Life in Gamboa

We like Gamboa and are hoping to move into a furnished house here this week. In the meantime, here are some scenes from the neighborhood:

Afternoon walk in Gamboa

I'm usually home by 5:30 and we often take Connor out for a walk together, or Kirsten goes for a run while I stay with the bebe. There are many other STRI-affiliated families here with kids - for now Connor is the youngest, but there are a few babies under 1, a few toddlers, and several other children under 10. The house in the background is fairly typical for Gamboa.

view of forested ridge overlooking Gamboa

The buildings in the background are actually a STRI plant physiology field station - they put in a bunch of greenhouses to grow seedlings and do experiments. Many of the STRI people that live in Gamboa do their research on Barro Colorado Island, or on Pipeline Road.

entrance to Pipeline Road (camino oleoducto)

This road follows a former gas pipeline that crossed the Isthmus - it's now part of Soberania National Park and provides access to rainforest habitat.

Part of Gamboa is known as 'Santa Cruz' - it's the area closer to the canal where the "silver workers" (meaning working class) lived in smaller houses, as opposed to the "gold workers" who lived up on the ridge in larger houses (with a nice breeze). This historical segregation is reflected by more Panamanians living today in Santa Cruz, compared to more gringos and middle-class Panamanians living in the larger houses in Gamboa.

Santa Cruz has the town's main tienda and two fondas (small restaurants).

Fonda in Santa Cruz

We had a comida del dia here with a can of Coke for $2.60 each.

Connor's doing well and seems to enjoy life most of the time - here's a parting happy baby shot: