Panama Blog #10 - First Bathtub in Panama! - Seems that way anyway - My experiences and perspective here
My Bathroom was in the process of construction, And what did I find? A bathtub!
My wife has never had a bath, and maybe I'll give some perspective later. But right now here is this bathtub $48.00 in a hardware store. I'm thinking suspiciously right away, And a young man comes over " do you want to buy it? " I'm like maybe, why so cheap whats wrong with it? " Senior that's the price and nothing wrong ".
I was buying a septic tank so needed delivery anyway, Ok I'll take it. My wife can finally have her first bath..
If you're going to build in Panama before I get around to blogging about it, contact me directly. I know from trial and error ( mostly others errors ) thank goodness, but a few of my own as well.
Now I have a Tub and my builder said no problem ( typical response ) he has never done 1 before but will do it. And as you can see it wasn't a disaster. His tile work sucked but that's another story.
I did all the plumbing and electrical in my house but have never done concrete and block work so needed to hire locals.
Houses in Panama don't have hot water, and nor does mine but I plumbed it for hot and cold ( some day I'll get a hot water heater ) but for now, both sides run cold.
took me forever to find this pluming...
After spending the whole day in Panama city looking for bathtub plumbing and asking everyone, someone suggested the Discovery Center. It was getting late on a Saturday and I was losing hope.
But the Discovery Center has everything American, from food stuffs to plumbing and Now I had several choices to choose from. Life is Good. I now have proper fixtures for my tub and shower.
I can up just a bit short on distance, not accounting for the cement that covers the blocks and the tiles plus there adhesive. But just got it connected without major adjustments.
I'm feeling a few soft spots beneath the tub after a couple of years and will punch a hole in the exterior wall and inject concrete some day soon to fill the air gaps.
So in closing... My wife still has never taken a bath ( I don't think ) but the kids that come visit us love it, It's their own personal pool. A great place to cool off on a hot day and get cleaned up too.
I'd go a little further, But its high noon, and I've been cutting a hector of lawn while writing, ( with a weed eater )and drinking Rum since 9AM.
Sorry if I left you hanging on anything. Lots of parts I missed. Just reply and ask :-).
Many more stories to come, but the lawn is calling and Family will be here soon.
In over 10 years in Panama, and even staying in High priced hotels, I have never seen another tub in Panama. If you have let me know.
Adios for now...
I haven't been to Panama yet, but now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing a tub anywhere in Guatamala or in the few South American countries that I visited.
You mentioned not having hot water. This was true for me in Guatemala as well. Do you guys use these little heaters in your showers?
This was my shower in Guatamala and the handle would shock me, the spider would terrify me, and the water still wouldn't get very warm.
Have solar water heaters taken off in Panama? It's weird how some countries like Greece have them on every building, but other countries don't seem to have heard of them at all.
Anyways, I'm curious about how you heat your bathing water.
Congrats on getting this project done! It's a big achievement! Heck, finding a tub for under $50 is an achievement all on it's own.
Looking forward to learning more about Panama. I think I'm about ready to leave the States again (been back for a year and I think that's long enough). I'm looking for likely locations to move to. Vietnam is top of my list right now, but I'm always open to having my mind changed.
Thanks for the informative post!
Thanks for a great reply, I'm now a follower.
I have the same on demand water heater as in your picture, just never hooked it up. I'm going to get a propane fired, on demand heater some day but who knows when?
When the heater in your photo shorts out, you do get shocked but has never happened to me, just people I know.
If I'm a little chilled ( very rare ) I'll put a pot on the stove and mix it in a 5 gallon pail to wash with. In the mountain towns here the water is cold, But where I live is almost warm in the afternoon. so not an issue.
Looking forward to reading your blog now, Thanks for dropping by mine :-)
You're welcome! I'm looking forward to reading more about your life in Panama.
Cheers!
I'll be presumptuous and send this then :-)
My Panama Blogs so far :
Enjoy :-)
Hey Dad! Just got my account approved. Thanks for telling me about this project, very interesting!