The pool at Chad's place.
More of Chad's pool..
One more...

Well the very first layer is on 80% of our road. We are expecting two more truckloads tommorow. Yes I know what tommorow can mean but no rain in sight and things are looking up.

That's right, for all those who know me you would be running for the hills..lol

Me again on the excavator. My first time operating on of these but no problems and I did not kill anyone or break any trucks in half!!

WORKING

This backhoe is putting in a connection with public water lines to the bottom of the mountain and eventually up the mountain...This will be really good for us. The new owners of the land around us are really on top of things already.

The PVC seen here is the tiny water lines from one of the springs on the mountain. They will be installing much larger lines.

Well the pretty new truck is DIRTY already..LOL

The new truck is a beast for a 4cyl truck. I took up 6 loads of 3 bucket fulls each from the excavator of rock for our road. It's about a mile up the mountain and steep in two places. 4x4 the whole way up, but she did it in 4 wheel high with little issue and never even got hot! Stoked!!

This is Negra's truck going up the mountain in front of me.

more in a minute or two..hahah

Well it rained probably 20 inches in three days! That is not a joke either! WOW! Anyway here is a little creek on the property that sounds really cool and is close to where the house will go.

We have decided to build a palapa. You do have to have a place to drink a beer at the end of the day ya know! This will be the view from it towards the west and the esterillo.
This view will be towards the North which isn't too shaby either!

I was shocked how well our road held up in this "tropical storm" rainfall we just had. Another load showed up this afternoon. One more and we will start putting more down.

Another shot of the road. The house will be just out of sight at the end of this road and to the right a little. On top of that hill will be the Palapa!

Well, the rain was incessant these past 5 days. More rain then I have seen in a long time. The system actually morphed into a tropical storm and played a little cat and mouse game with the Costa Rican and Panamanian coastlines for almost a week before finally coming onshore last night in Costa Rica. It was raining so hard at one point that the water coming off the roof looked like a waterfall. The rivers near here and David are swollen and dirty brown. It is actually a very good thing for Panama. The government offices have been closing at 1:30pm everyday for the past few weeks because of a shortage of water and hydro electric power from the big reservoirs near the canal and on rio batun (sp?). This last rain should help ease things as we enter the rainy season.

Winter is upon us here in Panama, that's right winter. It will start raining a couple of times a week for the next month and a half before really gearing up and raining in the afternoon almost everyday. Then come September and October and a LOT of rain everyday. They say in October it can rain all day for 24 hours straight and be considered normal! The important thing now is to take advatage of the next couple of weeks and get our foundation and outer structure in place so when the rains come we can be working inside on finish work.

There was a big swell in the water today and lots of wind with it unfortunately. I hope to go surf for the first time since I have been here in the next day or two...Will see

Till next time

Curtis

Coudn't resist. The dogs at Paradise Lodge have the life for sure. In the afternoon after running around reaking havoc go down to the pool and take a swim to cool off. Then they come up and jump in a comfortable chair and take a nap....LOL....some life huh? This is Lucy the 9 month old Rottweiler...She is awesome and a total sweetheart as long as she knows ya. Try coming on the property in the middle of the night not welcome though and it's a different story.

Curtis

This is Chi Chi the Suzuki marine mechanic...as long as he is not drinking when he fixes your motors you are good to go...LOL

A nice snapper appetizer with rum and coke and a perfect view...ahhh

The new truck. Worldwide Toyota is the call!

This is Tatin who is a captain for Pesca Panama a reputable operation in these parts. A very cool guy and great fisherman!

Well.....I think it pretty much speaks for itself!

update

This is Fernando from Spain with a nice African Pompano!

Fernando again with a nice 50lb YFT caught on a popper!

Another one of Fernando with a BIG 60lb Roosterfish caught on a live Bonito!

This is the small port in Pedregal near David with the Time out and the Atlantis which are privately owned by panamanian boats...nice ones at that!

The guys from Spain cooked this up one night...pretty darn good it was.

Well it was a quick trip to Panama City as I left on sunday mid day and then ended up meeting with Gary Saavedra my good friend and pro surfer from Panama on monday morning. He took me all over the city and we talked to friends of his who own used car lots. The 4 door hilux trucks are impossible to get a good deal on because the new ones are made in Argentina and not Japan anymore..OUCH!! Also many people come from Costa Rica to buy them because the import tax in Costa Rica is 100% from the U.S. and even overpriced the trucks here are a way better deal. So after a few hours of tireless 14K trucks that are worth 8K searching we finally settled on a 1995 Toyota Tacoma 4cyl 4x4 regular cab which odly enough came from Pennsylvania..hahah



Anyway the truck is in 9 out of 10 condition and all the effort paid off. Another obstacle down and many more to deal with daily. We did get some of the rock up the road but alas it is raining pretty hard today...so as most of you are learning now as well "tommorow".



Here are some pictures from the last few days....Enjoy

This butterfly was as big around as a dinner plate...absolutely beautiful!

Not a bad way to head out for a day of fishing for the lucky ones this morning!

This is Senoir Blas who reminds me of someone from the old ways of the US. He works very hard and is a man of great character.

This truck just got done dropping off 3000 sq. mtrs. of sand for our build this morning!!

This is a commercial Panamanian fishing boat. There will be two or three guys on here for a full week straight sometimes...crazy..

