Imperialist Oppressor For a Day
Happy Fourth of July from Panama!
Knock on the door this morning was the guy with one bad eye. He wandered by yesterday and commented on my laying of the slate tile that I reclaimed a couple of weeks ago. Roughly translated, "hey, nice job gringo, but if you pay me to do that it will be better for the both of us." Considering that laying tile, mixing cement and other masonry type skills never made it into my repertoire I had to agree with him.
That's the weird thing about Panama, everybody is a do it yourselfer, everybody has simple handyman skills that they rent out at need, kind of like political opinions. Professionals however are hard to find and tend to be expensive. Ego-wise, for a guy like that me that has a smattering of knowledge of most (other) things construction, pretty much anything I do is on a par with the locals. If your walls are plumb, square and level you are a master technician.
This time though I knew my work wouldn't survive the first real rainstorm. As I'm a curiosity around here, and the terrazzo is pretty much my welcome mat, my humbleness wasn’t all that hard to dig up in this case. Like I tell all the workers that ask for jobs I said he should come back tomorrow. The return rate runs about 10 to 1 in favor of they'd rather be somewhere else when the time comes to clock in. I figure this saves me the bother of having to fix half-assed jobs that I could do better myself.
So in a rare show of responsibility Blinky showed up today and off we went to the supply store to order up some cement and sand. Another thing you may find about Panama is that no matter what your driving habits are, with the exception perhaps of our Asian friends in Koreatown, you are likely qualified to be a driving instructor here. This was demonstrated to me once again this morning on the above-mentioned trip to get the materials.
I've been in high speed crashes and cop chases, in taxis and busses on dangerous mountain passes in the third world and the passenger of many a drunken driver, but it takes a special talent to frighten me at low speed. Blinky got it done without even trying. But, we made it back and he's got a level, a bucket and a trowel.
As the work is ongoing as we speak, I'll reserve comment on the outcome, especially as it looks like rain today, which may require a return engagement for Blinky to finish the job. I just might yet find myself learning the joys of mixing cement on the morrow.
