Feeling a little mis-understood.   I do not expect it to be otherwise, I choose to be here and here I am.   Far too bashful to say these things face to face but on my blog....here goes for the world to read and laugh at:

First this is what I would like to say to the Panamanian ladies:  

-  Don't expect me to understand the social structure.  It is a stretch for me to understand how so many subtle differences could emerge in the space of 100 short years or less since this land mass was seething malaria swamp and you were all immigrants.  You are all survivors and that is the most remarkable thing to me and something to be very proud of.

-  It is not that I entirely don't care about my appearance.  I actually like how I look in loose clothes that cover my whitish purple legs,  lowish or no heels, my own nails and not so much make up.    Even if I don't like it, I have to hide my surface area from the sun or I would end up looking like a prune.

- Relax, I like men quite a bit and your men are very charming.    I am used to working with men and having men as friends.....I am not interested in your husbands.  Could not compete with you anyway, not nearly as accommodating.  

Which brings me to what I would like to say to Panamanian gentlemen.

-  Sex is OK.  Almost certainly, I am not as interested in it as you are.  I much prefer gardening, horses, coffee, good food as topics of conversation.   
  
- I am not sitting in 'mi casa' eating bon bons all day waiting for you to come and visit , do some work, inform me of your plans, or drop something off!

We have a great little local restaurant close to the farm.   You can choose from fish, chicken or beef sometimes fried pork.  FYI: Fried pork is for the brave, those who are braver than me.  It is served with a vegetable dish, beans and rice and comes to $2 a plate.  

 It is the kind of place all folks go and so the kind of place someone like me usually finds other deals from the other customers, mostly gentleman eating lunch there.  

The fish man has his lunch here, so sometimes you can find him and get fish.  There are builders and salesman of all sorts.  In fact most of the working men this side of town seem to stop by.   On this occasion there was a gentleman selling DVDs 3 for $4, he had a good selection of things suitable for young Beatrice in Spanish.

This was a first, I'm not too adventurous with a four year old as a rule.    This time, it seemed to make sense to give it a try.  In the rainy season the flights can be scary in the afternoons and that is if they leave at all.   So, we decided to take the 10am express that should get us into the City in time for dinner.  If for any reason we missed the bus we would have the whole day to figure an alternative plan.   

We left the farm about 8am in the end as our driver was delayed with rush hour but still made it to'check-in' at the bus station by 9am.  Our place, like most here, is old fashioned.  It is like going back 50 or 100 yrs.  Back to the days when houses with their staff just ticked along most of the time 'unoccupied' with lives of their own .  There is a good staff, including living on the property, and things just keep things ticking along.  The birds get fed with bananas, the rabbit with grass, the garden weeded, house de-humidified and secure.  There is no mail, so no worries there.   

This might be why so many people that retire here travel a lot.  At any one time maybe about 70% of your friends are actually 'in residence'.  The rest of the time, like in July for instance, they are all over the world - Africa, India, Singapore, Borneo, USA............and so the list goes on and on.  Remote though it often feels, this is a cross roads of the world with easy flights just about anywhere.

Well...the bus, from David to Panama City.   I liked it, I liked it a lot.   Getting on the thing was easier and quicker than the flight.  Much less trouble with over size bags and amount or type of luggage either in 'hold' or on the bus.  It seemed anything goes - lots of big very heavy bags, cardboard boxes, a surf board, sacks of beans and so on under the bus;   In with us, what ever you wanted to take, not restricted to two pieces each.    

Once on, about 2.5hrs until we stopped for lunch in Santiago.  We had a Police check where we showed passports about 1 hr out of David.   We were treated to a fabulous movie in English with Spanish subs about a little girl and her horse which kept Beatrice better occupied than usual.  Then there were the little fat old ladies sitting opposite.  Their astonishing stash of candy did not go unnoticed by Beatrice, who charmed her way into more than a fair portion of it in her best Spanish. 

