Just a few things I’ve observed about children here in Panama.

I don’t know if these things hold true in Panama City but out here in Chiriquí I’ve noticed that children are much more polite than they seem to be in the States. You never see them running wild and unsupervised in restaurants. They are invariably polite to their elders.

When there is a family with an infant it is almost always the man who is carrying the child.

When parents and toddlers are walking together in the States the child usually is grasping one or two of the parent’s fingers. Here the parent, either the mother or father grasps the toddler by the wrist as they walk.

It’s only natural that when someone who’s had such a profound impact on the way things work in the world dies everyone is going to write about it. I guess this post is just another example of that phenomenon. However…

On the age scale I’m way over on the right-hand side.

Yesterday afternoon, after consultation with engineers, President Ricardo Martinelli authorized the reopening of the single standing span on the Interamerican Highway over the Rio Piedra to east-west traffic though, from different sources I’ve read, there are some restrictions on heavier vehicles requiring them to take alternate routes for the time being.

Last July I ran a post where I did some crazy math regarding rain water and how it relates to weight and volume. In light of Monday’s devastating rainfall that caused the collapse of several bridges in the area and the deaths of several people I thought I’d do some calculations on what just happened. For those readers who are into the metric system you’ll just have to work out your own math for this.

When it’s said that an “inch” of rain has fallen it means that an acre of land would be covered with one inch of water. According to the U.S. Geological Survey that’s 27,154 GALLONS!

According to Arturo Alvarado, director of Civil Protection System this area received 164.7 mm of rain in just two hours. That 164.7 mm is 6.48 inches. So, in just two hours each acre of land around here had 175,957.92 gallons of water dumped on it. There are 640 acres in a square mile so in two hours each square mile received 112,613,068.8 gallons of rainfall. Thats ONE HUNDRED TWELVE MILLION, SIX HUNDRED THIRTEEN AND SIXTY EIGHT POINT EIGHT GALLONS, FOLKS!

It’s about 23 miles from the Interamerican Hwy to Potrerillos Arriba. Going up to the mountains behind us add another five or six miles so let’s just give it a round figure of 30 miles. Taking a rough guess looking at Google Earth it’s about 15 miles from Potrerillos Arriba over to Volcan. The bridge in question is roughly half way between the two points but down much lower. So, we’re looking at an area of roughly 450 square miles. That would mean that in two hours the area received roughly 50,675,880,960 gallons of rain water. Fifty BILLION, six hundred seventy five MILLION, eight hundred eighty THOUSAND, nine hundred and sixty gallons. Staggering.

There are about 600,000 gallons of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The two hours worth of rain that fell just in the area I’ve outlined would therefore fill approximately 84,460 Olympic swimming pools.

Now, aren’t you glad you know that?

To say that the bridge collapse I documented yesterday is less than a disaster is an understatement. You have to understand that there is really only ONE main highway here in Panama; the Interamericana. Between David and the Costa Rican border the road is a divided highway. The bridge was the west-bound lanes. A bit to the south is a more modern bridge for east-bound traffic. This was the ONLY viable commercial route. There are two other east west routes but only one could possibly be used by semis. There is a northern route through the mountains between Potrerillos Abajo and Volcan is far too narrow with unbelievable turns and grades. I’ve been on this road several times and while it’s scenic, for sure, it’s really only suitable for automobiles and smaller trucks. There is a southern route, too, which, looking at Google Earth is flat but in either case the trip between, say, David and Boqueron will be at LEAST an hour longer than before.

Since the Interamerican is the only viable commercial road there’s no doubt that replacing the bridge will become a national priority. As you saw, the northern span is totally gone and the southern span’s understructure has been seriously compromised. The last I heard no vehicular traffic is being allowed on the southern span. People who live to the west of the missing bridge who work in David are taking taxis to the bridge and walking across the southern span and then taking buses into the city. Who knows how many buses were trapped on the western side? There are at least five bus routes that use that bridge so there must be some still over there. The question I have is how are the supermarkets that serve the residents over there going to be stocked? Via the southern route? Bring stuff in through the border from Costa Rica? We’ll know later in the week.

