Homeless By Choice

I made reservations on line and asked for her passport so I could enter some information.   A short while later a one way trip for two for a one hour flight was booked, costing more than the round trip flight for my son from Dallas to San Jose.  

A rainy morning, an afternoon in town, forging flight tickets, I’ll explain later, promise.

Brandy, my room-mate and Nick her guest came along for the ride. “If we work around your schedule can we get a ride to town with you and back?”   Nick is a man of few words, a seasonal forest firefighter.   Nick is best explained by his answer to Margot’s hypothetical question.  If you were stranded on an island, never able to get off for the rest of your life, what five people dead or alive would you choose to have with you?

“I don’t know five people.   I’d take Jim, because he has a boat and Abraham Lincoln.”

Enough said on that.”

One empty propane tank to be swapped, a box of empty rum bottles, Jesus guys, and a bag of trash to be disposed of in town an enormous tupperware container filled with the food scraps from last nights vegan meal were carried down to the dock, the scraps giving to the fish.  

Back in town I checked with my boat guy, yes he could repaint my boat while I was gone.  This also leaves me with a way to keep her under covers so she doesn’t sink in the rain.   Brandy asked, “How much time do you need?” A couple of hours.  She said she’d call me at three, it was two and she didn’t have much that she needed to do.   Umm, my schedule, remember. Forge ticket, check.  Bank money, check.

Walking back I was hailed by Worth a local legend.   I could go on about Worth for hours a fun loving, boat repairing, fishing, snake catching, story telling guy who thinks all things should be consumed in massive excess.  He and his running mate, Mike were in the usuals spot, sitting on the small deck of an upscale hotel, drinking heavily and smoking on deck sitting next to a no smoking sign.  I made introductions and Margot and I each got a beer.  The stories started to flow out of Worth and Mike at speed which made Margot grin.  Damn, some more characters.   The sunken boat.  Another sunken boat.   A ten day cocaine binge in the the slums of Panama City where gringos don’t tread.  A drinken binge that ended with Worth passed on with his hair stuck in some cement that had dried with vultures perched by looking at him.   Another with him laying on the floor of his kitchen in pools of black blood from his stomach lining.   Holding his herniated guts in with duct tape and getting sewn up by a dancing surgeon who banged his head on the surgery room light.   Scores more.   Couldn’t stop laughing.

I was informed that my other room-mate Becky had moved out living in town with three young musicians that refer to this twenty nine year old as “the old woman”, this I’ve heard from Becky, the rest is too far out to be believed.

Packing.  “I can’t find my passport.  Last time I saw it was next to your computer when you were making reservations.”  It went missing for at least an hour and Margot remained remarkably calm.  Finally I found it on my dresser, in my passport waterproof holder.   I believe I was showing the case to Margot and just casually flung it on my dresser after demonstrating how it is used, with her passport inside.  I doubt she’ll ever let me touch her passport again.  Exploded shampoo bottle, everything needs to be washed at midnight and we have to get up at six.

No I had to get the registration laminated, by law, that was quick and easy, a quick walk down the street 15 minutes and $4 later I was done.   We ate, picked up some beer to give to Verne, went to his place, not a person in site, you see right through the house on the water.   I have the watch dog a pat on the head, walked up to the wall-less house and deposited our gift at the door.  Back around the other side of the island we encounted them.   Have to stop and chat.   “Hey Verne I left something for you at your house.” “Thanks, did you leave her tied up?”  

More boating, went over to Bastimentos, walked over the island and swam at Red Frog Beach.  “This is the most awesome water I’ve seen!”   Yeah girl, I told you Panama is better than Costa Rica.   An early night, a home cooked meal and some cards.

“Hey Jim, I just heard you took Margot to the most awesome place she’s ever been.”  We had a great dinner and was asked a lot of questions.   The only time I had a dinner date who was a chemistry teacher and wanted to talk about Quantum Entanglement.

Ok, off to Toro Loco to try to watch the LSU-Alabama match, but the weren’t showing it.  We ran into John in town who came in and said  “Hey the game is showing at the Rip Tide.”  “What game?”

A cowboy rides his horse.  A boater doesn’t walk.  We got on the boat to make the 1 mile ride in the darkness.  I lost track of the number unlit boats that cut us off at short distances.  It’s lawless out there.  We made it to the Riptide a restaurant/bar on a permanently moored old wooden boat.   Assembled was not a collection of the foremost members of this society.   “Is the ground moving?”  “We are on a boat.”  Our team lost, can’t remember which one was ours.

