Panama's mountains

Summer plants and flowers

2011-08-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

A leaf from a young tree fern -

& the pathway it grows by -

Blossom of a wild ginger (hummingbirds LOVE these, but are impossible to photograph, speedy little rascals that they are -

Love the diverse texture of the leaves, too -

Blossom of an ornamental banana - about the size of my thigh -

Heliconia plant outside our guest bedroom is another favorite of hummingbirds -

As is this ornamental banana -

I have not seen hummingbirds on our hydrangeas, but do love the flowers, anyway -

Have lots of these small, native orchids growing on the rock walls surrounding our yard:

Summer flowers & plants

2011-08-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

Agave plant provides a sculptural note to the SW corner of the garden -

We have 3 varieties of anturium, this one is my favorite -

These bananas should be ripe in about 5 months ... in past years, blue tanagers have built their nest on top of the bunch, and had their hatchlings airborne by harvest time - have not seen the tanagers - yet - but I am expecting them to arrive soon.

Of course, when one lives in paradise, they also need birds of paradise in the garden -

Boca de lion (lion's mouth) is another favorite -

I consider bougainvillea to be beautiful botanical barb wire (have thorns), so have several colors growing on our exterior walls.

Love the native bromeliads, too

Our 2 dozen oldest coffee bushes are in full bloom - very sweet aroma!

These heliconias have blossoms, then leaves - I was lucky to get a photo where one can see both.

Security bars ...

2011-06-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Remember the front covered entry way?

We did the same thing on the back - now, all that is necessary to make this area perfect is a nice little table and a couple comfortable chairs so we can sip coffee while listening to the waters of the Tisingal roar down the mountain and the birds sing their praises to the dawn:

Also, we added a 3' x 12' area for birds - what can I say? We don't like the look of traditional security bars they use down here, so we had something built that was as strong or stronger, but had a secondary function.

We continued the philosophy of wanting security, but not liking the traditional look, when we added bars to the office and bedroom windows - instead of putting them on the outside of the house, we put them between the screens and the actual glass windows:

Current project...

2011-03-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

The arrival of this hard-working truck meant a long hard day of welding ... Rafa and Billy got right to work, but proved difficult to photograph. Still, I did managed to catch this one of Billy:

& this of Rafa:

This is the beginning of their project:

And Billy welding away at it mid-project:

AND, this is what they were working on:

This is dry season, but we've been getting a ton of rain --- if/when it gets dry, I will paint the metal and then move the plants into the new porch/greenhouse (plants tend to object to paint on their leaves).

closet ...

2011-02-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

It took 4 years to decide on what we wanted for a permanent closet, but this is the start of it:

And a few more pieces added:

With Calisto supervising, of course (he's the one in the cap)

& now you see the bits all put together ---- we did not want doors on the closet because mold and mildew are problems in areas where air does not circulate, so until we can figure out a solution to that issue, we prefer to avoid the problem by not having doors:

These final 2 photos are of everything in the unit:

If we ever want, we can take out the shelves below the computer & use this area as a desk:

Makeovers...

2011-01-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

Our Szuki Jimny looks about the same from the front, but if you look closely, you'll see that she is sporting a snazzy new luggage rack:

AND from the side, perhaps you'll notice that she's got stylish new rims:

You can really notice the new, stylish rims, when you look at her spare tire:

We had nothing to do with the other makeover - below you'll see that moss is growing on 'seal rock' in a pattern that resembles waves on the 'tummy' and it's even growing an eye! Wish I'd thought of this - I'd have looked for buttermilk to paint on the desired pattern, but I really don't think this natural one can be topped:

New neighbors ....

2010-12-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

We discovered that we had new neighbors in a red grapefruit tree:

See how well the Hummingbirds hid it?:

For the birds ...

2010-08-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

Just finished a couple birds (taking a break from flowers) - this chatty tucan:

& this thirsty hummer for Gen - it was based on one of her photos & I'm amazed at her luck/skill with a camera - I have been trying to photograph hummingbirds and butterflies in our garden (for years) and most of the time I end up with photos of blurry foliage.

2010-07-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

I realize that at first glance this is quite a dull looking patch of flowers BUT they're the Central American version of butterfly weed, and we actually have several patches of them for the butterflies (and humming birds, too) -

If you take a close look, you can see this beauty:

Or this one:

We've seen many other species of butterfly sipping nectar plus 5 species of humming birds, unfortunately, as yet, have not been successful at getting a photo of the humming birds....

The garden is thriving

2010-07-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome - come take a virtual walk with me down a garden path -

This patch of bird beak heliconias has been blooming for months - if you look close, you can see the eaves of the garage behind them... there's a large parking area there, too, but that's impossible to see.

We have many types of heliconias in the garden - ginger and bananas are in the botanical family, as well as this bizarre flower:

Here's another photo of it, which (hopefully) will give you a better idea of it's size - and how close to the ground it grows... that white thing is a 1/2 inch tube ... while the flowers are close to the ground, the plant is taller than I am:

This is a corner Maria, our gardener, and I are currently working on:

And this is the path we're walking:

This plant 'volunteered itself' ... in other words, no one has any idea where it came from, but it's certainly interesting - this is the back view of it -

And this is the front of the flower ... I've never seen anything exactly like it, before.

Actually, I'm not surprised when plants move into the garden - plants grow EVERYWHERE on the edge of the rainforest - that odd lump on the right is a rock:

This is the back of that rock and that plant on the left is an orchid - actually several of our rocks are covered with the small, native orchids.

Even the tree trunks are covered with other plants - and yes, that's yet another orchid covered rock next to it:

And here is another rocky view - that odd football looking thing in the upper right hand corner is a banana blossom (and yes, it actually is about the size of a football - the rock is about the size of a VW Beetle.

So, that's it for today's garden tour ... it's wet season and I need to keep the camera dry.

Seeing blue....

2010-02-27T11:36:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Francia will be opening a new school on March 8th, so we're trying to help her get things ready - my project has been to refurbish some old desks - they arrived looking like this:

And, after cleaning an painting, they looked like this

They started accumulating -

so once they got dry enough, Francia started transporting them back to the school... BTW, the finished project looked like this:

Going Bananas ....

2010-02-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

The two photos above are of an emerging, and emerged flower of an edible type of banana --- possibly these don't look too impressive, but the plum-type bud is bigger than a 5# bag of sugar... quite impressive.

The following banana flower doesn't produce edible fruit (at least not according to MY taste-buds), but it's pretty; hummingbirds love the flowers and it's fast growing - which is fine for now, but could eventually prove to be a problem:

& now for my personal favorite - this plant is +/- 6 feet tall and the blossom is about the size of my laptop - purely decorative, but IMHO, this 'torch banana' is pure food for the soul!

The reason we originally chose this property -

2010-02-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

Was the creek that borders the East side of our lot - this is the upstream view:

These rocks relocated to our yard during a major flood a little over a year ago -

Didn't realize how fast the water moves on a normal day, did you?

And on the creek goes, rushing down the mountain to meet the river and then on to the Pacific...

In the garden...

2010-01-29T11:44:00.000-08:00

I must admit that one thing I love to do is find a forlorn plant in a drainage ditch, snatch it and give it a nice home in my garden ... can find some amazing things in those ditches - last year, I found what I thought would be a 'red bird beak' and brought it home ... leaves were correct, but the flowers are saying that they're some sort of cousin:

& you can see that the flowers are just starting to open:

I couldn't be more pleased with that find.

Now, the following plant volunteered - ie, planted itself:

I mean, seriously, no one thinks I shinnied up that tree to plant that rascal, so you?!

AND (drum roll, please) one of that volunteer's cousins - a pineapple top I actually did plant - is getting ready to provide a pineapple!

It's turning into an inhospitable rascal, though ... captured a dead leaf from a nearby tree weeks ago and no one has had the nerve to argue with those sword-like leaves.

Lastly, six days ago, when the dead leaves were getting whacked off our bananas (they do look quite shabby if one doesn't do this) a resident was discovered .... thus, one dead leaf is still there, so this tree frog will feel safe...

Actually, that little fella (or gal) sparked quite a spat of e-mails, with our grandson wanting it for a pet (I suspect it would be too loud for a deaf person to keep in the house!) and our grand daughter wanting to grow a banana tree in North Carolina .... terribly disappointing to learn that's not a viable option.

