beach:o'clock

This Monte guy, I guess he gets his revenge one way or another. More on that later….

If you read my last blog you knew we had some traveling coming up. It came just in the nick of time. Panama has been under a severe drought. Over the last year, El Nino, has taken its toll. There were cattle dying in some areas and dire rationing going on. Here at the beach we pretty much only heard 3rd person stories or read some unknown FaceBook post about it. Well it finally caught up to us. We were without water of 4 full days and then were on a scheduled ration. Yep, I was walking up one floor to the pool roof and getting buckets of pool water to flush the toilets. The administration finally was able to arrange tankers of water to be delivered and we were able to survive on 5 hours of water a day still used sparingly. Well, Denise and I were anxious to go on our scheduled trip. If not already arranged we would have left sooner.

Denise’s trip was to fly to Charleston, SC where she would meet up with some girl friends from Seattle. They would then head to Savanah. All this was to celebrate someone’s birthday/bucket list. I think it was a long way to go and a lot of money to spend just to eat and drink an awful lot – Oh the stories Denise has told. I am surprised I didn’t have to send money for bail. Due to flights, Denise arrived in Charleston 4 days early and stayed with our friend Norma (Norma this is your 5 seconds of infamy). She had a great time before the drunks cougars girls showed up. Fortunately Denise’s group only had to stay one night in ‘the big house’ where they slept it off and then were released to leave town. Denise then headed south to Jacksonville for Rob and Jenn’s beach wedding – cool! After these two weeks of unbridled partying, the day after the wedding Denise left town flying to Cozumel  meet me.

Me, well I left Panama the same day as Denise but I headed to Cancun. My first goal was met – flushing toilets – but oh, don’t drink the water. I made my way over to Cozumel, my ultimate destination. I had never been there and was looking forward to seeing what all the excitement was about. I met up with Mark Tyler of Tyler Investment (very successfully handles our retirement funds). Mark has been living on Cozumel for a while now and truly enjoys it. I spent about two weeks hanging with Mark before Denise arrived. Mark showed me all the very good local restaurants and bars. Wow, was the food good. We don’t get Mexican food in Panama, at least good Mexican food. We also frequented an English Pub and spent multiple nights/meals at a great Cuban place – best Mojitos and Pork Tacos.

We spent many days sitting under a Bahia on the waterfront drinking beer, reading, and abusing the Wifi. Mark was a great friend and gave lots of his time. If you go there you should look him up, if your IRA sucks you should look him up. Denise arrived in Cozumel where her and I revisited the best places since she only had 5 days. We went snorkeling for our first time – way cool. It was a very relaxing time.

Ok now back to Montezuma (my friend Monte). I do think he gets you either coming or going. So I didn’t have to pray to the porcelain god but on my 3rd day in Cozumel, during a pretty good downpour, my flip flop caught something on a sidewalk and I took a pretty nasty fall. My knee was missing lots of skin, my elbow was scraped bad – yes blood everywhere – and I really really jammed my wrists. I walked into the English Pub and they thought I had gotten jumped. Well I got cleaned up and they gave me some ice and LOT of beer. My knee is healing nicely now but after Xrays and some drugs my wrist still hurts like hell – Mexico is great for drugs. Also on our last night, the A/C in our room decided to go crazy, wouldn’t turn off or down, and started spitting moisture. Well the last time the A/C was cleaned was well, NEVER! So I am sure it was spewing molds and mildews so of course I ended up with a bad head cold for the last day. Oh well more drugs. Well I am on the mend but since I am such a nice guy I decided to share it with Denise – my cold, not the drugs. So I guess Monte won again!

We got back to Panama after 2.5 weeks to find the water back on BUT still a severe drought and fearful that at any time I may be back to the bucket brigade. The rains supposedly are right around the corner but it will take quiet a lot to solve this shortage for the country. They are even limiting ship size through the Panama Canal. You would think we were in California!

So some Cozumel observations. The weather we had was great. The food and drink is very good and very cheap compared to Panama and the USA. The west side of the island (populated side) doesn’t really have beach but has shoreline. There are lots of rock and coral which is one of the reasons it is such a tremendous snorkeling and diving mecca.The east side or rugged side has very active waves and a lot more sandy beaches. There are a handful of beach bars that are along the east stretch. It is worth the trip. Cozumel has nice streets and nice sidewalks (compared to Panama, which isn’t hard to do). It is clean and the folks are a bit more progressive than Panama. It has lots of tourists and cruises coming through. On the main land, Playa Del Carmen looked very nice with wonderful beaches but seems to be a pure party town. If you have ever been to the Caribbean, I don’t need to mention how amazing the water is. If you haven’t, it really can’t be adequately described so put it on your bucket list. The colors and clarity are truly amazing.

