Happy July!

On Wednesday Eric & I set out for a few days at the beach. First stop about 4 ½ hours away was Playa Blanca Our friend Wendy has a new villa there and we were taking a few pieces of furniture and tools for her new place in the van. She has rented another villa so we have a great place to stay, cooler packed and off we go. Our plan was to drop off the items, spend a little time at Playa Blanca and then go to explore an area we haven’t been in a while. Pedasi and Cambutal ( see the Panama Report)  both located on the beach at the bottom of the Los Santos Province and in some of the best surfing and fishing areas in Panama on the Pacific side. We have been anxious to see the progress there and since we would be somewhere in close proximity at Playa Blanca  we figured it was a good way to spend the weekend.

About 3 hours into the trip the chauffeur (Eric always does the driving so he won’t sleep) ran into a little problem and thus here is our Spanish word of the day!

Galote = turkey vulture - Here is what happened as I was perusing the map to identify some of the side roads and go down memory lane trying to recall events from when we traveled those side roads before – almost 3 years ago.

About 5 minutes following the accident  and while I was still on the phone with the insurance company we were stopped by the police who said we were speeding. Since there was no sign designating the speed limit and we were on the Pan American Highway I guess it was possible that we were, but highly unlikely since Eric was almost leaning out the window so he could see to drive. Unfortunately in all the hubbub Eric didn’t have any small bills so that stop cost us $20. It is typical to not take the ticket and just pay the cop. We did check on the way back and could not find any speed limit sign in the area nor we could we find the dead vulture – no doubt his friends and family “cleaned him up” so to speak.

Well – the good news is that our insurance company covers this damage with a $75 deductible. The roadside emergency service was great and very helpful, it was not a Panamanian holiday, and we are alive and well. On the down side we did have to continue to Playa Blanca with the windshield vibrating in the wind to drop off the things. There was only Panama City or David to go to get it repaired – one another 2 hours in the wrong direction and the other our “go  to” city.  We had a great dinner treat at Buenaventura Resort, slept over and turned right back around and headed to David in the morning to try to beat the rain so we would not have to use the wipers.  Every time Eric would turn the wipers on, little shards of glass would fall on the dash!

We never even saw the beach!

Eric always used to fish on his birthday which was yesterday and Vulture catching wasn’t quite what he was hoping for – we will have to make that up to him once the van is repaired. Now the challenge is to find a windshield for a 1998 Ford Van in Panama! Below is our culprit – or one like him!

Technorati Tags: pacific beaches, playa blanca, travel to panama

There are many things I really love about Boquete. Today I took dozens of wonderful bird photos with out leaving the backyard. Then it was time to run into town to pick up a few grocery items. Back in Florida if I had to make so many stops I would have been complaining. Here I look forward to the multiple stop shopping. The list was made and Eric driving so we don’t have to park at every stop, we set out for “downtown” Boquete.

First Stop the Global Bank. Here there is no mail service so bills are delivered to your gate and you have to take them downtown to stop in the bank or a store to pay. There is almost never a line for this task just a smiling face / guard at the door and more of the same inside. Eric had to go to a different bank across the street to cash a check and then we met back at the van for the next stop; the phone company. Yep, I was losing sleep over that $4.70 phone bill so had to get it paid! I gave the clerk $20.70 and he had to use the calculater to figure out the change. Think of that next time you wonder about the educational system in the states.

Then off to the fabric store where they have the least expensive honey in town (don’t ask why I have no idea) – a large jar for $5.25.

The next stop is one of our favorites – the indoor farmers’ market. Lot’s of stops and greetings in here as we are regulars and most of the time we now pay “local” prices for our veggies. Tourists and visitors usually pay a bit more – it is just the way it’s done. Here we visited 4 booths and talked with the owners of each (in Spanish) No one speaks English in there. We spent less than $15 and came home with a cucumber, 20 bananas, a pineapple, 3 avacados, 3 mangos, celery, 4 large potatoes, 3 onions, 2 tomatoes, a huge zucchini and 2 large peppers. Fresh from the farm, yummy! Oops, I forgot – also a bag of fresh pinto beans.

Next to walk across the street to the Romero Grocery Store for raw sugar, great homegrown coffee and a few miscellaneous items. Normally the next purchase is from the fish mongers selling from the trucks outside the farmers’ market (big negotiations there will usually net you tuna for $3.50 a lb or fresh red snapper for $2.50) but today I have fresh trout on my mind and have just found out where to go to buy it!