Week in review:

2009-10-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Bug of the week ... a sort of leaf-looking praying mantis, which Paul found sunbathing on a rock -

Now, compare him to Paul's thumb -

Canyon Rose is the latest painting - sort or a combination of an opening rose bud and colors from a sandstone canyon -

& the flower of the week was discovered at Boca Chica ... it may inspire a future painting:

For the birds....

2009-09-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is what I look at when I wash dishes

AND a picture of the dumbest finch in Panama - silly little guy has been fighting with his reflection in the dinning room window since yesterday... to be honest, I only photographed the yard because I was trying to get that bratty bird's picture ... cute, fast and really dumb.... might have to paint him....

Speaking of birds, my latest painting (quite a departure from the flowers I usually paint) is of birds (I'm sure they're much more intelligent, than the little guy tapping off his beak on our window).

Recent paintings

2009-07-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

Meet Master Quark (the name of the Painting is Quark X 3) ... Quark is a Sun Conure & our 'youngest grandson', he was born this part October ... very intelligent little fellow. This painting was a birthday gift for our youngest daughter (also known as 'Quark's mom')
Paul has rather querky taste and fell in love with 'Froggy' while I was working on it for a friend:

After two such radical departures from my normal choice of floral themes, I had a lot of relaxation getting back to portraying another orchid or three.

It's the start of rainy season ...

2009-05-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

So many plants are now in bloom, like the bird beaks below:

Don't know what these are called, but the blossom comes up first, then the leaves take over for most of the year:

The datura are in full trumpet, too - see the next 2 photos for a couple of the different varieties:

Last year's little terrace project is growing in, and will really start looking good with the return of the rain:

But the poor bananas had a really rough windy season, so they look quite pitiful:

This terraced area is one of the next areas I plan to plant:

& here's one last garden photo for this segment:

Unusual winds

2009-02-07T05:13:00.001-08:00

Before I say anything else, let me assure you that the only damage our own property suffered was 2 small branches breaking - they both landed without incident. Oh, and if I' being totally candid, 3 empty flower pots tried to use the unusual weather to take flying lessons, but since they were caught (and out in the corner to think about their folly) I didn't count them as a casualty.

Most of the trees that fell were either cedars, like this one or -

pines, that are shown in the next 2 pics.

And all the trees that came down in our particular area were on Juan's property .. the local indians call him "king Juan'... most of the rest of us understand why he got the nickname. Since just about every tree that came down also took out portions of his 'fortress wall', there's a lot of gossip about divine justice and karma.... I could go into a lot of detail, but I'll just say that the legal placement of Juan's 6 kilometers of rock wall are a questionable distance from the road & I've heard him brag that this is his way of forcing the road onto the neighbor's property, thus increasing his holdings.

The paint is still drying, but -

2009-01-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

The pint is still drying, but if I say so myself, I think I'm getting the hang of painting - still can't quite get a whole flower on a canvas, though (and that canvas is 2' x 3', which is a whole lot bigger than the whole plant was). Anyway, I'm still having fun, though my clothes do seem to manage to collect more than their fair share of added color.

Dry season has arrived....

2009-01-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Now that dry season is finally here, we can have the windows open, which means we can do smelly projects - for instance, the polyurethane fumes, which we used to seal the faux ties on the living room floor & the shelving unit Paul suspended over the rock Carlos left in our living room floor ... I'm still not 100% thrilled with that rock, mainly because that was supposed to be an open area/walkway & that rascal loves to trip people. Hence the shelves Paul suspended in the danger area.

This is the corner on the other side of the front door:

And this is a view of the living room from the dining room - the open door on the left goes to the back patio.

In the yard....

2008-12-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

Alexandra, Doris' dog, found this potential playmate hanging onto a philodendron leaf
The little guy never did come down to play.
Then, Paul spotted this on a leaf next to our door .... anyone have a clue what it is?
I had to look at it from the other side, but Paul saw right off that it was a praying mantis.

Some rainy seasons get SO wet that -

2008-09-13T11:59:00.001-07:00

The local kids looking at the way the last gully-washer changed the creek that runs behind our house - this is actually about 1/2 a kilometer downstream from our house --- see how rocky our soil is? Also note that whatever einstein designed the new bridge, actually created quite a fine dam!
This is a closeup of where the bridge joins the dirt road - looks to me that if someone doesn't do something, that bridge could end up being an island. I'm not kidding you, that truly was a bridge - is now an odd sort of ford.

And this shot is a closeup of how every little rock protects (at least long enough for a photo) the ground underneath it:

Despite the rain, interesting new bugs are appearing in the garden

& Our peach-colored Angel Trumpets (about a foot long) perfume the air.

In the area -

2008-09-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is a portion of one of our local hydroelectric projects ... very picturesque and functional, too. Unfortunately, many of Panama's water rights are being purchased by other countries, and the newer hydroelectric projects that are going in are not so picturesque - worse, the electricity will be sent to other places and the profits will go there, too.

View of Paso Ancho from the coffee farm that's up the mountain from our house - soon, coffee beans will be ripe and the sounds of workers picking will join the bird's songs.

Wiki Map -

2008-09-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

You should be able to click on the title of this post - if not, the link is below, as well. This Wikimap link gives you a topographical map of our part of Panama - the square in the upper left corner is where our house it.... As I type this, I'm listening to birds singing, which is why Paul titled our block 'birds, birds, birds'.

http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=8796444&x=-82641993&z=14&l=0&m=s&v=2

OR you can google casa foguth and the link.

Snippets ...

2008-08-03T13:49:00.001-07:00

Big news is that we'll soon have human neighbors - a lovely Canadian couple is building this home about 100 meters up the road from us.
Below is Yoli & her 'new' baby ... I think the little guy must be getting close to 6 months old, since Yoli and Victor are bringing him out ... he still doesn't have a name. Now, I'm no expert on Ngobe-Bugle culture, but from what I can piece together, due to the high infant mortality rate, until any baby reaches about 6 months of age, it's just referred to as 'a baby' ... found this very confusing when Yoli and Victor had Myrna and I kept being told 'it's too early for a name' ... now, I accept that it'll be a while before I learn what this little fella's name is.

It's now the 'heart of rainy season' and the tarantulas are engaged in romance - Paul discovered this little guy in his garage, and quickly chased him into an empty coffee mug using a coverplate for an electric wall switch as a 'shield'...

Paul let the little guy go out on our rock wall - assured him that there would be lots more lady spiders (they're easy to identify since they're about twice as big) in the wall than he'd find in a garage ... the little fella tried to fight Paul on that one (that's the switchplate in Paul's hand) ...

& we all know how Jeanne loves flowers and is particularly interested in the sculptural aspects of banana blooms - well, this is another type of banana flower - according to locals, the fruits of this smaller variety of banana are small and red skinned ... they may have a medical aspect, too:

This n that

2008-08-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

This is the path that runs behind the house and the drainage channel (just to the left of the gravel walkway) we built to deal with the rainfall we get this time of year.
We're just starting these steps, which will eventually lead up to a seat overlooking the river.

This section of path is on the back side of the house:
AND the following photos are some of what one sees when they walk through the garden:

Catching up....

2008-08-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

We know we've been neglecting this blog for too long. Sorry about that.

Rainy season, which started in April, has brought a few floods - In general, I don't mind them, and consider them far less destructive than what we were used to in SC. That said, we do live on the side of a mountain - a very rocky mountain - and when the water gets going, some of the rocks in the stream move ... a couple days/nights have sounded like we live next to a bowling alley .... that said, I was not pleased to discover that a couple VW sized rocks had headed down stream... fortunately, they were replaced by interesting new rocks:

While we haven't been inconvenienced by this relocation, others have because they need to get to their properties by crossing the bridge ...

So you see how half the flow is plugged with rocks? And, let me assure you that those tubes are MUCH smaller in diameter than the rocks that got washed away... Don't know who was brilliant enough to design that sort of bridge for our type of river. The old bridge was much more sensible:
Yes, it's falling to bits due to old age, but the interesting thing is that when the flood was at it's worst & going over the new bridge, the old one was out of the flow & despite its ffy looks, is still strong enough to hold a full dump truck.

At the local hot springs...

2008-03-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Now that we have Jimny Cricket, we are investigating all the 'hot spots' off the beaten path - uh, this is the particular path we followed, today:
Which took us to this river
Which had a park like area next to it & a changing room
The facilities were for the hot springs, which this family was enjoying

Meet Jimny Cricket...