Well we are home in Panama now and getting back into routine – get up, read mail/Facebook, Coffee, walk the beach, breakfast, go float in the pool, lunch, siesta, go float in the pool, dinner, happy hour, read and/or TV, then bed. Damn I am tired just thinking of such a busy schedule!

Enjoy the pics and as always let me know if you have a question or want me to expound on anything relevant. All comments and opinions are my own – so there!

RB

 

Tis the season…. Friends of ours, Megan n Mike, who lived here for a couple of months stopped back in Coronado, Panama from their travels in Colombia. They are on to further adventures thru David to Bocas del Toro. While they were here we went on a couple of beach walks and we came across some animals that truly made it an adventure. This is the season for Jelly Fish. Depending on the tides the Jellies can seem few and far in-between or unlike the other day there could be many. We pretty much stay out of the ocean this time of the year but the Jellies we found this day were up on the beach. There were lots of small and very small ones but there were also some humongous creatures. One of the pictures shows a size 12 foot next to it and it dwarfs this foot (is that a politically correct term – dwarf? To bad!).

It was very interesting to see these up close. They seemed to have these bubble humps across the top. We wondered if they were pregnant and these were new Jellies to be or maybe they were the brains and these big ones were just very smart Jellies – except for getting stranded on the beach. Well we never found out. I even searched Google Images – nada! Here are some pictures of what we found. Also read further down as there is more below these pictures.

Travel

After spending time with Mike and Megan we are even more anxious to return to Medellin, Colombia as well as visit Cartagena. If you read previous posts you may have seen our tremendous experience in Medellin. Cartagena sounds equally intriguing with the addition of having a very old and historical part of the city. We also want to go to Bocas del Toro in Panama. Bocas is on the Caribbean side of the country near the border with Costa Rica. Bocas is more of a bohemian surfer/diving/partying type of place. Lots of short term vacationers go for what looks to be a memorable experience.Well these trips will have to wait.

Our next adventure starts in a few weeks. Denise will head for Charleston, SC and Savanah, GA. She is meeting some girl friends from Seattle who are flying all that way to go to Spring Break and also celebrate one of their birthdays’. Sounds like lots of trouble brewing! Lock up those Chip-n-Dales!

I leave at the same time and head for Cozumel, Mexico. Denise will join me around 10 days later and stay an additional 5-6 days before heading back to Panama. We have never been to Cozumel and I read wonderful things about it and its beaches. Among the things we want to do while there is of course enjoy the beaches and city, we will be meeting up with our Financial Advisor while there, do some snorkeling, and hopefully go to some Mayan ruins on the mainland. OK here is a cheap plug for our Financial Advisor.

We have been using the services of Mark Tyler for a number of years now to grow our portfolio. I have to say that if it wasn’t for Mark we would not be living on a tropical beach at this time. +1 206-450-9411, +1 858-436-6242, Tyler Investment, Inc. You can find him on FaceBook or I can hook you up if interested. OK, no more cheap advertisements!

We have a number of people waiting to hear our assessment and pictures of Cozumel so watch for a future posting toward the end of April. We will celebrate Easter at the beach in Panama. We will be out looking for the Sand Bunny and his Mango shaped eggs.

Our Valentine’s day celebration started off pretty shaky (my fault I am sure) but ended up with a bang with Denise seeing fireworks out on the beach at night. Honest, I even included PG rated pictures below. We continue to enjoy every sunrise, most sunsets, the wonderful beach and pools along with reading about your rain, snow, ice, and wind – rub, rub, rub…..

Enjoy the rest of the pictures and as usual all comments are mine and directly from our personal experience so …..comments and requests are always accepted though sometimes not welcome. Happy February, happy Lent, happy President’s Day……

RB

 

Not only is it promoted and encouraged but it is very popular especially in the Beach area. No Panama has not gone the way of Washington State or Colorado. We have entered what is commonly referred to as the High Season, otherwise also known as the Dry Season. This usually spans from mid-December through March. Weather-wise, Panama is quite a diverse country so I will only refer to the immediate area we live in, Coronado, so don’t try and correct me if your area of the country is different.

We were encouraged to come to Panama during the worst part of the year so we would be able to make a decision as to whether we really liked it or not. So we arrived in May in the ‘rainy’ season. Sounds bad doesn’t it, tropical rains? Well I am here to say I will take the rainy season over the dry season any time – the low over the high. I guess it is a lot like Florida (and other warm climates) where the residents cringe when the high season hits – roads are packed, long waits at restaurants, service generally is worse, prices go way up, you have to deal with all these foreigners, in our case mostly Canadians, who rush in, take over, supposedly know everything about what it is like to be here…..