We then proceeded to every waterfront club in town.  A full day for all.

Jungle Clearing

My electrical supplies from David came in; I’ll have to open the bag to see if all the parts are what I ordered and need.

A couple of the ornamentals I planted, when was that, Sunday? are sprouting new buds.

Stopping by some neighbors to invite them over for dinner I was giving a gourd tree planting.  It looked like nothing more than a three foot long dowel with three dried leaves on it.  I was instructed to just push it into the ground.   Somehow I have my doubts this is going to be a success.

On Monday I made a trip to Mail Boxes, Etc. to inquire as to the status of my telescope, not that I will have much time for bird watching.   Friends have made four trips to MBE to inquire as to the status and never met with any answer.   I was asked the value of the item and was told it would be in Bocas on Wednesday or Thursday.   We shall see.

A Halloween Party?   How am I supposed to make a costume?  I have something like three pairs of pants and four shirts to my name.

On Monday I went to pay the Internet bill.  They told me the former owner of the house had closed the account.  I had been warned about how difficult it is to open an account. One has to bring in utility bills of course I have none, or get a signed letter from the corregedor, who functions much like a sheriff and get him to testify that I have a house, that I provide all my own utilities, etc.   It was but a five minute process to get the account entered in my name.   I came home to find the connection unusable most of the time.  I was told at the office yesterday that a technician knew where I live and would be there at 10 today to check on the orientation of the antennae.   I’ve covered that one before, it points directly at the antennae in Old Town, on Bastimentos through a large tree.   I have a clear shot to a communications tower across the way at Red Frog, I wonder what carriers use that?  Then a new dish, service application… nothing is easy.

I sought somebody to make me a desk suitable for work on my patio.  A woman told me who makes them, showed me hers, then asked if I wanted to buy it.  We agreed on a price and that I would pick it up today and then she said she had decided not to sell it.   That will just have to get moved down on the list.

Today

Ok, let’s see if I can get the tires mounted on the dock, I have the tires and the rope.  Install a switch in my bedroom to get the lights working.  Shuffle some boats around to make sure they don’t sink if my bilges fail for one of many reasons.    Hack some more in the jungle, man, that’s hard work, warranting a full entry.   Shit, I was supposed to get back to a developer on some questions on one of the web sites I’m developing, but I can’t do the research as my internet is so bad.  I’ll just check off the refrigerator brush, it’s never coming in, I’ll stick with the home made one.  Such a small list for a day, but nothing is easy.

Will somebody in David bring back the bilge pump hose?  Three hardware stores and a marine store, all selling bilge pumps, none carry the hoses.  This is urgent and important, I can’t put this off, the rains are coming.

Oh, here’s my precision screwdriver set.  A girl in town asked if I could repair her MacBook, she had broken off a plug in the audio jack, the thing has to be taken apart.  I don’t charge for these services, that only invites more of the same.   Sure, I have nothing else to do.  Hah!  Next time I’m in town, no, I won’t make a house call to a third island and trek across the island to find you.  If you want some free service you have to get off your cute ass and meet me somewhere that it is semi-convenient for me.  Ok, in the backpack.

Let’s see if I can get one gutter cleaned out.  What’s that?  Damn dog, you just chewed up my work glove.  The dogs aren’t allowed in any more, the dogs, that’s another todo list and some history.  The sun is breaking, it looks like there is a good chance that today will have some good sun.  I’d rather be snorkeling.   Instead, I’ll have quick breakfast, don some filthy clothes and spend a couple of hours hacking in the jungle while the girls sleep and I wait for the Internet service technician.

Propane

The new tank of propane seems to burn much better than the old one. I suspect that there was oil in the tank, which I understand is not an uncommon condition. There is far too much oil for this to be attributed to compressors. Clyde, who purports to be a certified propane specialist has no idea how this much could get in. He has taken tanks apart and inspected them and found up to a quart of oil in the tanks. I guess I need to get a filter. The refrigerator has been running fine since I cleaned the flue, there was no carbon deposit on the baffle.

Composter

The sanitary composter is leaking. I’ll need to have a drainage hose attached so that it doesn’t constantly leak on to the slab and then down onto the soil beneath my house. It has also picked up a bit of a smell. Is it too wet? Should I be adding more wood chips? I don’t know. A month in this house and I haven’t filled the drum to capacity, with three adults, but two are only here half the time. Believe me, the dogs more than make up for two petite women.

