Veneno (Poison)

A dead brown dog appeared on our property followed by a dead black one. Hours later that same day, we were walking around our property accompanied by our neighbor's three CUTE Rottweiler puppies. One of the pups ate something off the ground and broke into convulsions a few seconds later. The puppy gobbled down a piece of what proved to be a poisoned piece of beef jerky. A traumatic scene for sure. Desperate to save the rot, Randy and our friend Thomas force fed the little guy cooking oil to prompt it to purge, which he did, but the jerky itself never came back up and out.

We alerted the dog's owner and the pup was taken to the vet. Unfortunately, we fear it may have been too late and the insecticide laced jerky (which a local friend of ours suggests was likely used to douse the meat) may have claimed him. We haven't seen that rot, OR either of the other 2 (shown in the picture) on our property since.

Brings about a new awareness for us of how careful we'll need to be with our future pooch.....

Our New Chariot - "The Gopher"

A four wheel drive vehicle is a good thing to have here in Boquete. While the majority of the roads are paved and generally good, there are areas on some of the mountain trails that are rocky and muddy, especially during the rainy season. For our peace of mind, Rand and I decided to find a 4 wheel drive to provide that little extra uumpfh if and when we should need it.

That being said, obtaining a used vehicle in Panama can be a scary undertaking since a lot of folks are very rough on their rides and don't put in enough, if any, maintenance and TLC along the way. Not to make a negative blanket statement, but most won't tell you that the transmission is hanging on by the hair of its chinny-chin-chin prior to you forking over the dough to buy it. However, we are optimistic that our new purchase which we affectionately call "The Gopher" will serve us well for a few years.
Here it is, posing in all its glory next to the Cascada del San Ramon-The San Ramon Waterfalls. Isn't it cute?

Baby Clem Arrives!

HEAVEN MUST BE MISSING AN ANGEL - Cameron William Clem made his debut on January 30th, 2008 making my sister Kelly and me officially AUNTS, my brother Kevin and his wife Tracey officially PARENTS and mine and Tracey's parents officially GRANDPARENTS. Needless to say, all of our lives have been amazingly changed forever.

There was some excitement prior to the little Nugget's big entrance, however. Baby Cam somehow managed to sling his ambilical cord around his shoulder. He decidedly protested the impending exit of his comfy womb room by holding on to his cord for dear life. His little stunt made his heart rate drop and it quickly became clear that an emergency C-section was in order - STAT. The docs rapidly put Tracey under and hoisted Cameron (kicking and screaming I am sure) out of his 9+ month residence.

I would wager that now that he has given life "on the outside" a try he likely finds that it suits him...and how could it not with as much love and attention as he has been enjoying since he graced us with his red headed, blue eyed (just like his Daddy) presence? I find myself so overwhelmed by him that I am moved to tears when he is in my arms. Cam Cutie, thank you for bringing a new, delightful dimension to our world.
All my love, AJ (Aunt Jamie)

Season's Greetings

After months of searching the mountains and valleys of Boquete, Randy and I found our little slice of heaven. We are officially Panamanian landowners! See pictures of our property here.

We left Boquete in late October and flew to the States. While in the US, we have been quite busy with family gatherings including my Mom's 60th birthday party, Thanksgiving, our wedding and a baby shower for my brother Kevin and his wife Tracey who are due in February with the first baby in our family. Rand returns to Boquete mid January and I will join him there in February after becoming an aunt!

Randy and I have been relaxing and enjoying a long honeymoon at a beach house in Corpus Christi, TX. We've decorated our small Christmas tree with shells and sand dollars we've found on our daily beach walks. His family joins us for the holidays here at the beach for a festive "beachy keen" Christmas.

Construction of our house will begin in Boquete soon after our return and fingers crossed, by fall 2008 we should be in our new place! We are so looking forward to finally being settled in our own home. The coming months will no doubt be an adventure since we are both first time home builders. The fact that we're taking on this task in Panama should make it REALLY interesting.

The blog will pick back up with regular entries after we are both back in Panama, so check in with us here mid February for the stories and pictures of your pals the Panamanian Pigotts. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all!

Pacific Time

Rand and I haven't done any river fishing during our time in Panama (can you believe that?) because it has been rainy season and the rivers are muddy and rough. That being the case, Randy has been chomping at the bit to get his fishing fix in any way possible, so when our friend Thomas invited us to join him and his friend Bob for a day of fishing on the Pacific, we were more than eager.

Bob's 25 foot Panga boat carried us out amongst the many Pacific islands in search of tuna, roosterfish, wahoo or whatever else might be biting. The fact that we didn't catch any fish was overshadowed by the good fortune of seeing several huge frolicking whales in the distance. They were jumping out of the water, slapping the surface with their huge tails, seemingly celebrating some underwater triumph. It was the kind of thing you see in those National Geographic films. We wanted to get a closer look but when they became aware that we were gaining on them, they vanished from view for the rest of the day.

