Panama!

Well, we’ve been in Panama for almost two months now and it has been quite an experience. We are house sitting in a beautiful place owned by an American guy originally from Boulder, Colorado. Small world. Now it is time for us to prepare for our return to the US. Next Wednesday we’ll fly from Panama City to San Francisco to drive up to stay with brother Dave and check in on Mom, 97 years young and still full of piss and vinegar. Then, we’ll fly to Denver for a visit with the kids and grandkids before driving up to Steamboat Springs to assemble our stuff for the summer sit in Cape Cod (our 3rd summer there!). But first, a bit about Panama…

We arrived into Panama City from St. Kitts on April 5th after putting the boat on land and prepping her for hurricane season. Crossing our fingers early this year for her safe summer! We stayed in Panama City the first night to catch our breath, then gathered our stuff together and took an Uber to the central bus terminal to get a local bus ride up the mountains to our next sit in el Valle, Panama. It cost us $22 for the Uber ride (45 minutes) and $7.50 for the bus ride (one hour). Panama City traffic is some of the most congested I’ve ever seen so we were pleased to not have a rental car. Lots of aggressive driving and not for the faint of heart at all. We were both surprised at the skyline of Panama City. We were not prepared for the modern aspects of the city. Lots of tall skyscrapers with very modern architecture. It was quite an impressive cityscape, actually. Once we arrived at the central bus station we had to lug our bags to a window for the bus that goes to the city of our destination. We finally found the correct ticket window, purchased our tickets, and boarded the bus awaiting our departure. The bus was semi-modern, not the typical “chicken bus” we expected. The bus left the station and we soon discovered we would be stopping often to pick up/drop off passengers so the 35-mile trip up the mountains took over an hour. Not a problem for us as we enjoyed observing the countryside and the people.

We arrived in el Valle around 3 in the afternoon and were dropped off in the wrong spot, even though we had shown the driver’s helper a map with our expected drop point. Once we realized we were not where we were supposed to be, we flagged down one of the local taxis (abundant!) and showed him the map and asked him, in our broken Spanish, to take us there. He understood and delivered us to the house sit location. The property is surrounded by a 7-foot high security wall and secured by a steel double car gate with an adjacent steel man door. Everything was locked and there was no way to contact the occupants, since our phones were not set to work in Panama. We banged on the man door and finally, Rick backed up a bit and hollered for the owner. Soon, the door opened and the owner’s girlfriend welcomed us to the property, telling us that the owner would return soon from gathering some plantings from a neighbor’s garden. We were shown our room and we happily dumped our overweight luggage in the room. After a while, Zach, the owner, came back and gave us a quick tour and explained a few things he wanted to be sure we were aware of, regarding the property. Soon, it was dinnertime, and they announced they would be heading off to dinner and would drop us off at a local restaurant so we could catch a bite as well. We had a mediocre meal at the Italian place he’d chosen and they came back near the end of our meal to pick us up and return us to the property. Everyone was ready for an early bedtime, especially us, after a log day of travelling.

The next day was spent reviewing a lot of details of the property so we could be aware of how the electronics, security systems, gardening, kitchen, etc. all worked. Zach is a self-proclaimed geek so much of the systems were pretty elaborate. The house itself is very nice and modern with high ceilings and lots of cross ventilation to keep it nice and cool inside without having to rely on air conditioning. He built the house about 10 years ago when Panama was just starting to come onto the “cool places to retire” radar. He is still working but he felt this would be his perfect retirement place and built the home. We quickly became part of the ex-pat community in el Valle as it is very active. There is a Friday night get together/happy hour alternating between two local bar/restaurants. These places understand the value of catering to this group and offer discounted drinks and dinners for the crowd. Suz has become involved with the Green Team (ladies who go out picking up trash once a week all around town). She also has established friends who go walking twice a week early in the morning before the heat of the day starts to rise. Rick has been battling back pain issues and has found himself more dormant than he wishes since excessive walking seems to aggravate his back issues. We have determined that the problem appears to be sciatica and he’s looking forward to his VA appointment when he returns to Denver to hopefully supply him with some direction for additional relief. He’s been doing a lot of stretching and hot and cold pads, even visited the local chiropractor but it seems to need something more serious. Hopefully not surgery! The town of el Valle is a primarily a resort community that caters to wealthy Panamanians for the city, affording them a nice higher altitude get-away to escape the big city heat. The town, itself, is located in an extinct volcano creator, surrounded by steep, high, pointy mountains. The main town is at 2000’ above sea level so the temperature remains fairly mild throughout the day and it cools off nicely at night providing great sleeping temps. Many of the residences here are second homes for wealthy Panamanians and are quite nice. As you might imagine, the landscaping here includes loads of beautiful palms, tropical plants, exotic flowers, orchids, and water features including swimming pools. The extreme opposite to these homes is the local residents whom live in quite simple huts and homes without window or screen, roofs that appear to be ready to collapse and very rough yards. Many of the locals get around on bicycles, yet older nearly toasted vehicles also are in abundance.

We have a gardener who comes twice a week and works like a man possessed for the outlandish sum of $20 US a day. He only speaks Spanish so our communications include ample hand gestures and sign language. However, our Spanish skills are slowly improving so once in a while, in our broken “Spanglish” we can get our messages understood.

We have taken a few trips to a nearby town, Coronado, where we can do a pretty good job of provisioning with a good selection of foods we recognize and desire. Much of the local beef cuts, however, remains a mystery, as they are nothing we can identify and so we have been resigned to frozen, pre-packaged imported steaks when we get the urge for red meat. We have been successful with the local chicken cuts yet also have found frozen breast filets and enjoy those. The fresh fish here is abundant, as one would imagine, being so close to the Pacific, and a guy comes around in a pickup truck daily with a big cooler in the back selling the daily catch. We have enjoyed a few fish dinners and Rick had found some terrific prices on large shrimp for cocktail, all fresh!

Being in Panama, we knew we couldn’t leave without visiting the Panama canal zone, so we took a couple of days and drove to Panama City to take in the big city sights. However, it wasn’t long before our Allergic to Cities symptoms arose and we felt the urge to get back to the mountains. We did enjoy seeing the canal, although there were no boats transiting when we visited. It was much smaller in width than I imagined, wide enough for a container ship to pass through, but just by inches in some cases. They have actually built a second set of locks to accommodate the newer, bigger ships that opened recently.

We stayed in Panama City at a pretty nice hotel in downtown. It was in the safe area to wander around so we did that each evening on our way to and from a dinner spot. One night we found a Brazilian restaurant that served meat from swords right to your table. It was really a neat deal as the waiters were all dressed like South American gauchos (Spanish cowboys) with high boots and fancy sashes around their waist. It was great food but too many options. It just kept coming until you said “uncle” and threw in the proverbial towel. It was hard for Rick to finally call it quits but he eventually had his fill. Our stay here has been quite pleasant and it has provided us a look at another spot we had always heard was worth a visit. It certainly was worth the visit. Neither of us would currently consider moving here but we both understand the draw to many. Lower cost of living, certainly, but also a pretty relaxed and laid-back lifestyle. Another notch in our traveling belt.

Now, we’re preparing to depart for the good ol’ US of A. It will be good to be back in familiar country again after our 7-month travel. Cape Cod will be a welcoming summer destination again with the lobster, oysters, and great seafood, and it always is terrific to get with our kids and grandkids again and see how everyone has grown in our absence. Then it’ll be back to the boat for next winters sailing fun. Until then, stay tuned.