One Crazy Bird

Since I got back home from the VOLENDAM, over a month ago, there has been a crazy bird that keeps coming to the skylight window in the living room and pecking on the window.  Day after day, a few times a day, he goes through this ritual.  Obviously in the reflection he sees in the window he has found “the love of his life” and is hopelessly infatuated . . . with himself.  Only he, obviously, hasn’t a clue.

It reminds me of the oft-quoted, yet still very true, “If you do the same thing in the same way you will get the same results.”

That’s a problem here in Panama.

When we were first looking for a farm, and didn’t know anything about soil or agriculture, we had an agricultural guy who works for the government with us.  I noticed that on the steep slopes of hillsides, where farmers grew vegetables, they planted up and down thusly encouraging erosion.  I asked why they didn’t plant in contours to preserve the soil.  He answered, “We’ve been preaching that to these guys for thirty years, but they won’t listen.  They think the only way to do something is the same way it has always been done.”

So that’s a problem in Panama, because it is a cultural mindset.  Whether it’s the architect or the gardiner, everyone stays inside the box.  Whether or not it works, or how well it works, is not a question that’s considered.  “In Panama this is the way we do it.”

So when it comes to construction . . . It is strictly a lineal process, because that’s the way it has always been done.  You finish one thing, and then you start another.  There is no concept of multiple trades working simultaneously towards a goal.  Now, obviously in Panama City where your are building 80 story buildings, it has to be different.  But in Chiriqui . . . And there isn’t always a clear concept of what needs to be done first in order to end up with an excellent finished product.  In fact “excellence” isn’t really part of anyone’s equation.

Planning is a problem.  Most Panamanians live paycheck to paycheck.  OK, so do most people in the States, but that is not because we don’t know that we should plan ahead!  But planning, which has always seemed to me to be vitally important in any construction project, isn’t a strong point.  There are no flow charts . . . and no builder is sitting around at night using MS Project.  So it makes for problems.

Take materials.  Yesterday the tile guy was making work because we didn’t have any cement.  We had to wait for the builder to go and buy a bag of cement.  Nobody sits down at the beginning of a project, plans, makes a list, and orders the needed materials.  And they should!  Had my builder bought all of his cement up front he would have paid $1.50 a bag instead of the $7.50 a bag he’s paying now.  Steel is another example.  It’s a rare builder in Panama who buys what he needs up front instead of at the last minute.  Yes, I have an MBA and understand the concept of “just in time”, but for it to work it has to BE THERE in time!  This isn’t any great management concept . . . it’s just the way it’s always been done.

Example.  My builder . . . who generally I like and am well pleased with his work, although his lack of organization is driving me nuts! . . . bought two cans (just two quart cans mind you!) of the wood stain we are using for the whole project.  He used it up on the wood ceiling in the living room.  When he went to buy more, guess what?  Glidden is no longer making that stain!  The replacement color doesn’t begin to match!  So now we are searching Panama for a stain that will work.  And we found one: but they only have ONE F*****’ can in Chiriqui!  So now they’re searching Panama, and the Free Zone . . .

I’m already drinking . . . and soon I may follow Monkey’s lead and become a Chickaholic as well!