So one of the things I was adamant about NOT having in the country I was going to move to was pollution.
While every country has pollution, it was a matter of how much in comparison to what I was used to as I can’t handle toxic fumes. And I really wanted less pollution, certainly not more.
While other Latin American countries acknowledged they had pollution so I struck them off my list, I never read anything about Panama having excessive pollution.
Really I don’t know if things have gotten worse since I got here or my body can’t handle it anymore since the pollution I have been breathing has made me sicker, but almost every day now I can’t breath in my own home.
Now this didn’t happen in every house I was in, but here in Vacamonte Araijan, the fumes are absolutely terrible. They even come from private homes.
Even in Panama city I can’t handle it anymore.
Don’t ask me what these pollutants are, because I don’t know, all I can tell you is that right now while writing this, my chest feels like I’ve been smoking tons of packs of cigarettes & I DON’T SMOKE!
I literally go crazy when I feel like this & even though the construction noise has finally started to die down, whatever they are doing is carried by the wind over to my house. I know there’s tons of construction around here because I see cement trucks & dump trucks every day when I’m walking out to the main road & we aren’t talking 1 or 2, probably 4-5 & those are just the ones I am seeing.
The only time I get enough peace to be able to breath is after around 7 pm until around 3 am. Believe it or not I’ve smelled these toxic pollutants as early as 4 am as people around here get up at 4 am to get ready to go to work or maybe they have already started work. It could also be all the buses that start running around 4 am with their toxic diesel fuel. And I don’t even live near the main road, so that tells you just how bad it is. It’s like a 20 minute walk out to that road & the bus doesn’t even go by my complex often. I know it’s not just the buses, but that doesn’t help.
Michelle