Electrical

The kitchen ceiling fan is out, I think it’s the switch. Next trip up I’ll bring my volt ohm meter, which is in the bow hold of the boat. The living room light is out as is the light in my bedroom. I’ll have to replace these dimmer switches with rocker switches. If one is using fluorescent bulbs a dimmer should generally not be used any without special bulbs. Of course, the switches are not available into town as I need double switches and don’t have enough room to install another box.
Electrical outlets are needed on the porch and down the stairs and on the dock. I’m hoping the wire that came in is of the correct type. Ceiling fans and lights are needed on the deck.
Motion sensor lights light detecting flood lights to be installed on the boat house once I get the cable run. Trying to get off a boat and get my shit together with a flashlight on a moonless night is a pain.

Solar

I’m running the generator. It is charging my 24 volt system at 52.6 amps and is down 94 ampere hours so It will take a little over 90 minutes to charge to capacity. Someday I’ll document solar powered systems, batteries and the like. On these cloudy days I’ve had to run it for an hour to an hour and a half twice a week. I’m sure it will get far worse in November, when the rain comes in earnest. I have to change the oil on the generator.

Internet

The internet went down Friday. Hopefully I just have to pay the bill. Let’s see if I can catch them open, Panama Cable and Wireless does run some irregular hours.

Terraces

The terraces beneath my house are giving way, that should be a simple but labor intensive repair, involving a shovel, a sledge hammer, a drill, a hammer and some nails. What kind of wood should I use?

The steps in the soil under the house are giving way, I’ll have to stake them and get new boards, a few steps are missing. How am I going to get this done in the rain?

Gardening

The bushes and ornamentals are overgrown, I’ve been trimming them back with my machete, the files and machetes always seem to end up on random places. I will have to terrace the yard, that’s a lot of terrace work, big boards, a huge amount of shoveling and tons of file dirt to be brought over in 100 pound bags in a 40 foot dugout canoe and carried up the hundred steps, hundreds of times. Obviously I’ll need to employ some help and stop smoking.

I picked up some ornamental plants from a neighbor, broke off the handle of the shovel on the first usage and started using a post hole digger. Where is my other glove? Where are my machetes and the file?

Jungle

Trails need weekly machete work and I have acres of underbrush to clear.


Hot Water Heater

The hot water heater is out in the bodega, doesn’t provide adequate pressure, is intermittent and it takes too long to run water. I’ll replace all of the 1/2” PVC with 3/4” and place a larger unit more centrally. Nothing like having a gas fired hot water heater mounted underneath a wooden house. I’ll install some concrete boards, behind and over the unit, although no local would do so.

Stairs

Five years of neglect have taken a toll on the stairs, generally in good structural shape there is some fungal growth and mold. I’ve started the task of pressure washing, using an undersized hose and running off of electrical cords, my massive five gallon per minute 3,500 psi pressure washer in Southlake would do the job in a quarter of the time, but I sold it and lugging that thing up and down the stairs would be difficult. I’ll have to run new conduit, electrical outlets and sill cocks. The pressure washer is not up to the task. It looks ok when first cleaned, but greys up in a hurry and it should be a rich dark shade of red.

Plumbing

I’ll have to run new PVC from the water pump, under the house, down the stairs and to the dock. Half inch PVC is just not adequate for long runs.
A new water heater needs to be installed, I’ll place it under the house rather than wait for the long run from the bodega.

Refinishing

The nispero wood on the outside of this house and the needs to be sanded and finished with clear marine varnish. That should take the best part of a month.


Tools Shed

A tool shed under the house seems in order, the bodega is too small to work in and after creating shelves for storage there won’t be much room.

Furniture

The couches took some abuse from the dogs, who now have been relegated to the deck where they chase each other in circles around the wrap around deck at dawn and then take to chewing on the wicker furniture.

Gutters

The gutters are clogged with leaves.  This is my drinking supply water, trying to get to these gutters 30 off the steep slope should be a trick.   I used to just power wash my gutters, but I don’t want to wash these leaves into the connection system.

The guy I bought my rocking chairs from has not replied about getting spare parts.

Run to Town

Internet
Panama Cable and Wireless couldn’t find my account.  I looked up the previous owner’s passport number only to discover that my internet provider is Cable Chico.   The office is a two room house with no sign in front.   They knew who the former owner was, said she had shut down her account and that I had a $35 reconnect fee.  I paid two months in advance, asked how fast my connection was supposed to be and was advised it was 256 KB/s thats about 2.56 mb/s, not bad about old cable speeds in the U.S.  unfortunately my connection is nowhere near that fast.  They said a technician could look at it.  We’ll see what that gets me.  My first hop is about 956 ms latency, probably from here, to Bastimentos and back to Colon.

