I’m finally starting to get the rest my fairly aged body has been declaring was needed after the past couple weeks of over indulgence in the fun department. My Favorite Panamanian and I are alone at the condo for the first time since we arrived which has allowed a little more sedate living. I’ve rolled back into my morning workout routine and we once again have practically the entire condo complex to ourselves. I’ve learned that I need to work out each day. I know that sounds pompous but I had some strange nights during our travel here when I didn’t get a chance to work out. My legs cramped up severely each night and the nightly dose of tonic water did nothing to alleviate. The cramps were enough to wake me from a heavy (Atlas assisted) sleep. I blame all the work on the stationary bike over the past few months. As soon as I got to the beach and started working out each morning, the nocturnal cramps disappeared. The legs get a great workout during the boogie boarding. Fun and productive. So that’s all good but life is once again playing its insidious jokes on me that are not always seriously appreciated.
Over the weekend we noticed the refrigerator, but not the freezer, wasn’t cooling things
down much. I, at first, put this down to too many people patronizing the thing
and a balky door which doesn’t always close if you don’t pay attention. An
increased focus on the door did not achieve any improvement and it was time to
call our local repairman. That’s one of the things about living in Panama, it’s
all about who you know to get things done. This permeates most levels of the society.
It certainly applies to getting repair work done. Luckily, my Favorite Panamanian
is gregarious to the point of sainthood and has acquired the needed contacts
over the years.
Had my Favorite Panamanian for the Beach Walk This Morning
We’ve
got an AC/refrigerator repair dude in the nearby small village. We have to go
pick him up and bring him back but the convenience is more than worth that
effort. We brought him in and he quickly diagnosed the problem as a blown motor.
He extracted the part and told us a couple places in David that might have the piece.
So off we set for David, dropping the repair guy off at his home along the way.
We dropped in on my brother-in-law who knows David really well and he was able
to get us to both places. That was the good news. I bet you have already
guessed the bad news. Not only did they not have the part, no one in Panama had
it. We were told they might be able to get it within three to five weeks but
that I would be in line behind a bunch of other people for it. Like I said, bad
news.
A Great Way to Start the Day
I’d
already decided if that was the result of our search, we’d bite the bullet and
just buy a new refrigerator; hence the zinger in the title of this post. We returned
to the place we bought the original, knowing they deliver to Las Lajas, and
bought a new one. It’ll be delivered next week. Our first, and most important criteria
for the salesman – the new fridge had to have parts readily available in Panama.
Our repair guy is back today jury rigging something that will hopefully last
until next week. We’ll be living out of a cooler and the freezer, which still
works, until then. We’ve also reached a deal with the repair guy which he’ll
eventually fix the old one and sell it, splitting the proceeds with us. It
wouldn’t be Panama without a bit of an adventure. 
Our Beach This Morning
It's
been kind of a weird start to our visit here. We decided to make the move here
for the winter because our New England winter coincides with the Panamanian dry
season. After a solid eight months of torrential rains, the spigot is literally
turned off and it doesn’t rain again until March. At least that’s the game
plan. We’ve had a couple days with some solid rain, tropical levels, which can
be awe inspiring. We’ve had some spectacular light shows as these lightning
laden storms passed off shore over the Pacific. I’m sure this is somehow connected
to global warming but today was as perfect a dry season day as I could have
hoped for. I know, into each life, some of that pesky stuff has to fall.
Surf is Back up to Las Lajas Standards
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); FBR - First Blog Reader -
first granddaughter; First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend
since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife –
her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew –
son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends
of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high
school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the
Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather -
my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
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