On the homefront we had a LOT of rain last night, non stop for about 5 hours. The local fauna will be loving it, but the rainy season is a little early. Hopefully it will take a break in a week or two and let us get some work done..hahaha...yea right.

We got our sand this morning delivered to the bottom of the hill, but they cannot get the rock from the river in remedios because the river level is too high now. They say later today...hahaha

I am guessing sometime tommorow if the rain is not bad tonight. We had to have our property re-surveyed because when they built the main road they used the wrong pins to place our property. Worked out good for us though because we gained 2.237 Hectares' which is about 5.3 acres of land! It's in small pieces of course but we will take it.

The hope right now is to move the excavator and bobcat to the property in the next 4-5 days and begin bringing the rock up the mountain to our road so we can get it in place and then start bringing in the cement mixer, cement, rebar, etc for the foundation.

three days work has taken 9 so far. The good part is that once we get the road ready and material delivered I will have a good crew of guys and then we can play catch up a bit.

More later

the 20th?

One of the things the kids learn in school is how to make a basic fishing boat!

When it rains you just use the excavator as a tow truck..hahaha

My good friend and amazing captain Chicho....He is crazy

When the rainy season begins the termites lose there minds...its crazy

This little kid had a pet bird attached to his wrist. It was cool

Tuesday the 20th of May……I think
12 days in the city of Cuebrada De Piedra, in the Province of Chiriqui, in the country of Panama. It feels as though it has been 2 months already. The experiences, the people, the ups and the downs are already so numerous it’s hard to keep up. The frustrations of dealing with people in a foreign (to me) country are vast and never ending. Thus lays the challenge my wife and I have set forth on, and a challenge it will be.
The word most used and heard, by me anyway in Panama is “tomorrow”. My good friend who has been here for years and is well versed in how the game is played just smiles at me and says….”just wait”. I believe I will learn the ways as he has and hope to also learn to make value in his mistakes. The truth is I live in a paradise to many including the majority of those who are from this country of Panama. Yes, a paradise that has many challenges and “mountanita’s” to overcome.
I have been fishing only a couple of times and because the water is “green” as most know the fishing is slow. Slow huh...well my good buddy Chicho is quite unhappy with the conditions, yet each day he spearheads the adventure for some lucky “tourista” with hopes of Grande Atun, and Pargo’s the size of a mini cooper. Some days the dreams are fulfilled and other days drag on hour after silent hour in agonizing defeat. Like the sweat that beads down your face in the intense heat, one wipe of a cool cloth is all it will take in hopes of cooling off and letting the blue water return. It’s hard to imagine that it is “winter” here. Winter of course is “rainy season” in these parts and it has begun somewhat vigorously with “jubia” happening more days than not. For me it is refreshing as the evenings are in the high 60’s and low 70’s during and just after the rain. I find it also to be an amazingly beautiful time of year where you can see things that were not quite green the day before blossom into full life in a period of 24 hours as though you were watching time lapse video. The weather, like the fishing is unpredictable and exciting in so many ways. I enjoy every aspect of both here in Panama.
The fishing is dynamic and exciting and one slow day usually offers up at least one unforgettable experience. There are a couple of gentleman from Spain here for a week and although it has been “slow”, they still have managed in three days of fishing to catch 5 40-60lb yellow fin tuna, 4 Cubera snapper, with 2 being nice 30-40lb class fish, several blue trevally’s, a couple of mullet snapper, and some nice sierra mackerel for ceviche’. Not bad for three days of fishing with two guys in my opinion, but what Panama has in store for those who give her the chance is greatness not experienced by many places on this planet. The experience that gives foundation to the meaning of Panama which is “abundance of fish”. I know that the term is used incessantly amongst marketers and magazine articles, but the truth is the truth and I for one am a believer. Will the green water work its way out of Panama’s rich waters soon? Only time will tell, and it will be a good time regardless.
On the building side of things “tomorrow” creeps in at every corner and yet we trudge on with a goal in mind, a giant of a goal that can have only one meaning….”success”. From misplaced “points” from surveyors to roads that are 10’ away from where they were supposed to be, to sub contractors who don’t show up to work for days for various reasons that I am sure to never completely understand is all part of the game. Somehow we have a grated road going down to our house and a belief that the cement mixer we had made in Costa Rica will be here “tomorrow”. Ah, paradise it is in many ways, like the rain hitting the tin roof above my head as though someone was dropping a million little marbles on it. The ‘rhythm of Central America is one I have always had a place for. Panama has been good to me in these first two weeks and the hope for the next to be the same, minus the green water of course.

a few more

A fruit truck at the bottom of the property. 4 pinneapple's, celery, and carrots for $4
This is Bartolo's son "Rooster". He is a great fisherman

Lightning Storm


Talk to everyone in a couple of days!

some more pics

This is my crazy friend from Texas "esteban"

The local Cantina!

Pargo Roca

Pinnacle rock in Contreras Islands

Blue Trevally

A busy week

Well it has been a busy week with the road being grated, buying tools, a little fishing with friends etc. We hope to be putting rock down on the road tommorow and if all goes well be finished by the end of the week. A special Hi to my amazing wife Brenna!!

Till next time from Panama!

Sunset

Well the sunset was phenomenal last night. We did get some rain but it was lite. The power went off in the middle of the night and finally came back on around 8am. I went swimming this morning with Lucy the rottweiller in Chad's pool. We are busy getting ready for guests coming in today so I will update again in a couple of days.