Trump - beloved the world around…

There’s a custom for new year’s celebrations in Panama to build a puppet and burn it around midnight on 31st of December.

Well, the people in Panama didn’t appreciate Trump’s last brainless comment in a string of such, where he mused about taking control of the Panama Canal. I happen to drive by a pair of such puppets today, ready to be burnt…

 

On first sight maybe amusing. But knowing how Panamanians feel about the canal, this is a clear signal to Trump about what would expect him should he be stupid enough (which he often proved to be) to try to follow through with this idea: All the people of Panama resisting! 

Panama has no military. But he would have to fight all the civilians! Men, women, and children! Would his military comply with his orders? Would turn them into war criminals right away… If they would, how would the Europeans react? How would Russia react to a break in Nato? How would the Chinese react? 

Many questions, which nobody at this time can answer for sure. But I hope we never have to find out in reality…

Sounds a bit sarcastic, but still: happy new year! Happy new quarter century!  

So you found yourself in an existential crisis?

 So you found yourself in an existential crisis as your job is no longer available? 

So sorry about that! But also so glad about it!

Sometimes we need a crisis to kick us out of our tracks, and “motivate” us to look up and look around. 

A job crisis like this helps us realize that we’re so much more than our work! That we were not born to just be the wheel in the corporate world we are so desperately trying to be. And that there is so much more to life than (paid) work.

During the pandemia i got stuck in Europe for 6 months and was without a job. It was shocking at first, but with time more and more beautiful and eye opening!!! 

I realized how wonderful (in the literal sense: full of miracles) it is to be able to do what needs to be done, rather than what i ought to do to make money!

I also realized, that retiring in Panama is possible right away, due to low cost of living and the highly affordable real estate there; while i would have to continue to work 10 more years to retire in the US. 

So now I’m living happily in Santa Catalina, Veraguas (a fishing village turned surfers’ paradise). 

Aside of not having to endure any more cold winters, nor office politics, nor the danger of getting shot at the next mass shooting, i am now able to focus on fulfilling my purpose in this world and being the change-agent i was born and shaped to be.

We humans are no longer system perpetuators, like all the animals and plants. We are the changers! Through us this world continues to change and develop. 

Yes, we still have to do our “animal-duties” to survive and exist in this system. 

So, yes, we need to work and make money to survive, support our children, save for when we can no longer work. And our talents and passion, our knowledge and awarenesses, and our life-experiences that shape us, all enable us to get a demanding but well paid job. 

But, there are also many tasks that need to be done in this world, that do not get paid in money. These are up to be tackled by us lucky ones, who had a well paid job for many years. 

I am convinced that for many (if not most) of us the work we do in the corporate world is not our life’s purpose, is not the reason why we came into this world. Rather, it allows us to get to the point where we can stop focusing on animal tasks, and dedicate our lives to “higher causes”.

Unfortunately, too many continue with the animal-chores for way too long, and never get to make their real contribution to this creation. They hord money and status until they die or alzheimers releases them by force... 

So you found yourself in an existential crisis as your job is no longer available? 

So sorry about that! But also so glad about it!

I wish you much success in reevaluating your life, identifying your passion, figuring out your life’s real purpose, and becoming the change-agent your soul was hoping to be in this world when it chose to incarnate in you!

Gotchas of Panamanian buildings - worst practices

In every industry, over time, best practices are developed and defined. The builders in Panama, however, seems to not have adopted much of what’s common practice in other countries. Well, there are two types of builders: the large construction firms that build skyscrapers, and the little guys who build homes by hand.

I have no idea about the large construction firms, I’m taking about the little guys. 

Many of the little farmers can not survive off their farm and are subsidizing their income by working in construction. Everybody out in the country seems to know how to work with concrete. Many know how to weld, or do plumbing, or electrical installations.

They have learned by watching and assisting somebody else, and then just doing it often. They never got proper training, or schooling about the theory.  They do as well as they know how!

At the same time, most people here don’t have a large enough income to be able to afford hiring a firm to build their homes. Instead, they save up a little money and buy some sand and rocks and a couple of blocks and bags of cement, and build as far as their material reaches. Then they wait until they have more money, to do the next.

As a consequence, work is performed in a way that is the least costly, and the easiest to perform.

