For some reason I can't get the videos to download to the blog.
Here are the 2 links to see them on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B1nGoIOD5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB-U6wsNrYg
Hitched!
The knot has been tied
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Bananama
Hello from Bananama,
Hope you are all enjoying your summer so far.
It’s a perfect day to finally get an update out. It’s raining, thunder, lightning and doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon. YAHOO!
Celebrated Wayne’s birthday on the 22nd. Our original plan was to go to the Auto Lava for a car wash, Cerviche (marinated seafood) and Cervesa (beer). I know what you are all going to wish for for your next birthday. It’s hysterical. All over the place you can pull in, get the car washed and vacuumed for $3 while enjoying an ice cold beer and cerviche. We ended up only at a place with beer and rum while you waiting. You can buy the whole bottle of rum for $2 (a small bottle). You bring along your own mixers and have a good old time! See, there are some things in this country that make sense!
We are spending our days looking at land. It’s pretty apparent if we are going to get screwed over by anyone, it will be a gringo. So we are trying to talk to locals instead which means there is a lot of grunting, drawing in the dirt, etc. Met one rice farmer who brought us back to his place. Amazing how simple they live. Met his wife and son and got to see his small rice production (Pictures attached on blog) As far as land, the prices are all over the place. No idea yet what we’ll end up buying.
Another farmer/bar owner we met showed off his crab harvest to us. Yummy! He gets them in the mangroves. Also while we were there an old man and woman showed up to sell their turtle eggs. Highly illegal to do. It kind of sucked to see it since the turtles are endangered. (pictures of crabs and eggs on blog). I guess they cook the eggs in tomato, garlic and onion and then suck the insides out. They claim it’s incredible. I think I might have finally found something I won’t eat!!!
Met with an attorney the other day. We knew immediately that he was going to be the attorney we use. He began by welcoming us to Bananama. Ain’t that the truth! He is 100% Panamanian. There are a few professions here that only Panamanians can hold, attorney being one of them. Then we noticed an autographed picture of Metalica on his wall. He got so excited when we mentioned it. He said he was a METAL lover. AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Kiss, etc. He even managed a band that covered Kiss and they won some kind of big award. When he goes to see AC/DC he dresses in a kilt. Yes, this will be our attorney, no doubt! We hear AC/DC will be coming to Bananama after their US tour. Excellent and we’ll probably go with our attorney.
Any way, found out good news. We don’t need to leave the country until November. A new law was passed giving tourist 6 months instead of 3. He also recommended that we don’t bother trying to become residents. Says it’s expensive and no need. As long as we leave every 6 months for 72 hours, we are fine. AND if we don’t really want to leave for 72 hours, he will give us a name of a guy at the Costa Rican border who will go ahead and stamp us in and out in a matter of a few minutes. I said ‘so we just ask for him and tell him who our attorney is’. He said ‘OH NO, NO, NO don’t give them my name!!!’
Went to a tuna lab the other day. Very cool. They do all kinds of research on tuna. They’ve got a huge tank with 15 tuna in it, the largest was close to 200 pounds. We wanted to bring our fishing rods as a joke but decided against it. (Pictures and video are attached on the blog)
We witnessed crocodiles being lassoed (pictures and video on the blog). At the tuna lab there is a pond and the crocs find their way there. They aren’t welcomed guests. The day we were there, they were trying to catch 2 of the bigger ones to move off the property and let them loose about an hour or so away.
Wayne has got almost everything he needs for the boat mooring. That only took about a month. I guess the biggest frustration here would be trying to get stuff and stuff that isn’t crap made in China.
So all in all, nothing too exciting these past 2 weeks.
Hope you are all enjoying your summer so far.
It’s a perfect day to finally get an update out. It’s raining, thunder, lightning and doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon. YAHOO!
Celebrated Wayne’s birthday on the 22nd. Our original plan was to go to the Auto Lava for a car wash, Cerviche (marinated seafood) and Cervesa (beer). I know what you are all going to wish for for your next birthday. It’s hysterical. All over the place you can pull in, get the car washed and vacuumed for $3 while enjoying an ice cold beer and cerviche. We ended up only at a place with beer and rum while you waiting. You can buy the whole bottle of rum for $2 (a small bottle). You bring along your own mixers and have a good old time! See, there are some things in this country that make sense!
