Keith's Panamanian Travel Ramble

Construction at this stage seems to drag out with little to show for a day’s work unless you look closely and remember that everything is done by hand.

Today we found out that skilled trades are used to working to a daily quota of work. This permits more accurate time estimates and provides a good way to measure the productivity of workers. For example, when concrete block is being laid, each worker must install 11 sq m of block in a day. If they produce less, they are expected to work longer to meet the requirement. Unskilled workers, known as helpers are untrained, paid less, and have no work quotas. Interesting! I wonder how that got by the union?

Our house involves a retaining wall, which is also called a seismic wall. Here, all the footings and columns must be tied together with rebar to give seismic protection. Now Panama is not known for earthquakes and in fact, the Canal is here because of the lack of seismic activity, but the Latin countries around Panama all suffer from earthquakes from time to time so aftershocks are quite common here. For that reason, construction standards here all include seismic requirements.

Here are a series of photos that show the design of the foundation and columns for the very front of the house. The front of the house is a roofed open deck, four meters deep. It has a walled room below the deck, which will be a storage room or may eventually be finished as a suite.

We initially thought that we would have a concrete mixer to mix the cement but we have run into a number of problems. We cannot get a full size concrete truck up to the site due to weight and size problems.  There is a half-size truck but it has the same problems.  A portable mixer would be the solution but there is nothing the size we need available.  We can get a one or two meter mixer but it would take longer to produce the concrete with that small a machine than to mix it by hand.  So, as people here have done for years, our workers mix cement, sand, and gravel together on the ground with a little water and magically you have concrete.  We will be adding some chemicals to make sure the strength of the concrete is to an proper standard.

There are six equally spaced front columns that have a block wall built between them up to the level of the floor of the storage room. The second row of columns makes up the retaining wall or seismic wall. Columns are in line with the six across the front. There are also double columns that will extend up to the house level, above the main deck. This wall will be blocked up to the top of the storage room, effectively becoming the back wall of the room. There will also be connecting walls with rebar connecting the first row of columns with the second row. Everything is tied together to meet the seismic requirements.

Compaction of the earth is done with a machine called a Frog, named for its hopping action to compress the soil. This gas-powered machine hops around the site to compact loose soil. Today, we saw the frog in operation for the first time. Of course, el Bosso had to try it out as well as the real boss, Caterina, our builder.

The construction project has kept us out of trouble, for the most part, but we are looking for a break. Enter our friends, Pam and Brian, from around Lethbridge Alberta, who will be visiting Panama for about three weeks! Pam is a fellow blogger and the author of the travel blog http://PamBrownsAdventures.com. She is also a fellow Canadian Red Crosser.

We have arranged to pick them up from the airport and overnight them up the mountain so they can see the scenery on the trip to Coronado the next day. They have rented a two-bedroom suite in a modern 20 some story tower right on the beach there and we will visit them on weekends to tour them around Panama. This will give us a chance to visit and get a break from our routine as the workers are off on Saturday and Sunday anyways.

We headed out to Coronado on Saturday, 10 January, a two and a half hour drive from Cerro Azul. After ordering a set of prescription sunglasses, we met up for a day trip to el Valle, which is inland, a little further than Coronado. From the turnoff on the inter-American Highway, it is another 26 km north up to the el Valle town site.

El Valle is a popular agricultural community and tourist destination on weekends due to a bustling local market, which sells cut flowers, plants, vegetables, crafts and tourist stuff. Saturday and Sunday, you will find the place very busy as there are many tour buses from Panama City and other resorts hauling people up to the market. It is a beautiful small town set on the floor of an extinct volcano. It is highly scenic and somewhat cooler than the beach communities due to its elevation.

This is one of a very few locations in Panama where you will find fireplaces. Many of the homes are huge million dollar estates. Property prices in this area are some of the highest in the country.

When we were last in el Valle, we visited an orchid sanctuary, which had been funded by the Japanese Government for years. The object of the operation was to cut the rampant desecration of wild orchids in the jungle and to keep and propagate some of the more than 1,000 species of orchids in Panama. Unfortunately, the Japanese had terminated their funding and recalled their staff.

We were glad to see that the operation continues to run, but under local control. It actually looks better now than the last time we were here. Here are a few pictures of some of the orchids in their garden. There are a number of quite rare ones.

