First Three Weeks in Panama

Papassuitcase.blogspot.com
Wednesday Evening, November 5, 2008
We flew into Panama one week ago tomorrow.
It has been an eventful/uneventful week, mostly spent dealing with the issues that need to be resolved.
One of the issues that needs to be resolved is our need (desire) to have internet. Last year we coped successfully by using the Mail Boxes Etc. and the local Gorgona internet cafes. We have been hoping that we could have internet in our little casita. Our Home Owners Association made arrangements for a service, but it is not really working at this point. Moti, our local internet guru, has bailed on the service and purchased his own individually. We may do the same.
One of our desires for the internet is based our our desire to keep in touch with the US politics. Last night we were able to watch the election returns on MSNBC, or TV channel of choice in Seattle, over the internet at Bill and Lyne's place. They are from Calgary, but are interested in US politics. By 12:30 McCain had conceded and Obama had given his victory speech.
We are delighted in the outcome. Now we can move on from the neocon's Fascism (corporate domination of a government) to what the Republicans have been calling Socialism. The bailout of the banks, so that, among other things, the CEO's could receive their bonuses, for some reason, was not considered to be socialism. Corporate welfare is not socialism. It is only socialism if the little guy benefits, like universal health care.
Our local restaurant La Ruina has installed WiFi. This means that we can get on the internet their for the price of a meal, but the menu is too limited to do that very often. It is a good place to get an evening drink or flan. They have even installed real saloon doors. Frank, the owner, frequently asks me for advice on what to do with his business. He and Delcia have the look that Jayne and I showed when we were running our adult family home 24/7 from 1997 to 2003. A lot of the fun has gone for Frank and Delcia, and the money has not come in yet. They are in the middle of a very substantial condominium building boom, but it will be a while before the thousands of units are occupied and the traffic streams into La Ruina. If they can hold on, they will prosper. They also own some land across the street which I suggested they could offer as a place for a weekend market. The would bring in customers. The primary thing I have advised him to do is form an advisory panel to serve as his board as directors.
We are still trying to air out our little casita. I'm not sure it was given much attention by our manager while we were gone. We rented it twice through our own marketing. Even with the low traffic, a surprising number of items are missing. We can't figure out what someone would do with a refrigerator door shelf. Some silverware and bowls and cups are also missing. It is not a big deal, just part of being a landlord several thousand miles away.
These past three days have been one of Panama's Independence celebrations. This one is from Columbia. Later in the month there will be a celebration of independence from Spain. There is also one from the US, when it is a good time to be scarce as Americans. We hope that our image will be improved by Obama.
Panamanians take these holidays very seriously. Everyone leaves the city and goes to the country, which is where we are. Gorgona swells from a few hundred to several thosand people. Every front yard has several cars parked in it. The highway is crowded with cars heading west. The beach is filled with partyers of all ages, and the night with very loud music until the sun comes up around 6:00 AM. People back up their cars, mounted with major sound systems, to the beach. Occasionally one of them will get caught I the high tide. In the morning the people depart, leaving trash strewn beaches, which the Ocean tides will remove in a few days.
When I go out for my morning swim, the few revelers are always fascinated. I receive inquiries and hand shakes. This morning a man wanted to know if I was in the army. I said, no, I just like to swim. Most Panamanians don't swim very well, and seem to fear the water. They talk about the undertows, and seldom venture beyond some wave play. One reveler washed up on a nearby beach this morning, presumably done in by excess drinkingl. For the most part the participants are peaceful, but there will be several deaths each holiday. It reminds me of the reports of Labor Day
Weekend death when I was a boy. Come to think of it, we still have that phenomenon.
Our casita development of 18 units filled up for the Holiday. Little two bedroom units were home to a dozen or more people. The put mattresses in the living room and elsewhere. Most of the sleeping is done in the day.
This influx of people makes everything difficult, especially sleeping during normal hours. Our plan for future holidays is to rent a condo in Panama City and stay there. Most of the restaurants etc. are open, and there are very few people, and no traffic jams. The traffic jams are all out the country. The police even put up barricades to prohibit all major left turns. This means one goes right and then does a U turn to get where one wants to go.