Take a look at these pictures. You can see that the river has, naturally, gone down…

Most of the time there’s a lot less water flowing…

In that photo you can see how the base of the bridges have been damaged.

It was reported that we got over 6 inches of rain in a little less than two hours so it’s no surprise the rivers rose as fast as they did. And it’s just a miracle that vehicles weren’t on the bridge when it went into the torrent. Check out this YouTube vid.

Those videos I posted yesterday were from the river by the house I rented, and will be renting again starting mid November, over in Boquerón also rose fantastically. It came up a good eight feet above normal and a foot or so of water, I’m told, actually got into the house. It totally took out the chain link fence that marked the lot behind my rental and all that’s left there is sand, rocks and dead trees.

Here are some photos sent to me by the young man who is friends with the house owner.

This pile of logs were left in front of the house…

Another problem around the area is that there is NO WATER SERVICE. Unlike in the States water lines around here are mainly PVC and most are above ground, so the trash carried in the torrents took out a whole bunch all over the place. Additionally the water purification plants filters get overwhelmed by the great amount of sediment and trash that comes with the rapidly rising waters and water service is shut off. It’s not an uncommon occurrence here to be without water. We just have to roll with the flow, and many people have storage tanks and pumps since it happens so frequently.

NO NEW TEXANS!

Just got through watching a pretty exciting game between Los Santos de Nuevo Orleans y Los Tejanos de Houston in the Superdome. Los Santos won 40 to 33. It’s a little weird watching a game with Spanish narration, but not as strange as watching a game over in France. There they used to have a game of the week on the television on Mondays. Americans found it nearly impossible to watch it. Theoretically, a football game is 60 minutes long. Theoretically. But we all know it takes at least 90 minutes what with all the time outs and clock stoppages for incomplete passes, runners stepping out of bounds, etc. But not on French television. There, after an incomplete pass the picture is right back with the quarterback under center and time outs are axed for the audience, too, so an American football game on television in France takes exactly 60 minutes to broadcast. But in spite of the Spanish narration here even someone who doesn’t speak the language can understand “yardas,” “completo,” “incompleto” and “TOUCHDOWN!!!” So practically anyone can catch the drift of the game.

The whole world became acquainted with the Superdome when Hurricane Katrina screamed in from the Gulf of Mexico and literally destroyed the City of New Orleans.  Some 26,000 fled to the “Dome” as a “refuge of last resort” for citizens who couldn’t leave the city” for whatever reason. Seating capacity for the Superdome in football configuration is 76,468 but in 1981 more than 87,500 attended a Rolling Stones concert in the “Dome.”

While the world might know what the Superdome is if you’re not from New Orleans or at least have lived there, you really don’t know why it’s as big as it is. There’s a quirky reason for it.

Sports visionary Dave Dixon dreamed up the idea when he was trying to convince the NFL to give The Big Sleazy a team and he looked westward towards Houston that had built the Astrodome which opened to the public in 1965. It was billed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The following year Dixon and Louisiana Governor John McKeithen, who desperately wanted a huge project that would revitalize downtown New Orleans, Toured the Astrodome. Houstonians laughed at the men’s dream saying that Louisiana was so corrupt that such a project could never be successfully completed. Then and there McKeithen said that was bull shit and “I’m going to build a dome so big you can put this one inside of mine.” And when the Superdome was completed in August 1975 you could have put the Astrodome inside it, hence the name “Superdome.”

Maybe some day I’ll tell y’awl (N’Awlins expression) about my first visit to the dome which was to see the second Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks fight but right now we’re talking about the Saints playing football there. When I see a game on television being played there I know that actual perspective. It’s right where I used to watch the home games when I lived in New Orleans.

Back in 1981 I went to work as captain of this yacht:

As you can see it was owned by a company called New Orleans Tours (years later they added a large paddlewheeler gambling boat on the Mississippi). New Orleans Tours also had about a dozen buses for touring the area and they also had the contract to bring all of the visiting football teams who were going to play the Saints from the airport to their hotels and then to the Superdome on game day.