We stopped at one of our favorite restaurants on the way back to Coronado. It is in a resort called Vista Mar, a huge development that will probably continue to be under construction for another 10 years but it has a beautiful restaurant right on the ocean.

After a restful nigh in Coronado, we decided to try something that might or might not work! There has been a favorite little restaurant in a small town called la Pintada, which we have enjoyed many times. To get there, you travel west on the inter-American Highway to a city called Penonome. Turn north and stay left at the Catholic Church. You will enjoy a beautiful scenic drive for about a half hour until you come to la Pintada. This is a typical small Spanish town. The town square has a Catholic Church on one side and opposite that church is a restaurant.

We have had mixed luck with this place. Sometimes it is open; sometimes it is for sale; sometimes it is for rent. We even got serenaded by the Argentinean Elvis one time at this place.  This time it was for rent! Not to waste the trip, we decided to explore further north of la Pintada.

We followed the nicely paved road until we came upon a sign that advertised a Bed and Breakfast called the River Inn. Thinking we would have lunch there, we continued until we found it. They have a pool and about six rooms. It is completely in the middle of nowhere! If you are running from the police, this is your perfect destination. No one would ever think to find you here! Lunch was not available here but the owner directed us to a restaurant that he said was “worthy of our money”.

We are back in the hills, way off the beaten track. Google Earth does not even have detail of this part of Panama. There is a large copper mine and a gold mine back in these hills somewhere.

Eventually, we found the restaurant. It was a Panamanian truck stop as there were three big rig empty flat decks parked at the side of the road and the drivers were using the restaurant. They were probably from one of the mines. The restaurant was a flat open platform with tables under a large palapa roof. Two Panamanian women welcomed us to their restaurant and took our order, then served us a delicious hot chicken lunch. Lunch for four, with drinks… $14.00. For desert, Andrea used the wooden ladder leaning against a orange tree right next to the restaurant, and picked fresh juicy oranges out of the tree to the laughter of the restaurant owners. It was a great visit and one of those special things that happen when you go exploring.

On the way back, we stopped at the side of the road to take pictures of this beautiful finca (farm) and a river down the road a little further had a crowd of locals having a swim.

Well, back to the grind at our construction site until next week.

Today is Friday, 09 January 2015! How time flies! Progress continues on the house. We have just completed week 5 of the project and are close to being on schedule, despite a change order that has added a closed in storage room below the front deck. This has added four additional walls, a concrete floor, and a complete revision to the foundation approach.

Today is a statutory holiday here in Panama today.  It is Marter’s Day and it is dry.  I have written about this in the past https://jkeithhowie.com/2012/01/09/martyrs-day-is-dry/.

Today is Friday, 09 January 2015! How time flies! Progress continues on the house. We have just completed week 5 of the project and are close to being on schedule, despite a change order that has added a closed in storage room below the front deck. This has added four extra walls, a concrete floor, and a complete revision to the foundation approach.

The ugly exchange rate from Canadian dollars is painful but we cannot do much about it since we are already under way.

Our workers are not use to so many visitors looking at their production. There are a number of people visiting the site to see what is being done and the quality of the work. There are lots of questions and already one query about how soon they could book the crew to do a project for them. This is encouraging to us to find that we have created so much attention to our little project.

Our team has a number of technically trained specialists. Lester is specifically trained in rebar work. Tomas is our welder. Noreli is our ceramic tile specialist. Dario is the supervisor who is skilled at all aspects of the build. The balance are not specifically trained in any particular area so they act as helpers wherever they are needed. It is interesting to see how things work as everything is hand built. When a particular skill is needed, the skilled worker takes the lead and the balance fall into a helper role. This is the significant difference between our team and local builders. The local builders do not have training in any specific area, but rather are generalists in all areas. Compared to our team they would all be consider assistants. This makes a huge difference to the quality of the build.

We have just acquired a Frog! This is a device that is used to compact the dirt around the project. Pictures to come with Andrea bouncing on the frog! (I have to sneak the pictures).

In the meantime, we have friends who have arrived for their first visit to our fair Panama. Pam and Brian are staying in Coronado for their visit. We will spend time with them over the next three weeks showing them this beautiful country. I hope they take to it the way we did. Tomorrow we head out to Coronado to pick them up and take them on a day trip to el Valle.