We have settled into our basic routine: morning swim and walk, purchase fish at the coop, prepare a brunch (of fish, tortillas, blended juice, green tea), rest, do errands such as shopping for food, check the email, meet with friends, possibly for a late lunch or dinner, retire to our casita shortly after sunset for an evening of reading, writing, conversation and a possible DVD. The 8 gig MP3 player I purchase is a real plus. I loaded 59 CD's onto it. We have only played about 300 of the 1300 songs. It is like having our own radio station playing a very eclectic selection of songs from classical to country to rock. I program the playing so that it is basically random. I enjoy being surprised.
Our manager didn't handle things too well while we were away. One of the things I asked her to do was keep our two phones running by putting a few dollars credit in each every month. She didn't, so the phones were dead. We can solve the problem, but it will take some time, and will mean getting new sim cards and thus new numbers, so people who try to reach our old number won't get us.
On Monday we drove up to Altos with Lyne and Bill to see a Flamenco presentation, a fund raiser for a small Catholic school in a local village. It was a trio of a dancer, a guitar player and rhythm/singer. All three were excellent and I believe it was more authentic than the touristic tripe we were offered in Seville. We saw many of our old friends from the Altos development.
The weather has been similar to what we experienced last December. The temperature is cooler than the dry season. There are two or three major or minor thunderstorms every day. The major ones are very major compared to what we experience in Seattle. Even the minor storms are heavier than the heavier Seattle storms. St. Louis had some great storms, but these are heavier. They don't seem to last much more than an hour, an many are much briefer.
Jayne and I have been working on our housing and transportation issues. We have our daughters and their families coming for the three weeks around Christmas. We have arranged for them to stay in other units in our Costa Grande development. We haven't inspected the units yet, but will soon. I'm sure they are nice.
We have rented our unit for February, so we will need to find somewhere else to stay. We are hoping that our friends Stan and Camille from St. Louis will be visiting us around the end of January and the first part of February. There are plenty of interesting places to stay and visit. There is a lot of Panama that we have not seen yet.
I'll try to attach a photo, but I haven 't taken any yet.
Tomorrow I am going with Bill to Panama. He is seeing the dentist, and I am interested in setting up a consultation or some actual dental work. The cost hear is about a third what we pay in Seattle. The providers are trained at good institutions, including the US.
End Part 1, Panama 2008-09
Part 2, Thursday Evening, November 6, 2008
I was able to get in a short swim and a good breakfast before meeting Bill for the trip to PC. The drive took about an hour and we drove over the old bridge which goes directly into a very congested section of PC, past the projects where Roberto Duran grew up.
The dentist office is Eisenmann and Eisenmann, a husband and wife team. I had originally found them as an office that uses some high tech dental equipment. I called the office from the road and was able to have an appointment. I had brought a DVD of my Xrays which they were able to read. The dentists I met spoke good English and communicated the issues very well. The office does not use mercury fillings, which was another of my requirements. The diplomas on the wall were from major US Universities.
I received an itemized estimate for one major filling, one minor filling and a crown for a total of about $650 and two visits. This is less than a third of what my outstanding dentist in Seattle would charge, and I am confident the quality will be good. Many expats in our area have had good experiences.
We stopped for a lunch at a Pizza restaurant and sports bar. Behind my seat was a picture of Mohammed Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard from 1983, and also a picture of Roberto Duran when he tossed pizzas before climbing the boxing ladder.
The next stop was at PriceSmart, which is an affiliate of Costco. In Panama, the companies must be owned by Panamanians, but often have strong ties with the pseudo-parent company. One easily sees the similarities between Costco and PriceSmart.
I bought some storage containers to ward off the mold from our clothing during this rainy season. I priced a dehumidifier for the same reason, and will probably buy it next week when I return to PC for my dental work. Bill bought a bit of beef, but we are not big red meat eaters.
