El Cangrejo

Dan and I have settled into El Cangrejo.  (I'm not sure why it's called that; cangrejo means 'crab'.)  Once occupied primarily by affluent Jewish families, this neighborhood is now a mixture of nationalities and cultures, so we fit right in.

Our apartment is on the 19th floor of a building so new, they hadn't finished construction.  When we moved in the workers had just installed the appliances the day before.  That night we discovered -- the hard way -- that the kitchen faucet wasn't installed correctly and our shower drain was hopelessly clogged. (Thankfully, we didn't discover the hard way that there's no ladder to help residents get out of the pool. They wouldn't do that in America!)   We also discovered that night that the gas had been shut off to the building for the weekend.  At least it gave us a good excuse to try out some of the local sidewalk cafes.

Rainy Season in Central America

No matter where one goes in the tropics, it doesn't change: There's a dry season and a rainy season. No four seasons here. Dan and I arrived in Panama during the rainy season and didn't see the sun for the first three weeks we were there.

From December through March Panamanians enjoy a sunny dry season (they call it summer, haha). Now the rainy season has started again and God waters the land every afternoon. A few weeks ago we had so much rain so quickly that we literally had a river running down the road. Within half an hour it overwhelmed the drains ... and some unsuspecting drivers who had parked in a low area returned to find their cars submerged to the top of their trunks. Thank goodness it drained just as quickly!