Returning to my blog
Friday, 11. January 2008 by Bruce Brown
Hi, this is Bruce, and I’m returning to my blog. Last time I wrote anything of substance I was about to drive from Mexico to Panama. I can’t say why I haven’t been posting --the trip was hard and settlings had it’s difficulties, and I haven’t’ been inspired to post. But, now I want to, so here goes. I was reminded of my blog when I decided to start supporting Mike Huckabee for President and wanted to put a Huckabee image on my site. I decided that I should also post an entry. So here goes.
The picture is of a place to which I hiked a few months ago. This is a part of heaven owned by a friend of mine. Breathtaking.
My trip driving from Mexico was extremely eventful --as I drove my 1997 Jeep Cherokee from Acapulco to Boquete Panama. Maybe I’ll write more about it later. The general advice of drive during the day, and don’t cross borders at night are born of experience-born wisdom --I now know!. But, I couldn’t follow the advice, because I had sent my family ahead to Panama by plane, and I was taking our belongings, and two English Shepherd dogs, in my jeep --and couldn’t stay in insecure hotels. It happened that I did cross borders, almost always at night, did hit multiple times of trouble, having to pull out a knife one night on the Honduras border to keep people away, and would do it again in a heart-beat. I ended up staying any place with security, never paid over 30 dollars a night for a hotel, and these hotels generally were built for unscrupulous activities. I never was displeased with the quality of my accommodation nonetheless.
Boquete, Panama is a dream --we made a wonderful decision to come here. There are other families our age coming (we’re in our forties with a 6 and 13-year-old. Since being here, we went through what remains of the rainy season --and loved the drama of the rain each day. Due to finding oil in my coolant in the Jeep, I pulled the head, had it ground, and replaced it only to find the oil was transmission fluid --so I had the radiator repaired. Prices for the parts were very good.
There are many people our age here. Great friends already made. We’re so happy. If you’re 30 something to 50 something --come to Panama, you’re kids will have friends. Our friends all seem to like or do music, and I’m getting to sing and help write songs. I’m also practicing guitar. I’ve created a site I call SongConstructors to help us collaborate on writing songs. I post lyrics in the Wiki so the guys can make suggestions on lyrics, and then we post current versions on songs. Almost all the songs need substantial work even to be good enough for us --but I never would have imagined I’d be doing this. My life’s been “unrich” for many years, and it’s getting so interesting. My past hasn’t been so uninteresting, I guess, as we;ve spent recent years in interesting places --but this place seems richer.
This was almost the election where I was going to stop voting. Then, last summer we started giving a little money to Huckabee, thinking nothing would come of it. Now we’re excited and asking others to consider supporting him. I’ve never done that before --as I’ve been pretty upset at our government for awhile. I think and hope he’s different. I’m not that sorry to plug him even though it’s irrelevant to this post. He’s seeming to always have to apologize for caring for the underdog. But as a disabled person, I’ve thought I had more in common with Democrats than Republicans for awhile now --however, Huckabee strikes a balance for me. I’m not posting this to start a Huckabee debate, but just to take note of him and my unexpected interest in this election after being dismayed for awhile with our nations politic. Consider hitting the link at the right and donating to his campaign --he needs the money I’m sure.
Panamanian people are very nice. And I find Panamanians to be bright and interesting. The USA is not hated here as we experienced some in Mexico --but, Panamanians do resent USA some, but seem to love Americans.
I’m running on now, so I’ll quit.
I’ll enjoy writing more about my trip over the next few weeks.
Bruce