We drove out of town without incident and stopped to see the new SuperMercado in Cherera. It is a like a huge Target plus a grocery store, pharmacy and cafeteria. We had heard that the cafeteria was good and very reasonable because it is subsidized so that the store's workers can afford to eat there. I bought some earphones with a microphone to use with Skype.
As I write this we are listening to Chris Mathews, Keith Olberman and Rachel Madow, our favorite commentators from MSNBC. We were able to download their most recent pod casts. Jayne has been threatening to order cable television if she can't get her fix of political discussions. The pod casts are a step in the right direction. I continue to work on getting us a quality internet service. With that we can get everything we need, and hopefully it will meet the needs of renters when we are not here.
We could be renting our casita soon. Bill and Lyne are seriously considring returning to Calgary befause of problems caused by the credit crunch and possible depression. If they do they would want someone to take over their lease. The rental income from our casita would be enough to pay their lease cost. Their home in Coronado has several bedrooms, a large yard, a medium sized pool, and a staff of a husband and wife for cooking, cleaning and gardening. We could house our families over Christmas and our friends who visit. We hope Bill and Lyne stay here, but they will do what they need to do.
We had a pleasant dinner of left overs from our Las Palmas Chinese restaurant. The prices are up, but we still purchased two dinners (last night and tonight) for two for less than $8. They remembered us from our last visit and are very good about working with my gluten allergy.
I took some pictures on Calle Brasil in PC today and one of the new SuperMercado. I'll try to attach.
End Part 2.
Friday Evening, November 7, 2008
Jayne and I just spent two hours on Skype with Stacia and family back in Edmonds. Clay had been trying to reach us and we just go on the internet this evening. As I write this, I am off line, as the connection has been lost. We had a great conversation about all the things we have missed.
Earlier in the evening we had a pleasant swim in our community pool and had a discussion with Moti, our neighbor. He has built a second casita behind his first. This is allowed because each owner actually has title to his land. We don't have enough land to build behind, but we could build up, putting a master suite above our terrazza. We think this would be a great idea. We could probably do this for less than $10K, and would add four times that to the value of our casita. This would also allow us to house guests more easily. If we move quickly we would have a shot at completing this within two months or even less. We are excited about the possibility.
We did not venture far from Costa Grande today. We had an 11 AM meeting with our property manage, Charla, her A/C contractor, Manuel, a translator, Juan, and our original A/C installer, Bernal.
One of our split A/C units had gone bad because there was a splice in the electric wire and water was not prevented from coming in to the conduit. This was an error by our original contractor, but our manager should have contacted us before proceeding with a major repair. We would have steered them to Bernal. After much discussion Bernal agreed to pay us for the compressor that was shorted out by the bad wire.
The other problem with the A/C is that the repair involved moving the interior part of the unit to an outside wall,and the compressor from the back of our yard to the exterior of the wall, which, unfortunately is our neighbors property. We need to seek our neighbor's permission to leave the compressor there, or hang it on the wall over her ground, or dig a trench through her ground to the original compressor location. More negotiations!
We had a good morning swim toward Malibu, and a nice walk back. Breakfast was red snapper, white corn tortillas with peach preserves, blended papaya/banana/mango juice and ice, blended in our $16 blender, and green tea. All prepared and consumed on the open air terrazza.
Currently no internet and no fix for the photo handling software.
Tomorrow we go to a bazaar in Coronado and take a drive to El Valle with Bill and Lyne. We may also look at a truck that is for sale. The hefty price of insurance on rental cars is making purchasing a vehicle look good. We would have to arrange for storage while we are in Seattle, but the insurance for a year would be about what we pay for 1 month insurance on the rental.
End dispatch #3.
Sunday Morning, November 9, 2008
Yesterday, after our morning swim, walk and breakfast, we went to the Coronado Club for the bazaar. We bought some books, DVD's and some small gifts. There was quite a selection for their first fund raiser of this type.