We are spending our days looking at land. It’s pretty apparent if we are going to get screwed over by anyone, it will be a gringo. So we are trying to talk to locals instead which means there is a lot of grunting, drawing in the dirt, etc. Met one rice farmer who brought us back to his place. Amazing how simple they live. Met his wife and son and got to see his small rice production (Pictures attached on blog) As far as land, the prices are all over the place. No idea yet what we’ll end up buying.
Another farmer/bar owner we met showed off his crab harvest to us. Yummy! He gets them in the mangroves. Also while we were there an old man and woman showed up to sell their turtle eggs. Highly illegal to do. It kind of sucked to see it since the turtles are endangered. (pictures of crabs and eggs on blog). I guess they cook the eggs in tomato, garlic and onion and then suck the insides out. They claim it’s incredible. I think I might have finally found something I won’t eat!!!
Met with an attorney the other day. We knew immediately that he was going to be the attorney we use. He began by welcoming us to Bananama. Ain’t that the truth! He is 100% Panamanian. There are a few professions here that only Panamanians can hold, attorney being one of them. Then we noticed an autographed picture of Metalica on his wall. He got so excited when we mentioned it. He said he was a METAL lover. AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Kiss, etc. He even managed a band that covered Kiss and they won some kind of big award. When he goes to see AC/DC he dresses in a kilt. Yes, this will be our attorney, no doubt! We hear AC/DC will be coming to Bananama after their US tour. Excellent and we’ll probably go with our attorney.
Any way, found out good news. We don’t need to leave the country until November. A new law was passed giving tourist 6 months instead of 3. He also recommended that we don’t bother trying to become residents. Says it’s expensive and no need. As long as we leave every 6 months for 72 hours, we are fine. AND if we don’t really want to leave for 72 hours, he will give us a name of a guy at the Costa Rican border who will go ahead and stamp us in and out in a matter of a few minutes. I said ‘so we just ask for him and tell him who our attorney is’. He said ‘OH NO, NO, NO don’t give them my name!!!’
Went to a tuna lab the other day. Very cool. They do all kinds of research on tuna. They’ve got a huge tank with 15 tuna in it, the largest was close to 200 pounds. We wanted to bring our fishing rods as a joke but decided against it. (Pictures and video are attached on the blog)
We witnessed crocodiles being lassoed (pictures and video on the blog). At the tuna lab there is a pond and the crocs find their way there. They aren’t welcomed guests. The day we were there, they were trying to catch 2 of the bigger ones to move off the property and let them loose about an hour or so away.
Wayne has got almost everything he needs for the boat mooring. That only took about a month. I guess the biggest frustration here would be trying to get stuff and stuff that isn’t crap made in China.
So all in all, nothing too exciting these past 2 weeks.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Darkest Day Yet
My Darkest Day so far:
This might be my darkest day so far here in Panama. Yes, it’s true you can pretty much get anything you want in Panama City…electronics, appliances, good bread, CHEESE. However, in a small village like Pedasi, not so much. The local shrimp man came by today and I bought 10 big, fat langostino’s. Our landlady has a huge basil plant that she said I could help myself too..OK! I’ve got garlic, olive oil and pasta. What’s missing? CHEESE. It almost hurts to type this…..I went to the ‘Chino’s’ (The Chinese own most of the little grocery stores in small towns, called ‘mini/supers’) and purchased a GREEN CAN OF PARMASEAN CHEESE. Ok, I said it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.
Wayne’s lost 23 pounds since we got here without even trying. I still look like a tick that’s been gorging on the family pet for the last week. WHAT THE %#$@!!!!!!!!!!!
