Ojo de Agua, Panama

In the interior of Panama, here in Los Santos Province, a common practice for the small town folks is to get together and all pitch-in to help one another harvest the annual rice crop at the end of the rainy season. They call this cultural tradition a “junta”, to join together. Nearly always these juntas are on the weekends. All the available men meet in the morning after breakfast and start cutting rice while the women prepare, on open wooden fires in huge pots, fresh soup and rice for lunch afterwards. The owner of whichever rice field the junta is in always provides plenty of Seco, a local cane sugar rum very popular here in Panama, to all the men while cutting rice in the scorching tropical sun.

I participated in the junta for the rancher’s family that I purchased land from here in Ojo de Agua. It was great being a part of a community event as important as rice harvesting. Here, as in most of the developing world, people do not rely so much on cash to go purchase there basic food needs, they actually plant, maintain and harvest the majority of what they eat. It was a beautiful thing, pitching-in helping the community. On the other hand, it seems strange to me that getting “hammered” on alcohol while harvesting rice for your neighbor is part of this important cultural tradition. There were about twenty men cutting rice, including myself, and I calculated about five gallons of cold water and about ten gallons of warm Seco was consumed from early morning till around one o’clock. The guys had a great time singing, yelling and cracking jokes at one another. Strong cane sugar alcohol really keeps everyone’s spirits high and the work pace accelerated. I guess if the Seco was not on hand no one would have shown up.

This was my first junta and I was told I did a good job for my first time. I cut my fair share of rice and in the spirit of things I took three pulls off the Seco bottle. Unlike my junta counterparts, I don’t actually think drinking straight liquor while working and sweating in the hot sun is a good idea, but why not, as the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans or in this case the Panamanians.

It was a good time. I highly recommend it to anyone living or visiting in Panama who has a saturday or sunday morning free and is not scared of a little work. Just make sure to bring your own liquids to rehydrate if your not into shots off the bottle while working.

After a couple of weeks of the worst rains this year, I know I have probably said that at least once this year, it appears dry season is around the corner. There is nothing more enjoyable than working a short time and having to stop and cover everything from the wet weather, three to four times a day. Sarcasm.
Although the weather was not helpful, we did manage to finish the floor and start on the post and beams for the house. Soon we will be starting on the roof and hopefully by the middle to end of December we will have a roof to work under. The house is really starting to take form, I can now easily visualize the design coming to life.
Below are photos of the weeks work. I had to throw in some photos of the new table saw I purchased as a fine example of one of the quirks of doing business here in Panama. I ordered the saw from a hardware store in Chitre, the only one that had a table saw, or at least said they could have one for me by monday morning. This was on friday afternoon, impressive statement here in Latin America. They could send the saw from another of their stores located in Colon, on the Caribbean coast, about a eight hour drive, on the other side of Panama City from the Azuero. Monday morning while working I get a call from the hardware store, “the saw has arrived and it will be delivered in the afternoon at the work site.” Sounds great. Then they ask me if I want them to put it together or would I like to do it. Now at this point I think about where I am (third world) and how many times I have bought tools off the shelve here in Panama, tools that were put together by employees of the store. Must of the time the display product is the only one they have at the store and it takes weeks to order one out of the box. I buy the display and the seller can’t find the manual, instructions, box, nothing, and once said tool is brought home to be used it is missing something or some screw is stripped or something is wrong and I have to fabricate/invent missing or damaged part for tool to work properly. Bosch Miter Saw as latest example. Anyways, so I am thinking, how hard can a table saw be to put together, I will take my chances, “send it in the box and do not open it, don’t touch a thing” I say. It arrived in the box and only took a few hours to put together. Every part was there, nothing was missing. Works great. Awesome!

Charlie

Here is another group of photos taken the other day of a beautiful sunset here in Panama. These pictures were all captured from the bar at El Sitio at Playa Venao located just a few minutes drive from Ojo de Agua.
Enjoy,
Charlie

Here are some photos from one of the parcels here in Ojo de Agua during a recent sunset. A beautiful evening.