Undaunted, we proceeded to enjoy our afternooon, stopping off at sensational deserted beaches and finishing up with a WHOLE fish dinner before motoring back to the launch in the rain. When our heads hit the pillow that night, we slept hard.

Boquete Dog Show

The Boquete Dog Show was a nice little Sunday treat and was well attended by Panamanians and Expats alike with canine friends in tow. Dogs of all shapes and sizes were present including a tiny Chihuahua trying to live up to his given name - Thor - by snarling and yipping at any dog daring to encroach upon his personal space.
The crowd was entertained as puppies showed their recently learned (forgotten) obedience skills and adolescent dogs
dazzled the crowd,


rocketing through the air over five, and eventually six, people with ease.

One of the old timers confined to the sidelines was obviously NOT enjoying having to endure a young lad mounting him and desperately flashed a classic "Get this brat off of me!" face.

The Panama Canal

From the Miraflores Locks, we watched as gigantic ships entered from the Pacific and made their way through the first leg of the Panama Canal on their way to the Atlantic. The canal cuts across the lowest point in the Continental Divide and through one of the narrowest points between the two oceans. There are 12 sets of locks. Each may be filled or emptied in less than 10 minutes, and each pair of lock gates takes two minutes to open. Electric towing locomotives, called "mules", pull ships by cable through the locks. The mules are the only locomotives of their kind in the world, designed specifically for the Canal. You can see two different ships passing through at different levels in the photo at left and the little mules as well.

The Panama Canal expansion project broke ground on September 3rd. The expansion will cost $5.25 billion (WOW!) and is scheduled for completion in 2014. When finished, the Canal will have a new lane for ship traffic and a whole new set of locks, which will double capacity and allow more traffic and longer, wider ships. It is amazing to see the Canal and realize that it was completed in 1914 and has been running efficiently, 24/7 with no reworking in almost one hundred years. Impressive indeed.

The Arrival - Panama City

We made a spur of the moment decision to go East instead of heading back West towards Boquete. Since we already had a rental car and were only an hour and a half outside of the big city we motored on to conquer Panama Ciudad and witness the marvel that is the Panama Canal. Upon our arrival, we realized that our entry was a bit ill timed as it was Friday rush hour. To be sure, the road rules aren't as obvious as they are in the States and we had no idea of where we were OR where we were going.

After bumbling through different areas of the city for an hour and a half, thankfully avoiding any accidents (good job Captain Randy), we were both nail bitten and frazzled. We decided to find ANY hotel, just to be off the streets. One of the first places we cased turned out to be a "by the hour" joint. We gathered this after observing the young, rotund chica pawing at the much older muchacho at her side, all the while flaunting her "goods" under the blue bra not even remotely covered by her cheetah dress. As the muchacho's hands fumbled for the money to pay the desk clerk, it was obvious he was in a hurry to get going on the "big game" he'd found on his afternoon's safari. Needless to say, we passed on that particular venue.

We found lodging at the Executive Hotel and ordered up a tasty Pizza Hut pizza-aren't we adventurous?-and watched from our balcony as a mystical sunset brought on the night.

We Do Decameron

Decameron catered to all tastes with 11 restaurants, 11 bars and six large pools with gardens surrounding them all on a hill overlooking the Pacific ocean. We ate at a different locale for each meal and the food wasn't bad, certainly acceptable. What's not to like about gigantic buffets? There were ala carte options in some of the restaurants too.
The weather cooperated perfectly and we took lengthy walks on the 2 mile long playa both days of our stay. As usual, Rand planned and provided an exquisite birthday for me as he seems to be able to do not just on special occasions, but daily. I'm spoiled and LOVING IT!

The Get Away

Apologies for the SEVERELY delinquent blog entry. We've been quite involved with the land scene lately. Randy wisely advises me not to count any chickens before they hatch but if all goes according to plan, we will soon be land owners in Boquete (and it's a seriously sweet piece of land, so fingers crossed!) All the time spent with builders, engineers, surveyors and architects was weighing on us and becoming pretty consuming so we were ready for a hiatus!

Randy made reservations for my 33rd birthday at the all-inclusive Decameron Resort. The price was right but we weren't sure how it would turn out because all-inclusives are a toss up. We were optimistic though, hoping for the best. The resort was a 6 hour drive from Boquete and we saw some exotic road kill along the way.

We arrived at Decameron and went to check in but found no reception desk. Instead, we were given a number and told to sit and wait in a huge room for them to call us up. When our number was called, we proceeded to one of the five tables at the front and were given oh so classy neck lanyards with our room keys on them and fashioned with hot pink wrist bands on our left arms. Not looking good so far, we thought. Fortunately though, our room was charming and large with a nice view. We changed into our beach gear and set off to explore the premesis.