Newsletter #85

Jungle Trek

We had just emerged from the jungle and there, at the junction of two barely visible trails, our sense of smell was assaulted with the heavy, musky odor of urine. The stench of big cat is unmistakable. We were right on the edge of a small clearing where a crop of corn was growing, and about 50 yards from the river. We had just finished photographing some of the mostly raw jungle finca which our client and guide wants to sell.

We had left our faithful Jeep Cherokee at the end of the rough dirt road and walked a half kilometer in to the property. On our way in we passed a small field of corn and an abandoned, crude but sturdy shack made of heavy-guage metal roofing material. The old homestead had neither electricity nor water, and whoever had lived here was surely tormented by mosquitoes and any manner of other pests, not to mention snakes and the possibility of encountering a big cat.

Under the canopy, it's stifling hot, and no breeze reaches here. You expect at any moment to be assaulted by the shrieks of howler monkeys, or to see a large snake slithering away, but this day all was quiet. Except us. We were making plenty of noise, because we didn't really want to see a snake or a cat. As a result, we don't see any birds either. In fact, all the wildlife we see are spiders, which are abundant. The trails are almost invisible, and must be cleared by machete. This is not a place for the faint-hearted, but that is true of so many of the best places in Panama. This is raw nature, and for those with the patience, skill, and perseverance to find it, the rewards of venturing here can be spectacular. Here there are magnificent big cats, big snakes, monkeys, hundreds of species of tropical birds, and flowering plants rarely seen in civilization.

This is a spectacular site for an eco-lodge and if you think you might be interested in owning a piece of the Panama jungle, give us a shout.

Panama - Early Years

One of the best collections of old articles and documents about Panama can be found on the web at http://www.trainweb.org/panama/

A particularly fascinating account of vigilante justice is at http://www.trainweb.org/panama/runnels.html Runnels was a former Texas Ranger hired by the railroad company to bring some measure of order to a violent, crime-ridden Panama in the 1850s. It's a great read, and you may even see one or two similarities with present day Panama.

Getting a new Cedula

A few weeks ago, I lost my cedula. For those who don't know, a cedula is a national identity card issued to all citizens and legal residents and is used frequently in everyday life here in Panama. People born in Panama receive a cedula number when the birth is recorded and immigrants receive one when they become legal residents. You can be fined for not carrying your cedula.

As a foreigner, I was unable to get a new cedula at the convenient office near El Dorado, but had to go to the main office on Avenida Peru. I was pleasantly surprised that I only had to wait about an hour and a half, even though the waiting area was not air conditioned and stiflingly hot. The new, computerized, more streamlined procedure worked fine and in less than 2 hours my picture had been taken and I figured I was done. Not so fast there, Henry. Somehow in the modernization process, the 3 hours it took me to get a new cedula 5 years ago, when everything was done manually (typewriters, photo, lamination, etc.) has now morphed into three days. Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't automation supposed to speed things up?

Tempest in a teapot? Update

The buzz going around is that the Panama legislature will reverse the recent ill-conceived changes in tourist visas and revert to 90 days sometime this month when they reconvene. To us old-timers, this is nothing new or surprising. The government passes some new legislation and if it's harmful enough to enough people, there will be protests and frequently the government backs down. This is, however, the first time in my memory that a dumb law has been rescinded (assuming the buzz is correct) based on the complaints of foreigners. We shall see,

Dangerous Email

Got one on Saturday saying a family member had sent me a greeting card with a link to view the card. When the link didn't work, probably because I use Linux and it was looking to download some malware to a Windows computer, I tried the second link which goes to the website. There I got a message telling me to click the underlined link if I couldn't view the card. The link was to a Windows .exe file. The website is zebowel.hk, and please do not go there if you use Windows. For what it's worth, every legitimate e-card site I've ever used tells you up front who the card is from.

Yahoo Problem

One very popular means of learning about Panama and staying in touch with other expats is the Panama oriented Yahoo groups. Unfortunately, for the last two weeks the groups have been next to unusable, with failure to load and long delays. Yahoo has not issued any announcements about the problem, so I'm wondering if it's a problem with my connection or with Yahoo. Anyone else out there having problems with yahoo groups?

Bring Back the Magic