So we almost flipped then sunk our boat the other day. There’s a boat launch in town but it’s only good at high tide. So we headed out a bit before high tide. No problem. Fished for about 2 hours and figured we still had time to make it back up the river. Well, in order to tell if the river has enough water, you kind of need to get close to the river mouth to see. To do that you need to drive horizontal to the beach, which we did. Well, sure enough a pretty big wave smashed the side of the boat. I literally went flying off the boat. I can only imagine what that had to look like. The motor stalled, the boat filled with water. I managed to hold the boat facing more oncoming waves while Wayne got the motor started. Then we bailed water like mad. We were able to take off and let gravity do it’s trick to drain the rest of the water. Ok, next option, beach it. So we headed to the beach where most people just beach or moor their boats. Wayne, not being all that comfortable with driving at ramming speed towards the beach, did his best and got the boat on land….kind of. Looked good at first. Turned ugly though after Wayne left to get the truck about ½ mile away while I held onto the boat. The tide was supposed to be going out but for the small section where I was standing, that wasn’t the case. Wave after wave continued to fill the boat. Ok, how the f*&% do you say HELP in Spanish? I should know this. Maybe it was the look of terror on my face that said it all. 3 locals came to my rescue. Bailed the boat and helped me hold it. Wayne arrived w/the truck and trailer and we had plenty of help tying the boat up and dragging it up onto the beach where it stayed for the night. Next day we returned to the beach and again, lots of help from the locals. I said to them ‘gringos idiotos’ or something like that. They all readily agreed with big smiles!!!! Word certainly spreads because pretty much everyone we come across knows about our ordeal. Great! I’ve got to say, the people here are great. I tried to offer to buy them beer and they wouldn’t have it. No way. It’s just what they all do. They all help each other. It’s nice. (Yes, we know they are totally ripping us behind our backs, but that's ok. We deserve it!!!)
Wayne had a virus of some kind. Came down w/a fever a few days ago. Got a super painful shot in the a&& and within an hour he was drinking fluids as the doctor prescribed. Not sure if she meant beer but in any case he was doing as told. Felt better for a day and then it came back. We are told right now because there is so much moisture there is a lot of mold and it’s causing a bit of bug to be going around town.
Big fishing tournament happening this weekend. Started Fri. and ended Sunday. Obviously if you’ve read the above, you know why we didn’t take part in it!!!! Next year though we’ll know what we are doing. Wayne, once he feels better will work on making the mooring and we’ll buy a small rowboat to get us to and from Gato Solo. He also just got GPS and we are hoping to download more detailed maps and get a transducer. We tried to get one in Panama City but didn’t have any luck. Any one want to come to visit and bring us one????? There are ways to get them, just takes about a month.
I'll work on more pictures. It's so beautiful here but pictures just don't seem to capture it.
This might be my darkest day so far here in Panama. Yes, it’s true you can pretty much get anything you want in Panama City…electronics, appliances, good bread, CHEESE. However, in a small village like Pedasi, not so much. The local shrimp man came by today and I bought 10 big, fat langostino’s. Our landlady has a huge basil plant that she said I could help myself too..OK! I’ve got garlic, olive oil and pasta. What’s missing? CHEESE. It almost hurts to type this…..I went to the ‘Chino’s’ (The Chinese own most of the little grocery stores in small towns, called ‘mini/supers’) and purchased a GREEN CAN OF PARMASEAN CHEESE. Ok, I said it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.
Wayne’s lost 23 pounds since we got here without even trying. I still look like a tick that’s been gorging on the family pet for the last week. WHAT THE %#$@!!!!!!!!!!!