My personal most feared “worst practices” are these:

Anywhere you go in the country you’ll find a trashcan next to the toilet bowl into which you’re supposed to place the used toiletpaper. you should not throw the paper into the toilet, as you’re used to do in europe, the US or similar countries. the reason for this is, that the drain pipes are sometimes too small and most of the times don’t have the correct declination. if that pipe is too steep (more than 3cm per m, 1” per 3 ft) or too shallow (less than 2cm per m, 3/4” per 3ft), the solids tend to get stuck. With paper it clogs the pipe frequently. Worst practice: drain pipes incorrect declination.

Declination of drain pipes does often not follow best practices, but rather the terrain

In my house I put extra care and effort to ensure the pipes have the right declination. So toiletpaper can be flushed down without problems! 

Also, I ensured that for every pipe there’s easy access for a snake tool,in case the pipe does get clogged for any reason at any time.

Electrical wires are color coded. White is neutral, bare or green is ground, and black (red, blue, or yellow) are phases. In local homes (and businesses as well) you often find cables used not according to their color. That makes troubleshooting very difficult and dangerous!

In this box, the leaving cable uses white for hot and red for neutral!

In my house I took great care that wires are used with the correct color coding. 

Also, I made sure in every junction-box and the breaker-box every wire is labeled with the circuit it belongs to. Again, to make maintenance and troubleshooting easier, should there ever be a problem, or the need to extend the system.

The floor in walk-in showers are supposed to decline towards the drain. Often it doesn’t, so there’s always a puddle on the floor. Over time that part of the floor gets grimy and slippery. 

In my house I had the mason adjust the subflooring multiple times, until there was the right declination in the whole bathroom! Also, I selected tiles that don’t get slippery when wet. That way slip-and-fall accidents are less likely.

There are more issues I noticed. I might add some more at another time… For now, these are the most annoying, and the easiest avoidable issues…

Gotchas of Panamanian buildings - architecture and the basics

 New acquaintances happen to start building their home here in Panama, actually, not too far from my house. I started telling them about various aspects about the local architecture and building practices. then I realized, it might be interesting and helpful to others as well. so I decided to blog about the gotchas I encountered…

Here you go! The first installment. More to come…

The local architecture has two styles: the local style and the foreigners style. Both are, in my view, flawed, as they don’t take the climate and environmental problems into account.

First, the style for foreigners:

On first sight, the homes built for foreigners are lovely! But, after careful examination, the beauty turns out to be just skin-deep! 

typical house for foreigners - US architecture, solving problems they have there, but ignoring problems and benefits we have here

Essentially, the architecture is just copied from the US. There are specific problems that are addressed by the designs. However, these problems don’t exist here! In the US you need your home to protect you from very low temperatures in the winter and very high temperatures in the summer. Also, tornadoes are possible in almost the whole country. 

Here in Panama, the temperatures are always the same, and it rarely reaches the 90’s C (upper 30’s F). So you don’t need protection from the temperatures! Also, except in some special places, wind is not a problem. There are no tornados, here, nor hurricanes!

Here, you can be outside all the time, except for sleeping. So, with a house where all livingspace is indoors, isolated from the rest of the world, you’re missing out on the best part of living in Panama - living outside!

What’s worse, though, is, that this architecture does not offer a solution for the environmental problems typical for here: lots of sun and rain, and always super high humidity of the air, unreliable electricity and water supply. To fix the lack of consideration of these topics in the design, super large air-conditioning and dehumidifying systems are installed. In addition of being locked away from the fresh air, you’re subjected to constant noise, and high electricity bills! 

I’m trying a different architecture, that takes the local problems into consideration, and maximizes the benefits of living in a tropical location. (More on that later…)

But before that, the local style:

They dig some ditches where the walls are going to be to create a foundation for them. The sewer pipes are laid. And the walls put on top of the foundation. On top of the walls cariolas are being placed and welded onto the rebars sticking out of the concrete. The sheet metal roof is screwed onto these cariolas.

First problem: the foundation. Much of the land is covered with fertile, black soil. that soil doesn’t carry load well, easily shifts due to much water during the rainy season and lack of water during the dry season, and from the relatively frequent, although weak, earthquakes.

As a result, many buildings have cracks in the walls, or are starting to hang a little over time.

My attempt to address the problem is to use a bed of cracked stones, similar to the beds of railroad tracks. On top of that, I poured a 20 cm thick concrete slab, onto which I built the walls and placed the posts that carry the roof.  First of all, water easily finds its way through this bed of rocks, secondly I placed drainage pipes all around to ensure there’s never much water getting there in the first place. But, should anything underneath there shift a little, the rocks distribute the load and cover for the uneven load-bearing quality of the ground underneath.