Well what are the real differences in Panama as far as my opinion is concerned? First the weather. The humidity seems to drop about 10 points on average. The wind picks up – a lot! We have a pretty steady strong wind with gusts on top of that. It is possibly a little drier – less rain. During the off-low-wet season we had a good rain about maybe once a month – maybe. When it came it was a welcome change. It generally would stay for a short time and be gone. I think we had maybe 3-4 days across May thru mid-December where the sun was behind clouds and maybe it was wet a larger part of the day. To me this is pretty damn dry! It rains a lot other places but not here. Many days we would be in the roof top pool, watching the dark clouds form in-land and begin to move towards us. A short distance from here, sometimes by a few hundred yards, we would see the rain coming down in buckets but it would go right around us and away. We live in something called a Dry Ark, pretty cool.

So what has the High Season brought us? To me the weather is not better, slightly worse. I welcomed the occasional rain but the wind can be overbearing and actually makes you feel cold in the swimming pools even when it is 80+ degrees. It has brought a lot of people that are now occupying what once seemed like our private space – the roof top, the beach, the pools, the bars…..plus they talk real funny especially those from Canadia – ey.

This is kinda what it is like to be in Coronado, Panama during the High Season BUT as inconvenient as it might seem it is NOT Canadia, or the US midwest, east coast, or Pacific Northwest -no cold, snow, or rain. We still sleep with our windows open, wear flip flops and shorts EVERY day, and drink cold beer. Sooo….I guess I will take High Season for now and just continue to chill. Now pass those brownies!

On a side note, we left Panama in mid-December and returned January 3rd. We spent a lovely Christmas/New Years at Linda and Carls (Denise’s parents) in The Villages, Florida. What made this time extra special other than getting to spend time with the parents is; not just that we were able to make up for some missed shopping; not just that we were able to hit some food choices we just don’t have in Panama; not just that Carl had two big bottles of Makers mark on hand; not just because we were also able to spend time with my mom and also see Aunt Rita and Uncle Danny; not just because we got to meet Jennifer, my brother Rob’s fiancée when they came to visit BUT the greatest reason it was a great time is that Lisa also flew in and spent two weeks with us. We hadn’t seen Lisa in over a year so it was long over due. It was great to see her – did I say that already? We also were able to celebrate her birthday a week or two late!

Lisa, Denise, and I went out to eat, out to drink, played golf, went to the pool, went to the driving range, went shopping, etc… Lisa and Linda (and Denise) baked and baked. With all the cookies I was forced into a sugar coma before we left. We also made a rather large dent in Carl’s vast hords of Ham he has hidden away in his freezer. I think we are good on pork for a while.

When Denise and I went to fly out of Tampa to head back to Panama our flights were all messed up and we ended up getting ‘stuck’ for two days in Fort Lauderdale. We actually had a great time – Guinness in an Irish Pub next to the hotel, watched the Seahawks play sitting in a Tiki bar out by the pool where we had Chinese carryout delivered, we went to the beach, we went to a luxury theater and saw Star Wars in 3-D, etc…an unexpected additional 2 day vacation!

That is it for now, Enjoy the collection of random photos below. Remember all opinions are mine. Feel free to comment back or ask questions.

RB

The weather seems crazy everywhere. Well most everywhere. Seems there are monsoons and floods back home in the Pacific Northwest. Many other parts of the States appear to be having very unseasonably warm temps. I have a strong hunch those areas will pay for that warm weather real soon and it may be harsh.

Here in Panama, well, it is pretty much always the same. We have been here officially just over 6 months. We arrived in the ‘Rainy Season’ and now we are in the ‘Dry Season’. Well you could have fooled us. We do not see much of a difference at all. Most always, we have sunny and very warm weather with the occasional overcast day or morning. Once in a big while we will get some welcome rain. The cloudy/overcast and rain are actually a pleasure as they give a break to the daily monotony of the sun/heat. Never thought I would be saying the sun is monotonous! There does seem to be a seasonal difference here if we were to go inland just a little and up in the hills but for us, we want the beach and beautiful sunshine.

Below you will find some pictures of Christmas time in Panama. People do put up trees and decorations, lights, etc…all the traditional type things we are used to. We even saw tins of Fruit Cake in the grocery.

In a few days we are embarking on another trip. We are headed to Florida for Christmas. We will get to see Lisa (it has been over a year) and our parents. We are really looking forward to the trip. Since Katie and Sean left things have been pretty melodramatic while we waited for this next adventure.

