members I've spoken with found it unsatisfactory, as did I, and therefore branched out to read a Hadley biography as well as A Moveable Feast and The Sun Also Rises, which flesh out the period. Some have read the entire Hemingway canon in preparation for the meeting. This is the usual pattern, confirming our reputation as the Boquete literari. But now we've branched out into travel. One member who harbors a fascination with Turkey researched and discovered a $1500, 13-day trip to Turkey next March. Another member agreed to go with her, word got around, and now seven of nine book club members are making the trip, along with the daughter of one member. We'll fly out of Newark, spend three days in Istanbul, and then travel by motor coach to Candakkale (near the site of Troy, which we'll visit), Kuddadasi, Pammukkale, Konya, Cappadocia, and Ankara, before returning to Istanbul. Hotels, most meals, entries to archeological sites, and an English-speaking guide are included. Not having traveled this year, it gives me something to look forward to. Larry's daughter, her husband, and one of the three daughters have agreed to come down to keep Larry company and out of trouble while I'm gone.

Finnegan and Kitty Kitty continue to delight, but poor old Chyna is really showing her age. For the most part, she's hung up her guns and doesn't even get excited about the occasional dog that strays onto the property when the gate is open, although the door bell still elicits a half-hearted protest. And when Kitty bites her on the butt, she just gives a desultory back kick. Chyna has to be lifted onto the bed now, and between her flatulence and awful breath is not the most desirable of sleeping companions. But we love her and will stand by her.

It's a particularly tranquil time right now, with Doc and Charly on an extended visit to the States (where they report having spent four days in D.C. with one of their sons without electricity and temps in excess of 100 degrees), Edwin on vacation, and Penny Barrett (the major co-director of B4B) off to her 50th high school reunion in Michigan. It looks like the rain may be coming earlier today, in which case I intend to curl up with another Hemingway book so as to be fully armed for tomorrow's book club meeting.

A long overdue update

We woke up this morning, in the midst of the dry season, to steady rain and a backyard that looks like a lake. So it's a good day to stay indoors and do some catching up, which has been hard lately due to sunny skies and lots of outdoor social activities. We're coming off a weekend of the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival, preceded on Thursday by a gringo-initiated Mardi Gras parade which left the locals stunned. Bid 4 Boquete, on February 13 and 14, was a huge success (we made over $65,000), but, after months of work, it left me enervated for a couple of weeks. Then, last week, I was down with some sort of gastrointestinal difficulty of the on-the-pot-with-pot-in-hand variety. I'm back, though, and ready to catch up and set things straight.

Actually, most of our time since my last post was devoted to trying to get Larry's foot healed, making it through the multitude of holidays, and planning for B4B. So there was very little of general interest to report with the exception of our acquiring Finnegan, a handsome and well-behaved golden retriever, from Doc and Charly, whose new digs were too small for his largeness of body and temperament. He has brought a degree of happiness and tranquility sorely needed after last year's medical woes. We also were very saddened in December by the death of our good friend Randy Watts (of Randy and Maryellen, with whom we spent a memorable weekend in Bocas shortly after our arrival and about whom I've written often) after a long battle with liver disease.