Stop number 6 is the chicken store for fresh pork, eggs and chicken.  Broke the bank and spent $12 there and left with 3 thick pork chops, 4 chicken breasts, 2 huge pork steaks (to feed 4 people) and a dozen farm fresh brown eggs (they are all brown here and they don’t cost more).

Last but not least is the trout processing house on the edge of town. This farm provides trout for Publix in Florida and I think we get it just a bit fresher. it was practically swimming when we got it at $3.50 per lb.. Freshly filleted pan seared with butter and almonds for lunch was a great reward at the end of our errands.

We stopped at my CENTURY 21 Office on the way home to pick up a sign; chatted a little everywhere we went and arrived home in less than 1 1/2 hours. Unbelievable! You just have to love a small town with perfect weather, no AC needed, just fresh mountain air and friendly people. not to mention great freah food!

Technorati Tags: travel boquete, travel to panama

Panama is a healthy place to live. The one thing about what people refer to as a “third world country” is that there is almost no fast food! What a concept. While it might take longer to shop and cook here than in the US we never lack for healthy foods and we take pleasure in cooking together as well as calculating the cost of our delicious home cooked meals.

In Boquete and in Panama in general shopping is a multiple stop experience that we do together (like most everything ) with lots of chatting as you go around and we always run into people who want to pass the time of day. First to the farmers market, across the street to the grocery store, again down the street 2 doors for the bulk store for cheap cases of beer in recycleable bottles, back outside in the street for fresh fish and shrimp from the back of a pickup truck, across the bridge for delicious organic lettuce and then down the road to the fresh chicken and egg store. It helps to spread your money around a bit anyway.

I make our own whole wheat bread since fluffy white bread is what is mostly available here and we always have delicious vegetables. Fresh chicken breasts can be bought for $1.15 per pound and fresh fish for $2.50 per pound. Often we opt for roasted veggies for a quick and healthy meal that costs about $2.00 to feed both of us. We haven’t found great pizza here so have perfected our own “white pizza” topped with fresh veggies and since bananas are so plentiful we always have banana bread on hand for a treat. Fruits are whatever is in season from paypaya to pineapple, oranges and my new favorite cherimoya.

Panama has a host of healthful herbs for home remedies (see this article at 9 80 magazine online but if you get sick the Doctors here are very inexpensive and highly qualified so no worries. People are now beginning to travel to Panama for low cost medical procedures both the necessary and the optional procedures.

Outside of Panama City the air is clean and since many people do not drive cars there is very little exhaust or noise pollution.

Here in the mountains of Boquete with the streams and the mountain air it couldn’t feel any cleaner. This time of year it is 75 – 80 with lots of sunshine and windy part of the day.  As they say here in Boquete “the valley of eternal spring”.

Fresh air and great food has become a priority for us as it has for many of you and if you travel to Panama you will find plenty of both to make it easier to maintain your health.

I have a new favorite site created by Dr. Nicole Sundene on holistic health. Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Physician who has teamed up with a small group of other highly qualified health specialists to offer great advice for your general health, natural health remedies and dispel some of the myths about alternative medicine. Do yourself a favor and check out her great site at Kitchen Table Medicine.

As always please let me know with your comments what you think and how I can give you the information you are looking for in Panama.

Technorati Tags: boquete panama, healthful living panama, travel to panama

Here in our neighborhood in Boquete we are safe and dry. Here is a link to Boquete Weather Watchers that gives you a lot of photos of flooding in the area. Still in an emergency situation here and also in Bocas Del Toro ; our biggest issues here are people flooded out of their homes and without electricity. The brand new bridge finally opened the other day after many long months of waiting and just in the nick of time as you can see by the photos the other main bridge in town went down the river.

Our friends in Bocas have checked in – finally they have cell phone service and everyone is okay. Our friend Mario lost 2 cabanas and 1/2 of his house but people and dogs escaped just fine. We were supposed to be there for Mario’s birthday on the day of the flooding but stayed behind in Boquete due to rain. Now the road across the mountains is out of service so anyone who was on the other side is staying there – possibly for months! The road across the mountains is narrow and steep and rumor has it some of it that was already damaged but usable slid down the mountain side.

