Panama Update #87
November 19, 2008
On my morning walk today up the Ancon Hill, near where we live, I saw a dead armadillo on the sidewalk. It is the first armadillo I have seen here and guess it must have been hit by a car. It has been a little cooler in the mornings and raining less often during the day, so I guess the season is gradually changing here to what they call summer, which just means dry season. Starting in the next couple of weeks the rain is supposed to stop and the humidity is supposed to drop for the next few months. It will still be hot, but I can imagine the mornings and evenings will be very pleasant.
For breakfast we have been eating oatmeal a lot and some other cereals we have found in the markets here. This morning I wanted to eat some of the fruits I had bought earlier in the week that are turning ripe. I had an avocado and a papaya. It is tricky to buy them so they don't ripen all at the same time. It is a pretty small window of time from when they ripen to when they go rotten, so I wanted to have them for breakfast while they were still edible.
The taxi that I caught to work today was the most beat up I have seen so far. The front seat belt was broken, the windshield was cracked, and the doors didn't lock. It got me to work on time, but most of the others you find are in better shape. The driver had a cross hanging from the mirror and a model of Jesus in the front. Some of the drivers have religious symbols in the car and for the most part are very nice and honest. Others of the drivers have pictures of women models and they play loud music. With those drivers, about half are nice and about half are inpatient or kind of angry. So all together, I would say that about 75% of the drivers are fine, and the others are not as pleasant. Even with all the traffic, I can see why people say it is much nicer to have a car than take taxis all the time like we do.