Life was disturbed for everyone at the end of January, however, when the indigenous Ngobe-Bugle (NB) went head to head with the government over mining concessions in the NB comarca, semi-sovereign native land of the tribe located largely in our province, Chiriqui. The government had breached a former agreement with the tribe and given copper mining rights to a Canadian company, provoking the NB to protest in the only effective way they know: blocking the Interamerican highway with debris at various points throughout the country. The initial blockade lasted about two weeks, cutting off  travel and commerce throughout Panama. After two or three days, there was no gasoline or propane to be had in Chiriqui, no meat and vegetables entering Panama City from our region, and a scarcity of supplies everywhere. We had full tanks of gas in both vehicles and a large propane tank, so were able to last it out, but some folks were actually reduced to walking for days. The initial blockade eventually ended and negotiations were entered into with a Catholic bishop serving as mediator, but they broke down from time to time and new blockades on new roads appeared. A police station was burned to the ground in San Felix on the western edge of Chiriqui, arrests were made, one NB was killed, and no one had any clear idea of what was going on or what would happen next. A blockade was set up outside our neighboring town of Volcan, local thugs joined the action, the police station there was burned and banks were sacked. Although there were no threats against expats in particular or the Panamanian people in general, the disagreement being between the Indians and the government, this made us all a little tense. So far, however, there have been only a couple of half-hearted road blockages north of Boquete on the road to David, lasting a few hours. Negotiations have begun anew at the City of Knowledge in Panama City with a U.N. mediator having replaced the bishop. The government folded on the issue of mining in the comarca, and now the dialogue has turned to hydroelectric projects in and affecting the region. If the negotiations are going badly, the NB throw up a blockade somewhere. So we never know from day to day if and when we might again be cut off from the country and world at large. Travel of any kind is made exceedingly difficult and risky. Lots of folks were stuck somewhere between Panama City and David for days during the height of the crisis.

But if one has to be isolated, this isn't the worst place to be. Chiriqui is the largest agricultural region of Panama, so chances are that we won't starve. For the most part, life has gone on as usual here. (Cliff Thaell, the former Leon County Commissioner, and his family were here for a few months during the worst time, and he reported having been in communication with Lucy Morgan of the St. Pete Times, who, aware of the situation in Panama, had inquired about my wellbeing. Cliff told her he assumed I was fine as he had just observed me enjoying a beer with friends in an open-air cafe downtown.)

We did make it into David last Thursday to check in with Dr. Pretto about Larry's foot, the wound on which still has not completely closed. He declared the foot substantially healed and unlikely to be at risk for reinfection. Larry is walking without aid of any sort and, finally having become free of ongoing pain and therefore being able to maintain a normal sleep schedule, is in good spirits. He still soaks the foot daily and has been diligent about keeping it clean, but I think we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and are reasonably sure that it isn't a train.

I stay busy with B4B, my book club, gardening, and running around with friends. I attended the first-of-the-year meeting of the Amigos of Animales de Boquete last week and realized, about half way through, how it typified life in Boquete. Ruby McKenzie, the founder and longtime president, was relinquishing her post to two new co-presidents and made outgoing remarks summarizing the organization's many successes. She spoke of the thousands of animals neutered, the receipt of a grant from the SPCA International, the receipt of thousands of dollars from B4B, the receipt of an anonymous $10,000 donation, the efforts to acquire property and build a proper clinic. The meeting was held in a small dwelling in a downtown residential area owned by Amigos de Boquete, an organization which provides lunch to Boquete school children, funded by local resident Phil McGuigan's family foundation and law firm back in Chicago. (Phil's wife, Alicia, is one of the incoming Animales' co-presidents.) The back of the building actually contains a residential area populated by a Panamanian family, while the barred but otherwise open-aired front is the Amigos de Boquete office, storage, and meeting area, which also contains three computers to be utilized by local children. All three computers were occupied while set-up was going on, but the users eventually moved aside. During the meeting, however, children came and went, neighborhood dogs dropped in for affection from their Animales stewards, and an occasional chicken strolled through until chased out by the dogs. No one missed a word or even stumbled over one. Serious business, life and death matters and high financial stakes, was reported and debated amidst the ongoing neighborhood life, all participants serenely oblivious to distraction. And when refreshments were served, everyone--children, dogs, chickens--participated en masse. Charming. None of the stuffy, closed-door meetings I grew up on.

So, with the exception of the ongoing NB crisis, we're at ease and easing into the best time of the year, perhaps even a little early if today's rain is any indication. We managed to live through, once again, the two Independence Day holidays (from Spain and from Colombia), Mother's Day (a MAJOR Panamanian holiday), Christmas, the Flower and Coffee Fair, Bid 4 Boquete, Carnival (when the entire country shuts down for a week), the Jazz and Blues Festival, and dozens of lesser fetes. With the rain still pouring down, I'm going to go read a book.

