tough times

Overall, things have been great in Panama so far, but just before hitting the one-month mark, we ran into some tough times. After a week of travel for workshops and a conference, we came home to a dead refrigerator, no power in our neighborhood, the first week of school, and issues with our car purchase. I prepared myself for things being hard, really hard, during this trip, but I wasn't prepared for what would be hard. And eventually things being hard just gets old. It's a normal part of taking this type of risk, and you just have to hold on tight until it passes. And riding around in taxis until it passes is no fun.

Luckily, it's behind us now, and we were treated to a nice weekend with some pretty awesome visitors. Our new friends Paco, Stephanie, and Maya from Panama City came to Santiago to pick up their friends who are bicycling from Mexico to Argentina. We enjoyed dinner out, some good conversation (in English!) and then a visit to the waterfall in San Francisco. I have a fresh perspective on what 'hard' means after hearing about Erin and Mehedi's days on the road.

Things are looking up now that we have the car in our possession. It was a process to get it, and it's come with some surprises, but it represents a lot more freedom to travel and basic day-to-day comfort and safety.

I'll let Earl talk more about our house, but to me, it's comical how many things have broken/gone wrong. Here they are, in list form:

• the shower head water heater
• a broken window
• no remote for the air conditioner
• the sink drain
• the sink drain again, with sewage smell
• the fridge
• the front door, including everyone getting locked out while I was out of town
• no water, multiple times
• no power just after washing the uniform the morning of the first day of school, the same day they were trying to fix the fridge
• the running toilet (not important enough to fix, apparently)

And finally, some photos at our crazy house and the waterfall.