So what else is new? Well have you ever seen fish mating? It is not that it was on our bucket list but if it was we could cross it off. As some of you know, we are on the 23rd floor just below the rooftop pool. This is quite a ways up from the beach, people are pretty small down there. Well one day I was looking down and saw what looked like one large fish with another in its mouth about 25 feet from the shore. I noticed them since there seemed to be a lot of white color in the water.

The more I looked the more I realized that these must be pretty damn big fish if I was able to see them from 23 floors up and under water. I grabbed my binoculars and called Denise over to see if she wanted to see a big fish ‘eating’ another. What we found is that these were pretty big sharks. I would estimate they were probably at least 6′ and possibly 12′ foot or more. One shark was turned upside down, thus the white belly showing.

Doing some research I found that the male shark will secure the female by bitting down on a forward fin and then push her into something like a sandy bottom for leverage. Shark mating is actually quite interesting.It seem that this is a very uncommon thing to see with many researches going years before they ever witness such an act. Click this link to see a youtube video. It is pretty much exactly what we saw.

Sharks mating

A shark attack in the waters off Panama seems very rare. No one I have talked with has ever heard of one and I have not read of any either buutttt…..we have not been out in the ocean a whole lot since. The beach and swimming pools seem just fine. Lots of other folks, though, continue to play in the water. When Sean and Katie visited we went paddle boarding. I, ah, kind of waited to tell them about what we saw AFTER we were done in the water.

While here, since we pretty much have happy hour 7 days a week, I have been sampling (ok imbibing) in different types of adult beverages and different brands. I have tried a lot of Rums but there are so many here it is hard to make a dent. I still like Malibu Coconut with Pineapple Juice along with maybe some Mt. Gay mixed in but I still want to try the more local favorites.

I have had the different local beers (Panama, Balboa, Atlas). These cost from .50-.64 cents each at the store. I like Panama Light the best. With the wines, we have found that for our daily use, where quantity is a factor and not just quality, the local box wine called Clos is actually quite good. For everyday use we try not to spend more than $15 for a bottle of wine. Clos costs us $3.40 for a liter box and cheaper for the 2 liter. It is quite a bargain. We like the Cabernet. For white, we still like the Beringer White Zin at about $5.35/bottle. Most all wine is drank chilled here.

My go to drink has become Scotch on the Rocks. I can get almost any bourbon or whiskey I would want but bourbon and some whiskeys are pretty pricey. So far my favorite Scotch is called Passport. I think it is very similar to Jameson – very smooth and easy to sip. I just tried Vat 69 (Band of Brothers fame) and though very drinkable it is not as smooth as Passport. I am wondering if someone can do me a favor and let me know what a bottle of Passport goes for in your area/currency as a comparison. Try it and let me know what you think.

Our trip to Florida is timely as we need new bathing suits, shorts, maybe a couple beach shirts, and some new flip flops. I blew out my flip flops about a week ago. I guess they did pretty good since I wear them every day and they lasted a good 7 months. The sun and chemicals are hard on the elastic on swim suits which we also pretty much wear everyday. I guess we will be doing our own Christmas shopping. We can get the stuff in Panama but it will be good to shop back in the USA in familiar confines.

Enjoy the pictures, let me know if you want to know anything specific about Panama or beach living or not working or daily happy hours or …. Remember all comments and experiences are my own so I can say what I want.

Merry Christmas

RB

 

Christmas in Panama

 

Katie and Sean’s visit and lots of pictures.

We had a wonderful, did I say wonderful, visit for just over a week with Katie and Sean. They took the long flight from Seattle to Houston to Panama City. We had a private driver waiting for them at the airport for the 1.5 hour trip to Playa Coronado. They arrived last Friday around 10:30PM.

We had a few welcome beverages and lots of talk and then off to bed. During their stay we tried to introduce them to a few special things but also not crowd the schedule since being here is all about relaxation, well maybe happy hour also. 🙂

Just about every day there was time for walks on the beach, time in the pool, and of course Happy Hour(s) on the rooftop where Sean and Katie got to meet some of our neighbors. The extra special events are attempted to be described a follows.

On Sunday we rented a car for 3 days. First we headed off to a mountain village called El Valle. It seems to be the obligatory tourist stop in this area. There is a pretty sizable farmers market with lots of vegetables and souvenirs/crafts. We saw a Panamanian Indian selling these pretty scary or cool (depending on your perspective) jack knifes. Some had 6-8″ blades that would come out of both ends. I would definitely hurt my self but Denise could increase her efficiency in cutting veggies. Denise ended up buying a small art piece and we headed to lunch. El Valle has a number of restaurants to satisfy the tourists. We ate at a place called Bruschettas, 2nd time there for Denise and I. For a country that doesn’t seem to have too many Italians there are a lot of Italian restaurants in Panama. While in El Valle, where it rains quite often, we did get a bit wet but not enough to put on our ponchos.