Brief Update

For all of you who follow the happenings of our retirement here in Panama, this will serve as a brief update.

When I last left you, Larry had been cleared of the pseudomona aeruginosa bacteria and released from the hospital. The infection had taken its toll on the surgical site, however, and no amount of cleansing and rebandaging--which required trips to David every other day for several weeks--showed any sign of its healing. It was just too deep, with exposed bone. The type of surgery required was not practiced by any of our existing retinue of doctors, but, luckily for us, a new doc had joined the staff fresh from an orthopedic residency in San Antonio, Texas. Enter Dr. Juan Carlos Pretto, a young, exuberant practitioner who confidently declared that he could remove skin and muscle from Larry's calf and sew it over the wound on the right side of his foot just below the ankle. Several of the doctors doubted it would work, and Dr. Pretto gave it a 60% chance. But he convinced us that he knew what he was doing and that it was the only alternative to avoid the risk of reinfection and to provide an environment for healing.

So Larry went back in the hospital for a few days and then had a long recovery at home, plus numerous trips back and forth to David for follow-up. Eventually, it looked as though the "flap," as Dr. Pretto called it, had taken, and x-rays revealed that the bones in the foot and ankle had substantially healed. Then another problem arose. The skin was not regrowing on the calf from which the flap had been taken. For a month we washed it with castille soap and rebandanged it three times a day, but a visit to Dr. Pretto last week showed no sign of new skin. So Larry was back in the operating room last Saturday for a skin graft. The leg is now to stay wrapped for ten days, after which will be the big reveal. The big wound and flap, which Dr. Pretto is very happy with, also has not completely closed. So we struggle on, after four surgeries and more than 45 days total in the hospital.

It goes without saying that all this has eaten up the majority of my time, but I did get away with my friend Charly for three days at a nice resort in Boca Chica, about two hours away on the Pacific coast. The package was a donation from the Seagull Cove Lodge to Bid 4 Boquete last December which I had bought and was about to expire. Doc and Larry stayed here so as not to miss any football or golf on television.

Chyna and Kitty Kitty are featured in the 2012 calendar Amigos de Animales de Boquete produces as a money raiser. They are the calendar girls for the month of September 2012 (see photo above). I bought in to it over a year ago with the idea of all four animals (Trudy, Chyna, Felipe, and Kitty Kitty) being preserved for posterity, but alas.

I'm also co-chair of Bid 4 Boquete again and therefore have been very busy with that. We've upped our goal and added some new activities, so there have been meetings upon meetings, all scheduled between trips to the hospital in David.

We're in the thick of the worst two months of the rainy season, and one of the bridges to our section of town is out. The other bridge, on a long loop into town, is marginal, having never been replaced but only shorn up since the big Palo Alto flood. So we're a little nervous about the possibility of being cut off from the world.

It's just one adventure after another.

Mishap, Cruise, and Wedding

As most of you know via e-mails, Larry fell two months ago from a high tee at the Valle Escondido golf course and shattered his right foot and ankle, requiring orthopedic surgery, two surgeons, several days in the hospital, and an anticipated months-long recovery. He was officiating a tournament at the time--not even playing--and was doing a good deed: recovering a ball for a player already shooting nine on a par three in an effort to move the game along. Although he had some pins and plates, he had very little pain and was adjusting well to a wheelchair, walker, and crutches, the orthopedic surgeon felt that he was far enough along in his recovery that I could take my scheduled and paid-for transatlantic cruise. So off I went, after stuffing the freezer with food and arranging for many people to check on him and take him to his scheduled doctor's appointments and sessions in a hyperbaric chamber to speed healing.

In the meantime, and shortly before I left on my trip, Derek wrote to advise that he and Wah Wah were getting married on June 7th while her parents are in the States from their home in Sydney, Australia. So, in addition to preparing for my cruise and driving back and forth to David with Larry for doctors' appointments and sessions in a hyperbaric chamber, I set about making reservations on Solomons Island, off the Maryland coast near Baltimore, where the wedding was to take place.

