Blogs from Chiriquí, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 11

Actually it is never "just another day" in the Chiriquí Province. I am very tired today and although I tried to sleep in after my breakfast,I felt guilty in wasting the day on my one da off. It is quite cold today as heavy rains pummeled the area last night. The rivers were raging and the brook near my home flooded the street. I took my Suicide shower. That is what it is called. I had heard this term from some expats. I claimed I knew what they were talking about when they said “suicide shower” .I thought they meant one would rather die before the temp of the shower induced hypothermia and eventually stopped your heart. But that was not the case. A suicide shower is when the shower head is rigged with exposed wires ... read more

Today I moved to new residence (una casa nueva). It is not that I am a sissy who couldn´t handle the trek home every day (although it was not handled without profane mutterings at times), it was that I did not feel safe. The walk or a.k.a hike was a dark one into the mountains and since my blond hair stuck out like a beacon in the night, I never felt very comfortable walking it alone. Not to mention there were some unsavory characters in the area and let us not forget the snakes. I realized the walk home occupied my thoughts daily and were a big part of my stomach issues so I requested change an am now closer to downtown .Being closer affords me the opportunity to enjoy the town in the evening. My ... read more

In March, 2011, while we were still living and working in Las Vegas, I tripped and fell on my morning jog. I banged my cheekbone against the concrete when I went down, and I knew right away from the amount of blood that I was dripping that it was a significant injury. I used my sweat band as a compress and walked back to our home to share the bad news with my wife. I’m usually a bit sheepish about admitting when I’ve been hurt, so I played it down saying I needed a couple of bandaids. My wife immediately went into mother-mode. She took one look at my wound and said, “Get some clothes. You’re going to the emergency room.” I ended up taking nine stitches and a day off work. The medical team at ... read more

Seattle has a reputation, well perhaps several. It may be known as the epicenter of coffee snobbery. It is also known among sports fans as heartbreak central, boasting only one national championship in pro sports history, the 1979 NBA championship by the Supersonics, a team which no longer exists, having been hijacked to Oklahoma City. There was that 1991 NCAA football championship shared between the University of Washington Huskies and the University of Miami. There have been some other good teams, like the Seahawks that made it to the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Stealers (sic) in 2006, only to have the officials take the game away. And there was the Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Randy Johnson Mariners team that beat the Yankees in the American League Divisional Series in 1995, only to lose to ... read more

And so I did….. Let me just take a moment and share with you a past experience. Several years ago I had the opportunity to go white water rafting in Georgia with my brother and some of his friends. The river was classified as Class III rapids and we spent most of the day jus paddling. So fast forward to today... I went and rode EL RIO CHIRIQUI. Befoe the trip started, I asked our guide if we could go on Class IV Rapids because I was looking for some excitement and an adrenaline rush. He told me this time of year the rapids are only Class III so reluctantly I went anyway thinking I could at least take in the scenery since there would not be much action. Okay, so I don’t know much about ... read more