Catching Up

I haven’t been here in a month?! I have excuses – busy, travel, tired… I can always come up with excuses. 😁 I save things I think are interesting, but then I don’t get around to actually writing anything. But I think I’ll have a bit more free time now.

One thing I saved was about something I saw at night in my back yard. I was sitting on the terrace and I saw this very bright yellow/white light flying around. It landed in some flowers near the terrace but I couldn’t find it again. I think it was one of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrophorus_noctilucus It was a steady light, not blinking like a lightning bug, and it was much brighter. I saw one of these in the past when it landed on my table so I know they are around. I don’t know what made me look up at the moment but I’m really glad I did.

Let’s play “find the iguana” for more backyard fun. There is this really big one who has been visiting occasionally. The first time I saw him he was making his way up on the neighbor’s terrace until their chihuahua spotted him, and the iguana thought it would be best to run away. I’m surprised he has been in our backyard since we have a dog who is definitely bigger than an iguana, but an iguana can be amazingly fast when it needs to be. Look in the very middle of the picture for the tree stump that has three branches going up from it, and the iguana is on the middle branch in a spot of sunlight.

I think I’ve mentioned my bassist friend Arya who got a job playing on a cruise ship. He finished his six months and came back a new man full of experiences and adventures! While he was home for a short while, he became part of a four piece band with his friend/coworker/drummer Alvin, his sister Adhi (vocals), and her duo partner Dario (guitar). In a short time, with two rehearsals, they put together an evening of music and it was awesome! Arya and Alvin are out again until the end of June, and when they return they are going to concentrate on this band hoping to get cruise ship gigs as a party band. This will offer more opportunities than the Latin music band they are part of currently. I’m looking forward to hearing more of them, and I wish them lots of good fortune but I’ll also be sad to lose these excellent musicians from the local music scene.

April, the end of summer, brought some beautiful rainbows in Boquete. Down in David there was a lot of clear blue skies and intense bright sun, and it was hot. Up in Boquete however it was windy, cooler, and the clouds and mists come over the mountains, which makes for some spectacular rainbows. I especially like this shot of a rainbow behind the trees.

We had a strong earthquake! A lot of Panamanians said it’s the strongest one they have felt. We were sitting on the sofa planning a set list for our next gig and all of a sudden the house started shaking, and then rocking and rolling. It’s a very weird feeling for sure! I’m very glad that the houses and buildings are built to withstand these occasional events. The worst I heard was about merchandise falling off the shelves in some stores. Some people did freak out though. I talked with a guy who was in a supermarket when it happened and he said some people went running and screaming out of the store, even leaving their money and wallets behind at the check out counters. If you’ve lived here for some time you certainly have experienced this before, and I would think you’d know that freaking out isn’t necessary. The worst I’ve heard in 10 years was about a crack in a wall of one of the larger buildings (5 stories high, I think), and some buildings closed temporarily so they could be inspected for damage and safety. An earthquake certainly gives us all something to talk about though, something more than the usual topics of the weather and the health of your family.

This is about all I had in mind before we left for the USA, so I’ll leave the travel conversations for the next blog post. All I’ll say now is that I’m very very thankful to see my family, and at every visit I’m less and less inclined to consider even the idea of living in the USA ever again.