Also shortly before I left on my cruise, Trudy went into a sudden decline, requiring additional trips to David to a new highly-touted Brazilian veterinarian of the female gender. Following blood tests and an x-ray, she (Trudy) was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and impending congestive heart failure, was put on a battery of medications, some long term and some short, and was sent home with instructions to live as tranquil a life as reasonably possible (not that her life ever has been much more than tranquil).

I never knew so much would be happening, of course, when I agreed to accompany friends Penny Barrett and Betty Gray on the transatlantic cruise followed by short stays in Majorca and Barcelona. But it was a splendid getaway, and I did my best not to think too much about home. This was aided considerably by the Internet and television not working for nine or ten days of the fourteen day cruise. We were "at sea" both literally and figuratively, incommunicado except for printed news bulletins issued periodically by the crew. It was three days after Osama's demise before we learned of it, for example, and we knew nothing of the flooding of the Mississippi until we arrived in Majorca. There was nothing to do but relax, eat, read, eat, swim, eat, sun, eat, play games, eat, . . . .

Larry had some setbacks while I was gone, however, and our neighbor/housekeeper Dalys and gardener Edwin stepped in to supervise foot soaks and medications. Nevertheless, shortly after I returned we realized that the foot had become infected. He was rehospitalized for a week on intravenous antibiotics, after which he returned home and I set off for Maryland.

The wedding was lovely, a small group of immediate family and a beautiful ceremony. The newlyweds will be relocating to Richmond, Virginia, where Derek has accepted a faculty position at Virginia Commonwealth University. Wah Wah hopes to get employment with the med school there in the future, but in the meantime will continue with her stem cell research at the not-too-terribly-far-away University of Maryland college of medicine in Baltimore.

When I returned from the wedding, Larry's foot was again infected. On the advice of a local physician, Dr. Chen, who had been administering intravenous antibiotics at his office in the morning and at our home at night, we went to David the day after I returned from the wedding to meet with a critical care specialist, Dr. Julio Osorio. Dr. Chen had done a bacterial culture, and Dr. Osorio picked up the results shortly before meeting with us. He took us first out of a crowded waiting room and advised that Larry had an extremely dangerous pseudomona aeruginosa infection. He admitted him to the hospital forthwith, assembled a team of specialists, and announced within a very short time that x-rays revealed the infection to be concentrated in the "hardware" in his foot, necessitating immediate surgery to remove the pins and plates. It was scheduled for the next day.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Trudy had worsened considerably--was not eating, could barely walk, and appeared to be blind or going blind. I made arrangements for a local vet to come to the house to put her down shortly before driving to David to check on the progress of the surgery, leaving Edwin to bury her in the garden. Bad, bad day.

Following surgery, Larry was put on an intravenous combination antibiotic regime round-the-clock. After several days, another culture revealed the bacteria, which we had been told was antibiotic resistant, to still be present. Another combination of antibiotics was agreed upon by the medical team, but a third culture taken after another week revealed that not only was the bacteria still present but had gone into the bones. Everyone was disheartened and extremely worried, fearing that he faced possible amputation. After consulting with an oncological plastic surgeon in Panama City, Dr. Osorio, in consultation again with the entire team now consisting of five doctors, decided to try two more antibiotics accompanied by local daily cleaning with a chlorine-based formula. This began last Monday.

Larry learned only last night that the latest culture shows no signs of the bacteria. The doctors want to do one more culture before releasing him, however, at which time he will be on oral antibiotics for at least two months. The relief I experienced was overwhelming, and I got my first good night's sleep in three weeks. As to the break itself, x-rays indicate that it had substantially healed prior to the second surgery when all the hardware save one essential pin was removed. That remains to be seen and is, of course, a secondary consideration at this point. Also, he still faces a skin graft or plastic surgery to completely close the wound. Talk about a continuing saga--and I just gave you the highlights.