2008-03-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

After much research about what vehicle would be ideal, yet economical to drive, we decided on a Suzuki Jimny (I call her Jimny Cricket)... once she gets broken in, the manufacturer claims that she'll get 70 kilometers per gallon. The ride is more like a truck, but she's got high ground clearance & the option of 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel high or low, so we can get lots of places... we need this because roads we wish to investigate often look like this:

Once she survived the rigors of the trip home from Panama city (lots of crazy drivers on the road), we took her up to Baru's old theater (the old caldera, which was the epicenter of the explosion which littered this area with rocks about 700 years ago)

Since it's currently 'dry season', it's windy and dry - you can 'see' the wind gust by looking at this tree's branches :

Bananas ...

2008-02-29T14:29:00.001-08:00

Bananas are in bloom & you can call me strange, but I think they look like living sculptures -

And life goes on...

2008-02-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday afternoon, we went to a local benefit for the needy, which featured a the 'New Generation', a mariachi band of 5 guys from David. (yeah, I know there are only 4 in this first photo - #5 is in the 2nd photo ;-)
Doris, Pierre & Alexandra went with us & one of the singers singled out Doris for a serenade -

While all of the band were talented musicians as well as singers, I thought this gentleman had an exceptional voice:
During a break, Alexandra, Doris & Pierre's dog, met many local kids and puppies ... we're not too sure what she thought of that, but she was polite -
AND, during the break, Doris and I were busy photographing the event:

Of concrete, paving stone & patios...

2008-01-20T05:15:00.000-08:00

When we phoned Pierre early Monday morning to ask if we could borrow his wheelbarrow, (yes, we could), Pierre & Doris also volunteered to help with our patio project - that's Pierre in the far back, Rolando in the middle and Doris cleaning slate pavers.
It was difficult to get a good photo of Rolando because he was always hard at work - by trade, he repairs shoes, but he's really good at working concrete - and he cleans up, too!
Doris was tricky to 'catch', as well.

As the project progressed, the pile of paving stones we had stacked against the wall diminished -
This is the 'almost finished' back patio - stones still need a final cleaning and flower bed needs plants, etc., but the hard part is done.
The project also covered construction of a concrete trough on the west (high) side of the house
The trough curves around the west side of the patio before the water goes down a drain & into the creek -

& this is the view from the living room out the front door - blue tarp was up because it started to rain --- more on paving the front in a later blog.

Security bars installed on the carport.

2008-01-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that neither of us like security bars on the house, which is a typical thing for this area, we realized that we would need some for the point in time when we get our things moved down here and Paul converts half (or more) of the carport into a wood working shop - tools lying around could be very tempting.

The gentleman on the ladder is Rafael Samudio, the creator of the bars - we are very pleased with his work and the way he followed our directions to make the bars at the 'windows' look like window mullions instead of security bars.

Rafael built us exactly what we requested and started the instillation on exactly the day he initially said he would - and his price was economical. We encourage anyone local who needs a similar project to call him (he doesn't speak a lot of English) at either 771 5295 or his cell 6577 4184 ... his shop is near downtown Volcan.
The project 'sizzled' when Rafael and his 2 helpers welded the units into place -
And these are the guys he hired to help him install our project - we plan to hire them this coming week to help on the rear patio project, which was initially scheduled to take place this past week, but after the fellow we'd hired 'with a handshake' to do the job didn't show up by the 3rd day, Paul decided to do it.

As a side note, prior to the guys starting the installation, Jeanne went out to bring in the laundry she had hanging in the carport and was quite startled to find this guy (gal?) on one of our towels ... couldn't figure out what sort of bug it was -

Until it moved to the edge and Paul realized it was a grasshopper.

Inaugeration of our new fire pit, etc.

2008-01-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

Though we aren't done with landscaping the backyard, we tested our new firepit and got rid of some junk while we were at it:
(above) Jeanne watching the ladder the construction crew had thrown together go up in flames + (below) a closeup of the first fire.

When she wasn't making sure that 'killer ladder' burned out of harms way, Jeanne was busy filling the crevasses between the rocks Paul had positioned with moss and other plants - We don't know what type of orchid this is, but are looking forward to seeing it bloom.

Rock rolling, etc...

2007-12-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

Ourlatest project was tackling this mess -
This fine little fellow took on the job of 'straw boss':
He's not totally done, yet, but haven't the past 3 days made a wonderful improvement?
AND - drum roll, please - we got our occupancy permit ... we got our building permit the same day, which does make our builder sound efficient, however, due to him not getting the building permit to begin with, we've had all sorts of problems ... and we hired a local firm just to avoid this sort of problem!
& This newcomer to our neighborhood stood on the welcome mat quite a while before s/he realized that we were not interested in a fly-through:

Last but not least, 2 photos of moths -

Rock rolling

2007-11-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

The following 3 photos are of our current 'rock rolling' project - in the 3rd one, you can see a local 'taxi' for the workers coming down from the farm behind the rocks waiting to get rolled into place.

Honest, the truck in the background really is a taxi for farm workers.

These are some of the last rocks waiting to be 'rolled' ... believe it or not, they look better than the ones pictured above did prior to getting put into place.
& lastly, Paul found this caterpillar hauling around a leaf to duck into in case of danger ... at first, we thought it was trying to make a cocoon.

Indoor projects

2007-11-14T14:29:00.001-08:00

My favorite indoor project is my new pot rack ... we looked all over for a pot rack, but only found the scrawniest things, then we found some heavy duty commercial shelving units & inspiration hit ....

The phrase 'you get what you pay for' proved itself correct, again, when we purchased cheap ceiling fans in an effort to make our builder happy about the budget.... The fans look okay, but their blades kept growing a nasty mold -

You can see it better here -

Solved the problem by having pressure treated lumber resawn into thin slabs, then fitted into blades.

And here you see the finished product - I like it much better than the original and think these blades fit in with my 'rustic' theme much better.

Other 'babies' in our neighborhood.

2007-11-13T11:15:00.000-08:00

The young gentleman on your right is Carlos, he's Victor's son - we introduced you to Victor, last year. When we need a hand with the yard, Victor is the first person we think to call. Really nice person, and very knowledgeable about plants and rocks.

The girl on your left is Macareahna .... don't know if I spelled that right. She's Carlos' cousin and she giggles a lot.

Carlos also has a baby sister - Myrna was born near Christmas, last year, so I think she's about 11 months, now.... IF you ever visit Panama's mountains and see a Ngobe Bugle * woman with the strap of a woven bag over her forehead, you now know one thing she might be carrying in her bag:

* The Ngobe Bugle are one of the seven tribes of indigenous peoples in Panama, and all the ones we've met have been short, but strong. We enjoy having them for neighbors.

Typical rural hydro-electric plant, etc....

2007-10-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

Quaint, isn't it?

& this is our photo of the week ... this little fella belongs to our friend, Rigo, and was very interested in Paul's donut.

The piglet above reminds me of a blunder I made .... in Spanish, the word for kitchen is cocina (pronounced co-seen-ah), however, for years, I enjoyed reading our daughter's Italian cooking magazine and the italian word for 'kitchen' is cucina (pronounced coo-chee-ah) .... close, but in Spanish that word = small pig, so now you see why the photo reminded me of that learning experience. Anyway, I was explaining to ~ Javier that the main difference between Panamanian houses and 'gringo houses' was the fact that in Panamanian houses, the kitchen is a small room, away from the main parts of the house, but in 'gringo houses' it was the 'heart of the home' .... poor dear got quite confused over why a piglet would be the heart of any place ;-) And my response was, "Oops, I said it in Italian." Then went on to correct myself.

I may laugh as I now say 'cocina', but I never mix that word up with Italian.

Moth of the week, etc.:

2007-10-30T06:52:00.001-07:00

We discovered the above beauty clinging to laundry we'd left out over night ... it was almost as big as Jeanne's hand.

We'll add butterfly photos if we ever figure out how to get photos of them with a digital camera ... you would not believe how speedy the ones down here are! Of course, the birds are fast, too, so I guess their prey must be, as well.

At present, we're inching toward November, which is a month when it seems like every other day is a holiday in Panama. We'd expected to have our pensionado visas by now --- the lawyer originally told us "2-3 months".... it's been over a half year. While it would be easy to put all the blame on our lawyer, I must be fair and explain that it's also the system she's dealing with - as we understand it, shortly after we applied for this visa, the head of Panama's Department of Immigration changed the rule for tourist visas from 90 days to 30 days - and inundated his department with tons of extra paperwork and ill will from visitors.... after a couple months of this, the president told the director 'either you resign or you'll be fired' ... he resigned. At that point (2-3 months ago) our visa had been approved and was only awaiting his signature .... it seems no one else is authorized to sign this .... The good news is that a new director was appointed about a month ago / the bad news is that instead of catching up on paperwork, his first 'act of office' seems to have been to visit the district offices and fire everyone, thus now no one knows what they're doing.

