You can never stop time. Hell, you can’t even slow it down…at least not yet. Today was my first full day back in Canoas and I can’t help but to recognize how much the town has changed since I was last here in July. First and foremost, the government laid a fresh layer of blacktop on the Pan-American Highway from about 10 kilometers out until about a quarter of a km to the physical border—and they are working on more every day. The little tienda next to my gym is now a Pollolandia—that kind of sucks, but they may have the best chicken wings in town--, there is a new Police building in the lot that housed our African refugees from last year—I guess that was the payout for a job well done--, and the aduana’s office on the Panama side has received a full face lift to match the new color scheme of the ministry of tourism—it’s pretty smooth looking. And, the cinema is open. Yeah, the same cinema that has been under construction forever. The same cinema that was the brunt of so much gossip while I was here last year. “That’s a narco job. It will never open.” I was told. But, it is now OPEN! I am happy to see this for my own sake, but fear that it will offer little enjoyment for the community. Tickets will probably be too expensive and many people here do not have much interest in going to the movies. To top it off, many people in Canoas are annoyed at the whole project because—as is the case with every big money business in Canoas—it is owned by a foreign family. This time it is an Indian man, I am told. A town in the middle of the jungles of Panama/Costa Rica dominated by wealthy Arabes (as they are referenced in Spanish), Chinos, y Indios not to be confused with indigenas) business owners. Much like in the U.S., this is a common point of contention through the community and one of which I am consistently reminded. **Note: I later found out that I was misinformed. The cinema is proudly owned by a Tico family.