The drivers of those buses were given free entry into the Dome for the game but they had to watch standing up in the “wheelchair” section which was just to the right of where the television cameras and press boxes are located at mid-field and about 20 seat rows up from the field itself.

Well, it took the rest of us who worked for New Orleans Tours exactly one game to figure this out. We’d don our New Orleans Tours shirts with the company name embroidered over the right breast pocket and mine had “Captain Richard” over the left pocket. On game day I, along with others with the N.O.T shirts, would purchase the cheapest ticket available. It was probably somewhere in the end zone and so high that you couldn’t even stand behind the seat you were assigned but that’s just a guess because I never tried to find the seat. Instead we’d immediately go to the wheelchair section. The “rent a cop” who was stationed there to keep unauthorized people out knew that the New Orleans Tour drivers were allowed in that section, so we’d quietly pocket our cheapo tickets go to the “rent a cop” and point at the “New Orleans Tours” on our shirts and say we were with the company and implying though not actually saying we were drivers and gain admission to the restricted area. Then, to really seal the deal, we’d go to one of the people who were in a wheelchair, introduce ourselves and tell them if there was anything at all they wanted during the game to just let us know…drinks, nachos, whatever. That we we could claim were we not only with the tour company but we were personal friends with one of the handicapped.

So, that’s where I watched the games for several years. With a $15 ticket in my pocket I’d stand in the middle of the $50 seats and one of the nice things was that when things got really exciting nobody ever stood up in front of you to block your view.

There is a small group of gringos here around David who meet weekly to practice speaking our Spanish. I enjoy going because we’re all a bit hesitant in our use of the language so we aren’t overwhelmed with the rapidity with which the Panamanians speak. There are times when I hear them on their cell phones and I think to myself “there’s no way the person on the other end can understand what’s being said it’s going so fast.” Then I think, too, that it has something to do with the cost of making a cell phone call. It’s well known that people here will often call a number and hang up as soon as it starts to ring on the other end. That way their phone number shows up on the other person’s phone and they aren’t charged for a call and they expect the other person to call back on their dime. Therefore, when they are actually talking on on the phone they do it as fast as they can so they can hang up without spending too much on the call.

Anyway, the group starts at 10:30. I can’t really take the ten o’clock bus. It takes about 45 minutes to get down to the “lavamatico” (laundromat) where I need to get off and then there’s a bit of a walk to the meeting place. Taking the ten o’clock would mean showing up at least a half hour late. So, I have to catch the nine o’clock bus which means I’ve got to hang out somewhere for about three quarters of an hour before the meeting starts.

Yesterday I went to the little “fonda” across from where the bus stops. A “fonda” is a kind of restaurant. I figured I’d have a cup of coffee and read my Kindle for a while.

I’ve written about how good the coffee is here in Panama. Much of it is grown within arms reach of where I live. I enjoy Finca Ruiz Italian roast and every now and then I go to their store in Boquete to get some of the other beans they offer but which aren’t available in the super markets. They’re also about double in price to what you can buy at El Rey or Super Barú but every once in a while I like to treat myself to a special cup. I buy the whole bean coffee and grind each batch fresh though I do have about four pots- worth pre-ground and sitting in the fridge in case I wake up and the electricity is off and I can’t use the grinder. The stove is gas.

So, I order my coffee, knowing it’s not going to be freshly ground beans or Italian, French or Espresso roast, but can you imagine my horror, here in the heart of coffee-land, when the lady behind the counter tossed a heaping tablespoon full of INSTANT coffee into a Styrofoam cup and added hot water? What a sacrilege! Why didn’t the coffee police swoop down on this little fonda and instantly haul this woman away to some dank, dark dungeon and punish her severely? Surely this had to be some serious breach of the penal code, no?

Obviously I won’t be going there again. There is, however, a few blocks away, another little fonda that I’m going to get to some day and I want to get a picture of the place. The name of it is ¿Dónde está José? Where’s Joe? Gotta love it.