What can I say? Welcome to Panama, a mix of 3rd world mud-floor huts & 1st world skyscrapers.

The trout farm up the hill ....

2007-10-22T12:47:00.001-07:00

Looking down at the trout farm, you can see the main ponds, but you can't grasp the full impact of what a pretty place it is.

A worker feeds the baby fish

When one gets closer, they can see how pretty the individual plants are - Jeanne is particularly fond of papyrus, like this beauty

The hydrangea are quite nice, too

Also, when one gets closer, they can hear the water thundering over the dozen or so waterfalls that add air to the water and ambiance to the farm:

Due to the declining wild fish population, they are currently doubling the size of the trout farm and I'm confident that when the new sections are complete, they will be just as lovely as the original farm:

Just a note...

2007-10-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, we do realize it's been 11 days since our last post - apologies. We try to post blogs that have photographs, but haven't been doing anything to take photos of (at least we didn't think to take pictures). Thus, I'll simply share a typical day in rainy season (since our rainy season coincides with hurricane season in the northern hemisphere, we still have a few more weeks - fortunately, this is my favorite season).

Mornings generally dawn with a varied chorus of birds heralding the sun and 60-65 degree temps. Sometimes, it's a tad overcast, but mornings generally make me think Spring is in the air. And as soon as breakfast is over, I'm generally out puttering in the garden (alias weeding and digging).

By lunchtime, the weather has veered into a lovely summer day, then in the afternoon, the rains bring the thought of autumn. The amount of rainfall we get on any given day depends on what storm systems are in the area - at present, we're getting heavy rain, which I believe is courtesy of Kiko. When the rains begin, we turn our attention to indoor projects....

Evenings definitely remind me of a crisp fall day.... thus, I think we get 3 seasons every day and are only lacking winter. (this explains why we've been unable to find canning jars for sale).

Getting back to the house...

2007-10-10T09:27:00.001-07:00

Comments have been made that we haven't had the house on the blog recently. Sorry, we've been focused on the yard. Here is what it looks like as you drive up the road:

& the next couple take you a bit farther up the road ...

This one gives you a peak at the corner of the carport, which is in the background behind one of Paul's favorite orchids:

Here, you're looking down the driveway -
And now you're a bit past the house -

And now, getting back to my favorite topic or the yard: did you noticed that you can see the trees on the other side of the living room windows? If so, you'll understand why this poor little fella hit the window head on ...
As you see in the photo above, Paul gave it poor concussed hummingbird a lid with sugar water in it... I'm happy to report that shortly after it's drink, it was able to fly away .... I plan to make curtains for the living room windows a top priority so we have no more concussed birds.

A couple photos -

2007-10-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Paul found this slick bug clinging to our screen door ... it was about long as a pencil and 'fat' as the lead center:
This is what a typical rock looks like:
Looks like it's been there since creation, doesn't it?

As we move into October...

2007-10-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Juan, our neighbor took the following photo (and the one of Misty, which follows) ... this is a section of his guava orchard --- do you see the macaw watching the dogs?

Paul's favorite orchid ... at least it's this week's favorite:
Note that this one is being pollinated by ants:

Meet our new 'neighbor', Misty, daughter of Ms Lulu and Master Paco... at least Juan believes Paco is the dad (his horse is showing a remarkable devotion to mother and daughter, while Paco, the bull, seems oblivious) ... Juan is positive Ms. Lulu is the mom...

Doesn't look a bit like her parents, does she?

Babies of the neighborhood ...

2007-09-23T14:59:00.001-07:00

I was quite startled to glance out the window to my back yard and see this baby hummingbird sitting on the sill ... was even more amazed when it stayed long enough for Paul to take its photo:
In fact, the little thing stayed so long I wondered what was wrong with it... Paul asked if it had flown into the window and cuncussed itself... no, it hadn't... I went outside to work and even though I'd opened the screen door next to it, it STILL didn't move ... however, once we got outside, we realized the little thing was mesmerized by its own reflection.

This is Paul's favorite photo of the baby deer because the spots are visible... Did I previously mention that he's discovered this little guy's mom eats banana peals like they're candy?
Strangely enough, prior to living in Panama, neither Paul nor I realized that anything other than fruit flies ate banana peals, but since being here we've seen many animals who think they're high on the 'treat' list.

And in the garden ....

2007-09-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

Orchids are budding:
... these flowers aren't huge, like the ones florests sell, they're 'typical size' of a native orchid - see?:

Actually today is just another lovely day in Tisingal ... though it does look like autumn - the way I can tell is that some of the trees have barren branches raised to the sky & there are leaves to add to the compost pit, otherwise the climate is typical.

If it were not for various plants having 'dormant' times and the area having a dry season, every day would seem like every other day. This is not a bad thing, but it tends to give me problems keeping track of the season in the States.

Yesterday, when we checked on how the paperwork was progressing for our water concession, we discovered several bags of plants in the back of the place (the water department shares the building with the agricultural department) ... of course, Paul had to ask what they were & when he was told 'mountain avocados' he wanted to know how much one cost .... we purchased 5 & were happy to pay the dollar, now I'm wondering just where to plant something that gets a big as an avocado tree.....

And this is our animal photo of the week ... these deer have been monitoring progress on our yard and house since we started the rock wall, but it's the first time we had the camera handy to show them to you:

Coriolis Effect

2007-09-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

When we went offshore when during hurricane season, many friends/family got frantic over our safety.... Thus, I want to remind y'all of the coriolis effect, which is more than the determining factor over which way toilets flush ... basically, anywhere we sail/live during hurricane season is within this protective area / in other words, we're within 10 degrees North of the equator (10 degrees South is just as safe). Panama lies at 9 degrees north, which places it and it's surrounding waters are in the buffer zone.

Note: you can click on the title of this post to go to Wikipedia's more complete definition.

In the yard...

2007-08-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

A little over 2 weeks ago, we went to see how EvenStar was and ended up spending the week ... only a day or so of which was spent cleaning her.

Since we returned, we've taken these photos:We were welcomed by this lovely butterfly, who was only about the size of Paul's thumbnail but too skitish to be photographed with his hand:
Another lovely 'welcome home' sunset:
Some happy ferns:
Jeanne's favorite flower of the week:
Favorite orchid of the week:

Landscaping by Bobcat (& Tommy, too)

2007-07-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

"Itty-bitty" orchid of the week (and this isn't the smallest one in the yard!).
Started out with this:
Hind sight being 20-20, we would have held off on starting the construction of the house until after Tommy leveled the building site, but we assumed that the contract covering the house included that. It didn't. As people say, "This isn't Kansas any more."

And the certainly translate 'turn key home' differently, but that's another story.

Regardless, we're now working on getting the land leveled and will eventually start planting. We've been held up as we waited for Tommy and the Bobcat to have time for our project - they are the ONLY ones I'd ever trust to work in my yard, especially now that there is a house with eaves to dodge.

After 2 days of Tommy and Bobcay zipping around with loads of dirt and rock, I can honestly say that not a leaf was harmed on anything we'd planted and the house is totally intact. even though they were literally working within inches of the eaves and walls for quite a bit of the project.

Didn't even bother this bee:
& finished (except for hand work) project:

The area ...

2007-07-11T07:05:00.001-07:00

These Ngobes live near us. Most of the ones that we've met seem like nice, honest folk. The guy on the far right, who is proudly holding the baby, is Victor, who helped Paul build some of our rock walls. Some, not all, as he became ill - he initially thought someone had cast an evil spell on him, but his main employer insisted that he go to the doctor and he was diagnosed with diabetes.
One of our orchids started blooming ... and a cute little green hummingbird loved it - as if typical, though, the bird escaped getting his photo taken, so we only captured the flower:

And this beauty is a local flower:

Electrical update, etc.

2007-07-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Union Fermosa has amended their '15 day' estimate --- now, we've only got '3 more months to go' .... told you that Panama has a different calendar than anywhere else in the world!