Using 10 cm wide blocks to build a form for the concrete slab on top of 20 cm crushed stones

laying the rebar mesh and placing the cariola frames for the doors so everything is nicely connected with the slab

pouring the concrete slab - Iris working like the men!

Walls on top of the slab. Two rooms with a bathroom each and the connecting wall that separates the kitchen from the back terrace. On the left, forms for poured concrete corner columns are visible

Welding together the cariola structure that will hold the sheetmetal to form the roof

The basic structure is done! The roof is also almost finished, it protects the rooms and the big terrace that is the living room, dining room and kitchen. Living in and with nature, not isolated and separated from it!

Next problem: the walls. The walls are build with 10cm thick concrete blocks, which have three holes to be filled with concrete once the block is in position. Aside of some of the workers not using “plomos” to make sure the wall is really vertical, most use their “palaustre” (heart shaped trowel) to push the concrete down in the holes and compact it. These tools, however, are too wide to go all the way to the bottom of the block. As a result, usually the blocks have concrete on top, but a hollow space filled with air in the bottom. 

typical block wall, space for columns on side of doors nicely visible. Hole in block to be filled with concrete visible well, too.

The building code requires all corners and the sides of all windows and doors to be solid concrete columns, build through forms, not blocks, and with rebars enforced. And on top of the windows and doors, and the top 30 cm of all walls are supposed to be solid concrete beams, too - also built with forms and rebar enforced. Those parts should take the load, so even though the walls are mostly air, the house should not crumble. But, “should” isn’t good enough for me! I want to be sure. So i asked - and fought during the whole wall building process - that the helpers use rebar sticks to ensure the holes in the blocks are filled with compacted concrete all the way to the bottom.

Third problem: the heat and humidity. The roof gets very hot from the sun.VERY hot! T
here is no space between roof and wall, so all that heat is absorbed by the concrete. Even as the temperatures fall during the night, it is always hot in these houses! The sun heats up the house during the day, the concrete keeps it hot during the night! The lack of decently sized windows and the fact that the local style sliding windows only open half, doesn’t really help the situation.

Also, due to the super high humidity all the time, when there’s standing air, there’s very quickly mold and mildew. All the mold-resistant paint in the world is not a working solution. Keeping fans running in every room for 24 hours a day helps, but uses a lot of energy!

My attempt to tackle the problem with the humidity is by having many big windows, which can be opened all the way. That way, there’s always a breeze in the room - even without fan. No mold, nor mildew! And feels cooler, too!

To reduce the heat in the house, I have a pretty large crawlspace between the sheet metal roof and the wooden ceiling of the rooms. There’s no wall above the rooms, so air can circulate and move freely. Middle school physics says, hot air rises.. Alright, the air that gets heated up under the sheetmetal can freely leave that space, and cooler air can move in. that crawlspace never gets really hot! And, wood being a good insulator, the wooden ceiling - even though only 2cm (3/4”) thick, ensures that the room, nor the walls that makeup the room, never get really hot.

note the space between the ceiling of the rooms and the roof, and the big windows 

I got the confirmation that this works already while building: several of the workers mentioned on various occasions that it so nice to work in the house because it is  not so hot, as in their homes…

The best part about living in this tropical place is, that you can be outside all day. There’s nothing nicer than hearing the birds, the wind in the trees, the rain gushing down, to feel the breeze, to always breath fresh air!

The architecture I think is ideal for here is a home that most of all has a big terrace under a roof. The roof keeps you dry when it’s raining, and its shade protects you from the sun. There are bedrooms and bathrooms that are wrapped in walls, but they, too, are well connected with the outside through doors and  large windows that are protected by insect-netting and can be left open almost all the time.

large terrace serves as living room, dining room, and kitchen

rain water is collected and provides the water for showers, toilets, and kitchen as well (filtered for drinking purposes). Stored in a higher altitude tank water supply works even during power-outages

Large windows in the bedrooms ensure the air in the room is always moving, reducing if not eliminating problems with mold and mildew

This house needs no air-conditioning, no dehumidifier, is independent of the public watersupply, and reduces the negative impact of the frequent power outages. By adding PV panels and a larger battery, the house can be completely independent from the public power-supply as well. 

You basically live in your garden - paradisical!