Well, after a few weeks off waiting for lumber, we are back to work. The treated lumber imported from Canada finally arrived and we have been working on the tongue and grooved flooring this week. It is looking good. We are pre-drilling at an angle back into the tongue of the two-by-eight boards and nailing a four inch small head nail into the floor joists. We would have used a four inch finish nail, but we are in Panama and fasteners are not easy to find here. It took a entire day driving to multiple hardware stores, in three different towns, to find the nail we are using on the floor. Of course the weather has not been cooperating, it has been raining at around lunch time everyday but, we are making headway. We have finished nearly half the floor.
Also, Dexter (my builder friend) and I have been camping on site to save time, energy and gas money. It has been really enjoyable sleeping on the land, listening to the coyotes and the surf rumbling in the dark distance night and waking up to the sound of the howler monkeys in the morning.
What a life!
Back to work.

My buddy Dexter Witt, a quality builder, is helping me at the project in Ojo de Agua. Here are some photos of his craftsmanship.
Charlie

http://dexwittcarpentry.wordpress.com/

The sunsets here in Panama are incredible sometimes, unbelievable colors. Recently they have been spectacular.
I took some photos to share.
Enjoy.

Finally!

We have electrical power in Ojo de Agua Panama.

After nearly two years of negotiating, waiting, and hearing “any day now” the power is finally connected here at the property. “Just have patience and a sense of humor and you will be fine living and doing business here”, these are the must valued words of advice about Panama I have ever heard from anyone. Having the electricity connected to our development is a prime example of needing patience and a sense of humor.

I signed an agreement to have the installation finished in two months, it took almost a year. I was told by the electric utility provider that power would be connected any day now, it took nearly a year. Electrical contractors, contracted by the utility company, would come and inspect the work of the electrical contractor I had hired for the installation and say make this or that change. Requested changes would be made. A different sub-contractor would come to re-inspect and say make these changes. Changes would be made. A different sub-contractor would show-up and say make different changes. On and on and on for nearly two years. Why not say make all required changes the first time? Why not send the same contractor out to the property for inspections?

It took so many months between the final inspection and connection that the tree branches nearest to the power lines had de be pruned again because they had re-grown to close to the wires. “Patience and a sense of humor” got me through.

Finally, the lights are on.

Well, this has been one of those weeks that I knew would come. Non-stop rain. Ok, so it stopped for a little while each day, but not much. October is almost always the rainiest month during the rainy season here in central america and this week is a fine example. I was able to dig a little on the water lines, put a couple of coats of anti-rust paint on the bolts fastening the beams to the posts and do a little planing on a few of the blocks that were sticking up a hair or so above the floor joists using my new Skil planer I bought at Grupo Moreno in Chitre, but that was about it as far as work on the job site.
I have spent most of my days searching through my collection of photos I have from Panama and posting them with a short description onto my blog. Check them out.
Oh yell, there has been some swell this week. Surfing in the rain is not a problem as long as it is not lightening, your already wet.
It’s pouring as I write this, I don’t hear any thunder, maybe I need to go check the waves.
Charlie

If there is one thing that makes a man feel like a man, it’s camping. There are river systems deep in the mountains of Panama that are unbelievably beautiful.
I went on a camping mission with a friend. I say a mission, because that was exactly what it was, a secret mission. If anybody reading this is curious as to what the mission was or where we went you have to come and visit me here in Panama for the personal de-briefing.
Now I am not one of those people that absolutely love to go on weekend camping trips and never have been. Sweating while trying to sleep on a uncomfortable mat, killing biting bugs, eating Spam or Ramen Noodles and squatting to take care of nature’s call is normally not my cup of tea. But camping in the wilds of Panama was different. Where we were there were no mosquitos, no no-see-um’s or other biting fly’s. It was hard to even find a spiny or thorny bush. The river water was crystal clear, drinkable, delicious. The night air was cool enough to sleep comfortably, with a fleece blanket. We were smart enough to go in the dry season, so it hardly ever rained and the river was as clean and clear as, well, a mountain stream. We slept near, drank from,and bathed in the river.
We had to hike four hours up a winding river just to get to our base camp and from there we set out on multi-night “expeditions” farther up the river and it’s tributaries. There were times where we were more than eight hours hiking time from where the car was parked and from where the car was parked, two hours driving to the nearest cell phone signal. We were way out.
All together this trip was over two weeks in the mountains. There is nothing like the feeling of being out in the middle of no where, completely disconnected from the technology that so easily keeps us all connected. What a great time.
See you on the river, if you can find me.
Charlie