Frogs; First Rain; Weighted Walks; Rosa

We had a few light rains last week and the toads and frogs have come out in force. Some are quite large and must have been hibernating all summer long. They are everywhere in the road. Yesterday evening driving home from dinner with Cleo and his son Caliler, I stopped the car four times to shoo the frogs out of the road, so as not to run over them.

We had our first long, heavy rain this afternoon. Looks like we're easing into the rainy season, or perhaps we are already there. I checked the entire house for leaks and so far just the same minor leaks in the foyer area and the center of the living room that we had last year. We meant to have those patched but never got around to it. Now it'll have to wait until next summer.

I did another of my 30 minute "weighted walks" this evening, wearing a pack holding two 30 lb dumbbells. I would have liked to go longer but the strap was really cutting into my chest. I need to figure out some way to carry the weight more comfortably, maybe by padding the straps with something. I enjoy walking at night, and with the weight it's the equivalent of a one hour fast march.

I managed to get Rosa all booked up six days a week, out of which I will employ her two days. I needed to cut her hours back to save money, but I wanted to find other work for her first, and I'm happy that I was able to do that.

Laura tells me that Salma has learned the word "heavy" - more or less - and now everything she carries is "heawy, heawy!" She's been having some long crying fits and nothing comforts her. I know she is missing everything and everyone she has grown up with (except her Mama, of course). I may return to California to be near her later this year, in which case I will most likely rent out this house in El Valle. I will not sell it. This is one of the beautiful, peaceful places of the world and I hope this house will one day be passed on to Salma, who is a Panamanian citizen as well as an American, Egyptian, German, Muslim.

Gourmet Vegetarian Cuisine in El Valle de Anton

Where do you go in El Valle de Anton, Panama for gourmet vegetarian cuisine? Bruschetta? No, though their vegetarian sandwich is not bad. Mar de Plata or El Rancho? No. Los Capitanes? Definitely not.

You go to 10050 Calle Las Medinas, the home of Wael, Laura and Salma, where Rosa, their maid and cook, is really outdoing herself these days. Well, now that I'm looking at the pictures I realize that it looks a little messy, but both dishes were really very good.

The first was an egg salad with tomato, garbanzos and parmesan slices:


The second was a hot potato salad with peanuts:


We still had some broccoli casserole from the day before - it was delicious - and white rice and curried fish from the day before that. A plethora of tasty choices.

Rosa's come a long way from the days when every dinner was rice and lentils, or lentil soup. And it's such a nice change. I can put up with a lot of inconveniences and even outright tribulations, as long as I have a nice meal at the end of the day.

I Hope We'll All Fit

On my way to Panama in a few minutes to pick up Laura at Tocumen International Airport, along with her mother, Salma the baby, Zippy the cat, and at least four large bags. I hope we'll all fit in my Nissan Sentra. They'll arrive about 6:45 pm Panama time, it will take at least an hour to process the cat through customs (probably longer) and then about a three hour drive back to El Valle in the dark. So I'm guessing we'll be home around midnight if all goes well Insha'Allah. Upon arrival I'll post a brief message here saying, "All have safely arrived," and then I'll hit the hay, or hit the banana leaves as the case may be.

During the time that Laura was gone, I realized that there wasn't much work for Rosa. Cook me breakfast and dinner, go shopping, wash a couple of dishes, launder a few clothes, sweep the floors, make the bed, clean the bathroom and that's about it. Four hours of work at the most. So I told her, "It's ok if you want to take a break in the afternoon. You can sit and read, or whatever you like." So I think these days have been fairly relaxed for her, though she still keeps the house very clean.

This morning I told her that I am going to Panama today to pick up Laura, and you should see her. She's like a dynamo, mopping, scrubbing, airing out the rugs, dusting and polishing everything. She knows that the lady of the house has somewhat higher standards than mine, or perhaps she just wants to welcome Laura to a spotlessly clean home.

Workers' Rights in Panama

Listo, our gardener, works Mondays to Wednesdays and I pay him cash every Wednesday. He did not work Monday this week because it was Christmas, but when I paid him today I gave him the normal amount, on the theory that it's a national and religious holiday and I should pay him even if he did not work that day.

He seemed surprised, confused and even slightly alarmed. He said, "But I did not work on Monday. Should I come tomorrow?"

I said, "No, that's ok. It was a holiday."

Listo still seemed puzzled.

I said in bad Spanish, "They do not pay in holidays here?"

I don't know if Listo understood exactly what I was saying, but he nodded his head, smiled wide, and said, "Thank you, sir."

For some reason I felt depressed afterwards. Listo's excessive gratitude at this very small act of kindness (and I did not even think of it as kindness, but simply fairness) says a lot about the desperate conditions of the poor in Panama.

Bill Brunner informed me just last week that I am required to sign up both Rosa and Listo for social security, and to make monthly payments on their behalf. 12% comes out of my pocket, and 7% out of their salaries, or something like that. Neither Rosa or Listo has ever mentioned this, most likely because A, they don't want seven percent taken out of their salaries, and B, they don't want to take any chance of losing their jobs for being pushy.

Furthermore, all employees are entitled to 30 paid holidays every year, and to an end-of-year bonus equal to one months pay. This is called "the thirteenth month."

It so happens that I gave both Rosa and Listo bonuses equal to slightly more than one month's pay, and Rosa's husband went out of his way to thank me. I get the impression no one has ever actually done this for them before. I suspect that for the most part, the Indians and mestizos who live in these mountains have never expected or received their rights.

Some will read this post and think that I am generous, or bragging, or that I am a stupid gringo who is being taken advantage of, or that I am a stupid gringo who is throwing his money away.

No doubt Panama is full of hucksters and con artists. In fact conning is a lifestyle here, and they have a phrase for it: "Juega Vivo" (the game of life?).

But that has never been the biggest problem here. The biggest problem in this entire "New World," from the northern reaches of Canada to the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego, has been five hundred years of slaughter, slavery and oppression of the native populations (and the Africans) by the Europeans. That's beyond my scope to address, obviously, but don't try to tell me that paying my gardener - who works with his hands in the hot tropical sun - a few dollars to enjoy himself on Christmas day, is naive or wasteful.

I want to be fair, nothing more or less. And that's what is sad and depressing, that I don't think anyone has ever been fair with these Indians who live here in the mountains.

Rosa Makes the Rules

The rotund plumber and the apprentice electrician (Lazaro and Eric) were here today, replacing some rusted screens on the living room windows. At one point I went out front to see how things were going and Lazaro asked me for some cold water.

I went to the kitchen to get it and Rosa said, in an annoyed tone, "When the other Señora was here (Kukie, the previous owner's wife), the service people would come to the side door if they needed anything and I would help them."

Meaning the service people should not be so presumptuous as to ask me, the Señor, for water. They should come to the kitchen door at the side and ask Rosa.

I said, "Ok, sí." I certainly don't want to interfere with the established order of things.