Update: just saw an advertisement for a house, which is built in typical architecture:

Typical house for local middle-class. Interestingly, the add is in english, implying they are trying to address foreigners, too…

Look at how small the windows are, and remember, this type doesn’t open all the way; only one half slides in front of the other one. There’s no air circulation at all in this house! Can you imagine how hot that house gets when there’s a power outage! It’s a baking-oven!

Mining Protests - Part 3: My take

One reason i chose Panama to retire at was that it’s politically the most stable country in the 15 degrees north to 15 degrees south belt around the earth. I’m starting to wonder if this was an accurate assessment.

Yes, it has no military - so no military coup likely. Yes, the elections seem fair, and the handoff of power seems to function well, too. (not like lately in the US!)

But…

The understanding within the population of how democracy works is very - hm - “immature”!
At this time, there’s a repeat of the problems we had last year, when the indigenous blocked the interamerican highway, and every organization who wanted something joined in. At the end there were plenty hoodlums among the blockaders, who simply saw it as easy way to make money: charge those who wanted to pass a few $, and turn these funds straight into booze…

After 5 (!) weeks, finally, the road opened again and the blockaders returned to their homes and jobs.

That situation last year pointed at a big problem that Panama has, that’s made up of three facts: 

• firstly, almost all the fresh food is produced in Chiriquí, the western most province close to Costa Rica. 
• Secondly, the gasoline enters the country in Colon - a port on the caribbean coast, about an hour north of Panama City. 
• And thirdly, the only connection between Chiriquí (plus Bocas del Torro, the touristy caribbean coast) and the rest of the country (including Panama City) is the interamerican highway!

The Chinese offered the country to build a railroad, but Panama didn’t want to get completely dependent on China and passed. The europeans could build it as easily and at much less risk for the country - but they are too busy fighting amongst themselves to see the opportunity. and the americans? well, they have no idea about how to build a train line - which they’ve proven with their accela line between Boston - New York City - Washington (which they should have named “deccela”, as it “accels” as much as the german democratic republic was democratic).

Well, Panama has one single road connecting the whole country. And when that road is blocked for whatever reason, no fresh food gets to the eastern provinces, and no gasoline gets to Chiriquí and Bocas! 

I though, the people learned something from that experience last year. Everybody in the country was suffering! 
But, apparently they didn’t suffer enough to learn the lesson! 

About two weeks ago, the union SUNTRACS - Syndico Unico Nacional de Trabajadores de Industria de Construcción y Similares - played sorcerer’s apprentice and called their members to block access to all ports and airports until their demands are met. They also invited and encouraged all other organizations to join their protest. Now, everybody and their grandmother is back on the streets blockading amongst other things the interamerican highway. That includes the indigenes of the mountains between east and west. And, as last year, there is no fresh food in the eastern provinces including Panama City, and there is no gasoline in Chiriquí!

The people in Panama do not understand the difference between protests - a great tool within a democracy - and riots. Protests are a firm, strong but peaceful message to the country’s leaders. What they are doing is violating everybody’s freedom to move, and removing everybody’s access to food and gasoline. Basically, those who are trying to move about for whatever reason are kept hostage at wherever spot they got stuck on their journey!

Yes, there are no burning cars, (almost) no clashes between police and protestors, no shots fired, no people killed. 

For now, at least.

Last year showed, that as the mess drags on and some people’s livelihood start to get seriously challenged, emotions start to flare up. Last year we saw several incidents where fights broke out between blockaders and blocked folks. 

I heard of one incident, where a pickup truck broke through a blockade driving over some blockaders who tried to prevent them from getting ahead by staying in front of the car. The driver said the blockaders started destroying his car and he got afraid of his life, so he pushed through, trying to get away from the angry mob.

Let’s see how much longer until we start seeing such violence again…

The initiators of the protests did an excellent job in spinning the situation in a way that everybody now believes it is a matter of defending the country against a foreign power who’s trying to create a situation similar to the american occupation of the canal zone. That was such a big issue to the panamanians, and it cost several people’s lives to get the US to leave. Anything that looks even remotely like a similar situation gets everybody to see red.

The sorcerer’s apprentice SUNTRACS called upon the indigenous spirits, now these spirits can’t be quiescenced anymore. And the regular population happily joins in, waving flags of the country, holding signs “for our country. for our future”.