Yesterday, I wiled away my day at the Immigration office, here in Panama. I have started my Pensionado application and have successfully attained the first step in the process. I spent all day yesterday to get a “Registered” stamp in my passport. There are several more steps but I have been assured that this one is the most time consuming. This will give me a residency status here called Pensionado. It has nothing to do with age but rather proof that you have a monthly income from home. Lots of families have obtained it for their whole family. It comes with all kinds of discounts on almost everything. Things such as travel, restaurant meals, home utilities, and many other things are all seriously discounted for us old people. Great!

Today is 30 December and Christmas has passed for another year. We have moved out of the beautiful home with the incredible views that we have been renting since our arrival here in Cerro Azul in the middle of November. The owners are here for a month-long visit so we have moved to another home in close proximity but without many of the creature comforts of the original home. We will be moving back in a month. Already, we miss the TV, high-speed Internet, and washer and dryer but it will be interesting to see how we get on without some of these services. We will be bumming Internet from our more than gracious neighbours so will only be checking a couple of times a day rather than all the time with the live connection. Please bear with us.

Construction continues at a slower pace. I remember how unproductive this time of year was when I was working. The business lunches and social events all increase to the detriment of real job productivity. It likens the volume of work that occurs during the Calgary Stampede, when all the out-of-town “bosses” visit their Calgary branches to “do some business”! Hah, hah! Anyways, the current work on this project is about bending rebar, building forms, and mixing cement to pour six footings and support columns for the front support wall of our main deck.

Everything grows so quickly here! When I look at the row of columns beginning to rise out of the footing holes, it reminds me that our little project is growing just like everything else here. We dug holes and planted rebar and cement. From that rapidly grew columns that will continue to grow up to the deck level of the main balcony. I am just waiting now for the leaves and flowers, which will be the actual balcony slab. (Forgive me… my imagination sometimes runs away with me!)

After the New Year, the crew size will increase as they bear down on the task at hand. First, the new storage room, under the main balcony, will have a foundation built and a block wall installed. Then there will be forms built, and rebar placed for the main level and balcony slab, which will take us to our first major milestone!

Keep everything that you have two of crossed for us… I know I will!

Today is Christmas Day in Cerro Azul! The sunshine is strong and the blue sky has only the odd low hanging white cloud racing across the sky toward Panama City. The breeze is gentle and pleasant. Temperatures are in the low 20C. It is about as perfect as weather here can be.

Our plans today include an expat potluck brunch at Smitty and Rachelle’s house. They are long time permanent residents of our community and this is a usual event for them to host at Christmas.

We arrived at around 10AM and watched the group grow over the next hour or so to around 16 people. Everyone brought something “interesting” to add to the menu.

Smitty is one of the more knowledgeable people up here when it comes to critters! If it is a bug, plant, bird, snake, caterpillar, or some other living creature or you want to know how to attract or get rid of, he is your knowledge base. He and Rochelle have a couple of critter cams that they deploy from time to time to see what is going on when they are not around. They say that you should never do this unless you are prepared to see what runs around here in the night! Here is a tip from Smitty! When you go on a hike, always take a camera because if a snake bites you, you will need a picture to show the hospital so they can tell what variety it was! Enough of that! Smitty had to show me the fourth generation of a bug that lives on one of his trees. The little green stick will eventually mature to become just like the one in his collection.

We enjoyed visiting with our neighbours for Christmas morning and the food was great! The event was held on Smitty and Rachelle’s big open deck, which is a perfect place to see wildlife, particularly if you like hummingbirds and their relatives. They have a number of hummingbird feeders deployed in a group at the edge of their deck. The activity around those feeders is incredible. At times, there are dozens of birds at those feeders. They have been doing this for so long that their house is on the migration path for hummingbirds migrating south to South America. They are amazing little creatures and quite aggressive when they need to be. We were told that they run on a boa constrictor that got too close!

Our hosts own some exotic birds here in Panama. Morgan, a McCaw that they brought with them from the US, is the only bird that actually has a passport. There are also a couple of very talkative Parrots. Three Australian Sheep Dogs, and some cats. They have quite the menagerie!