The road to El Valle is surprisingly well paved but it is narrow and very winedy as you climb up into the hills. After no driving for over 6 months, I did quite well navigating through the aggressive driving of the local populace. We safely made it back for relaxation time and potent beverages.

Monday morning we all went down the beach to go SUP (Stand Up Paddle Boarding). 1st time for Katie & Sean and they did great. This was my second time and I did much better though I did drink my share of salt water. This was a great time. The water started out very calm but the wind picked up after an hour. For a while there we thought Sean was going to paddle to China. He finally turned around – probably thirsty or hungry, ok, both.

We took a ride out to a local fish market at a place called Rio Hato and stopped by a large roadside souvenir store on the way back. I picked up a nice beach shirt for $20. Yes, we made it back for more beach, pool and happy hour.

We went to a place called  Quesos Chela a-ways down the highway that makes kosher cheese. We are told they even have their own Rabbi on staff. We picked up some curry chicken empanadas for lunch. On the way back we stopped at a local large store called Machetazo. It is like a super Walmart – food, clothes, housewares, etc… We needed to restock some beer, scotch, wine, oh and ya, Denise bought a few groceries.

Twice while here, Katie conducted two different structured wine tastings for a small group of us on the roof. Wow, her classes are paying off, she knows her stuff. We have had a good bit of excellent feedback on these events from those involved. Most of us know -Red, White, Rose. The only tannin I know of is when I was a kid and my folks were tannin my hide. Katie tricked us by also using a box wine as one of the samples. It actually rated pretty high with the participants compared to some of the bottles. 2 Liters is around $6 for what we call CardBourdox – not a bad value.

During the week we went to breakfast and then anther day lunch at the ‘Fonda’ just up the street. These are small roadside ‘restaurants’ usually run out of the front of a local persons house. The menu selection is very limited but the meals, usually consisting of chicken, rice, and beans fixed one way or another, are around $3 each and the food is good, always an experience for a new gringo.

On Wednesday, in the infinity pool, Denise led a water aerobics class choreographed to music and using foam noodles. Both Katie and Sean participated. I was in charge of the music. They had a great time. Denise’s class has become a local hit and is requested often.

We all went to my favorite Tiki Bar called Gaviota. It is a good 10 minute walk down the beach, preferably at low tide. It is a great atmosphere sitting under a thatched patio looking out over palm trees and the ocean. It also doesn’t hurt that beers are $1.50 each.

Thursday night – Thanksgiving, we all went up the road to a place called Picassos for trivia night. It is a local outdoor pizza bar frequented by most Gringos. Denise and I were asked to join on a friends trivia team (what were they thinkin?) so we have started to be regulars. Katie & Sean joined on a team with other friends of ours. They came in 2nd place, we were third. Yes there were more than 3 teams! Lots of fun.

Thanksgiving Dinner was a feast of BBQ ribs and veggies. Denise continues to out do herself. Delicious as usual.

On their last night at the beach we went to a local nicer restaurant called Luna Rosa. Yes Italian again. Great meal, atmosphere, and great time.

On Saturday we took a local buss 1.5 hours into the Albrook Transportation hub and then caught Uber to the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown to check-in and drop our bags. We then headed back to the Canal Zone area to tour the Miraflores Visitor Center and see some ships come through the locks – a must see. We then headed to Casco Viejo – Old Town. My understanding is that Casco Viejo became the new center of town after the old town was sacked by THE ‘Captain Morgan’. I wonder, if he would have lost that battle, if we would have one less brand of Rum to drink?

In Casco Viejo we walked through and by a lot of tourist trinket and doo-dad tables /shops. We saw a lot of beautiful restoration of the French and Spanish architecture. Very New Orlean-ish looking. We saw a number of very very old churches, some restored and some not. We finally headed back to the Hard Rock for our last evening together. After a dip in the fancy pool we went out to a high rated restaurant for dinner. Another Italian but well worth it.

We finished the night on the 62 floor outdoor bar/lounge/observation deck looking out over the city. Very impressive/beautiful.

It was very sad to see Katie and Sean leave Sunday. It was beyond precious to have them here. It had little to do with the beach, the pool, the food, or drinks. Nothing to do with the places we went but it had everything to do with being together, sharing, talking of the future and reminiscing about the past. We each have hopes and desires and all we can do is try to blend these together so we can at times share some of these hopes and desires together. Katie and Sean will never truly know what their visit meant to us but what we all do know is that we can never get back or make more time when we give it away or spend it but we certainly multiply our love when we share it.