We ran across several old friends, including Clifford and Debbie who live in San Carlos. When we saw them last, he was in great pain from a shoulder problem and seemed to need the same surgery I had for my rotator cuff. He has since had it done. His bill in Panama was about $8,000, compared to my $25,000 bill for my surgery. His was a more complicated: 5 pins vs. my 2. His shoulder was just hanging there! He had a career as an undertaker, and, I learned yesterday, had a hair salon! He had told us some interesting stories of being in disaster areas to help with handling the dead bodies. This may sound a bit grim, but they are great fun. We like the San Carlos area and the Rio Mar area next door.
We met Kathy Kress whom we have heard about for her excellent property management business. We had met her husband Michael yesterday while he was supervising the installation of dish TV for a unit in Costa Grande. She has now opened a multi-year school which I think will be a great asset for the community. We also me one of her teachers: Linda.
We met Linda and Dave from Monterey CA, Jennette whom we had met at an ex-pat meeting previously, and Beth whom we met at the Flamenco show in Altos. Terry who helps run the Neuter and Spay project was manning a booth. They are beginning to expand into the small villages like ours.
After the show we rode with Bill and Lyne up to El Valle. We bought some fruit and vegetables at the market, had a nice lunch at El Bruchetta, and found two local nursery where we bought some orchids and other plats for the yard.
On the way back we stopped at Allen and Elizabeth's dream house which they completed recently and are now selling because the area is too isolated. They have built a very nice home with a pool and a distant view of the ocean, but they are 20 minutes drive from the beach, and 40 minutes from good shopping. They had developed several lots around them which they bought at $7/meter and sold for $14/meter. The lots were about an acre, which I complete to be about 4000 meters. No one else has built yet. Things are a bit slow in the real estate market presently, so their $600K price may keep them there for a while.
We stopped for dinner at Choros, a new establishment on the highway. It is run by an American married to a Panamanian woman. Her Mom works in the kitchen. It is a Mexican restaurant, so there some Mexican or Tex-Mex blood in there somewhere. He is quite outgoing, as is she. He greets everyone enthusiastically as they come in the door and give good service. They had run a day spa in both Panama and the US previously. Business was swift, including take-out. The food was good and priced fairly. The four of us had a bill of $34 for 4 dinners and a total of 6 drinks and two cokes. I think they will do well.
We used Bill and Lyne's internet to send off a few important messages and download some MSNBC podcasts. We are a few days behind, but we are enjoying the political discussions. We ended up having dueling songs from our computers. They knew a couple who married after they met in a cancer support group. They had a Western theme wedding and had a song they had shared with guests: Still Gonna Die, by Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends). We each had a version in our collection. Mine is on a CD Bob Gibson sings Shel Silverstein. It has many songs that I love: Killed by a Coconut, Nothin's Real Anymore, The Man Who Turns the Damn Thing Off and On, and Golden Kiss. We were really laughing. I recommend the CD.
We stopped to refresh our water supply at the Rey and came home. At home we managed to get on our local internet and had a brief conversation with Sarah and her boys before we lost our connection.
This afternoon we plan to go to Coronado to play (learn to) Bocce. We see a similar game when we have traveled to France and Spain.
End of Dispatch 4
Monday Evening, November 10, 2008
Yesterday's bocce game was called on account of rain, but we had a big day today.
After our swim, walk, and breakfast of bacon and eggs, fried plantains, blended fruit juice, and green tea we met with the architect, Sandra, who will be working on our plans for putting the addition over our terraza, along with her young niece and Moti who introduced us to Sandra, and also served as tranlator. We agreed that a translatator would not be a big requirement in the future as we will be communicating by email and can use Google translator, which I have found to be quite good. She will give us an initial drawing sketch, which she called a croakie, and then a final adjusted and engineered set of drawings for $350, and will take the plans through the permit phase for another $150. Nothing is due until complete. We should have the sketches by Saturday.
We are very excited about the addition. We will need to trim back our Mango tree a bit to make room, but there will be plenty of tree left. There is some possibility that someof our fellow owners will complain about out addition, but it is permitted. In fact the original drawings for this development showed larger units. Larger units would not lead to crowding since the place is virtually empty all week long, and only crowded on holiday weekends.