Lunch was OK in Santiago.  It was nice to stretch our legs.  We had quite a choice in a cafeteria type place of all sorts of different cooked hot dishes.  The same little fat old ladies were very helpful looking after our food and bags while I took Beatrice to the bano.   There were actually lots of older and younger people on the bus, most seemed very approachable and helpful.  Good atmosphere.   I had some sweet and sour pork, Beatrice some chicken with rice and good vegetables.   Bathrooms clean and nice. 

Then back on the bus for the next 3 hours.   Another movie.  Glad to get to Panama and be picked up by our usual driver.  I saved about $200 doing this.  It is approx 10th of the price of the flight.   Beatrice goes for half price.  The total bill was $28 plus about $7.50 for lunch.

It does take longer.  However, partly because there are no mid/late morning flights it equates to a much smaller inconvenience.   That is, it gets you in a couple of hours earlier than the late after noon flight and a couple later than the early afternoon flight. 


On arrival at final destination, enjoyed a couple of cold Panama beers in a chilled glass (love that they chill the glasses here and give you one for each bottle), ready for an early night.

Well, arrived ready to ride the three machos, wearing our English gear and carrying our helmets.  They were waiting for us. Two Peruvians and one Columbian - the traditional coffee farmers horse.  

Fortunately the nephew of the owner was there who is a professor at the University of Toronto.  A delightful man who was on holiday this week.  He was to be found with an avocado and some guava sitting under a tree outside the stables and volunteered to translate between us and the handler.

Yesterday all three horses and all the saddles, bridles and anything else had to go.  Today, apparently, only one of the three horses was for sale.   This discrepancy, to my displeasure, was put down to my poor Spanish and mis-understanding.  Not so I thought out loud to myself and gritted my teeth with obvious distain.   My instincts told me otherwise and so did my due diligence with another horse neighbor afterwards, who confirmed he had also been told everything must go - all three were for sale.     Apparently, this is normal here.  If you do not want something its yours; If you want it - no longer for sale.  More disturbing to me, it is OK to say one thing one day and another thing the next, blame your customer and neighbor for mis-understanding and expect to be treated as a gentleman tomorrow?  Wishful thinking in this case. 

Maybe this is a waiting game.  If so, I am quite sure I have more patience than they do - I have an empty stable and no work or expense.   There are plenty of horses out there.   They have quite a handful of hormones on their hands and not too many folks who can ride well enough to handle them.  Time will tell.

Also, the other part of horse trading in Panama.   The price had changed.  Gone up of course by about $300 and that was for the bad one of the bunch that is not worth even the original price (in my humble opinion).

Well, we asked to see them all anyway.  The one they wanted to sell was the one I would never buy.  Apparently, it was purchased for the wife.  I doubt it as it was much taller than the one the husband apparently rides - if there is one thing I have picked up from riding in Panama it is that the husband does not like to be seen on a smaller horse than his wife.   I did tell the handler this in my bad Spanish and even got a smile.

No, my guess, he wanted it for himself but was a little over-horsed.   Typical modus-operandi, tell a story (any story) to provide a convenient explanation.  She is probably blonde enough and stupid enough and Gringa enough not to figure it out.  Arghhh. Or, should I be grateful - Sun Tzu 'The Art of War' - never under-estimate your enemy.  This is a strategic advantage of being female here in general.  The last laugh is ours boys.

It was a six yr old stallion/stud that even the handler was so scared of that it was hardly handled, hardly ridden or otherwise hardly used.   As a result it was very under developed and rather grumpy.  Skinny hind quarters and narrow chested and tense back.  Tried to bite us all.  Did not go close enough to be kicked.

The other two very nice, the Columbian in particular was a gorgeous little horse.  We registered our interest and left our phone number.  Not sure I want to do deals this way.   Or, do I just get on with it, play the same games myself and have some fun with it.   Girls know best how to play hard to get I think.