Oh, I mentioned “creative” things for brunch… How about a vegetable house? Yes, one of the guests, an Engineer (surprise, surprise), actually built and brought a vegetable house. How many of you have seen a real vegetable house? I am told by a reliable source that she actually used a ruler and everything to make sure it worked out.

Anyways, I hope your Christmas was as enjoyable as ours was, here in the tropics. Our next event will be an expat New Year’s eve party that, if the weather cooperates, will give us a nice view of some of the fireworks in Panama City.

Gas prices at US$0.729 per litre.

Today is Christmas Eve and it is a statutory holiday here in Panama. Gas prices are at an all time low so people are traveling more to visit relatives this season.  We are told that the custom here is to celebrate Christmas on the 24^th, and recover on the 25^th. This will be our first Christmas in Panama and we are looking forward to seeing how things are done here. We have listened to Christmas music in all the stores since late in November. Santa arrived at the big malls and decorations are everywhere. Everything is the same as home except for the snow and the fact that it is not Merry Christmas but rather Feliz Navidad!

Our gardener, Paulino, who normally takes the bus to work, came to us today to ask if we could give him a ride home because someone had given him a rabbit and cage for his kids for Christmas. Of course, we ran him home and got a chance to meet his family and give them some small gifts. It was the first time we have had an opportunity to meet his family.

Clearly, they understand the spirit of Christmas here in Panama. I must tell you that we were invited to a small gathering that happens each year. Our good friends Antonio and Cokey invite all the families of all the staff they work with over the year (cook, cleaner, gardener, handy-man, etc.) to their house for a Christmas dinner. These are folks that make very little money and don’t have much to spend for Christmas.

There were around 25 people there, all dressed in their best clothes. The kids (aged 3 to 16 or so) were so well-behaved. The routine is that after dinner, everyone gathers in the living room and Cokey plays Santa, handing out two gifts to each kid.  One is clothing and the other is a toy!  Very generous on their part.  Without being asked, the kids all wait quietly until everyone has their presents before they begin opening theirs. I must say that I don’t remember ever being so restrained about opening Christmas gifts, when I was a kid.

The whole point of the exercise (for me) was all the smiles on the kids faces! It was great to see. Truly, this is one of the greatest things about Christmas!

Antonio (seated) and Cokey (behind in red) and family visiting from Columbia

On Christmas we are off to an expat Christmas brunch at Smitty and Rochelle’s house.  The expat community here is very social and everyone is invited to everything.  Those of you who know about my ongoing craving for turkey will be pleased to note that since we arrived here in Cerro Azul, we have had four turkey dinners!  I think I have found a place that I really like!!

The mountain here is quite quiet over the Christmas Season.  Many of the Panamanian stay in the city to celebrate with family and many of the expats don’t arrive until after the new year.  Real Christmas trees are available here and are quite popular, but expensive.  I am told there is one shipload of Christmas Trees that comes from Nova Scotia, each year.  It’s arrival and customs clearance is followed closely by those who want the best trees and by the time they arrive, they are in a pretty sorry state.  Some of our friends have real trees that look quite nice and are around six feet tall.  I heard a price of around $70 for one.  On the other hand, we saw a small tent outside one of the food stores with the largest collection of sorry looking Charlie Brown trees that I have ever seen.  Brown needles and occasional branches on a four foot stick for $5.  I am sure that your tree doesn’t look like that but then it has a much shorter trip to make.

Anyways, thanks for following my blog.  I am just approaching 20,000 hits, which humbles me.  Have a Merry Christmas tomorrow and enjoy some turkey!

Today is Saturday and it is five days until Christmas. As there is no construction work going on today, we decided to do a little local exploring of our mountain community.

Drinking Water for Panama City

We spent a leisurely day by going to the trailhead for a small hike up one of the local rivers that is flowing much heavier than the last time we saw it in early 2014. This river supplies drinking water to Panama City as well as the canal. There has been a successful wet season, here in Panama, as the dams on the canal are all releasing water due to the levels being too high. This is in contrast to the previous couple of years where water has been somewhat less than normal.

Nature’s beauty is ever evident here. The spectacular waterfalls on the river are most restful to linger beside for a while. A closer look will show butterflies in search of flowers. A banana tree, with a full load of fruit is busy ripening and waiting for birds, monkeys, or other wildlife to come and feast on the fruit when is perfectly ripe. A closer look reveals a line of leaf cutter ants, hauling their bounty back to the nest.

