Panama Farm Life January 26, 2025

 "Order what you want, eat what you get."  These are eight perfect words for life in Panama.  Heck!  Great words for what is happening around the world at the moment!    

Thanks to Caryn and her recent visit with her spouse, my cousin Ron, I now have a great 'ism'.  A saying.  Sage advice to mess around with.  Her stories about  global travels in leadership training and management consulting yielded this gem.  She was told this at a restaurant while dining with her client in Thailand. This, after she was served something other than what she thought she ordered.

Lately, our orders yield something close to what we end up getting. But, 'close' by what measure? Orders not in a restaurant sense but working with our Panamanian service providers.   A commitment to begin work on a Tuesday typically yields someone showing up on a Thursday.  Or the following week on a Tuesday.

Sunday night. My phone dings.  I tense a bit in anticipation of something not so good. It is Alex.  Something stinky this way comes.  The septic tank is not draining properly and is overflowing the smelly sludge down the hill behind his house.  Sweet dreams.  Monday morning I send a message to our 'go-to' handyman.  He will come on Tuesday.  I know better.  But he does stop by to assess the situation.  

The following week, a Friday night to be exact, the entire septic system has been reworked and upgraded.  He hands us the bill, labor costs scibbled on the materials receipt.  Gary and I scramble the cash.  Problem solved.  No, I'm not eating what I got here.  But we did get what we ordered. A properly working septic system.  The cost was a mystery until we were handed the bill.  A habit of workers here. No notice of what the total due is...until it is due...immediately...in cash.  Gary's stomach still can't quite digest this.

The long term rental villa has been completed for a few weeks now and the rental contract signed with our real estate friend, Lauretta.  Neither Gary or I want to screen the hordes of newcomers looking to rent their new home in paradise.  Lauretta knows us.  Knows the farm.  Knows our circumstances and what we hope to find for long term renters.  We have our order in.  Let's see what we get.

A few small details are yet to be finished in the interior of the villa.  A glass shower door.  An aesthetically pleasing ladder for storage access. Cabinet trim next to the microwave and the shower glass wall.  Three weeks since ordered.  Got the trim pieces.  Patience, grasshopper....  I'm glad I'm not starving.

Shortly, we welcome another group of cousins.  My 1st cousin Malori and her husband Barry and 2nd cousin Susan and her husband John.  My focus kicks in... organize and clean to be ready to welcome them. Kitchen, done!  Closets, done! Guestrooms, done!  Let's see...ah!  Bathe the horses this morning.  I walk down to the stalls and... stopped.  I wasn't feeling it.  Neither was Che or Rocinante.  They knew I was up to something. Both horses poke their heads out of the stalls and then back away.  Glad I changed my mind.  So were the horses.  Another cup of coffee and back into bed for a morning snooze with the dogs tucked in close. Everything else has to wait.

Drifting off...Ding! Acquaintances of a North Carolina friend, Valerie, arrived in town last night.  Would we meet them for lunch?  Tom and Mike from Asheville are here to try on the lifestyle of Panama and maybe Boquete.  We meet them at one of Boquete's top shelf eateries and enjoy time talking through the good, bad and the ugly of living in Panama and the Boquete expat enclave.  Interesting to note that Asheville and Boquete have many similarities although Asheville is much more of an artist colony.  Still, it is small town mountain living and one has to love that to remain long term...in either town.  We conclude with the eatery's signature marshmallow roast at the outside fire pit and return Tom and Mike to their AirBnB.  Back at the farm, the dogs chase tennis balls around for a time before we all return to the bedroom to continue the day's snoozing. 

The day before the arrival of the family!  Long list ot stuff that can't wait another minute!  Coffee pot drained, I head downstairs to the guest terrace and begin sweeping away cobwebs, gecko poop, dust, dead leaves and beetles and whatever else has landed there.  The wind does this.  If the night is calm, the area will remain clean.  For a day.  I sweep the outdoor furniture.  Same stuff.  Dust and dead leaves.  Wait!  What's this?  Looks like one of the cats did a boo boo on the sofa.  Ummm...a closer look.  It is a black mound.  It is somewhat fuzzy looking.  It doesn't have a face. I inspect another moment. Ugh. Chewed, digested and upchucked. A bat.  Collecting the necessary cleaning tools...heavy rubber gloves, paper towels, disinfectant spray, I begin scraping the leftovers off the fabric cushion.  Shhh.  Don't tell anyone about this.  My global traveling cousin will freak if she hears about it!  Heck, I freaked about this...a little.  But, all in a farm day's work.  I ordered a farm... well, you know the ism by now.

All things in order. Somewhat. The house is clean. Clutter gone.  Well, not 'Shirley' clean,  At any given moment a visitor could eat a meal off my mother's floors. Clean and sanitary. Dead bugs, dust, whatever...nowhere to be found in my childhood home.  In this, I am not my mother.  My house has a lived-in look.  My thing.

Ding!  The family has all arrived in Panama City!  Tomorrow I pick them up at the airport in David for a family adventure in Boquete and San Blas....

... let's see what we get!