With devastation all around the area cleanup will probably take some months even though these emergency crews are very good at this work and have lots of experience. There are only so many backhoes and bulldozers available. Right now the immediate concern is gas & clean water for the Bocas area, much of the area depends on generators for power and gas is trucked in over the mountains on the only road that exists; the one that is now impassable.

Technorati Tags: bocas del toro panama, flooding boquete panama, travel Panama, vacations panama

A few days ago we had an earthquake that was 6.2 on the rector scale! It was my first ever and we woke from a deep sleep at 1:00 am with the bed just shaking away like mad!

In spite of rain all week this red legged male honey creeper comes by each morning to share a banana and cheer us up.

Backyard beauty found with Eric’s perspective and great macro lens.

This afternoon our neighbor came by to let us know that the river was flooding in town today so we went in to check it out. I have been busy writing an article for an international online magazine, more on that later when we know how it goes. So off to town and a big break to trapse around in the rain in search of the perfect photo. Not mine but Eric’s. Mine are fine and fun but he’s the photographer. For now here is the photo update of the flooding we are in; and it continues to rain.

Right in town this is how it rages

The river has reclaimed a lot of land today

This last hold out was part of a large point on the bank that we watched dissappear.

We all watch hoping that the pigs aren’t the next to go and hope the people are out!

I don’t think any contracts will be written on these today and they just might be a tad close to the banks. We will know more tomorrow. Right now the new brand new bridge is standing (although the opening was canceled last night due to inclement weather) and the older one further up the river is rumored to be gone. More on that tomorrow too when we find out for sure. That will make it hard on the businesses that are on the other side of the river. Hope they dry out soon!

Technorati Tags: boquete panama, retire in panama, travel Panama, vacations panama

Maybe it is because the Chiriqui Province supplies 50% of all the fruits and vegetables for all of Panama. Or maybe it is because the Chiricanos are known for their beautiful horses and good horsemanship. Just Possibly it’s a result of the large and successful coffee plantations strewn throughout the countryside. The natives of this wonderful province that boasts beautiful black volcanic soil think there is no better place in the world.

Apparently there are many of us Norte Americanos and a lot of Europeans who agree. The most famous and 3rd largest city in the Province is David. Pronounced with the accent on the 2nd syllable. David is in the lowlands and is hot and steamy. A realtively pleasant city especially if you walk and do not drive through all the narrow unplanned streets. David is so typically Panamanian in that there was no plan to it – it just sprouted up.

As a rule Panamanians don’t do a lot of pre planning. I haven’t discovered why unless it is how much in the moment they live. But it’s mostly true that even if there is a plan it is always subject to change at the drop of a hat; Panama hat that is. But that is another topic to address later. We once had a whole family coming for dinner and they just decided not to come; didn’t have phone teception at their house, did not drive down the road to phone; just didn’t come. It is accepted and that is how it sometimes happens in Panama.

Admittedly the joy of not planning is that a local will almost never get upset by a landslide or a road closure that totally changes their day. I do mean totally changes it; as in they are no longer able to reach their destination. Most Panamanians will just adjust their attitude to the situation and do something different. As someone who is used to the pressure cooker of the US business world – this was astounding to me! Of course like most Latin cultures being on time is not revered or expected. Even with the Chiricanos.

Back to our Chiriqui geography.

Going North from David about 40 minutes you will come tho the lovely mountain town of Boquete. Ah, cool fresh air, 70 degrees F everyday and misty mountains in the morning and again in the afternoon. This is a truly magical place. Here many expats heve convened to make a new life. Boquete was discovered primarily due to the marketing efforts of one man who built an outstanding, beautiful, amenity filled gated valley community called Valle Escondido.

Since we primarily wanted to be very close to beaches when we first visited Boquete we thought it was nice but not so special. we now know that it is a place that grows on you like the moss grows on the stone walls here. It boasts a small town atmosphere with everything you need so you almost never have to leave, surrounded by exquisite mountains, nice people and lots of other expats so you can get a chance to speak English and sing a few tunes.

More tomorrow on Chiriqui.

In the meantime for some great Chiriqui facts please go here to World Headquarters site:

Planning to Travel to Panama? Get great travel deals here.

Technorati Tags: Boquete, chiriqui, panama