New housing and freedom
(bhavatitdhyan.wordpress.com) Talking about a small world: the aforementioned Hindu merchant knew the same people who sold rudraksha in India as did Sudarshani. Both also knew the USA rudraksha representative who lived in San Diego. I also knew this person because he is a “TM-sidha” who had attended my residence courses many years ago. Another small world connection: Marisel knows Pilar and her brother, Pedro, who we met at the Catholic charismatic retreat. He was Marisel’s first boyfriend in high school. Wilma knows everybody: a cab driver caught her attention and it turned out that he was the boyfriend of one of her many grand-nieces. Not a good boyfriend, as it turns out; so we won’t use his services again.
Wilma’s house is a nearly ideal design for this climate, although it would be more durable in concrete than in wood. As I stated before, electricity seemed to be an afterthought, with few receptacles and not enough circuits. For the additional personnel and our needs, we should add receptacles and a few lights and switches. My computer needs its own isolated and protected circuit as well. We invited Señor Cruz over to give us an estimate for wiring 7 rooms with the extra needs. He came up with a figure of $250 (including the senior discount), half for parts and half for labor. Sounded OK to me but Wilma and her parsimonious ways could not comprehend any service costing that much and she balked. Remember, she was paid $12.50 a week to teach school and still thinks that is the standard to go by. I would still ask for competing bids because labor is so cheap here.
I finally got to see some of the Arab housing developments outside the city of Colón. One such is located on about two acres that includes 20 or so units on a paved half-loop of road, complete with sidewalks and below-ground sewer. It is adjacent to an older development of the same type. The lots measure about 20′ wide by 30′ deep and each contains a 400 sq. ft. 1BR/1BA house. The walls are of 4″ thick (half-size) concrete block supporting metal rafters under a metal shed roof. A drop-ceiling is wired to the rafters. There is no ceiling insulation so the rooms inside have to cook like an oven. I could see where the walls didn’t even join the roof, probably designed (?) to give the critters (especially bats) a place to escape the rain. This half-finished approach is typical for Panamá. These glorified sheds are selling for $28K and are considered a bargain. I’ll bet they didn’t cost even $4K each to build, including the street improvements.
I saw some 500 sq. ft. models going for $35K. I can only guess that these houses are being marketed to the growing Panamanian work force at the free zone and at the two ports. So many have been commuting from Panamá to work here that maybe a new clean neighborhood with modern streets and underground drainage would attract them to live closer to the job. These developments are just the latest in a continuous expansion of this particular suburb called San Judas. One that was carved out of a mountain of sand. Steep half-hills of sand stand on three sides of this flat barrio and I expect that the concrete factories nearby will get around to shaving them down some day. What I saw was a perfect opportunity to dig an underground house into the near vertical slope. The shoring up of the walls and ceiling would have to be especially strong when under sand. Ordinarily, that kind of steep land would be very cheap to buy because of the difficulty of building on it.
To be perfectly candid, the buyers of most of these tiny boxes do not put up with the cramped conditions for long. If they have any paycheck left, they immediately begin adding on patios, perimeter walls, garages, extra rooms in the back, ornate facades of tile and even columns. They will build right to their property lines so that the once individual homes would now resemble row-houses. Here, it’s just a simple matter of stacking blocks where you want them and finishing the walls later. In the USA your local Planning District would shut down your construction and evict you off of your land while they bulldozed your creation-all for building without gov’t approval (permits). This is not my cynical imagination, I’ve witnessed it. You’ll never see such a story in the news because it’d make local gov’t look oppressive (according to the patriotic media, only foreign gov’ts are oppressive). The news outlets need gov’t approval too; and can’t afford to bite the hand that “permits” them. The county gov’t agency would find you out because they aerial photograph, inspect regularly and besides, your neighbors would turn you in. Now, you tell me who has more freedom to pursue happiness?