Groceries

Shopping for Hardware

Chow Kai is not on my list of preferred places, they carry little, are often out of stock and are closed from 12 to 1:30, I went to Sur de Bocas and found success on a double gang switch and some hose washers.  A quick pizza and back home to find my room-mates trying to get a water taxi back into town.

Repairs

When trying to install it I found that they were two independent switches with no connection bar, so I’ll have to make a pigtail for the wire coming out of the wall and make a common cold wire for each switch.  Bypassing the switch, the ceiling fan worked fine.  I can’t believe I failed to buy some #14 and #12 stranded wire, a pair of needle nose pliers, miscellaneous wire nuts, crimp fittings, and electrical tape.  I’ll make another run to town tomorrow. My wire pliers were retrieved from my waterproof box on the dock, two weeks old and seriously rusted. I wiped down everything with 3 in 1 oil. There is no WD-40 here and not by accident. After my improv fix I hacked a little in the jungle hitting my dogs pretty hard with a stick at every opportunity. I cut down two to near three inch hardwood saplings in a single blow, if they were near my machete, I would decapitate them.

That doesn’t include everything, I got some tires I need to string up on the dock and have a slew of boat work pending as well as some legal work on the house that needs to be completed, I’ll document that later. There is a lot of shit to do. I told a friend I would install a cellular repeater five months ago when I had little or nothing to do. He finally got around to working on it and wants some help. I’ll put your request in the queue. Don’t wait up.

Well at least my refrigerator maintenance got it back in place.  Need to get the other refrigerator from Sheppard Island.

Bought a BCD, now I need to buy some weights and an octopus.

Clyde has a huge amount of plants for me to plant,   Oh yeah need a sump pump for the boat, some romex, better rewire the dock bodega.   Still need to put a ceiling in the upper bodega.  Lights on the dock.  Apply for title and a water concession.  Ceiling fan is out.  Change internet service over to Claro, oh yeah, gotta pay my Panama Cable and Wireless bill.

Tow a boat from Colon to my house.

My software project is getting behind schedule.   The power supply for the security system is in?  Got to help a friend by installing his system and connecting to the internet.  Oh yeah and buy one for me.  Better recharge the battery on my  backup boat, will it start?   Need jumper cables or a charger.

The composting toilet needs to be turned and feed wood chips.  Need more wood chips.  Oh yeah and the work desk and run electricity out to the deck.   Machete clear the property border.

Oil the floors, sand the exterior walls and revarnish.  Power wash and seal the stairs.   Check on a friend who needs a house sitter.

Shop for food an house supplies. Take dog to vet for shots.  Get Hayu neutered.

What the hell ever happened to my hang out and do little more than scuba dive, snorkel and fish plan?

Boat Parts Swap

To the party

Morning

Refrigerator

Having burned all the bristles off my refrigerator maintenance brush last time I tried to clean the flue, I sought in town for one with no luck.  My friend Walter was going to Changuinola yesterday and did me the favor of checking every hardware store and then doing the same in Almirante on the way back.  I wrapped a cloth around the stubs of bristles and scrubbed the flue tube with my three foot brush it seemed to do the trick.    Refrigerator contents hit the ocean or the counter as appropriate.

Battery

After having my battery cable replaced I noticed that my volt meter indicated that I had only 8 volts, barely enough to start the engine.  What the hell?   I took it back to the shop and the mechanic showed me that if I put the battery switch to the “All” position that it rose to 13 volts.  Problem solved.

No, bud, now we are reading the voltage from the second battery, the first battery is still only putting out 8 volts.   He had no idea what I was talking about.  Sitting with the shop owner I told him how to diagnose the system.   Earl’s Spanish is atrocious.  I said, “Hey, I brought along a translator, do you want me to get her?”  “Is she cute?”  “Not bad.”   I went and fetched her.   Brandy has been sailing for the last week and has darkened quite a bit.  Earl’s eyes about bugged out of his head.  Brandy spoke and Earl started telling her that her English was very good.   Yeah, growing up in the States, that can happen, he thought she was Panamanian.  A good candidate for working under cover she could pass herself off as a local in a shitload of countries.   Turned out she never translated anything, Leo, the mechanic apparently understood everything I said.