Just like in the US, ignorance and lack of education of the general population makes this a very, very difficult situation to resolve. People don’t have the ability to understand the bigger pictures. So they don’t understand what those who do understand are trying to explain to them.Granted, those who do (or should) see the bigger picture do an as poor job in explaining as one can do! But, nobody wants to listen anyhow, it seems, as everybody is drunk of the “our country is in grave danger” coolaid the populists have fed them…

You can’t get blood out of stone. But if people don’t understand (and don’t want to understand!) what a stone is, there’s not much hope! Is there?

I am very curious:

How this will develop and eventually end?

When will normalcy return to our tranquil life? (we already can not offer all we usually offer at the restaurant, as produce isn’t to be found. And as it drags on it’s going to get harder and harder to offer anything except pepperoni pizza). 

And what are the overall casualties going to be? (the canadian mining company lost 50% of its value within a week. How do they continue? How badly will the loss of the majority party be in next year’s election? Will the president step down? How much will the tourism industry decline due to people no longer considering Panama as a safe destination? Will the number of new foreign retirees decline? How much will the safety rating of the country for foreign investments decline? And probably many more factors, that I haven’t even thought about or noticed yet…)

Mining Protests - Part 2: getting caught up in the mess

The same Thursday that SUNTRACS issued the call for blocking the ports and airports, my beloved Prius arrived in the port of Colón. Due to the blockades, the car couldn’t get picked up from the port until 9 days later. which meant, i had to pay additional storage fees to the port, as the car was there longer than what is usual and included in the freight price.

Also, it meant, we had to drive to Panama City to pick it up from the public parking outside the customs broker’s office. It seemed too risky to just leave it sitting there without license plate until all this is over. So we decided to try to get there from Santa Catalina, Veraguas. We didn’t have to use the stretch of the interamerican highway from Chiriquí to Veraguas. And there seemed to be less going on from here to the city.

Well, that was a wrong assessment! 

First all went well. But after 200 of the 350 km to Panama City, we got stuck at a blockade 10 km before Penonome. Smarty pants that i think I am I check google maps about a side road that might get us around the blockade. And I found one! But it simply skipped the line of waiting cars and led directly to the blockage. So I turned around and tried another side road off the side road we were on. The gravel road quickly turned into a muddy path used usually only by agricultural equipment leading into the fields, further and further away from the interamerican highway!

parts mudslides, parts two tracks with ridge with vegetation between them and full of deep puddles

After about 10 km on such paths and one hour of driving, we finally reached a gravel road again, then an asphalted one, and found ourselves in Penonome! Yeay!

Funny side-story: a local guy had followed me all the way through the fields. He got stuck once in a deep puddle that he tried to tackle differently from me. He honked, and I waited for him. He turned on the 4-wheel drive of his pickup, and was able to get out of his difficult position. When i stopped to check the map again as we reached the asphalted road, he passed me and gave me a thumbs up…

Penonome is 150 km from Panama City. I thought we’re ok now. But, just 30 km later, the next blockade! This time no path around it to be found on google - not even one like before. However, I found a way to make it to El Valle de Anton, on a gravel road reaching one of those roads that lead off the interamerican into the mountains.

We stayed for the night at the Bodhi hostal - the same hostal that I stayed in in June 21, and where I was pointed to the Bodhi hostal in Santa Catalina, where I then met Iris. So, I was happy to show her part of our history that was just before we met…

We set our alarms to wake up at 2:00 am to try to make our way to Panama City during the night, hoping people will be at home sleeping, rather than on the roads waving flags and partying.

And so it was: we reach Panama City by 5:00 am, without hitting any more problems. 

That day, we bought all the items on our list, that are not available outside of the city, picked up the car, and had a wonderful indian dinner. 

The next morning, we’d leave early in the morning again, we decided…

Plumbing Woes

It seems to me, that everything you can buy in Panama is cheap and therefore of low quality. 

I guess, since most people have a very low income, they don't have a choice between a good thing and a cheap thing. Their choice is a cheap thing or no thing!

Well, one of the problems with low quality, cheap things is, that they tend to break easily and quickly.

Today, we encountered one of these breaks at the restaurant.

There are two water supply pipes from the town-water network at the house that the restaurant is located in. And, on one of these pipes the PVC glue gave up the ghost, and the joint disconnected. 

The consequence was, that there was a 1/2" pipe spouting water at full pressure!

Luckily, that pipe is located on the outside of the house, so we didn't get a flood in the kitchen or bathroom. However, that water had to run somewhere, too. And that somewhere was down the driveway of the neighbor, making a big puddle in front of their door. At times it looked like the water might enter their house. 

