October 24th, 2008

We are having gardener woes. Our original gardener (liked by Barbara, despised by Tommy) decided to stop gardening and take up construction (more money). Found another gardener straight away, agreed on terms and duties, and waited for him to show up on the appointed day....nada. Found a second gardener, agreed on terms and duties, and waited for him to show up on the appointed day...nada. Now I'm getting paranoid; what's going on? A cousin of friends' gardener said he had an extra day, and would send in a crew of four to do a big tidy-up; agreed on terms and duties...well, you know what happened...nada. He did show up a week later, apologizing that he was too busy and would have his friend Sebastian come the next day; I emphasized I only wanted one guy for one day a week. Four guys showed up the next day.....My Spanish is NOT that bad! I am going to hire an interpreter to find out why this is happening, or, more accurately, not happening! Groan...

October 14, 2008

I think that you know that I have been involved with a local Panamanian group which is trying to do something about the roadside trash and to start a recycling program. We had our first "fair" on Saturday, which included lots of exhibits, introduction of the first "eco brigade" (kids who are going to keep streets around the school clean), and a bake sale to raise money. I had contacted "Playacommunity" (an English-speaking website, centered mainly on the coast, about 40 minutes from here) for publicity. They wrote an article before the event, and then wrote an article after the event, which included photos. Check it out here: http://www.playacommunity.com/the-news/community-events/el-valle-first-ecological-fair/
You will notice the "NO BASURA" sign, which I designed and starting creating. When my mother came to visit, she helped me and then later I had the elementary school kids help. The sign is made mainly out of little juice boxes, which we cut into strips, folded and then threaded onto wire in the shape of the letters.
Anyway, the ecofair was a grand event for this little town. In two of the photos you can see the kids of the first eco brigade, getting ready to take their pledge. Oh, they were so cute!

And today Tommy and I went to Panama City to pick up my new car....a little baby red car. It is very similar to my Nissan Micra in Portugal. I drove it home and I love it!