Tuesday, June 24, 2014

A Sublime Sunday

We began the day by getting our re-soul'ed at Balboa Union Church.  Here, Sewellyn got to meet a number of my BUC friends (though others, like Grace and Gerry, were not there)  It's always fun to introduce different friends to each other, and I think that Sue enjoyed it as much as I did.

We got a ride to Casco Viejo from the woman who gave the meditation.  She lives very close by.  She pointed out a house near hers that was formerly occupied by 5 gang members.  They have all reformed their ways - and 2 still live there.  One is a tour guide in Casco Viejo who has an intimate knowledge of the area and its history, which he has lived in part.  The other is an electrician who is has his own business.  He is branching into plumbing and has people working for him.  What an inspiring story!

She dropped us off at Plaza de francia and we began our exploration of the area.

We started by walking up the stairs to view the Amador Causeway and the City.  We walked by a number of crafts people and had some wonderful conversations.
Sewellyn with an amazing Peruvian craftsman who
had some absolutely stunning jewelry for sale
It was very hot, so the shave ice
guy was a welcome
diversion
We had a lovely conversation
with this Kuna woman who explained
about the "wini" and showed
us hers which were heirlooms
The conversation with the
clown was not so welcome
(we both felt he was kinda
creepy)
 

On our walk, we passed many wonderful buildings.  The overall effect was very similar to Old Havana.  The grillwork on the balconies was especially nice.

We also passed some atmospheric walls.




We walked and walked, enjoying the feeling of the place.  And capturing it too:

My personal favorite picture came at the end of our walk:

Tired but happy, we grabbed a cab and returned home.

Sue went to work in the kitchen and cooked up a storm, and that night we had the best chicken that either of us has ever eaten.  Of course, the bird came with feet and head...

But it was fabulous!

It's really wonderful having Sewellyn here (and NOT just because she's cooking!)

A Saturday at the mall (Saturday)

Today, we took it easy.  Sewellyn was feeling better, but it seemed prudent not to push it.  So we puttered a bit and then took off for the Mall.

El Dorado Mall to be exact.  Turns out it was the first mall in Panama though it doesn't strike one as being old.

First, we stopped for lunch at Niko's.  It was, as usual,  good and (relatively) cheap (by US Standards  ~$9/person).

Then, we set out for The Mall.

We went to the phone store first to put money on the phone that came with the apartment.  I had put $10 on it shortly after I arrived, but that had expired, so we added money.  And I added both talk time and data to my phone.  Which is a good thing because we've needed to use it to communicate.  Duh!

En route to the grocery store, Rey, we saw this:


A riding animal


Medicine for your heart
(it contains a rosary)
We made it to Rey where we had a great time finding good things to eat.  And there were even some gluten free crackers and Tofutti "guacamole cream cheese" which was surprisingly good on beans.

We trundled home, filled with expectation of the wonderful meals ahead.

It's so nice to have a friend here!  (Esp. a friend who's not throwing up)

Sewellyn (Special Delivery) (Friday night)

Sewellyn arrived last night from San Francisco.  But not in the "usual" way.  Rogelio and I were racing to the airport ("Racing" only in a figurative sense since traffic was completely stopped.) when I received a call.  I thought it was Sue borrowing a cell phone from some lovely local person who was arriving as well and had called to tell me that she had arrived and asking where we were.But it wasn't.It was the emergency medical clinic at the airport telling us that Sewellyn was there.  And where "there" was.   It turns out that my dear friend had had a bit (!) of difficulty on the flight.
OK, a LOT of difficulty.  About 2 hrs out from Panama City, she got extremely hot all of a sudden.  She realized she was going to be sick to her stomach, so she got up as fast as she could and headed to the bathroom.  But she never made it.  Instead, the last thing she remembers before the world went black was a woman saying, "I do not know this woman.  I do not know this woman."

And the next thing she knew, she came to in on her back on 2 seats with her feet up, with people hovering over her, interrogating her.  "Do you take any medicine?  What have you eaten today?" and similar.  They took her blood pressure, and asked her if she was along (she was)  

By this time, she had vomited.  (Luckily NOT on any people!)  They (a doctor and a nurse and 2 flight attendants) tried to get her to sit up, but all she could do was stay lying on the floor.  She vomited several more times before she could sit up.  The woman in the window seat graciously helped her by holding the vomit bag, and mopping Sue's forehead with a paper towel.  This continued for about an hour.  The flight attendant reassured her that they would get her off the plane.

Which they did.  They got her off using an aisle chair and into another chair - which was hard in her extremely ill condition.  And then they raced her through passport control to the emergency clinic.   There, they administered anti-emetic meds and saline to help her re-hydrate.  

By the time we arrived, she was feeling a lot better, though definitely not "normal Sewellyn".  We got her to the car, and drove back home, picking up an Rx on the way.  

I put her to bed as soon as we got in the door.  And off she went into dreamland.  Good night, dear friend.  Welcome to Panama!

Hop away, wee froggie!

Today as Elba and I were leaving the Computer Science/Systems Engineers/Library building, we saw something moving right in front of the door.

At first, I thought it was a cricket or some such critter, but as we approached, we saw that it was a tiny frog.  It was stuck and could not get out.  How it got in is anyone's guess, but it definitely wasn't getting out on its own.  As we watched, it threw itself against the door repeatedly, and hopped to the end of the doorframe, seeing to escape.

But of course, it was stuck.

Elba and I shoed it out the door and it hopped away.  Right into the corner of a sunken cement area in front of the door - a place that humans could climb out of using the small flight of stairs at the other end, but the wee frog would never be able to do this.

It was clear we HAD to save him!  But how?

First up, we discussed whether it was safe or not.  Here in Panama there are poisonous frogs - the famous Panamanian Golden Frog and its kin in the Poison Dart frog family.  And they are small.  But they are also colored brightly.



And they live in jungly areas.  While there is a bit of jungle up the hill from us (from which we think he may have come), it is not exactly Golden Frog territory. In fact, they are only found in one isolated valley - El Valle de Anton - many miles from here.

So I wan't too worried.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a Kleenex.  ("Be Prepared" and all of that)  Slowly, I bent down and tried to get him into my hand, but he hopped away frantically.  I can't say I blame him - I would certainly be traumatized by his situation!

But I persisted and soon, I had the wee frog in my hand.

Gently, I put him down in the grass on the top of the wall.  Then I turned to get my phone out to take a picture of him.  But he had already scooted away.  We looked and looked but we did not see him.

So there is no photo of "our" frog to accompany this story, but here's a photo of someone else's wee frog to give you a sense of the size.  Tiny!


Now I hope he doesn't hop into the roadway!