The Malena Waterfalls

There are some water falls near malena and Kees and i had ponly visited the first one. Our student Rob however, visited all of them, persuaded a localguy to improve the path along the water falls and has taken tourists to this place, who all came back very enthusiastic. So it was about time that I had a look for myself.

I have seen some water falls, but these ones are really nice!
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/tanagertourism)

Isra is de local guide from malena and he also models in these pictures. During the trip he also gives a helping hand when the trail gets slippery or steep. During most of the time, you walk through water and over rocks overgrown with ferns and mosses. There are a few places where these rocks are slippery. Occasionally you can hold on to young palm trees or lianas for support (just like Tarzan) and the steepest part now has a hand rail for support.

I had decided to go on my hiking boots, even though I expected that I might get wet feet. And indeed, at some places the watewas just a wee bit too deep. But no blisters becasue the walk is not that long ad the shoes are that good. At the third waterfall, I took my shoes off to take a refreshing dip in the pools. But one could go one step further, to the top of the waterfall that drops into these third pools. Climbing up the rocks along a liana. Isra did the whole walk on his bare feet and somehow did not even get a scratch. He also managed to climb a few guabo trees (inga spp.) to get the last ice cream beans. These are large podsthat contain a pulp that tastes like vanilla ice cream.

Isra’s enthusiasm is another good point of this trip. He still enjoys swimming in th epools and diving from the highest waterfall into the pool below and his enthusiasm is contagious. But not quite contagious enough to persuade me to dive too. Yes, there is a deep bit in which you can safely plunge, but that is surrounded by shallows that do not look quite as safe. Somehow, somewhere between my 10th and my 41st birthday my fear of an accident got stronger than my faith that all would end well. But going back along the rocks looked pretty scary too. In the end I carefully climbed two thirds down the waterfall and then jumped, into the deep bit.

The current in the pool is just strong enough to make it a light exercise pool. You can stay in place by swimming against the current at a slow to medium pace. Swim a bit faster and you easily reach the waterfall where you can have a natural and relaxing back massage.

Our new Employee

Since Kees is leaving we had to find someone to replace him Impossible of course, Kees is irreplaceable, where do you find someone like him? However, we did find someone who could take over part of Kees’s tasks: Justino M.P. We have employed him as of 1 May so that he could work together with Kees and learn how we want to get things done.

Justino is 22 years old and lives in Palmilla, about 500 m down the road from our farm (in the direction of Malena, near the bridge) . Justino worked with us for about three weeks last year, he is the young man helping to construct the shower in October 2007. So, we already know him and that is why we asked him: he is a hard worker and uses his brains as well as his hands. Some time ago he worked in construction in Panama city and recently he worked on a large cattle ranch milking the cows.

Justino is married and his wife has just given birth to their second child: a son. The first child, a daughter, is named Jocelyn. Unfortunately she has a slight heart murmur and is regularly checked by a medical doctor. So far there is no need to intervene, but Justino and his wife are of, course, always concerned about Jocelyn.

Since 5 May we have planted nearly 200 trees and Justino has also helped us to weed around the trees we planted last year and from existing paths. Unfortunately, the weeds and grass grow just as fast as the trees. He has also helped us to construct paths and helped the builder finish the workshop. He also helped us constructing the work bench in the work shop. The latter was no easy job, because the thing you need most when constructing a work bench is…a work bench.
An added complication is that all wood comes straight from the saw mill and is therefore green, rough and usually anything but straight. So there was quite a bit of sawing, planning and sanding to be done before we could actually get down to the business of constructing the work bench.

An employee also means an introduction to a new aspect of Panama: the bureaucracy associated with registering your employee with the ministry of labour and Social Security. And we must say, it was not too bad. During the first visit we received a list of all the documents we needed to bring and clear instructions how to complete them. And so we did. However, after completing all the forms and placing my signature no less than 11 times we found out that they forgot to tell us one thing: some cards had to be completed with a typewriter. Yes, you read this correctly: a typewriter. Those cards are stored in an ancient type of filing system with cardboard cards. So where does one find a typewriter? Well, in the only other places that still use the same antique filing system: Medical doctors and lawyers. Luckily a friend of ours knows someone who works as a secretary at a medical practice and has access to a real typewriter.