As always, opinions are my own and feel free to comment or ask questions.

RB

 

 

I grew up on a farm. I had all kinds of animals including dogs. The problem is not dogs but people. Yes I was almost bit last week. Denise and I were on our normal morning beach walk and some woman was sitting on some rocks with 3 dogs running wherever. As we walked by the area one of the dogs, yes it was a bitch, came after me. With quick movement, I only ended up with a scratch from its teeth on my calf. Of course the woman apologized profusely but why the heck, if someone is going to have a pet, can’t they be responsible for it. They were just out in a public area running around where ever they wanted.

This leads me to another disgusting trait of many dog owners. You can be sure this woman was not cleaning up after her 3 dogs. Crap where they want, I guess the tide will take care of things. Forget it that this is a public area that people walk, barefoot at that. This woman is not the only one. We see many people who daily take their dog(s) on the beach and do not pick up after them. We often see 2 people walking 8-12 dogs in the morning. Before anyone cast dispersions on this being Panama and the locals are not as ‘sophisticated’ as others, well most of these people are Gringos – Canadians, USA, etc…We are all a disgusting lot!

Well my last rant about dogs/owners. Why are people so ignorant? There are a number of people here who have these oversized Shetland sized dogs and they live in these 1000 sqft condo’s. They take them to the beach where they get wet and sandy (and crap) and then they traipse them through the building and elevators to their units. I want to stop them and ask them if they are lost since they obviously are looking for the equestrian center (yes Coronado has one about a mile away).

I know these issues with dogs are pretty much universal. I don’t want to give the impression that the beach is littered with doggie mounds. It is far from that but if you have ever mis-stepped somewhere you know where I am coming from. I often wonder who the real animals are!

Ok, now for some GRAND news. In a few days Katie and Sean will visit our tropical wonderland. We have been anxiously waiting to see them. In the short week they will be here, I really hope they can get a flavor for the place and embrace the calm and relaxing flip-flop atmosphere. It is often very hard to adjust as I found out. We come from such a busy fast paced environment and we tend to feel bad or guilty if we are not constantly occupied, moving, and connected. We have some activities planned – noodling in the pool, tiki bars, village market, fish market, lots of shrimp, beach walks. I hope that is not too overwhelming.

A new change from the last time I wrote…we now have a fisherman who comes right to our condo building every Friday morning with Shrimp/Langoustines. Medium are $5/lb and the jumbo are $6/lb – not bad. Denise makes a killer garlic shrimp recipe! We can also request fish like Red Snapper and Sea Bass/Corvina.

In closing, we are told November is the wettest month and it seems to have proven so. In saying that I need to clarify, we get very little rain overall so a few cooler overcast days are quite refreshing. I am including some more pictures, some are more sunsets which when they stand out they really STANDOUT! I hope you enjoy the pics.

Remember, all opinions are my own and any comments are accepted welcome or not!

RB

So one day at band camp….hehe, ok so you had to have seen the movie.

Living at the ocean usually means pescado (fish) of many types are plentiful. We daily see local fisherman out on the water minding their nets. We often also see people standing on shore with a string wound usually around a pice of PVC pipe or soda bottle or even their hand. They fling the string out to sea and are surprisingly somewhat successful with their catch of usually sea bass. Denise and I observe all of this as we take our daily walks far down the beach.

As we walk we often look around for neat shells, sea glass, etc… We also pick up broken glass we find from bottles so no one will get hurt in the surf or sand. Some times we find a few pieces of broken bottle and sometimes we find none.

So one day at… the beach, I was walking near the surf line and I stepped down and thought I felt a piece of glass. I was lucky I felt it before stepping hard. I was able to pull my foot up before there was any damage. I looked down and saw what looked like a piece of broken bottle barely covered in sand. I carefully put my finger under the glass to lift it up so I could safely pick it up and put it in the bag I carried. I put my middle finger in the sand about an inch or two down and then curled it under to lift the broken bottle.

Ouch! Damn! As soon as I had lifted with my finger, two big claws reached up and clamped onto each side of my hand. I am glad no one was around cause they would have laughed seeing some big gringo jumping 3 foot in the air while he waved his arm widely trying to shake this monster off. All in all it was about 3″ in diameter, not even big enough for an appetizer. Good thing I was in my swim suit cause It could have been embarrassing getting my good shorts wet. This was the first time after months at the beach that I ever had any run in or interaction with something like this. When I went back to the condo I told Denise what happened – mistake – as she again had a good laugh at my expense and told all the neighbors.