What the heck to do in such a situation?!?!?

For the moment, we used two big buckets. When one was full we switched to the other one and emptied the full one down the toilet.

But, obviously, that is not a longterm solution!

In the meantime, Iris called the water guy, telling him about the problem. He went and turned the water off for the whole town. 

That sounds like a terrible thing, but it isn't really. Why? Because the town-water is turned on usually only every other day, and only for a few hours. And our water break was past the typical turn-off time anyhow.

But, still, the water kept on running for another 3/4 of an hour!

Secondly, I tried to use a wet&dry glue to connect the fitting again to the pipe. On the other side of the fitting was a faucet. So, to reduce the pressure, I connected a garden hose to that faucet and opened it up all the way before trying to glue that piece back to the pipe. The idea was, to allow as much as possible of the water to run off. That, however, did not work, because there still was just too much pressure!

Usually, the glue is supposed to cure for 24 hours before pressure can be applied. 10 seconds just didn't do it. And holding these things together for much longer than 10 seconds is not easy either...

Finally, I ended up connecting a shutoff-valve to the pipe - with the valve completely open. That worked, and the joint stayed together. But, I couldn't close that valve as of yet, as the pressure would have just catapulted that thing off again. 

Luckily, by then the pressure from the town-system had reduced by about 50%, so I was able to glue the fully opened faucet to the valve. The hose we ran to the kitchen sink, and Iris used that water for washing the dishes - so it wasn't all completely wasted. 

And, most importantly, it was running down the drain, and no longer down the neighbor's driveway...

Here is a picture of end product. I'm hoping it will all stay together tomorrow or the day after when the town water is turned on again.

As you can see in the picture, different glues had been used over the years. The grey glue had given up - it is about 1/2 the price of the blue one. 

Unfortunately, there is no primer to be found anywhere in Panama. So all glues are applied straight to the PVC. That might be contributing to the joints to be breaking after a while, too.

We'll see, if the blue glue lasts, despite no primer; or if it will break, too, at some time in the future...

Here’s another picture, that shows how adventurous the piping can get after a while…

So, Yeap, 1/2 price glue connects the pipes when you use it. Can't afford the full price glue? Well, for the moment the 1/2 price one solves the issue. When it breaks, well, then we'll deal with that then - and maybe it's somebody else anyhow who has to deal with it! So no problem today!

Canine Distemper - a terrible disease

 I made two mistakes around my pet during the last year. The same mistake, twice, to be correct. The first time, I guess, the shocker wasn't enough for me to learn my lesson. So this time I got a real big one!

But, let me start at the beginning...

Last February, while visiting my family in Austria and before really emigrating to Panama, I mentioned to my sister, that now I might be able to finally have a dog myself, too. I have been travelling a lot throughout my worklife. This kind of life doesn't suit having pets. It would be rather unfair towards them...

My sister just laughed and told me: Just wait! A dog will find you and adopt you soon!

And so it was.

When I arrived back in Panama, my friend Kyle, with whom I was staying most of the time when in Panama, lamented about a dog who had shown up about 2 weeks before I arrived. And she wouldn't let him chase her away! He didn't feed her anything, even shot with his slingshot metal balls at her! To no avail! She would just keep on coming back.

While he was telling me this story, there she comes running down the driveway, onto the terrace where we were sitting. She totally ignored Kyle and came straight to me, putting her chin on my knee, looking at me with those beautiful brown eyes, as if she was saying "What took you so long? I've been waiting for you!"

And so it was, that I was adopted!

Weibi - happy to finally get some food and love

In order to stop myself calling her "Kerlchen" (which is Austrian for little fellow, I decided to name her "Weibi" - which is Austrian for "little woman". 

With her I made the first mistake.

I was so busy looking for land, purchasing it, dealing with the legalities, and then later helping Iris with the construction of her house, that I never found the time to take her to the vet. I had no clue whether she was sterilized or vaccinated. I just embraced her in my life, without taking care of her needs!

Well, that was in April. By October she became very "fat". And on 15th of December last year she gave birth to 7 puppies. 

We had just come to Camarón Arriba, Chiriqui, and were living in the container, which I had purchased a few months before and remodeled into a workshop/storage space and a little living area, with mattress and fridge. That morning, around 4 am I woke up from her making a strange chewing noise.