While we wait for our permanent visas to get approved and power for the house, we putter at projects and find new things in the yard like this huge, gorgeous caterpillar ... I'd be fascinated to know what this beauty morphs into:... Our latest project created such a sensation that a war raged over it... an avian war, that is. Of course it took the hummers a couple days to figure out the feeder.... I'd colored the sugar water to help them find the feeder and they found that right off, but they were so busy admiring the ruby hue that they initially didn't find the 'nectar', so Paul put a bag over the bottle and it didn't take long for the great discovery to be made ... the only problem was that this fella wasn't the only one to stake the claim:
As far as I've been able to tell, we have at least four types of hummers feuding over ownership of the feeder - the tiniest is an iridescent pale green with a red throat, then there are two medium sized ones: a bluish purple and this teal green one; then there's my favorite, a big blackish fellow that looks to be 5-6 inches from top of head to tail - he's the guy with a curved beak and also one who is hard to photograph... not that any of them are easy to get pictures of... I've decided hummingbirds are the jets of the bird kingdom (and the butterflies that live around here aren't slouches, either.)

Another 'wet' subject

2007-07-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Our photo of the week - another spectacular sunset over Tisingal - 5 minutes after the photo, the 'heavens openes':

Playing Waiting Games

2007-06-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Today, we moved the antenna from the rental to the top of the new house.

Don't have much time for loads of news and figure you
don't want to hear about packing boxes, anyway. By the
end of the week, we hope to catch up with the antenna,
but still don't have a firm date for our electric
connection, so we may go sailing for a while.

Paco (the electrician pictured below) says the electric company has
passed our application for electricity and will come
out this week to review options about installing the
poles... I asked Paco if we should plan on one or two
years - he just laughed, but I was only half kidding.

Of beds & electricity ...

2007-06-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

This is our photo of the week:

See how the clouds roll through the rain forest? We've been trying to get a photo of that for ages, but generally, by the time we realize the clouds are coming, we're in the 'fog'.

Paul commissioned Mr. Rodriquez to build a bed for our spare room - here the finished product is, when we went to pay for it at his shop:

Now, the only problem with having a queen sized bed built is getting it home. Luckily, Mr. Rodriquez knew Carlos, a taxi driver, whose taxi was a Toyota truck and judging by how quickly they got it loaded and strapped down, they've done this before:

Since our major problem was figuring out how to move our mattress to the new house, we asked the taxi driver if it was possible to drop by our rental house - he could do this in the same load! And he did .... the cost for moving both bed and mattress was $3.00.

Looks good in the guest room, doesn't it? Paul had Mr. Rodriguez build the bed 'Panama-style', which means that no box spring is needed. Believe it or not, it's very comfortable.

We're still waiting for Union Fermosa, the local electric company, to put in 1/2 kilometer of poles and install our service. The crew has optomistically built the thing we need for the electric company to hook up to. Don't ask me what it's called, but Carlos, the architect, designed it so we could use the bottom portion for our trash cans - they just haven't built the gates for it, yet, in these photos.

Union Fermosa says we'll have electricity in "15 days" ... we've heard other gringos say they were given the same time, yet one person waited 35 days, so I'm fairly certain they mean 15 'Panama days' ... Panama doesn't count time like anywhere else I've ever been - they only count Monday thru Friday (claim they count working days, but even if a place is open on Saturday, they don't count it as a work day). Furthermore, they do not count holidays. SO, when the electric company tells us "15 days" I scramble to find out if there are any holidays this month (not that I can tell), so I figure they really meant "3 weeks".

Water week, too -

2007-06-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

Now that wet season has returned with a vengeance, things are looking very green and even the little local water falls have picked up pizazze:

Flowers are blooming:

And the growth on trees that looked dead has sprung back to life:

Normally, I take photos of the front of the house because it's a lot easier... Today, I more or less got a photo of the back, but as you see, it's close to the steep bank down to the creek and that bank is rain forest, so while you get a glimpse, you can also see why I don't take photos of the back.

AND, this is our 'photo of the week' simply because it was such a shock to drive down our little back road and find this sign telling everyone what a lovely area Tisingal is.

Water Week

2007-06-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

Just about every week during rainy season is 'water week', but that epitaph is particularly true of the past week. Paul and two of the guys spent 3 mornings building a 'house' for the spring. I keep telling him that he can't call it a house because it's one of the most un-square things I've ever seen. Paul's goal was to only allow spring water in the structure, so he needed to keep it away from surface water (a nearby cliff)... and he was hemmed in by 3 big bolders, which acted like side walls... the floor was a rock, too.

As you can see in the following series of photos, the 'structure' looks more like a boulder, itself and I'm betting that by the end of rainy season, it'll blend in with it's neighboring boulders.

Of windows, doors & cabinets ....

2007-05-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Good news - the camera got back from repair the day the windows and doors arrived ... it's been a busy-busy week, since the cabinets quickly followed. This is the back door/window, which will eventually lead to our outdoor cooking area and the creek:

The kitchen cabinets arrived, as well - all doors, windows and cabinets were made by Orlando Rodriguez, a local ebanisteria (cabinet maker), who has a shop here, in Volcan. Paul decided he liked Mr. Rodriguez even before he met the man because when we went to check out his shop, Paul saw trunks of trees lying outside ... that's the way Paul builds furniture, too - he starts with the tree.

Oh, and Paul has been busy hanging lights - I love the fan he chose for the main area - actually, there are 3 identical ones -

This is Mr. Rodriguez - the fellow in yellow is one of his sons, and he's definately passing the lessons in craftmanship on. Here, you see them checking to make sure they brought everything ... they even made a lovely lazy-susan for the corner cabinet.

Here you see that they've set up 'installation shop' in the living room .... that rectangular thing Mr. Rodriguez is working on is the BACK side of one vanity counter ... no photos of that finished project in this post, because it's not totally done, but it's looking great.

These are the guys who are installing the kitchen cabinets:

And here you see the kitchen cabinets installed. As soon as we get tile for the wall and finish the counters & floors, and install the vent above the cooktop, this room will be totally finished.

In case you live near Volcan and would like Mr. Rodriguez to build you something special for your home (he makes great furniture, too) you can phone him at either 771-4356 or his cell 6634 4869.

Meet Louis, one of our painters - whenever he's not welding a brush or roller, he grabs the broom and starts cleaning:

Here he is doing touch-up out in the carport ... isn't that an amazing roof?

.... of course, I think the view of the garden is starting to look good, too.

This fella is Nicko - you've seen his photo before (he's generally on the roof). In this shot, he's pouting because it started to rain and he's waiting for it to stop so he can get back on that scaffold...

While Nicko is mourning the return of wet season, the plants are loving it - this is a bit of the rock wall we put in & 'planted' with moss, ferns and orchids:

We've literally have thousands of orchids living on the lot, but most of them as tiny - here's a photo of the most recent bloom we found - Paul put his thumb in the picture so you can see why we joke about the need to carry around a magnifying glass so we can totally appreciate our flowers.

Rainy season & construction

2007-05-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

The camera is still in the shop, so no photos of the house's new doors and windows or the lovely greenery that's sprouting up everywhere courtesy of the afternoon/evening showers.

Thankfully, the roof is up.

Since we're on the side of a mountain, the lot slopes and if you look at the photos from mid January (dry season), you'll see that the dirt behind the carport (that entire side of the house had dirt much higher than floor level.

Back in January, when he saw where the house would sit, Paul hired Thomas and the tractor to dig out two to three feet of dirt and rock. Thomas' efforts nearly stopped the temporary creek that flows through the carport when it pours. As we push for a permanent cure, we dig small ditches to determine how much deeper we need to take the area down to. (this is more like 2-3 inches instead of feet, so we're very close).

Unfortuantely some of the crew do not understand why anyone would want little ditches around their house, so when they see a low spot, they help us by leveling the area - generally, this is done when they're cleaning mortar and stucco out of their wheelbarrows - makes great dams ... the water has run through the carport twice.

As we drive around Volcan, we see many roofs with rocks on top of them - locals use these to hold down roofing (much more economical than nails)... Oddly enough, a significant percentage of the homes have leaky roofs. The typical response is to move whatever might get wet to a dry spot.

My response to seeing water edging toward the carport is to rush out into the downpour (generally with a shovel or pick ax) and check the ditches to find out what's blocking them. I'm fairly certain our work crew is convinced I'm either a real water lover or a loca gringa... I mean why else would anyone go running out in the rain with a shovel instead of an umbrella?

Colors & chaos...

2007-05-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

No photos for this update - the camera is acting up and in for warranty repair.