So that's why I haven't written in so long!

Time to catch up

I've been neglectful of this blog lately. I've stayed pretty busy in January and February, but, too, there's be very little newsworthy too report. Mostly it's been downtime since the auction, the holidays, and Derek's visit; just getting back too normal.

I meet my friends Charly and Deb every other week or so to discuss books, but the three of us took the big step of joining a recently-formed book club. Deb had been agitating about starting one for some time, but I didn't want any more organizational responsibility--the garden club and Bid 4 Boquete are sufficiently exhausting--and I feared that our reading choices likely were too sophisticated for most casual readers. I was contacted by another friend, however, begging me to be part of a new book group and I decided to try it out. It looked good, so I begged the group to allow Deb and Charly to participate. So far so good, but the ultimate success remains to be seen. We've already lost one member who was out of her depth, and have acquired another member in her place. Doc was keen to join, but the women decided that a man would alter the group dynamics for the worse. Besides, we're trying to keep it to under 10 members.

I took a two-day road trip last week with some garden club members to Costa Rica to visit The Wilson Botanical Gardens at the Las Cruces Biological Station near San Vito. We hired a local man who runs a school transport van, as school is recessed during January and February, coffee-picking time. We exited the country at Rio Sereno, a remote immigration outpost not far from San Vito, rather than via Paso Canoas, the principal immigration station between Panama and Costa Rica. We sailed through in about 40 minutes (rather than the usual two or three hours reportedly required at Pasa Canoas) and made it to the gardens in time for lunch. We stayed on site and did a short botanical tour that afternoon, a slightly longer one that night under a full moon, and a long guided tour the next morning before setting on on our return. It was a lovely place, and I'm now armed with new gardening ideas and a long list of new plants to ferret out.

As you may recall from past blog posts, I, and every expat I know, live in perpetual dread of encounters with Panamanian bureaucracy. Unfortunately, both of our driver's licenses came up for renewal this month. Troublesome at the best of times, renewal promised to be downright daunting this time as a result of our having gotten new passports with new passport numbers since the original licenses were issued. All official documents of foreigners are tied to the passport number--the national i.d. card (carnet or cedula), motor vehicle registration, and driver's license--so when the passport number changes all bureaucracy (hell) breaks loose. I had already had my vehicle title changed to reflect the new passport number, but I nonetheless set out with trepidation for Migracion (Immigration) in David to ascertain what tortures had been devised. The reports were many and various, and I thought it best to leave Larry at home until I found out what was in store and how best to navigate it. He's inclined to go absolutely wild in Panamanian government offices, and for good reason. Personnel there are very clever about changing the rules from day to day and from employee to employee.

I set out at 8:15 on a Monday morning about three weeks ago and arrived in David (normally a 30 to 45 minute trip) at 10:00 due to interminable delays related to the road widening. As usual, it was approximately 110 degrees in David, the traffic downtown was frighteningly chaotic, and there was no parking anywhere near the Migracion office. Once I made it inside and fought my way to the front desk and explained what I needed, I was directed to a small side room with a sign saying "Visas." When I got there, I was taken back out to the front desk, where I surrendered both my old and new passports and my Panamanian cedula. Some computer work was done, and my new passport was stamped "Registrado." I was sent back to the Visa room, where I was directed back to the front, to the cashier, to pay $25. Returning with the receipt, I was told to fill out a form asking for all sorts of personal information unrelated to either my passport or driver's license. I was told that the form would be sent to Panama City and that I should return in two weeks before going to the driver's license office.

Two weeks later I returned to find the Migracion office closed for no ostensible or noticed reason. I elected to go straight to Sertracen (the private company contracted to issue driver licenses) far outside of town at the Chiriqui Mall, armed with all my documents of identification and two fat files of vehicle information and everything else that might, even unreasonably, be pertinent. There was a long line, of course. (Panamanians don't mind waiting in line; in fact, they consider it a social occasion.) Once having reached the front desk, I was asked for my passports, my cedula, and my current license and was told to take a seat. No mention of anything from Migracion or vehicle registration being needed. Some time and a couple of chapters in a novel later, I was recalled to the desk and told that everything was in order but that, unfortunately, I was not in the new "digital" system. They made copies of everything and filled out a form to be sent to Panama City for processing and said they would telephone or e-mail when everything was ready, in two weeks to a month. Right.

