The definition of hot

It's so hot here that my toenail polish is melting off. I kid you not. I think this may mean that I should seek professional help- a pedicure is probably culturally necessary.

Red Diablos and Telenovas

You really can't go anywhere in Panama without seeing a Diablo Rojo (or in English a Red Devil). What on earth is that? Of course it's a public transportation bus. Duh. Rigged up school buses are used for the purpose of transporting Panamanians all over the city and country. Individual owners have them lovingly painted- favourite cartoon characters, scenic mountain shots and the requisite girlfriend/wife/popstar painted onto the back (most prominent) panel. Ciara, in the case of the bus above, has been immortalized in airbrush. I am, of course, disappointed that the UN doesn't have this sort of option built in...maybe someday Rob will drive a Diablo Rojo and I can get my sultry mug painted on the back.

As we drove to the beach today, through the downtown, we not only dodged many Diablos Rojos but also happened upon a film set for one of the telenovas that runs down here. A telenova is the equivalent of a soap opera- lots of drama, lots of cleavage. It was fun to watch the filming for a bit and we got to see the traditional Panamanian dress in full swing. Some the actresses are above. Max and Zella really wanted to get in on the action, we had to hold them back. But if you ever catch a late-night telenova on the Spanish language channel at home, keep an eye out in the background for the two blond kids sneaking into the shot.:)

Another day at the beach

We found a beach that's 20 minutes from our house. So close. So fun.

I miss my camera

Rob has my camera in Uruguay. I feel naked without it. I realize I have become the paparazzi of my children's lives, however, once my camera is rightfully returned to me I plan to take some serious pictures this weekend (only shots of people frowning...I jest). So if the pickings have been a little slim this week my apologies, but we can all rest easy that Rob is taking all sorts of blurry and useless shots of Uruguanian (is that a WORD??) things. I'll post the best of those too.

NOTE: Spellcheck has just managed to raise my IQ- it's Uruguayan. My favourite cultural blur word was passed on to us by Maurizio (Rob's mountain bike buddy extraordinaire) who asked Rob if he would have to learn to speak "Panamish" for his new job. Yes, he was trying to be a smart-ass. But still it cracked me up.

Where are you?

I love writing this blog. One of the reasons I love writing it is getting feedback and interacting with people- loved ones and new ones. I also get some technical feedback on the site, number of visits, times people visit, etc. One of the features of this reporting is that I'm able to see the countries people are viewing from. Weekly, I see readers from Canada, China, Australia, Japan, Italy, the States etc. It's amazing to me. So here's my question to you...(and I think I can ask this b/c everyone knows every blasted detail of my life if they're reading this with any regularity....)

Where in the world are you? And what did you have for dinner last night? Don't be shy. 'Fess up.

Where does it all go? Panama.

Last night was date night for Rob and I, so where did we head? The mall. Ridiculous but true. In our defence we did go there to see a movie but were thwarted by bad timing. Anyhooo, back to the mall and the reason for this post.

Shopping in Panama is hilarious. Did you ever wonder what happens to the clothing that doesn't sell back at home? It might have been the red shirt you saw at the Gap last season. It didn't sell at it's original price, then it was marked down and still didn't sell, it may have made it to an "outlet" store finally. But what happens to it then, when it's still sitting on the rack and the store has to make room for more stuff? It gets sold to a consolidator who packs it all up and ships it off to.....Panama! (Among other places I'm sure).

It's easy here to find LL Bean, Lands End, Gap, Eddie Bauer etc. But you won't find it in any of those stores, instead you'll find it in Albrook Mall. Or as we have come to call it The Land Where Bargains Come to Die. Please note in the picture above that, yes, you are seeing a merry-go-round at the mall. I'm sure you can imagine Max and Zella's joy at this latest cultural development. But back to my story, last night Rob walked out with three Land's End dress shirts (probably about $60 a piece at home) and a pair of Steve Madden shoes....are you ready for the grand total? Sit down. $14.

And then after all the shopping, we went and had curried chicken mango crepes with ice cold beer and homemade gelato for dessert. Grand total $24.

We're really starting to like Panama.:)

The Traditional Thanksgiving Monkey

If we were in Canada we probably would've spent yesterday taking a bit of a Thanksgiving Hike. You know, you probably did it yourself- take in the leaves, work up a bit of hunger for the turkey ahead.

Thanksgiving was slightly different for us this year. No turkey. Four hours of the oven on full blast would've heated our house up beyond human endurance, so dinner was at the Canal Restaurant. Steak and seafood. Yum. And the pre-dinner hike was a little off the beaten path too. Rob took the kids to a waterfall pool and along the way ran into a pod of howler monkeys. He got some great shots and I've included the best one of a mom and her baby. Needless to say the kids were blown away by the monkeys and their unearthly howling.

So if we had to be without red maple leaves and roasting turkey then I guess howler monkeys and Panamax ships weren't too bad.

Captain Canada

Max and Zella recently dressed up for National Pride Day at their school. As they're the only Canadians at the school we felt a certain amount of pressure to perform. A day before the event one of the Panamanian moms asked me what the national dress of Canada was- this sent us into a bit of a tailspin because Panama is so verrry clear about what they're cultural dress is. Canada on the other hand? Not so much. We could've dressed the kids up a la Corner Gas, or as hockey players, Ann of Green Gables maybe? Small cute moose? Really no strong image came to mind. So, we ended up doing the Captain Canada look. All red, maple leaf on cheek, Senators pom-pom and an ABC Canada book to read to their friends (Thanks BEN and NATE for giving it to us!!) You will also note that Max is carrying scissors- this has nothing to do with Captain Canada and everything to do with his newly acquired love of all things contraband.

And to all back home HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We miss everyone of you and will be thinking of you eating turkey and enjoying the leaves.:)

So instead, I give you, a houseplant....

This is where I should be posting about poverty in Panama. Instead, I will present our newest house plant.

Over the weekend we spent a bit more time downtown, running errands, getting lost...you know, the usual. It was a grey day, icky really. Perfect for errands. But the poverty around Panama City really hit me. So I started to take some pictures and they, sort of, conveyed the scope of some of the poverty down here. But not quite. Because you really have to see it with your eyes to grasp the scale of it. I had planned to put them up here. And I will. But we've lost our memory card from the camera- it's off hidden in a pile of the flotsam and jetsam that litters our house. Sorry about that. But I promise I'll get around to it.

But just in case you're checking in and hoping for the newest James Family installment, you'll want something interesting to read, I'm sure. So (drumroll please) let me present our newest houseplant. Ta da!

I jest, but really it is quite an interesting houseplant. It's a bromeliad. There are over 2400 species of bromeliads, (god only knows what this one is) and the most interesting part of the bromeliad is that it doesn't require soil. It will happily grow on the branch of tree, on a trunk or a random rock. All it needs is moisture and sunlight. We bought this particular one at a roadside stand last week for $3 and it now sits on our bedroom balcony. You would think that such a sturdy plant would be hard to kill. Let's hope so. I'll keep you updated.

Swimmers in the family

The Olympic hopefuls in the family have been working on a rigorous training schedule. This includes daily visits to the pool for such hard-core drills as "Save Dora from the Waterfall", "Catch the Dead Frog at the Bottom of the Pool" and "Whip Rocks at Each Other".

Please note that if you click on the picture (to view the mega-version) and take a close look at Zella's Barbie (I kid you not) goggles, you'll notice that said goggles are fogged over completely and there is a visable water line that hovers somewhere near her upper cheekbone. This doesn't bother her.

That's because she's got the heart of champion. They both do.