This week, Jimbo has kept busy covering the metal roof supports with wood; Jeemias and Raul (plus at least one other) have been installing tile everywhere I'd allow it ... Paul loves tile, but if it were only me, I wouldn't have a single square in the house; at least three guys are busy painting - the ceiling is turning white, the interior walls are the same pale yellow I used in SC - the yellow that makes it look sunny inside, even if it's raining sideways; someone has been painting the exterior - we told Carlos to choose a brown that would look good with the windows and doors - he's been in the States for the past week and hasn't seen the exterior color, which looks pinkish against the orangish wood of the doors and windows that Senior Roderiguez has his crew installing. If that wasn't enough, Paco, the electrician has his crew running wires, Paul has been soldering wires in the switch and outlet boxes and I have been trying to stay out of the way.

Don't ask me how many there are on the job ... there's more activity at the house than in a three-ring circus. I'm serious.

And, the weather has changed back to the rainy season, so activities need to be scheduled around Mother Nature. Of course, this means that the trees are green-green and the sky turns from blue to varying shades of grey ....

This, I think this post's name: colors & chaos is accurate.

Most of the Stucco is now done...

2007-04-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just about all the stucco is on the exterior - here, you can see how they put up alignment boards to use as guides - also note that primer sealer has begun:
Moss, tiny ferns and lichen have sprung up on rocks with the return of the rain:

And we found a grasshopper in the garden:

This cutie is our flower photo of the week:

I put this one at the bottom so you can more easily compare the progress to last week's photo:

The project continues...

2007-04-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

As I warned weeks ago, once the walls are done, photos of a construction project tend to be boring and it seems like progress takes forever. That said, if you look closely, you can see that the crew is making excellent progress on the stucco both inside and out:

I spared you a photo of the wires protruding from the outlet and switch boxes, but the electrical should be done shortly - then, all we need is for our turn to get to the top of the electric company's 'install list'& they install poles ... if they take too long, Paul is talking about designing a 'wheel' to use the creek to generate electricity. He'd probably do that just for the fun of it.

That photo below isn't much more exciting than electrical wires - Paul was making certain his cooktop fit the counter correctly - and it did.

Carlos tells me that we need to pick our lights, etc. Hopefully, something will 'catch my eye'.

When we started the project, I'd assumed we'd install recessed lights, as we did in our previous house, but that's not possible with this roof design, so I get a mental blank when this topic comes up. Paul believes track lights will go well with this ceiling and since there are some really nice ones of those, I'm sure we'll come up with something that is both attractive and functional.

Right now seems to be a transition season: it's not windy every day, but it isn't rainy, either. Thus, Paul devised a sprinkler head for his pump and keeps moving it around to check the drainage of various parts of the yard. Looks kinda cute on top of 'table rock' doesn't it?

During the past ten days....

2007-04-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

While we made a trip to Panama City for business, the crew kept busy finishing the final roof system, which is over the living room. As you can see, they've also made progress applying the interior stucco to the walls:

This gives you a better look at the rafters above the living room - eventually we'll hang a large ceiling fan from the center:

Obviously, part of the crew was busy applying stucco to the exterior walls, too:

And Raul built the former and poured the other kitchen counter - the sink will go in by the yellow thing and the gas cooktop will go where Raul left the cut-out on the new counter ... the gap between the end of the counter and the doorway to the garage will be where the refrigerator goes:

Since the new section of roof was nearing completion on the exterior, too, Paul went up to inspect... If you look close, you can see that the crew has already begun hangind eaves troughs on the upper / living room roof:

Good Friday update ...

2007-04-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

The last section of roof started & already has most of its rafters:

The coffee plants are celebrating Easter by bursting into bloom:

Here's a closeup of the flowers - aren't they lovely?

And, today, I learned that coffee is pollinated by bees:

Starting the final rush to finish

2007-04-05T15:40:00.001-07:00

Paul just loves taking photos of Baru - in this, clouds shroud the cooling volcano from the nearly full moon:

This is our pretty flower photo of the week (dug the bulb up in a drainage ditch):

This is our bizarre flower photo of the week:

Last blog, we showed you how Raul and Nicko were setting the rebar in preparation of pouring the concrete. Well, this is their finished product:

In the photo above, the guy on the right is called Jeeemius (yes, I meant to type 3 E's ... his name sounds like 'heir-ah-ME-as'.) I'm pointing him out to you because he's a really nice person and very organized - he's the one that makes sure supplies are on site when they're supposed to be and he's the only person I know of who actually understands why Paul's ram pump works.

In my experience, only masters in their crafts can make something look simple and easy, and Raul, who is pictured here, with the counter he made, certainly makes working with concrete look easy.

Either Tom or Iris Brolin took this photo, when they caught Paul and I taking a well deserved break and watching birds 'n' butterflies by the Tisingal:

The 3 ring 'circus' continues...

2007-04-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

We've started to get rain - prior to the past week, we'd only had two days of rain since we began this project - but windy season seems to be 'winding down' and the rain is back - Paul's photo of the week shows how plump the little bladders of these orchids,which live on top of a rock have gotten:
Carlos, the crew chief, preparing to build the final section of roof:

Using a wheelbarrow as a sawhorse.

And in the kitchen, the final tweaks are going on the former before they pour the island counter.

Before I close, I'd like to mention that this week we learned a planer can be used to sharpen pencils.

Topo Map of house's area

2007-03-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

Paul tweaked this satellite map to show the area our house (small square) is being built and its proximity to Volcan (larger square to the South). Just click on the title to access it.

Laying floor

2007-03-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today, we arrived at the worksite to find the crew laying concrete in our future kitchen. They were equipped with a really great vibrator to shake the gravel down,
but only had a narrow 'float', so being the field mechanic/engineer that he is, Paul and Carlos were soon fabricating something better out of a scrap of rafter.

And now to test it ...
Works fine - see the result:

Paul's pump, again

2007-03-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

This is the pool at the side of the river, where Paul catches the water for his pump:

And from the pool, the water runs down this pipe to the pump - I think he said it was 100-120 feet + 13 feet downward. Regardless, once he finishes burying this tubing, the project is done except for devising an attractive water feature in the yard:
Paul took this photo of his ram pump, so now you know what it looks like ... I still think it works by magic, I mean how can the thing spew out water down below, yet pump a gallon or more of water straight up to the garden every ten second?

Out n About in Panama's Chiriqui Province

2007-03-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

Photo of the week - Baru lit by the setting sun:
Meet Juan T., our neighbor, who invited us to join him for a trip to visit another of his places. He checked the tide tables before we all headed down the mountains, because after we ran out of road we moved from the truck to Juan's canoe...
Juan timed our trip to ride the 'right tides' through the channels, most of which bordered old mangroves inhabited by many species of birds and cute crabs. We saw fish leaping, flies darting and locals swimming, but mostly, I saw Paul's back ;-)
Isn't this place spectacular?
Our destination is finally in sight!
And THIS is the view from Juan's place ... can you imagine having the Pacific right out your front door?:

This is a photo of the estuary where Juan docks his canoe ... once only the tree tops were visible, it was deep enough to get back through the mangroves to the mainland.

Starting stucco

2007-03-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

Stucco starts with putting up boards as guides for the crew to use, after the wall is done, they pop the boards off and automatically have a clean edge:

The crew has started 'skinning' the wall:

Here you see the finished wall - they will do this to the interior walls as well:

Now, I know the following photo doesn't look very exciting, but that pile of gravel will soon be my floor, so I consider the arrival this coupled with a very unphotogenic pile of bags containing portland cement something to cheer about:

Paul's latest project...

2007-03-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

No photos for this - couldn't figure out a way to make it look interesting...

Ever since he heard about them in engineering class, Paul has wanted to build a hydraulic ram pump; it took buying this lot to make constructing one feasible. So, he took a break from building his wall, bought a bunch of PVC pipe and fittings and built a system to move water from the Tisingal Rio up the bank so we could use the 'fortified water' (don't forget there's a trout farm uphill from us ;-) for our plants.

Basically the thing works on a mathematical formula comprising length of accumulator pipe, and drop. Gravity is its ONLY means of propulsion (that or magic). Whatever, every ten seconds, it's pumping a gallon of fishy water straight up the bank. The plants are thrilled.

& the roof begins to turn red...

2007-03-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've previously showed you lots of wood rafters, now the crew is starting to put drywall on top of them and we STILL haven't seen the promised metal go in except for a few token bits! This looks good on the inside, plus it gives sound proofing. After the drywall is on, 2 inch square boards are put on top of the rafters. These provide three things: 1) a place to secure the roofing; 2) dead air space, which is good insulation; 3) a convenient space to run wires for the ceiling lights:

Here, a few sheets of the tile roofing are going on top of the furring strips:

Here is a complete side:
The project continues to progress at a steady pace, so I suspect that pig should begin to worry about being the main 'guest' at the dry-in fiests in another week or so.