Leaf Cutter Ants

Heading Home

This really is an amazingly beautiful place. You just have to slow down, sit and carefully take in nature’s bounty.

Waterfalls

Waterfalls

Today is Thursday, 18 December and Christmas is fast approaching. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are statutory holidays here in Panama. Workers here get the 24^th and 25^th off work but are back to work on the 26^th, then get the 31^st and first off again for New Years. Our builder has kept our staffing low over this holiday intense time of the year because if the worker works the day before and the day after the holiday, they must be paid for the holiday as well. In early January, our workforce will be increasing to about 10 people.

The weather has improved, generally, with most days sunny and cloudy. Temperatures here remain very pleasant, in the mid 20C range. There are still some showers but the intensity and frequency is slowly giving away to the better weather of the dry season.

While waiting for the backhoe, which was delayed until Monday the 22^nd, our crew has busied itself with smaller tasks in preparation for some of the concrete work to come. Sections of rebar have been bent, wired, and assembled and set aside for use once the concrete work begins. The balance of the materials, for this stage of construction, has arrived and ready to go once the work can begin.

At 9:00AM, the missing backhoe, ground up the hill to our lot and the driver announced that he would do his work that day.

This is another example of why the best-laid plans must always be flexible. I know project managers that would have a coronary with this kind of project execution. When we started this little project, a few short days ago, I thought I needed to get our builder to look farther out than the few days she now works to. I am now beginning to understand. If you plan farther than a few days out, you are just wasting your time. The key appears to be keeping all the balls in the air at the same time and having the incredible ability to only let certain ones hit the ground at a time you are forced to accept while adjusting all the remaining balls in mid-air to a new schedule.

The crew with the backhoe operator on the left and the big boss in the driver’s seat

As the backhoe worked removing the tree stumps and contouring the soil, I found it interesting that with all that dirt, there were no stones! The backhoe work completed at quitting time and we took a progress photo with all the players at the front of the machine. We seemed to have acquired a new operator (or wanna be operator). She thought lessons on how to run the machine would perhaps help her out with a new career but nobody agreed.

One little Panamanian thing came to light today and that was the discovery of a two-inch plastic pipe that came from the next lot and ran under our soon to be garage.  The plan was just to cement it in and ignore it.  With advice from one of our local experts, we could see a future problem with that approach… if the pipe burst, our garage would have to be dug up to repair the pipe.  We insisted that the pipe be investigated so the builder went to the office and reported the presence of the pipe.  A water crew came out right away and confirmed that the pipe was no longer being used and could be safely concreted in.  They even broke the pipe to confirm it was empty.

Mystery Pipe

Misty and wet day

Why not to use Gypsum Board

Today at sunup, it was still misty and wet. We got an early morning reminder of why gypsum board does not work up here. There was a small hole in the gypsum board ceiling, outside on the deck, which had been there since we arrived. The last few days of intense humidity and wet weather took its toll overnight! A large chunk of the outside gypsum board ceiling fell during the night, with more looking like it will fall shortly. An architect from the city, who should have known better, built this house. Our house will definitely have no gypsum board!

Planning

The only thing you can count on here is that things you plan will not go as you plan. Today was a good example of that. We were expecting the backhoe first thing today, assuming the weather was not raining. Instead, we got a call that he had taken another job and would be a week or so completing it. It was a good thing that my Spanish is not good or I would have blushed given the yelling and arm-waving going on. We ended up with a promise for another backhoe that would come up from the City, but not until Monday. This delays the construction as the foundation cannot be framed until it is dug out by the backhoe. Next was a follow-up on the several loads of materials, still to be delivered by Comasa. Apparently, the truck had broken down after it delivered the first load to us and nobody seemed to know how long it would take to fix it. Oh well!

We also had our water service installation scheduled for today. Amazingly, it came off and first thing in the morning to boot. A truck with three people arrived to find the water line, turn on the water from a box down on the road, and install a plastic on/off valve with the water meter. It took about an hour but we ended up with water flowing freely.