So we almost flipped then sunk our boat the other day. There’s a boat launch in town but it’s only good at high tide. So we headed out a bit before high tide. No problem. Fished for about 2 hours and figured we still had time to make it back up the river. Well, in order to tell if the river has enough water, you kind of need to get close to the river mouth to see. To do that you need to drive horizontal to the beach, which we did. Well, sure enough a pretty big wave smashed the side of the boat. I literally went flying off the boat. I can only imagine what that had to look like. The motor stalled, the boat filled with water. I managed to hold the boat facing more oncoming waves while Wayne got the motor started. Then we bailed water like mad. We were able to take off and let gravity do it’s trick to drain the rest of the water. Ok, next option, beach it. So we headed to the beach where most people just beach or moor their boats. Wayne, not being all that comfortable with driving at ramming speed towards the beach, did his best and got the boat on land….kind of. Looked good at first. Turned ugly though after Wayne left to get the truck about ½ mile away while I held onto the boat. The tide was supposed to be going out but for the small section where I was standing, that wasn’t the case. Wave after wave continued to fill the boat. Ok, how the f*&% do you say HELP in Spanish? I should know this. Maybe it was the look of terror on my face that said it all. 3 locals came to my rescue. Bailed the boat and helped me hold it. Wayne arrived w/the truck and trailer and we had plenty of help tying the boat up and dragging it up onto the beach where it stayed for the night. Next day we returned to the beach and again, lots of help from the locals. I said to them ‘gringos idiotos’ or something like that. They all readily agreed with big smiles!!!! Word certainly spreads because pretty much everyone we come across knows about our ordeal. Great! I’ve got to say, the people here are great. I tried to offer to buy them beer and they wouldn’t have it. No way. It’s just what they all do. They all help each other. It’s nice. (Yes, we know they are totally ripping us behind our backs, but that's ok. We deserve it!!!)
Wayne had a virus of some kind. Came down w/a fever a few days ago. Got a super painful shot in the a&& and within an hour he was drinking fluids as the doctor prescribed. Not sure if she meant beer but in any case he was doing as told. Felt better for a day and then it came back. We are told right now because there is so much moisture there is a lot of mold and it’s causing a bit of bug to be going around town.
Big fishing tournament happening this weekend. Started Fri. and ended Sunday. Obviously if you’ve read the above, you know why we didn’t take part in it!!!! Next year though we’ll know what we are doing. Wayne, once he feels better will work on making the mooring and we’ll buy a small rowboat to get us to and from Gato Solo. He also just got GPS and we are hoping to download more detailed maps and get a transducer. We tried to get one in Panama City but didn’t have any luck. Any one want to come to visit and bring us one????? There are ways to get them, just takes about a month.
I'll work on more pictures. It's so beautiful here but pictures just don't seem to capture it.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Meeeow. Prrrrrr.
Meeeeow. Prrrrr.
To some of you who have seen me recently, this may come as no surprise, but yeah, pretty much anywhere I go, I get catcalls. They’ll even be with their wives and they will still cat call out to me. I’m pretty much irresistible. No matter where I waddle, I WILL get a catcall. SO finally, I can hold my chins up high and be like ‘yah, that’s right. See this. I know you want it. Sizzle, sizzle.’ I LOVE this place!!!!!
So I was going to put together a list of 1. Things that just don’t make any friggin sense at all here and 2. Things that make total sense. Then I thought, well why I don’t I just let you all be the judges:
1. eggs and milk are not refrigerated. Milk on the shelf today (un-refrigerated) will have an expiration date of Nov. 2010.
2. Light syrup cost less than regular. Less sugar, soooo….
3. Bicycles are required to have license plates. Now mind you, we don’t have one on our truck because they ran out of the metal to make them.
4. Sticking with bicycles, they need to be registered but our boat doesn’t.
5. If you choose to register a boat, you need a lawyer to register it. Granted it only cost $4 to register, but you still need a lawyer.
6. Bottled water is at least 2xs the cost of a beer. Hello, no brainer!!!
7. Electricity and water mix, right? If you are so lucky (or unlucky) to have hot water, the showerheads have a switch, just like a light switch. You turn it on and the electrical coil in the head heats the water before it comes down on you. Remember what I said about the quality of their building here. They use a lot of tape. They are called ‘suicide showers’ for good reason. We take a lot of cold showers. If you can call 80 degree water cold. (See picture on blog)
8. I’m going to just go ahead and tell you this MAKES TOTAL SENSE: went to the pharmacy and here is my actual conversation:
Me: habla English? (do you speak English)
Pharmicist: Si (Yes)
Me: PHEW!
Me: Hello. I just moved here and I’m wondering if I can get birth control without seeing a doctor
Pharmacist: Of course
Me: PHEW!