Once the roof is done, the walls still need to be smoothed, the electrical run + fixtures, etc. installed, the plumbing fixtures installed (almost all pipe and conduit are already in, but they are very dull photos), windows & doors, paint, acid stain for the counters and floors and then we get to (drum roll, please) move in!!!

For now, Paul and I continue to putter away at the garden. This week, Paul built a hydro ram pump, which worked fine when he tested the design (it's not particularly photogenic, though it's highly functional at moving water from the creek into the garden).

His current project is burying the tubing for his pump and guess what - he's finding lots more big, lovely rocks.

Who would have foreseen that?!

Since he's got the pump, he's been 'digging' out the big ones (one ton or more) with hydro-power, which seems slow, but gets things done quite nicely if left alone for a few hours... as long as he doesn't ignore the pump too long, this is good - don't want the water to erode us our own Grand Canyon or anything.

This n that

2007-03-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

We're getting VERY close to having a 'real roof'!!!
& Paul has gotten a long section of wall finished - he's looking at the end of this project - at least as much as he can do for the moment.

We discovered this sturdy foot bridge on our wanderings this week ... horses use it ... I couldn't be paid to ride a horse across that bridge!

This is what was under the bridge:

--- it's called Rio Piedra (Stone River - I think that's quite appropriate).

& more rafters ...

2007-02-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

The 'image of the week': Obviously has nothing to do with building a house in the mountains. The photo, above, is of sunrise over Miraflores lake - if you're interested in reading the story about why this photo got into this blog, you'll have to go to our boat's blog at http://www.svevenstar.blogspot.com
And, as advertised, a couple photos of the rafters:

Rafters

2007-02-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

First, our photo of the week - this one celebrates the sky:
Today, Paul's carport has turned into a bee hive of activity - everyone is sanding and sealing the rafters before hoisting them into position:

The metal rafters pictured seem to be the ONLY metal rafters going into the roof. At least they've switched to pressure treated wood, but it's still not the 'no wood' roof that we requested.

Since one of the guys had to move his portion into the future living room, I'm wondering if Paul's shop/garage area is going to be large enough -

And speaking of Paul, he continues building his rock wall - here, he's washing down the stones he just moved into place:

Composting Panama Style

2007-02-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here trying to decide what to put into this blog while I sip fresh-squeezed o.j. (It'll be another morning when Paul can barely wait to take out the kitchen scraps - don't know who gets more excited about this, him or the cows). In other words, a rather typical morning in Volcan with the sun shining, the birds singing and the breeze caressing the boughs of the pines, which surround our rental house.

Since you may not understand Paul’s glee over composting, let me remind you of Linda, the cow I like - her photo originally appeared in the first part of the blog. Since she started helping with the composting, she has learned her name. I say this because yesterday, I had orange rinds, too, but the cattle weren't grazing where they normally are - they were about a block from the road, in the pasture across from a Panamanian family's weekend house (they have a fabulous flower garden and full time gardener).

Paul pulled over and I hopped out of the Jeep with the bag of orange rinds from our breakfast juice and called, "Linda! Linda!" She answered with an enthusiastic moo. The gardener forgot what he was supposed to be watering and just stared at the sight of a cow called 'Pretty' running toward the fence ... Two bulls ( Ja-Ja Binks the big gray brahma, with huge floppy ears and Butterscotch a big orange and white guy) were close on her hooves and since those guys were heading toward me, half the rest of the herd came a scooting, too.

The poor gardener looked ready to beat feet in the opposite direction.

Ehem, anyway, Linda gulped down 3 halves before the guys arrived.

The highlight of Paul's day was having Ja-Ja eat right out of his hand.

The cows stopped at the fence, so the gardner held his ground. People around here sure do mop their brows a lot.

Of course, since half the herd responded, perhaps they think Linda means 'free oranges'..... And to me, it’s a great way to get Paul eager to take out the refuse.

A 'perfect rock' ....

2007-02-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

One morning, Paul put his coffee mug down on this rock, walked away, then looked back and realized the rock was a perfect table .... unfortunately it was in a terrible location.

Fortunately, Tommy and the Bobcat could move the monster to the back yard, where we eventually plan to build a nice area for outdoor entertaining.

AND then Paul and Pierre leveled it ... Paul will finish the area, later, when he finds more 'prefect rocks'.

Progress continues

2007-02-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

Now that the walls have reached their full height, it’s time to find other things to photograph. The crew is keeping busy doing a wide variety of things, half of which seem to involve putting holes in the walls:

The above is the future laundry room & the new holes are being filled with plumbing and electrical outlets. The opening to the left goes into our closet & shortens the distance I need to haul laundry.
Below, in the master bath, they’ve already started filling in the holes:

And here, a worker has begun final finishing - in this specific situation, he’s working on making the opening for the future front door the exact size needed as well as making certain it’s straight and smooth:

I don’t know which of the guys did this, but someone has built the formers for the island-counter in the kitchen.

I must admit this feature was a bit difficult to choose. Paul liked the idea of a tile counter. I declared that grout was difficult to keep clean and sanitary and lobbied for wood. Paul pointed out that the counters next to the sink and stove needed to be nonflammable, plus not rot if they got wet. We’ve agreed to compromise on poured concrete, which is a typical way for this area, and Carlos has agreed to test acid-finishing concrete, if he can get the chemicals. With as much concrete as they use in building, here, I was surprised to find out they didn’t use the acid finishes which are gaining such popularity in other areas.
Okay, back to photos of progress – here, one of Paul’s short, decorative walls is being used as a worktable to craft a short piece of rafter.

Above and below, you can see the rafters taking form … soon, there will be a real roof and that means we’ll have a fiesta with a pig being the ‘guest of honor’.

AND, after a hard day of work, the guys are getting ready to go home.

February 4, 2007, before I tell you about the house, I'd like to share a great photo Paul took of the moon over Baru:

Hello from atop one of Paul's new walls:
A section of wall bordering the back yard was one of Paul's projects:

The wood lying next to the wall is going up as rafters, but we can't figure out why it's wood, since we specifically (and over and over) told Carlos that we wanted metal rafters... Carlos told us he wanted false wood rafters because he likes the look. After living in an oak forest in South Carolina for 18 years, we want something totally termite proof, so are waiting to see the promised metal:

& this is a view from the backyard looking through the future living room & yes, the walls are a bit higher than the typical eight feet:

This week, Raul started on the short natural stone walls which will eventually occupy four sections of the garage walls - the first photo shows how they lay the rocks & the second the completed section:

And this is what the walls look like on the inside:

January 31, 2007:

As we head into February, the septic tank has a new lid:

Paul has great water pressure from the spring he tapped:

And the high sections of the living room walls are going up, so I think the roof will come soon ... and after the tiles are on, the photos won't look like much is getting done, even though it is because walls going up always looks dramatic while the finishing of them tends to be a tad dull....

Getting close to the roof ...

2007-01-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

January 24th: Meet Carlos & see the '3-ring circus' he's overseeing, today:

The above was the photo he provided (he thinks he looks better in a hat)... The following is one I took - I think he looks even better without the hat.

He's got workers finishing window sills:

Someone popping the framing off the opening for the front door:

& he even has a crew building the septic tank:

January 20th: The past week was devoted to quite a bit of landscaping; Paul's version of this involved hiring a couple of tractors & Tommy:

While our friend, Pierre, translated landscaping into using a shovel & wheelbarrow:

& I hope that our yard will equal its natural beauty when we're done:

This week, we realized one bedroom wall had been built about two feet over from where it should be ... no room for Paul's tub, which he's NOT happy about. Our solution was to 'flip' the points in the room. In other words, one side was supposed to have his and her sinks plus the toilet / the other side was to have my shower and the tub - one meter something is NOT enough space for a tub to someone over 6' tall... due to the 'flip', I'm not getting my shower, but Carlos says he'll build me one with the tub. Also, due to the flip, there's only space for one sink and I know Paul will commender it ... I'm claiming the guest bath!
January 13th, the carport looked like this:

& By January 20th, the same area looked like this, so you can see the house is coming right along, too:

(notice the 2nd tractor in the background?)