The only load from Comasa that arrived today contained more #8 block and rebar for the foundation. This brings the count on #8 block up to 400 units. It was interesting how the rebar got unloaded. The swamper swung the back-end of the steel out and dropped it on the ground. The driver then unfastened the tie on the front of the steel and backed the truck up slowly until the steel fell to the ground. Very efficient!

Cutting the desk. Note the splitters in the board.

The architect’s table

Therefore, juggling the work around, the workers finished some outstanding things in the temporary accommodations. The kitchen was completed and they built a desk for the architect to use as a construction office. It would double as a table from which to eat.  They also began cutting the rebar.

The Deposito

The Depositio

Cutting Rebar

Our workers seem to be very bug conscious. They spotted two separate nests, high in different trees on the lot. From a distance, they look like wasp nests but there are so many different bugs here it was hard to tell. They said that they bite. They wanted to get rid of them and said they would do the job after dark once all the wasps were back in the nest. Next, they were asking for kerosene. We did not have kerosene but did have a nice gas/oil mix that you run in a lawnmower. Tomorrow I expect to see the two nests gone.

One of the nests

The last activity of the day was a percolation test to see how good the drainage was. Typically, this test is used to site a septic system but for now, our use is to decide how well things drain so when the foundation is poured they know how aggressive they need to be to protect the foundation from moisture once poured. The percolation test did not go well. It drained most of the way but water remained and dissipated very slowly. This means they have to be careful with the concrete, once it is poured.

Percolation Test

We awoke today to torrential rain and fog as thick as pea soup. Well, we had a backhoe scheduled to arrive on site for a two-day gig at 7:30 to begin digging out the area for our retaining wall and foundations. Sure enough, he was on time, which is unusual here. He waited around for an hour before announcing that he would be back tomorrow to begin the work and would not charge us for today. This is already a bargain at $50.00 per hour, but to not be charged due to weather was also a pleasant surprise.

Backhoe waiting for sunshine

Cement delivery

Cement storage

Control central

Today we are expecting Comasa, our building supply house, to deliver several truckloads of material to the site. The first truck had materials that were not required for any of today’s work. It was pouring rain and they delivered about 40 bags of cement, which had to be carefully stowed away in our temporary accommodation to protect them from the rain. You know what happens to cement when it gets wet! They also delivered bags of gravel and bags of sand that are required to make the concrete. At home, if you did not have your concrete delivered by a mixer, these materials would come in a dump truck but here, everything is bagged to allow for easier handling.

Perfect plywood

We also got sheets of ¾ inch plywood that would be used to build the forms for the concrete work. These were amazing sheets of plywood. At home, you would build furniture out of them or use them for finished woodworking. They were good both sides and had no knots or imperfections showing. I asked why we had bought such good quality materials, just to use for concrete forms. The reply was that these were the low-end plywood sheets. They are considered expensive but actually only cost around $5.00 per sheet. I did a quick check on low end ¾ inch plywood costs at Home Depot at home and found a sale price of about $35.00 per sheet and it was terrible looking wood, full of knots and imperfections.

#8 blocks with bags of sand and gravel

There were also #8 (eight-inch thick) concrete blocks delivered. Concrete blocks seem to come in several sizes. The #8 block will be used for our retaining wall, which is part of the foundation of the house. We are told that #8 block is unusual here and Comasa had to bring it up from the City. Most people just use #4 block, which is not strong enough for many of the uses people put it to. The #4 block (four inch thick) is intended for walls that contain no utilities like interior walls. There is also #6 block (you guessed it, six-inch thick blocks) that are used for walls that contain water and electrical conduits.

One other oddity here is that workers do not come with their own tools. You have to buy them most tools, like shovels, pry bars, boots, hard hats, etc. Apparently, we will end up with quite a collection of tools when we are done here. Can you say garage sale?

Temporary Electrical

We also had a temporary electrical service installed today. This was wired by our electrician in a manner that I would describe as over kill for a temporary service. It was explained to me that they have “standards” that have to be met! There were three light sockets and four outlets installed in the temporary accommodation. This required two electrical boxes, each with two circuit breakers, one on the house and one on the electrical pole. An overhead wire was run to the pole via a tree. The total length of the run was about 20 meters. We are all ready now for I am not quite sure what. Someone packed a small microwave into the building this morning. Maybe a wide screen television will come tomorrow!

Drying the plans