The next day both Denise and I were out for another walk. I was damned if I was going to stick my hand down there again. Well we were walking in the same general area at the surf line. The sand was a bit soft so we would sink in a little as we walked. Well in mid-stride as I planted my foot, another damn crab clamped onto my toes and didn’t let go until I flung it head long into the surf ahead. Denise heard me shout and looked over and didn’t understand what was happening until she saw the crab in the air before it hit the surf. I don’t know what she found funnier, me jumping up and down, my screams, or the crab leaving my toes and flying through the air.

That was two days in a row, I believe different crabs, and in the same area. It is odd that we have since been over that same area many times as well as other areas and have never had any such event happen again. Everyone here had their share of laughs due to Ron catching crabs at the beach. Well payback is a b…. you know!

I am including some more pictures of stuff from the beach. I hope you find them interesting. As always comments and opinions are my own. Replies are welcome as well as questions or anything else you might like to know about. I have an opinion on most everything.

Hasta Luego,

RB

Routines develop no matter what we do. Even doing something different each time is a routine in its own way. Routines are often good but routines can often lead to boredom so ya just need to be aware of how you are occupying your time.

Our activities are somewhat limited some by circumstance and some by choice. We have begun waking up quite early, before sunrise. Something between 5:30 and 6:15 am. It is nice and cool at that time and the sunrise is gorgeous. We generally putzs around on the iPads for a few minutes and then depending on the state of the tide we try to go on a beach walk. We do two types of walks. Usually our morning walk consists of me trying to keep up with Denise down the beach and back for about 50 minutes. We have termed this our exercise walk. The other type of walk, again depending on the tide, is what we call our beach-combing walk. This is a nice calm leisurely beach walk where we look for shells, sea glass, walk in the water, contemplate the meaning of life, etc… Ok back to the routine.

After the exercise walk we come back to our condo and have breakfast and coffee. This is even somewhat of its own routine – oatmeal and/or hardboiled eggs and/or omelets with fruit and of course Panamanian coffee. Panamanian coffee is superb. We generally go up a floor to the roof top pool just after 9AM to ‘noodle’ in the water. A number of women do ad-hoc water aerobics from 9:30-10. Denise participates while I float in a corner of the pool with another of the husbands. Afterwards we generally stay in the pool, usually by ourselves or with another couple, until closer to noon while we just float around and soak up the sun.

Since it is now approaching noon we head back to the condo for lunch, more internet time, etc… Around 2PM we sometimes plan for our beach-combing walk, maybe back up to the pool for more ‘noodling’, maybe sit in the sun and read and listen to music and maybe all three.

Other activities that are sometimes thrown in are some grocery runs, trips to Pricesmart (Costco), and the occasional trip to the mall – you know the usual stuff normal people do.

Our evenings vary a little but also tend to be somewhat routine. Now that football is back on we can pick and watch any games we want to see via the internet. We usually watch the Gamecocks on Saturdays and of course the Seahawks on Sunday/Monday. There is a standing ‘happy hour’ on the roof top every night. It used to be around 5PM but lately time has drifted later to 6-6:30PM. This can be as few as 2-3 people or as many as 10+. I like 2-3-4. We have also begun to catch up on our shows – The Blacklist, The Big Bang Theory, Madam Secretary among others.

Sometimes we walk to a few local bar/restaurants. Gaviota’s is a Tiki type bar a short walk down the beach. They have a decent menu but I tend to get the $4.50 queso hamburguesa (cheese burger) with Papas Fritas (fries) or Pantanos (plantains) and the $1.50 beer. It has a great tiki bar kind of atmosphere. There is also a local bar a few blocks away called Picassos that has a community happy hour on Wednesdays, trivia on Thursdays, 2-1 pizzas on Fridays and usually live music on Saturdays. Many places are closed Sun-Tuesday. We have been hanging around at the condo more lately vs going out to these places. Having a cocktail on the roof, BYOB, is much more convenient.

We did have a great night out a couple days ago with one of our neighbors. They took us to a local Mexican Bar and Restaurant called Cholos. Believe it or not, there is hardly any Mexican style food here. This place is the only one we have found. The motif is more of a surfer bar and we hear it gets quite wild at night. It was fun and next time I go I will get the giant burrito. I would say the majority of restaurants are Italian and/or pizza oriented.

So all in all, most days are somewhat routine but each one a little different. The tide table often influences what we do as does transportation options/opportunities since we choose to not have a car. The beach, the pools, the friends are hard to beat so we are enjoying our routine. Hope you enjoy yours.