The next 2 photos are from January 8 - 13:
The crew poured the posts for the carport and began leveling the floor ... when I realized they were simply piling up the dirt & rock they were taking out, I asked them if they would please dump the wheelbarrows on the garden path where I was working - I then put the rocks on the side to 'edge' the flower beds and now has lovely, smooth footpaths - the crew smiled quite a bit over this, but I can't decide if they were amused by a gringa who knew how to use rakes and shovels or not having to move the dirt and rock a second time:

And #2 of January 8-13 isn't immediately obvious --- they added rebar to the tops of all walls and posts so everything is tied together:

January 15th - former boards are going up for the top beam, so we're not too far from starting the roof - also, the huge pile of dirt and rocks on the left is from digging the septic system, so that part is coming along, too:

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And the walls start upward ...

2006-12-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

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The following is the original blog, which I added photos, etc. to the bottom of -- then I realized the same people visited the blog to see update, and since I will be updating it at least once a week, now that the house is starting, I'll be adding the new portions on top.

Yes, we signed a contract with Carlos, who assured us that he would build us a wonderful house for the budget we have available. I gave him a sketch of the floor plan that we wanted and told him we wanted an L-shaped roof that has hips on the ends and eaves that are a minimum of one meter from the walls. Okay, Paul was the one who demanded wide eaves - in SC, we learned just how much damage rain could do and there is a mega wet season here.

We're looking forward to having a termite-proof house - block/stucco walls + metal rafters & a faux red tile roof that's corragated cement.

I'd originally wanted the living room to be open to the outdoors, but Carlos tweaked my roof design to have a high roof with huge windows on either end - Paul figures that will be better at night. It does get nippy at this altitude.

Basically, the 'guest wing' will consist of 2 bedrooms connected by a full bath (shower only). Then a sort of hall, which is really open to the living room. On the other side, the kitchen will open to the living room - a large L-shaped eating counter will divide the space, yet allow people to intermingle. A half bath and laundry room are adjacent on one side of the kitchen; a small dining room on the other. Just outside the dining room, we eventually plan to have an outdoor kitchen, so we'll have a lovely sliding door to link the areas.

The door to the master bedroom opens off the dining room. I'd originally thought of having a sliding door in there, too, but the one in the dining room should be close enough. The Master bedroom opens into the master bath: Paul's jacuzzi tub, my shower, his and her sinks and, of course, a toilet... Paul totally detests the short toilets that are the norm, down here, but Carlos assures us that the can get 3 taller toilets.

He also assures us he can get this done in 4 months and give us a 'turn key house', though he does seem baffled by dishwashers and says we'll need to purchase this. (This after first offering recommendations for a maid.)

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Meet Victor, who has been working with Paul on the walls:

In the states, we would have the footings dug with a backhoe, but in Panama, labor is inexpensive because jobs are scarce. Our architect/contractor, Carlos, pays each worker on his crew $10-25/day and he's considered to be a great employer.

While Carlos (in the white cap) & his crew work on the house, Paul and Victor use the plentiful rocks in our yard to continue building the rock wall around the property, which they began a few weeks ago, and I putter at landscaping ... I'm hampered in this goal by the knowledge that the septic system will need to be dug in, so I'm second-guessing Carlos as per his intentions on that subject, and, for now, confining my efforts to one corner of the lot. AND, as I put in paths, I dig up rocks, which I shove to the side of my path .... dear Paul thought I was building walls and asked if I'd like some suggestions for building stronger ones.... that's a fine example of how one person judges another by themselves ... HE was building walls, so thought that since 'my' rocks were more or less in a line, I must be building walls, too. Not. Outlining a garden, until the rocks are needed elsewhere, yes - frankly, I consider my 'walls' more of a line of debris from clearing my path than a wall.

The house started out by going down to dig the footings, so for the first couple weeks there wasn't much progress to be seen. However, walls are now rising to the eventual roof and in some rooms we can even see where the window will be, so I can begin to lay out complimentary garden beds.

From the beginning, Carlos has told us that he wants to put a rock in our floor ... we learned that the rock he wants to put into it is apparently too hard for his crew to dig out of the footings ... they dug down over a meter and that rock is still going. I guess the darn thing could be in a worse place, but I'd designed the house to have a doorway to facilitate 'traffic flow' from the garage and laundry area to the guest wing and due to the rock, I'll now have to put shelves up there so people won't trip on the protrusion.

Building in Panama certainly has unexpected situations!

Rainbow on the Horizon

2006-12-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

I've seen main rainbows in my life, but this was the first 'horizon rainbow' I'd ever seen. Magnificent, isn't it?

Maps to help orient you:

2006-11-29T13:06:00.000-08:00

First, a topographical map - Tisingal is just to the left of the Volcan triangle, which is on the far left:

& the provinces of Panama:

Around our area ....

2006-11-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

A local stone mason carves statues out of solid rock. He makes things to custom order as well as copy ancient designs:

IMO (in my opinion) his work is far superior to things I've seen at Pier 1.

And this palace is the house to the west of our lot... can not understand why it's uninhabited -

This is what the plants look like in the wild -
These wild orchids are my favorite -

This is one of my favorite neighbors - I call her Linda, which is Spanish for pretty:

And this is the house to our east ... it's inhabited, but I suspect that it will soon be sold to another gringo & whoever buys it will have a lovely bonfire - this assumes that the Ngobe who lives these doesn't burn it down himself ... I've seen smoke billowing out of the cracks more than once:

Canyon trip

2006-11-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hello from 'the canyon', which is a fast moving little river about a half hour drive from Volcan. As you can see, it's quite spectacular:

A few of Panama's birds...

2006-11-20T15:33:00.001-08:00

The above photo was taken by our friend, Nariño V. Aizpurúa, who is a local ornithologist. In case anyone is interested, he has a company called Western Wind's Venture and will take people on birding trips - his knowledge is amazing.

While I haven't had much luck photographing birds, as you can see, others have, so I've borrowed a few bird photos from others, too - if you like what you see, you can view lots more at http://panamabirding.com. The first photo is of Panama's famous quetzal, which nests on the slopes of Baru - I think its christmasy colors are appropriate since poinsettias and mistletoe grow wild in this area:

Another map & further explanation of the area ...

2006-11-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

Though Panama is roughly the same size as South Carolina, it doesn't resemble it in any other way. At its narrowest point, about 50 miles of rugged mountains separate the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific and I'm told that if you stand atop the correct peak on a clear day, you can see both oceans. I'm just trying to figure out why I want to climb a mountain to do that.

Ehem, getting back to the map: Volcan is on the far left (west). This is where we've rented a house. The lot we purchased is about 5 kilometers farther west - it's on the slopes of the Tisingal volcano, which last erupted 300 years before Christ. The core is cold, so we think we're pretty safe. Tisingal spawned the lovely creek, appropriately named Rio de Tisingal, that borders our property.

AND, 2,300 years ago, when it erupted, it blessed our property with a million rocks,.

Flowers & butterflies

2006-11-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

Until coming here, we'd never dreamed that citrus trees, impatiens and orchids grew wild. I mean on some level of thought we must have known this, but to us, these were exotic plants only grown in greenhouses.

Not any more.

When we purchased our lot, we also purchased one full grown grapefruit tree and three lemon trees... and we've been getting a 'citrus education', particularly about lemons, which can be small as a ping-pong ball or large as a five-pound bag of sugar; their taste ranges from sweet (practically tasteless) to bitter (this sort taste good if dipped in a bit of sugar).

We also learned that parakeets fly in noisy flocks, while parrots and falcons seem rather solitary. Despite the fact that the area our lot is in in a prime location for birders, we haven't had much luck taking photos of birds ... butterflies and flowers are calmer, so we'll share these with you:

Not all the flowers are small the ones below are seen on the 'flame of the forest', which is the national tree of Panama and each blossom is the size of a teacup:

AND, until now, perhaps you could say that you'd never seen the flower of a banana tree:

While I wouldn't call a banana blossom beautiful, I would certain call it sculptural...

And, I promised photos of the butterflies which were slow enough to focus on (beleive me there are some really fast species around here):

Beautiful vistas are everywhere you look ...

2006-11-20T09:34:00.002-08:00

Beautiful as the mountains are, and desolate as they can seem, I must remember that many farms (fincas) have coffee plantations here:

At the moment, the ripe beans (red) are being picked. Workers need to be very careful about how they work and not let beans drop to the ground, as this can create problems. They pick beans into 5 gallon buckets and, depending on who they work for either get paid by the bucket or pound.

As you can see, coffee plants are very attractive. The factories that process the beans are generally off the beaten path, some of them are so remote that 4 wheel drive is necessary.