Ojo de Agua, Panama

As to keep with the theme of mixed element construction in the house being built in Ojo de Agua we decided to build a concrete bar. The bar was built and formed with plywood screwed together in the living room floor a few feet from where it had to be finally set. It took a few days to build the forms and wire the rebar skeleton, place the granite, glue the inlay, a day of classifying and cleaning the sand and river gravel and a day to actually pour and work the concrete. After letting it set on the floor and cure for over a week I encouraged (two cases of beer paid for at the local cantina) ten of my strongest neighbors to come over on a sunday afternoon to help lift it into place. Once in place Dexter spent a couple of days sanding, polishing and sealing the finished product. Dexter really got into it, I have never seen him so excited about a concrete project. It really turned out beautiful, functioning as a work space, cooking, dining and entertaining area. I can not wait to cook my first meal with friends and family in this kitchen.

Here are photos of the beautiful hardwood doors I had custom made by a professional fine carpenter named Jose from Guarare. Famous for its annual cultural event named La Mejorana, Guarare is a small traditional Los Santos town located near Las Tablas.
One of the neat things about this country is that in many of the small towns their is one thing that many people are good at. In Arena, near Chitre, everyone makes bread and ceramics. In Guarare many men make their living with wood. It seems as if almost every other house has a wood mill, piles of saw dust, scraps laying around and freshly varnished pieces of furniture on display. Jose’s home is no different, he is a third generation carpenter. He has a nice little shop just out the back door of his house. His neighbor does all the finishing and sealing on his own back porch and apparently inside his living room. As with many of the “sub’s” on this build, I got lucky meeting Jose.
Jose “busted out” the Cedro Amargo doors and a beautiful Teak vanity ahead of schedule.
I am really pleased with Jose’s job. The doors add a nice touch to the house slowly taking shape in Ojo de Agua, Panama.

There is no job as monotonous as painting. First coat of primer, then second coat, then first coat of paint, then second coat, rolling, brushing, trim… jeez when does it end! Okay I cant lie, I only painted about ten percent of the house, Dexter was a little faster then me and he painted about fifteen percent before we threw in the paint rag. I had to bring in professionals. Two brothers referred by Uri Valdez, the dependable electrician, came in to finish up and they did a hell of a job. Clean, fast, mess free and had their own brushes. Hired! In a couple weeks they knocked it out. The house is shining like a new diamond! Sasha Cole, a professional designer friend, helped me pick out the exterior colors, thanks Sasha, the house is looking great.

Dexter and I were fortunate enough to be visited by a young architect interning for the Kalu Yala development project located near Panama city. Bradley Luna Wilson came out to the interior and spent two days with us. We toured him around my project in Ojo de Agua, the Super Camp near Pedasi and finished the first day visiting Seth, one of our best friends here near Pedasi that is building his own unique post and beam home. The second day Bradley worked with us on site and listened to our perspectives on trying to build custom wooden post and beam homes here on the Azuero Peninsula. Read our new friends perspective about the area and our work at his blog post at the Kalu Yala website.

Bradley Wilson’s Post on Kalu Yala Website

I must thank my friend Jimmy Stice at Kalu Yala for allowing Brad to visit us, we enjoyed his company and his help working with us, he is a great person and a pleasure to have around. I hope his experience with us here can help the Kalu Yala development become a success.

A few months back while spending a sunday afternoon at our local beach, Playa Venao, Pucha and I were interviewed by an american couple, Brian and Leela Gill, working on a trailer for a television series about expat’s relocating to foreign lands such as Panama.

If it were not for Pucha they probably would have not been interested in me, I do not have much star power, unlike my girl.

You can watch the video trailer for the upcoming television series with a short section of our interview below.

They recently returned for a more in-depth interview for the Panama show. They interviewed Pucha at her house and store in Pedasi, me at the project in Ojo de Agua and all of us together at the beach. This time I think they got some better shots of us surfing. It will be interesting to see what the final show looks like.

The garage door has been installed on the future workshop next to the house. Uri Valdez, the dependable electrician, put me in contact with a fellow from Chitre that is the representative for a company out of Santiago that installs metal store front security doors and residential U.S. style electric garage doors.

I choose to go with a manual store front style door. It looks rather industrial but I think it is more secure. Not that crime is much of an issue in this part of Panama, it hardly exists. I just liked the simplicity of the door. Few moving or electrical parts in this part of Panama is a good thing. It can be a long drive or a long wait for a part order here in Panama. For me less is more, keep it simple and strong is always the best bet here.

I am very pleased with the door, once I choose the paint colors for the door and garage it will look nice and take a away a little of the industrial look.

I have been working hard trying to get the electrical system up and running in the house and garage. Everything on my end is finally completed, just waiting on the electrical utility company, Union Fenosa, to connect to the grid. This may take a while. Ummmm, who is it I have to bribe? Just kidding. It is not quite that bad, should be soon now. Must stay positive.