Our Spanish teacher Jasmine called at 1:30. I picked her up at the highway and brought her back to the casita. She gave us a quiz to see where we stood, and then began. She uses a technique similar to ESL with some explanations in our native tongue. We learned a bit about conjugating some basic verbs and some useful phrases and vocabulary. We will study her notes and practice until she comes again next week.
We dropped Jasmine off near her home in Coronado and went to lunch at a new Mexican Pizza place called Twister. They had a simple menu that included a fried plantain the size of a small plate, covered with beef, chicken, port, shredded lettuce and cheese, with a spicy taste. It was like a small pizza and was quite good. We bumped into a couple whom we had seen last night at La Ruina. He looks like he should be on a Harley (overweight though muscular, tatooed, poneytailed and pale) and she is a very dark skinned Panamanian with braided hair, very attractive. The drove off in a non rental Volvo stationwagon, or what looked like one. Next time we need to talk with them.
Our next stop was Mail Boxes Etc. where we spent two hours on the internet. What did we do before the internet?
After buying some water, a rubber tube for exercising and a notebook for our Spanish at the Chinese Mercado we went next door to get some Chinese takeout from Las Palmas and then dined at home with the addition of Sangria and fresh Papaya and Pineapple. We began a movie that I bought at the bazaar on Saturday. It stars John Travolta and Charlotte Johansson: A Love Song for Bobby Long. The Spanish marketing title is Secretos del Pasado (Secrets of the Past). It is building very slowly and has some interesting New Orleans scenes. We will finish it another time. We are both reading our books. Mine is a Susan Isaacs piece of fluff: Long Time No See.
I hope I can figure out how to load this on to the blog. When I bring it up the directions are in Spanish for some reason.
End Dispatch #5.
Wednesday Evening, November 12
We spent most of yesterday and today doing the usual.
The big event yesterday was having our first day with a cleaning lady. I think Veronica is the mother or mother in law of Dimas our full time (24/6) maintenance man. We don't have enough work for her to do, so we will share her one day per week with Moti. The price per day has inflated from $10 to $15.
This morning on the beach I met a couple from Hawaii: Curt and Kimmie. They seem to be a relatively young retired couple. They bought a beach house, just East of us, a few years ago and are now retired here year round. Their house is about 5 houses on our side of the new high rise near Malibu. They say they recently repainted it white, with chocolate trim, and that we should drop by for coffee any morning. Meetings like this are frequent and enjoyable.
We had lunch with Bill and Lyne at Rincon del Chef. I had a sliced beef with a tamarindo sauce, accompanied by arroz con pollo and cole slaw. The others had a large serving of the arroz con pollo.
Afterwards we went to Mail Boxes Etc. to check email and call Sarah about her job interview. I also met with Alex about buying his father's 2001 Pathfinder. It is probably more care and a greater expenditure than we need.
We are spending this evening writing, reading and listening to Podcasts from MSNBC, NPR and Democracy Now. We read a lot more books here, though fewer newspapers. The American paper that is available daily is the Miami Herald International edition which arrives after one day. I learned that the New York Times may be available at the Coronado Club. I have missed my Sunday Times.
Tomorrow I have my appointment for my dental work. Jayne and Bill and I are all going in. We had hoped to pick up our Pensionado Visa, but we will need to begin that process much earlier in the day. So, another day.
We continue in or efforts to get reliable internet service!
Adios.
End Dispatch #6
Saturday Evening, November 15
My appointment with the dentist was relatively uneventful. I had the preparation for a crown done on an tooth near the molars on the upper left side. The dentist and staff were very attentive to my pain needs, and gave me additional anesthesia when I showed signs of pain. They were very good about administering the medication. The dentist was also good about explaining what he was doing and what my choices were.
Jayne and Bill and Lyne shopped at the local affiliate of Costco, PriceSmart. Panamanian law requires that such companies be Panamanian owned. After the dentist we went for lunch at a nice Italian restaurant near our Lawyer's office, Monolos. Afterwards we got lost a bit, but found our way to Albrook Mall. We found a swim suit for our granddaughter for about $4. The new 007 movie is in the theatres, but we did not have time to see it. This Bond film was made in Panama while we were here last year. The tourism board hopes the exposure will be better than that from The Taylor of Panama, which we enjoyed.