Measure the voltage across the terminals.   Then from one cable to the other terminal and vice versa.   If you get a voltage drop, the cable being tested at that time needs to be repaired or replaced.   I left, came back in a bit and the guy was sitting, looking at the two batteries with a confused expression on his face.    He felt that I needed to replace the other cable.  I showed him how to measure the resistance through the cable and measure the voltage as explained above.   He did so and I proved there was nothing wrong with either cable.

I told him this had to be continued until he got to the volt meter.  On a subsequent trip I see that he had removed the switch and was stumped again.  I laughed out loud.   When he was replacing the cable I gave him a tube of electrical silicone which is used to wrap splices to make them waterproof.  He had coated the terminals with the substance.  Even with my shitty Spanish I explained to him that this was an insulator, not a conductor and that he had to brush the corrosion off the mount posts and the silicone off the nuts, washers, terminals.

Hell, I did it myself.   He told me the switch was bad and I showed him how to test the switch and proved that it was fine.   Finally it was all put back together and everything was fine.   With a set of tools I could have finished the job in 15 minutes, this took a trip into town and three hours.

With ten trips up and down main street I must have been asked thirty times how Jessica was doing.  I stepped on her foot last night, it was too long a night for me.  Another story, another entry, maybe.

Paint

Richard, the Colombian who painted my boat saw it the day after I got it.  Sheets of paint were coming off the sides.   Richard was appalled and told me that it was no problem, they would fix everything at no cost.   Shit, I don’t want to be without a boat for two days.   Turns out they used old paint.  I’m glad it came off so quickly, it was obviously not my fault.  We agreed to have it repainted November 7 through the ninth, when I pop up to San Jose, Costa Rica to pick up my oldest son who needs two implants and two root canals.

Ceiling Fan

The ceiling fan has declined from needing a kick start, to noisy to dead in three days. It’s raining, no need for it just now. I’ll just add that to my list.

Looking over the boat I noticed that black footprints covered the fore deck.  Great, somebody had been stepping on the wet rail and tracking prints.   I commented to the man who painted the boat who went of to get something with which to clean it up.   A local maleante (ne’er-do-well) was spouting something in Spanish that I disregarded.  I left for a bit and when I returned, the paint was gone along with some of the gelcoat on the foredeck.  I don’t know what kind of solvent he used, but now I’m going to insist that the foredeck be painted for free.

Walter and I headed out.  Then he told me the maleante had been saying, “Don’t bitch about the work, we don’t need your money.”  Funny, the town thief was speaking for the owner when he was not even associated with the shop.  I’m sure Walter didn’t tell me until we left because he knew I would call the guy out and Walter is not a confrontational person.  Our initial objective was to look at some property I wanted to see, but it was getting late.  My little puppy Jessica high stepped an agitated dance on the foredeck.  “Walter, get Jessica and throw her in the water, quick.”  Obviously some nasty solvent was irritating her paws.  Damn.  

I tried to drop by to visit on friend who is looking for a house sitter, but the long dock could only accommodate one boat, the walls collapsing into the water leaving rocks and strewn about poles the whole of one length and 90% of the other side.  Perhaps someday I’ll go into Sheppard Johnson and his developments, but probably not. I couldn’t lash onto her boat as her mechanic showed up the same time I did and wanted to lash on himself to Susan’s boat.

I dropped off a hat somebody had left on my property the day before who had come to get some palm trees, another story I’ll probably never get around to writing and picked up some small palms sprouting from coconuts.

As we were heading into town a strong wind blew in from the South, chop formed quickly.  As docked  bow first in my usual spot without any significant effort but water was washing over the stern.  I tried to  bring her in stern first, but between the wind and the waves, it didn’t seem prudent so I headed off to Chow Kai, my preferred hardware store for no reason other than location and docked there, on the east side of the peninsula, sheltered from the south by a string of buildings and headed out for pizza after checking with the operator, informing him I would be across the street and to let me know before he locked up the gate.

Halfway through dinner Shakey came out to tell me that everything was fine as he was closing up shop.   After dinner Shakey was nowhere to be found and my boat was locked behind a gate.   On the other side of the hardware store is a water taxi stand, so I took a water taxi ride for a hundred feet, got on my boat and headed out home.   Why the hell is my volt meter showing 8 volts?  The batteries had been fine?  I switched to the other battery, not better, but when I set the rotor to “ALL” the meter read 13.2 volts.   This shouldn’t be happening with batteries wired in parallel, they must have mucked up the contacts when working on the switch.   I’ll see what I can do manana, when I am supposed to bring my other boat in to get the gas tank replaced.