I took advantage of Señor Uri Valdez from the near-by town of Tonosi and his electrical crew to go ahead and run cable from the well house over to the project maintenance shed. It’s really nice to finally have some lights in there.

Here in Panama the electric company hates to enter private property to see the meter, so the meter has to be out by the property line somewhere. Of course that helps them place the majority of costs on the property owners end. If you have a large parcel and your home is far away from the edge it can be expensive. Luckily the house and garage are not to far from the property line. The only problem is there is a rather steep inclined slope from the meter to the house. We went underground to avoid future tree pruning. Uri and his crew got on the hill side and “busted it out” even while it was raining. I can tell you from experience, digging ditches on a steep hillside in a tropical rain is not fun. Every shovel and pick strike to the ground comes up with a couple of pounds of clayey mud stuck to it. It can be a royal pain in the you know what trying to free your tool of this sticky goo. But they made it happen in the time promised.

Uri is the only contractor here so far that I can honestly say has done everything he promised in the time at which he promised. Amazing! I highly recommend him for any electrical work. He is a little pricey but worth it. No headaches or waiting endlessly.

Remember, mañana in spanish means tomorrow but in Panama it means not today! I’m unsure if Mr. Valdez knows or understands this. Thank goodness!

Unfortunately, looks like this is the final Update for the Super Camp.

Although the project is not completed it is close. Dexter had to part ways with the architect in charge of the project. Another crew must takeover from where we left off. I do not want to get into details, pointing fingers and naming names, for the reason why everyone is parting ways. Although I would like to, it would make me feel better, but it would be very unprofessional. I will just say agreements were made, work was completed and money is owed. Until further payment, we had to go!

Anyways, the finish work for the project will be finished by some one else. The hard part is all completed so they should not have much trouble, I wish them the best.

Things work out for reasons, now I can finish my house in Ojo de Agua.

Adios Super Camp! It’s been real interesting.

Here in the rainy season water is abundant. It’s everywhere. In Pedasi the ground is especially clayey, it likes to stay nice and wet, potentially causing problems with the drainage of the septic system during the worst part of the rainy months. In attempt to avoid potential issues in the wet season I redirected my girlfriends washing machine and laundry sink pipe from the septic line to a grey-water mulch pit planted with lemon grass and plantains or as called here platanos. A platano looks like a green banana, but you have to cook it. It’s really tasty. Local Panamanians generally fry it, but you can bake it, broil it, mash it, basically cook it like a potato. They’re delicious.
I dug a pit about a half meter deep and two and a half meters wide. I piled the excavated earth around the sides creating a shallow hole with a circular berm around it. I cut and capped the line to the septic system and ran a new line to the pit. Around the outside edges of the pit, inside and slightly below the berm, I transplanted five platanos growing in the yard. On the outside on top of the berm I planted lemon grass clumps. Like must plants here in the tropics, lemon grass and platanos are easy to propagate as long as you do it during the wet season. Inside the pit we have been throwing grass clippings and other yard garbage like pruned plant cuttings to create a working grey-water mulch pit to help absorb and filter the soapy water from the washing machine and laundry sink. We have made an extra effort to use less soap and no bleach or chemicals in the laundry sink. So far all the platanos are doing fine. In a few months the compost mulch pit should be filled with platanos and encircled with lemon grass along the border.
I plan to duplicate this system at the house in Ojo de Agua for all the sinks and showers, only the toilet will be hooked up on the septic system.
I will keep everyone posted.

Here in Ojo de Agua my nearest neighbor is the Salvador Acosta Sanchez family. Sr. Salvador is a seventy something year old Panamanian gentleman. Him, his wife Elvira and their youngest son Jose Maria live half way up the drive to my property. It was one of Salvador’s other sons Enrique that sold me the property. Jose Maria is my full time employee and one of the most responsible hardest working people I have ever known. I rarely have to tell him what to do around the farm, he just does it. He takes care of the property as if it was still part of his family’s.
Salvador and his family treat me as though I am one of their own. It is a rare day, while working in Ojo de Agua that they do not invite me for lunch or afternoon coffee. They love to see if I will eat their local foods, some a little exotic for the typical american. I think I have surprised them with my stomach. Those of you that know me know that I like to eat. Iguanas, armadillo, turtle, different cow organs, cow hoof soup, various forest dwelling animals I do not know the english name for – yes I have tried everything they have put in front of me and like a good southern boy, accepted seconds of nearly all of it.
The other day Salva and family were cooking up pork from a pig they had raised and slaughtered, yes they personally slaughter all their animals, not far from the kitchen either. They use nearly every part of the animal, very little goes to waste. They even boil down the fat and then fry the meat in it. Oh it’s greasy, but it’s good. Here are some photos from their cook out and some other pictures of my wonderful second family here in Ojo de Agua.
The Acosta’s are an amazing family, they watch over my land, take note of every car that comes up the drive and steer me away from any potential local problems that may arise through my foreigner ignorance. Thank youfor all the love you have shown me, I greatly appreciate it.