Now that Justino has been registered with Social Services, we have to complete a form every month, hand that in and come back three weeks later to pay the contributions. Interestingly, they are doing their best to get this digitalized. So when we handed in the forms, we got a CD-ROM with some files to use with well known software to complete these monthly forms.

The contract between employer and employee is also not just that, the ministry of labour also has to receive a copy. We do not know why, but they have to have a copy, which is checked to see if we comply with the law and then endorsed with a stamp. This process was very quick, because we had first obtained a model contract and did not stray too far from the model. Furthermore, Justino earns more than the legally allowed absolute minimum (good workers are expensive) and his niece was the person who had to stamp the contract. Her reactions was : What a high salary, followed by the resounding ‘plonk’ of a stamp hitting a document.

Kees leaves Panama

Some people already know, but most are unaware and therefore this blog: Kees goes to Angola to work for two years. He has just left today, the first of June, to Germany and than to the Netherlands and then to Angola...

Yes, Kees goes back to Africa to earn money. We are now nearly two years in Panama and have invested a lot of money, earned (too) little and we have seen the prices go up enormously. When we arrived here in 2006, the price of diesel was about 2 dollars for a gallon (nearly 4 litres) and now the same gallon is on average $4,14... and worse, we still have to start building the house/hotel ...

We had hoped that we could get some consultancy jobs in the Latin America region but when you arrive ‘fresh’ from Africa you miss the required ‘5 years regional experience’... So when money dried up, and despite the fact that we managed to sell our house in Mozambique for a reasonable price (agreed upon in Euros), we participated in several proposal bids for consultancy companies in Africa and anywhere. (Loes is in some round for short-term repeated consultancy maybe in Africa and/or Ecuador – we are not going into details because one of these proposal bids has not yet been submitted to USAID). In short, our CV is somewhere in the world wide web en a German company GFA Consulting Group found Kees’ CV there. They asked him some months ago whether he wished to join the team in their bid for a contract of the European Commission for a project in Angola and Kees said yes.

GFA won the bid round (of course also thanks to Kees’ perfectly fitting CV) and they signed the contract with the European Union. Therefore, Kees goes to Angola for two years. It is an interesting project, about land rights and water supply for "trans-human cattle owners", but as said, it is now more about the money than it used to be years ago. The fact that the salary is good and that they pay two tickets per year between Angola and Panama made the decision to participate in the proposal easier.

Neither of us wants to delay the progress of our project here. Especially since we do not want to delay the construction of the house/hotel with four rooms on the land, Loes stays in Panama. Now you all want to know how we feel about it and what we think about that...

Well we do not like it at all on one side, it is not an ideal situation, and both of us fear missing each other. Yet, on the other side, we know we need the money and it is an opportunity too. Besides, we have before lived very far apart together for longer periods (but never as long in one go... nor did we like it then...). Now we hope for a reasonable phone connection. Kees seems to be getting a satellite phone for the project (...). Normal phones and internet seem to be at several hours but very good to travel in the weekend! If, in a year or so, we seem a bit depressed or not so optimistic than you are warned... than we miss each other terribly!

The departure got a rather weird touch. Both Loes and Kees are holding back a part of their tears while Kees walks alone to the customs and Loes waits all alone behind the rope. Suddenly, hundreds of Panamanians come running from the steps and crowd behind, beside and under Loes, who tries to wave to Kees every time he turns. These people are highly exited and joyful and bring banners that they hold and put up. One big banner appears in front of Loes who tries to look over it to see and wave to Kees who is as surprised as she is... Apparently, the world champion boxing arrived, he came home, and he is Panamanian!