The construction of our Bed and Breakfast is in full swing

You have not heard from us for a while, mostly because we have been very busy. And we will tell you what has been keeping us busy in this and other blogs.

First of all, the construction of our Bed and Breakfast is in full swing. Since the back hoe did its work, the builder, mr Zeballos has been very busy. He contracted a large team and almost every Saturday half the team is putting in some extra hours. As a result, work has been coming along fast. Most of the roof is already put in place and in the rooms that have a roof, the walls are being plastered. The tiles for the bathrooms arrived Tuesday but aye, they did not look on the wall like they were supposed to look! And floor tiles is another story. Choosing the latter has been a somewhat agonizing process. There is not too much choice in Panama, and if there is, than they do not have the quantity we need in stock. Photos can be seen, as usual, on www.flickr.com/photos/tanagertourism.

Building will slow down significantly by the end of this week because Santiago de Veraguas celebrates its ‘Patronales’ a four day party that is wilder and more popular than carnaval. All employees worked the whole of last weekend to earn some extra money and they are now partying from Thursday onwards. They Monday is still free because the wise Zeballos mentioned that they would not be fit to work that day...

More than half way through the building we are still on good terms with mr Zeballos. He is an excellent builder who always comes to discuss things that seem unclear or when he has a better idea. He has already saved us from a few small awkward problems because the drawings were not quite perfect. If you happen to want to build in Panama, we higly recommend mr Zeballos (but only after he has finished our Bed and Breakfast).

Our ecological septic tank system has not yet been installed, but since the designer was so happy that we got permission from the Panamanian authorities to use his design, he came personally to supervise the location and will also come back to assist with the installation. So we will be happy that the ecosceptic tanks shall be installed as they should be and the designer is happy because he can now market them to other hotels, etc. And apparently we should get something for that too!

If all goes well, the Bed and Breakfast should be ready by mid November, in time for the next tourist season starting in December. Just as well, because we are now mentioned in a travel guide (Foot print to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) so we do expect the number of visitors to start rising in the next few months.