As it happens, my license tag also was expiring in February and, although I get the new tag in Boquete, one first must get a Revisado (inspection of sorts), which one can only get in David. The inspection facility we use is on the road to Boquete, on the edge of David, so I stopped off on the way home to accomplish that task. It's usually a simple and straightforward process (unless the computer system is down); you give them proof of insurance and vehicle registration (all brought up to date months earlier at great expense of time and money), they take a photo of the car, you pay them some nominal amount and you're on your way. Upon entering my info in the computer, however, the receptionist reported that I had an unpaid traffic fine which would have to be satisfied first. Having never gotten a ticket, I was bewildered and frustrated. No matter. I had to return to the Chiriqui Mall to the Transito office to straighten it out. Some twenty minutes later, plus another 20 minutes of standing in line, I was advised that I had incurred a parking violation (location unspecified) in June of 2009 (well before my last revisado in February 2010) and that I owed a $10 fine. Utterly defeated, I handed over $10, got a receipt, returned for my revisado, struggled through road construction back to Boquete, arrived about 4:30, and promptly consumed three gin and tonics. I consoled myself with the thought that at least I had had the foresight not to take Larry along on this reconnaissance mission. One or both of us doubtless would have ended up in jail: him for assaulting a bureaucrat and/or me for assaulting him. I was decidedly not consoled by the realization that, not only would I have to return, but I would have to go through the whole sorry mess with Larry to get his license renewed. And it would have to be soon.

Two days later, on Wednesday, Larry and I set out to accomplish just this. I explained to him what would transpire in Migracion and what would transpire at Sertracen, as our cases were identical, but that I knew exactly what steps to take so it shouldn't take nearly so long. Upon finally arriving at Migracion (road stoppages and parking problems again), I made straight for the Visa room and told them what I needed. The woman there looked at me like I had two heads and pointed back out to the front desk. There, I handed over the appropriate documents, the woman did the computer work, stamped his new passport, and told us we were ready to go. I asked about the form I had filled out for transmittal to Panama City. She knew of no such form. What about payment, I asked? I was advised 
that there was no charge for registering a new passport. I told her I had paid two days previously. The person who helped me then must have been new and didn't know what he was doing, she said, noting that she is the office supervisor. We left, thoroughly confused, and haltingly made our way through traffic to the Chiriqui Mall and Sertracen. There, everything was as it had been for me two days earlier. We both return sometime within the next month, allegedly, to get our new licenses. I'll believe it when I see them.

Larry's license plate isn't due to be renewed until next fall. I showed him on the way out of town where to go to get his Revisado and told him he would be on his own. I hope to hell that he, too, has a mysterious unpaid traffic infraction. I believe in equal opportunity for suffering. It is for that reason that I have burdened all of you with this tale of woe.

Felipe: RIP

Our holiday season was interrupted by sadness when my beloved Felipe died suddenly last week. He had not been well since the last visit to Dr. Garcia in David where he received a diagnosis of an inflamed colon or intestine. He was treated for that, and the major symptoms were relieved, but he had been listless and depressed for several weeks. The intestinal symptoms returned with a vengeance Monday night a week ago, however, and he began experiencing stomach cramps and pain. He died within a couple of hours, in my arms. Consultations via e-mail with U.S. vets Joe Cordell and Dan Evers suggest an internal tumor or lesion which only an x-ray and major surgery possibly could have helped, but animal x-rays aren't available in Panama and there were no indications anyway until it was too late. We buried him in the back garden, and I'll plant something special there in remembrance of all the joy he brought to the household.