Turns out, she had delivered one puppy and was trying to bite open the placenta-bag. She wasn't successful fast enough, and we didn't notice early enough, so the puppy died. But, when the next puppies came, we were alert, and Iris knew what to do. As soon as the puppy came, she opened the bag around the mouth of the puppy, so it could breath.

Two of the ultimately five already there

Over the whole morning, one puppy after the other was born. The 6th around mid-day. Since there was nothing happening anymore for hours, we thought she was done birthing. But, by 16:00 (4 pm), the 7th puppy came - again unnoticed by us. Again, the bag wasn't removed quickly enough, and it died.

So, here I was, having to take care of a mother with 5 babies!

Tiny furballs - eyes closed only sleeping and nursing

about 2 weeks old - eyes still closed

What to do with them? Who could I entrust any of them? The locals don't treat dogs the way we in Europe consider to be well. And the foreigners I knew all already had a dog! Aye aye aye!

nothing but a handful of cuteness

Nursing is very exhausting, it appears

Growing up soooo quickly!

Just like human babies - no care in the world!

Trusting that everything will be taken care of for them

She must be thinking: What did I get myself into with that! How did that happen?

I read up on puppies, and promised myself to take them all to the vet as soon as they are ready for it. And I did for the first visit. Weibi was sterilized, and the young ones dewormed and whatever else is done on the first visit. But it was still too early for them to get vaccinated.

By the time vaccinations were possible, we were back in Santa Catalina, Veraguas. To reach the vet, it takes 2.5 hours of driving each direction. The dogs - both the mother, as well as the babies - get car sick and throw up. It's a torture for them. And a lot of work for us to clean up the car afterwards. Also, I had "guest-workers" from Chiriquí here, who wanted to maximize their income and worked from 6:30 (am) to sometimes 19:00 (7:00 pm) or even later! Every day, except Sundays. I needed to be there, so they knew what to do, and to answer questions and make decisions when they arise.

And I postponed the vet. And I postponed. And postponed, and postponed.

Then we went back to Chiriquí. The dry season has almost ended, and I didn't want to wait another year to get the slap for my house done. During the rest of the year it starts raining almost every day by 13:00 or 14:00 (1 resp. 2 pm) in the afternoon. A slab needs to be cast in one sitting - so this is only possible during the dry season.

Having up to 14 workers there again every day, Monday through Saturday, was very exhausting again. And, it prevented me from going to the vet... (check out "kindergarten - herding cats - fighting bad old habits and ignorance" to understand the dilemma I was in).

This is an explanation, but no excuse, of course!

Well, last week, I got my second lesson about the same topic...

Thursday evening, I noticed Patas Blancas to be kind of low key. Friday, he didn't eat much, but was just laying around looking miserable. Saturday, realizing that Monday is a holiday, I decided to face the 2 1/2 hours of driving in the heat, with dogs puking everywhere in the car (they didn't want to stay in the back, where I had placed a sheet of cardboard) and take them all to the vet: checking out Patas Blancas, and vaccinating (finally!) all the other ones.

When Iris asked me to come inside to hear what the vet has to say, I thought, that doesn't sound good.

And, yes, it wasn't good at all! The symptoms of Pata Blancas pointed strongly at Canine Distemper , about the most terrible disease for dogs. Highly infectious, and in 99% of the cases deadly.

There was no sense in trying to vaccinate any of them at this point. We got some medicines - for Patas something to ease the pain and discomfort. And for the others immune strengtheners and other stuff. Iris is very good with that - I am terrible. I don't want to take pills myself, and have a hard time managing 4 medications for 4 dogs 3 or 4 times a day. But, Iris handled that situation very well! So glad she is in my life! She complements me so well, filling in where I am weak, and supporting me even more where I'm strong!

Patas got fluids and some IV medications. When we drove home, he appeared a little better, and we got a little hope. But, that dissipated quickly, when we tried to give him some food he had absolutely bo interest in it. He tried to drink some water, but through it all up again 5 minutes later. It was terrible to watch!

And I couldn't get the picture out of my head, when we were in Chiriquí just 2 weeks earlier, and the three little ones followed Weibi roaming the fields, barking at some of the cows and horses, and just frolicking around. As they were walking through the high grass, the little ones were jumping rather than walking to be able to get ahead. all of them happy, full of life and energy!

I felt really terrible having wasted their life so carelessly by not making it a priority to go to the vet. It's too late now. There's nothing more that could be done...

Iris sat up with Patas until the early morning, when he finally fell asleep and never woke up again!