Chiriquí Chatter

Having a maid in Panama is not as much a luxury as it would be in the US. In the US your house is pretty much a closed system these days. It was only on the rarest occasions that I remember having my windows open in any of the houses I lived in after I first had air-conditioning. Because of this, minimal dust and dirt entered the house. It normally never needed a vacuuming more than once a week. Living in Panama, you will find that is very different. It is rare, if not impossible, to find any house or apartment with the windows closed. It is just too expensive to pay the electric bill so the locals leave the windows open. Normally the only rooms that have AC will be the bedrooms. If the windows are open then the dust will come in and believe me there is enough dust that some cleaning each day is a good idea.

For that reason, I have a maid come in twice a week. I have been fortunate and my maid is unique. She is the hardest worker I have ever seen. She never needs to be told what to do. She sort of surveys things and does what needs to be done the most and if something can’t be done, she will do it the next time. I had to teach her how to use the vacuum cleaner since most houses only use a broom and mop. I think it is better to have the dirt captured and thrown out. I leave out some meat or fish or whatever and she will create the lunch while she is doing the rest of her chores. She has some specialties such as Chicken Cordon Blue that I really enjoy but no mater what, it is always good. One day she saw that the bananas I had bought were getting a little ripe, so she took them and added some chopped nuts I had in the pantry and created a great dessert.

It amazes me how many things she can get going. She will find the dirty clothes and get the wash started, start the meal and then fill in the time with the cleaning. She is really a prize. Besides her work ethics she is extremely trust worthy. This is probably the highest quality you need in a maid in Panama. I don’t know how many times I have heard of a person being robbed and it is either the maid or someone that was a friend of the maid. She has also been the source of other workers that I have needed, such a plumber.

The other thing about her that has amazed me is that she is studying to become a teacher. She has about another year to go before she will have her degree. It is really a pleasure to see someone like her working to better herself. The other day she asked if I would mind if she used my PC to surf the Internet for a project that she was working on for school when she had completed her work the next time she came. I said it would be fine.

When she arrived the next time she came with her own paper to print on. In the cyber cafés they have to pay for each sheet they print. It sort of tickled me as I could have cared less if she used my paper, but it just goes to show how conscientious she is. I guess she used the PC for about 3 hours that day and probably printed 20 pages. For her that was a real benefit. It would have cost her form 50 to 75 cents an hour in a cyber café, so that saved her some real money.

After a year, she has really become family. If she comes and I am under the weather with a sore throat or cold or whatever, she will notice. The next time she comes she will probably bring some herbs for tea or something natural for the sore throat. I have been cured more lately without medicine than I can ever remember. She is quite smart and it sometimes makes me think how many people take for granted the advantages they have had. I think it is a matter of luck where we are born or into what kind of family. It is those that start at the bottom and elevate themselves that impress me more than those that are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Edi, I salute you.

Tags: Panama