Otherwise, life has been full and happy. The Bid 4 Boquete charity event finally was held on the weekend of December 4-5: a wine tasting and live auction on Saturday night and the silent auction and variety of sales, raffles, and children's games on Sunday afternoon. We netted $55,000, more than the first four years combined, so eleven months of planning and execution paid off. Close on the heels of that extravaganza, Larry surprised me by putting on a big birthday dinner for me at a downtown restaurant with about 10 friends. That was followed by my hosting the garden club Christmas party here on Thursday, attended by over 40 people. So I spent the weekend trying to catch up around the house and garden.

Steve completed the new orchid casita, and I purchased a host of new orchids. Annie La Foley, a local orchid grower of some renown, sold her entire collection in preparation for a return to the States due to some medical protocol that her husband can receive only there. Steve and Marjorie Sarner, good friends and renowned orchid growers in their own right, accompanied me on two trips to Annie's and helped with my selections.

We'll have the usual crowd here for Christmas dinner on Saturday, and then Derek arrives on December 31st for about a week. Larry has planned a golf outing at Cielo Paraiso, and I'm putting together some hiking with Steve and Marjorie and new friends Peter Sterling and wife Sally Zigmond, retired neuroscientist/naturalist (Peter) and biologist (Sally) from the University of Pennsylvania. The weather has been beautiful for about a week now, and I'm looking forward to getting out and about before the trade winds kick up in January and February. Larry, on the other hand, will be glued to the bowl games on t.v.

On April 24th I am leaving Panama for a two-week transatlantic cruise with friends Penny Barrett and Betty Gray. Larry, homebody that he is, wasn't interested and therefore will remain behind to keep house and pets and get some well-earned relief from wifely chores and admonitions. We are leaving from Colon on a Royal Caribbean repositioning cruise to Palma de Mallorca, with stops in Barbados, Curacao, and the Canary Islands. We'll spend a couple of days in Mallorca and a couple of days in Barcelona before flying back, so I'll be gone about three weeks in all. The garden club also is planning a two-day trip to the Wilson Botanical Gardens in San Vito, Costa Rica within the next two months.

The entire community is in full holiday mode, with numerous parades and fairs which make getting about a real challenge. Extensions to the municipal park/square has made parking a minor problem, and the beginning of tourist season has exacerbated the situation. Everything is bustling!

So, other than Felipe's death, life has been going smoothly, remarkably so. Co-chairing the auction gave me the opportunity to meet lots of people and become an active member of the community. The protracted "settling in" time required had limited our social engagements, but now our calendar is almost too full. Meetings, parties, and luncheons have become the norm rather than the exceptions they once were. There have been no bureaucratic hassles of late, but I'm confident that the Panamanian government will remedy that soon.

Holiday time begins

Today is the first day of a prolonged holiday season in Panama, five months more or less. November 3 is the anniversary of the separation from Colombia, the holiday for which began at noon yesterday, and tomorrow is Flag Day. Just for good measure, Friday also will be taken as a holiday. Then next Wednesday, November 10, is the anniversary of the first call for independence from Spain, whereas the actual independence from Spain came on November 28. As this year that date falls on a Sunday, the holiday will be the following Monday. So all banks and government offices are closed for at least five and half working days this month. And most workers, including ours, get the time off with pay. The really big days are today and the 28th, when parades will clog up all thoroughfares. Drums have been drumming for weeks in preparation, and thoroughfares were clogged the preceding two days for the suspension of banners throughout town. 

Then December 8 is Mother's Day, a major family holiday and time of celebration in Panama. It falls on a Wednesday, but you can count on most businesses being shuttered on Tuesday and Thursday as well to allow time to travel to wherever madre may be. Following are Christmas and New Year's, in honor of which the entire country essentially shuts down for an indeterminate period of time.  In fact, the holiday season runs right into the big International Coffee and Flower Fair, a major Boquete event in January. Come February, it's the season of Carnival which, if memory serves, occupies a major portion of the month. With little respite, we move into Holy Week, with Good Friday a national holiday, and then Easter, following which people gradually return to work.