We spent Friday signing up for internet service at the local Cable and Wireless office. We had to demonstrate to the office that there was actually a phone line near our casita. We did this by locating the local C&W technician who examined our connections and said we had what they needed. We purchased one Gig for $28/month. We also have to buy a land phone line for about $7/month, which gives us 200 free minutes a month, or 3.5 cents per minute. Our cell phones charge 10 cents a minute for calls made and received. They tell us we will be good to go in 3 to 5 days. Something close to that would be great.
Friday afternoon we met at Bill and Lyne's for drinks with two other couples we knew: Barry and Clamencia and Allen and Elizabeth. Afterwards we had dinner at the Malibu which has good Sancocho (Panamanian chicken soup, with large pieces of chicken, including the bones), and a good Greek Salad (Salada Griega).
Today we waited for the architect bring our sketches, but she was a no show. We called, and I think she said she would email us something soon. She needs to come by for some more measuring. We are anxious get this addition done, but that doesn't speed things up at all.
After our swim/walk this morning we stopped to see Kurt and Kimi who live down the beach. I met them a few days ago on the beach. It is always interesting to learn the stories of the other couples. They gave up the rat race in real estate on Hawaii for a more leisurely pace with a similar climate. They are now actually closer to their children and grandchildren on the US east coast. They have plans to build a B&B on their beach front property.
We checked email at Mail Boxes Etc. and then explored San Carlos and El Palmar and stopped for dinner at Colittes. Jayne had a nice vegetarian pizza. I had pork ribs with “chimi chutney” sauce, which seemed like basil, and a salad. We shared a coconut flan. Less than $20.
End Dispatch 7
Tuesday Evening, November 18, 2008
Sunday was a lazy day. We followed our routine, of course, and did some shopping, followed by a dinner at Don Chachos.
The initial attraction of Don Chachos was their delicious chicken. Unfortunately, the chicken was dray. Even the replacement chicken was dry. The Pineapple Frosty as terrific, as were the plantainos.
Monday was a big day. Ty and Kris came over for a walk on the beach, a swim, a trip to the fish coop and breakfast. It is our biggest, most elaborate meal that we prepare, so it is fun to share it with others.
At 1:00 we had our Spanish lesson with Jasmine. We are making progress. We took her to her home in Coronado and stopped at Bill and Lynes for conversation and some computer time. They have good internet and Bill is a computer guru.
At dinner time we convinced them to try Twister. It was excellent again, and while there we met the owner, whom Bill already new from the owner's real estate office. With two for one margaritas our bill came to less than $13. They gave us the jubilado discount, for which one rally needs the pensionado visa. We have been given that status, but have not had time to pick up our car in Panama City. We had planned on doing that on Wednesday, but our attorney Carlos called today and the day has been changed to next Tuesday.
It is just as well that our pensionado visa day was changed. We had been unable to procure a room in PC. PC is the second or third most booked hotel city in the world, about 83%. There was some kind of event going on. We would like to buy a condo in PC and own it in partnership with some other couples.
Today, Tuesday, was another lazy day, other than having the cleaning lady come. We are sharing Veronica's services with Moti. It is hard to read while she is working, but I suppose we will get used to it.
I finished my second book today: The Turtle Warrior by Mary Relindes Ellis. It was quite good. The narrative voice was rotated among the several characters, each describing the same events. It is the first book I have read that involved the emotional impact of Viet Nam. Having grown up during that period, it has always been too painful an issue to look at very carefully. The war is only a part of the focus.
We also met with someone who can cut down part of our tree. This is necessary for us to add our addition above the Terrazzo. He is supposed to give us a price tomorrow. We hate to cut the tree at all, but we need the space and I think the rest of the tree will flourish if we remove some of the dead wood. The tree has a termite nest, which indicates a lot of dead wood.
End Dispatch 8