Pharmacist: What kind?
Me: The kind that doesn’t make babies
Pharmacist: Ah, yes, muy importa (Very important).
Me thinking to self: (Well yeah, I’m not taking them because they taste good like a nice hunk of sheet cake. God what I’d give for a piece of sheet cake)
Pharmacist: (brings me to counter, holds up small box) Ah, yes, yes, these work pretty good.
Me: Pretty good you say? Ok, I’ll take my chances. We can always use the extra bait if they fail.
Pharmacist: GET OUT.
Ok so the last 2 lines I made up. But seriously, ‘these work pretty good’ PRETTY GOOD! Doesn’t that imply some kind of failure rate? In any event, I made my purchase. Will keep you posted.
Remember my frustration with the napkin situation here. (See photo attached to blog.) Notice size of napkins balled up next to fork.
Fischer just loves chasing the ‘flying squirrels’. He goes like mad and then crashes (See photo on blog)
Taking Gata Solo out tomorrow. Wish us luck. It will only be our 2nd trip out on her. Can’t wait!!!! We need food!
To some of you who have seen me recently, this may come as no surprise, but yeah, pretty much anywhere I go, I get catcalls. They’ll even be with their wives and they will still cat call out to me. I’m pretty much irresistible. No matter where I waddle, I WILL get a catcall. SO finally, I can hold my chins up high and be like ‘yah, that’s right. See this. I know you want it. Sizzle, sizzle.’ I LOVE this place!!!!!
So I was going to put together a list of 1. Things that just don’t make any friggin sense at all here and 2. Things that make total sense. Then I thought, well why I don’t I just let you all be the judges:
1. eggs and milk are not refrigerated. Milk on the shelf today (un-refrigerated) will have an expiration date of Nov. 2010.
2. Light syrup cost less than regular. Less sugar, soooo….
3. Bicycles are required to have license plates. Now mind you, we don’t have one on our truck because they ran out of the metal to make them.
4. Sticking with bicycles, they need to be registered but our boat doesn’t.
5. If you choose to register a boat, you need a lawyer to register it. Granted it only cost $4 to register, but you still need a lawyer.
6. Bottled water is at least 2xs the cost of a beer. Hello, no brainer!!!
7. Electricity and water mix, right? If you are so lucky (or unlucky) to have hot water, the showerheads have a switch, just like a light switch. You turn it on and the electrical coil in the head heats the water before it comes down on you. Remember what I said about the quality of their building here. They use a lot of tape. They are called ‘suicide showers’ for good reason. We take a lot of cold showers. If you can call 80 degree water cold. (See picture on blog)
8. I’m going to just go ahead and tell you this MAKES TOTAL SENSE: went to the pharmacy and here is my actual conversation:
Me: habla English? (do you speak English)
Pharmicist: Si (Yes)
Me: PHEW!
Me: Hello. I just moved here and I’m wondering if I can get birth control without seeing a doctor
Pharmacist: Of course
Me: PHEW!
Pharmacist: What kind?
Me: The kind that doesn’t make babies
Pharmacist: Ah, yes, muy importa (Very important).
Me thinking to self: (Well yeah, I’m not taking them because they taste good like a nice hunk of sheet cake. God what I’d give for a piece of sheet cake)
Pharmacist: (brings me to counter, holds up small box) Ah, yes, yes, these work pretty good.
Me: Pretty good you say? Ok, I’ll take my chances. We can always use the extra bait if they fail.
Pharmacist: GET OUT.
Ok so the last 2 lines I made up. But seriously, ‘these work pretty good’ PRETTY GOOD! Doesn’t that imply some kind of failure rate? In any event, I made my purchase. Will keep you posted.
Remember my frustration with the napkin situation here. (See photo attached to blog.) Notice size of napkins balled up next to fork.
Fischer just loves chasing the ‘flying squirrels’. He goes like mad and then crashes (See photo on blog)
Taking Gata Solo out tomorrow. Wish us luck. It will only be our 2nd trip out on her. Can’t wait!!!! We need food!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)