We're ready for it, however, as lots of work was accomplished in October, to which the bank account will testify. Back in July, I contracted for a three-wall, built-in unit for the computer room: desk, book shelves, file drawers, and cabinets. The slated completion date was November, and I budgeted accordingly. So I took on, in October, the rebuilding of the orchid casita which was rotting down because we originally couldn't find treated wood. Steve jumped right on it and I paid a major portion of the $1400 cost, only to have the cabinets come in early to the tune of $3600. Additionally, the generator and the pool pump broke and all sorts of insurance, corporation fees, and taxes fell due, precipitating a raid on the savings account. So it really doesn't matter that the country is shut down for the foreseeable future. We're not having any more work done for a while.


Because she and Barry were without guests at their B and B for a day or two, Jane and I trekked to David yesterday for major grocery shopping. Another friend has described stocking one's pantry here as "foraging for food," not because there's no food to be had but because it's spread out between half a dozen stores or more, none of which can be counted on to have what you're looking for, even though they may have had it in the past. We hit Pricesmart first, but followed up at three more grocery stores and two pharmacies, picking up a couple of items at each. With the traffic, the lack of customer service, and the parking propensities of the Panamanian populace, it was the usual Monty Python skit material.

Our trip was slowed considerably, too, by road work. The government has entered into a multi-million, three-year contract for four-laning the road between David and Boquete. Lots of money is being poured into the province of Chiriqui, particularly into the Boquete area. Ostensibly, this is for the purpose of promoting tourism, but the cynics among us suspect baser motives. Huge swaths of land allegedly are owned by politicians, including at least two former presidents, as well as by members of the rabiblanco, Panama's ruling class, so some speculate that big things are envisioned in the way of development. The current road admittedly is dangerous, and the improved amenities that will accompany its completion are not to be denied. Many residents are delighted by what surely will be an increase in property values. On the other hand, there are fears that Boquete will become a yuppie-fied mountain enclave along the lines of Aspen when quick and easy access materializes. Much of the opposition is based on the amount of ecological destruction which will occur, some of which already is evident. Whatever the motivation of the government and the ultimate effects, the road is now a reality; and it doubtless will change the face Boquete.

My time continues to be consumed by the Bid 4 Boquete event and increasing activities of the garden club. Larry finally finished painting the exterior of the house and is taking a long break before undertaking the interior. After all, it's football season. (Heartbreaking loss by the 'Noles last weekend.) 

When I was in the U.S. in June, I bought a new computer which came with Windows 7. This has caused me no end of grief as everything displays differently and it is incompatible with a number of operations, namely my camera's photo editing and storage program and my Skype microphone. The "Help" tabs give directions based on earlier versions of Windows, so I'm really out in the cold. One thing I can't seem to do is access my photos from this blog site. I've solved the microphone problem only within the last week, so who knows how long it will take to come to terms with photos.

Speaking of prolonged, vexing problems, I finally got to the root of Felipe's skin ailments last Friday. Based on the advice of three different vets, he was treated for fungus, bacterial infection, and mange. Twice. I've been bathing him every week and preparing home cooked dog food. His skin would improve just enough to make me think I had hit upon the solution when suddenly it would flare up again, then get better, then flare up. Last Friday when I was bathing him I noticed some teeny brown specks in the suds. I had noticed them before but assumed they were flakes of skin or scabs. This time I isolated one and had a look at it under a magnifying glass. It was far from clear but definitely had an insect appearance. I washed him in an anti-parasite soap and applied Revolution and, Bingo!: scratching has ceased and all redness is gone. Research indicates that they were dog lice, which apparently are not all that common here. Miraculously, they haven't spread to Chyna and Trudy. They have no interest in humans, I read, which is fortunate inasmuch as Felipe spends hours on our bed and sleeps under the covers at night.

Overall, the weather is improving although it has been raining yesterday and today. But the rainy season essentially is over. We hope.