Fumigation....Inside And Out.....

On Monday night around 9pm a young boy was standing outside yelling "buenas"....which is the Panamanian way of saying hello.  So Clyde went outside and the boy handed him a piece of paper.  Once back inside he read it over and it explained that on Tuesday the health department would be fumigating our neighborhood between 8-12pm.  From the way Clyde translated it, he read it to say keep your windows closed and your pets inside during the process. 

So around 7:15am Venus and I headed our for morning walk and upon re-entering our neighborhood Clyde came looking for us. They had started the fumigation process at our house which is at the back of the neighborhood.  There was Clyde making himself a bowl of oatmeal, with coffee brewing and someone wearing a gas mask came to the door to fumigate the place inside and out.  He immediately had to leave the house and the area until the vapors went away.  Here in Panamá they take controlling mosquitos rather serious, since they carry diseases like dengue and yellow fever.

With no where to go, he got into the car and drove off looking for us.  When he picked us up I was covered in sweat, hair up in pony tail, no makeup and un-showered.  We stopped by the house only long enough to grab some food for Venus and off we drove to kill sometime until we could get back into our house.  Since we hadn't eaten breakfast we drove to a nearby McDonalds for a breakfast meal to share. After that we stopped back at the house and when we opened the door a cloud of vapors made it's way out like smoke.  Clyde went in just long enough to grab our work clothes and some bottled waters and we left for the day.

Next stop was La Chorrera to pick up a rental car at Budget before dropping our car off to be repaired from the damage caused by the accident several months ago.  From there we went to the Chame house for more work.  I finished the last of the painting, although the side hallway could use another coat of paint.  Clyde did some wiring and moved the dining room chandelier so it would be over the table and not off to the side.

The cable and internet company showed up in the late afternoon to hook us up which is the last of the hook-ups needed in that house.  Clyde had the electric and water transferred to our name and also arranged for trash pick-up.  On his way back to the house he stopped to pick-up Chinese food for lunch which we ended up eating for both lunch and dinner.  It was 7pm before we arrived back here at the rental house tired and sore from a long, crazy day.  A bowl of  oatmeal still sat in the microwave and leftover coffee still in the pot after Clyde made a fast exit out.

And as the song goes....."hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go," once again today.  On today's agenda we hang ceiling fans and replace ceiling tiles throughout the whole house.  Still more toilets and sinks to install, and a shower drain to unclog too.  It's coming together a little at a time, and this week will be a month so far that we've been working on it everyday.  Eventually we can sit back and enjoy our new home, in our new country, with our new friends.......along  the gringo trail.