Below are a few pictures. If you didn’t know, you should be able to click or tap on them to enlarge the pic. As always any comments are welcome as well as questions or suggestions on a topic you may be curious about.

Btw – I have been using the Duolingo language app for some time and the other day it said I was now 26% fluent in Spanish. I think that is quite a stretch but I will take the pat on the back while I can get it.

Adios, hasta mañana.

RB

Dudes/Dudettes,

We have all heard stories about this mysterious place called Medellin in the mountains of Colombia. This name alone conjures up all kinds of frightful possibilities – Harrison Ford Movies; Pablo Escobar; FARC Rebels; secret CIA camps, …I could go on.

Well after speaking to people who personally went to Colombia and specifically Medellin we decided to give it a try. Flights were somewhat cheap and the dollar very strong to the Colombian Peso. With further research we found that general hostilities in the country subsided generally between 2000-2005. Yah, there are still places travelers should not go but that can be said for Miami, D.C., or many other areas of the USA.

Medellin is a very large city, 2.77M folks. It is known as the Milan of South America. It has a reputation for fashion and medical tourism. It is huge for plastic surgery drawing people worldwide due to the quality and price. No, that is not why we went! I am not sure where to start in describing Medellin except maybe to say we were very very impressed. It was nothing like what we expected. We of course didn’t go to the areas comparable to the ‘south side of Chicago’ and pretty much just roamed the one district, Poblado, but – wow.

We stayed in a boutique hotel in a neighborhood called La Florida. The neighborhood reminded us a lot of Belltown in Seattle but nicer/cleaner. There were a number of residences that were being transitioned to restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, and hostels. This area had and was in transition from a neighborhood to a more upscale mixed-use area.

Ok, enough background, what did we do and see? We flew on Viva Colombia which is the only airline that flies in/out of the old Howard Air Force Base. At the terminal we had to pay a $15/person Colombian tax – cash only. From there security and immigration was easy. It was there, in line, that I photographed the woman with the butt implant (see pic). Part of the famous plastic surgery in Medellin is a tremendous amount of breast and butt implants. Apparently Colombian, and possibly other Latin societies find large butts desirable, aka Kim Kardashian style.

The plane was a modern Airbus A320. No, not a twin engine Coke runner. To board the plane everyone gets an assigned group and walks out on the tarmac to the stairs. Some groups board from the front and some from the rear and there are no assigned seats. Maybe that helps balance the load. Approaching the terminal and taxi-ing the runway allowed us a view as to what things may have looked like during the USA Airforce days. The flight was great and we landed early evening in Medellin. We purchased some Colombian Pesos – 3 COP to the $1. The 45 minute cab ride was 60,000 pesos to town (around $21). We checked in to the hotel and then went to find dinner. I must comment here that people drive like bats-out-of-hell as they do in Panama but the cars mostly seem nice and well maintained and not all dented. Roads were very good and even the small streets seemed to have signs. A big difference from Panama.

Just outside the hotel door were some plastic patio tables and chairs and about 10 folks sitting having cocktails. It was a little café / garage / storage unit that operated as ‘Donde Juan’ – pic shown. Our travel companion, Buzz, struck up conversation as some spoke English. We ended up sitting for a while for cocktails and met some fun folks. This place became our evening neighborhood-gathering place each day.

We walked up the street looking for food and I engaged a nice man who invited us into his very nice, classy restaurant, Sal e Brasa. He said it was a Brazilian type steak house. We sat on a second level patio overlooking the sidewalk, very pleasant. A picture on the menu caught our eye so we asked about it and then ordered it – Bife Chorizo. Buzz and I ordered ‘glazed mushrooms’ and Denise ordered Yucca Fritas (Yucca Fries) as our sides. All 3 of us have had a lot of steak in our lives but we all agreed that this meal was near the top of the list of all steaks. It was an excellent cut, aged on site, and cooked just right. The glazed mushrooms were also to die for. The service was impeccable. Our meals ended up being just under $7 each plus a few bucks for drinks. WOW! This place set the standard we would compare to all others. It was so good that we went back on our 3^rd night.

During the day(s) we either walked around or took cabs for $2-3. We went to some shopping malls and to Hard Rock Café. At Hard Rock we bought some souvenirs and had lunch and drinks. Buzz had Hurricanes and Denise and I had some ‘Sex on the Beach’. Drinks! I said drinks! Geesh. Later, I got a haircut at a salon ($4). It was a nice place and a good cut. Denise and I stopped for Gelato. We also stopped for some micro-brews at the Bogata Brewing Company that had an excellent Porter. Medellin is known for its microbreweries. In general we just had a relaxing good time. More to follow below these pictures.

Dinner on night 2 was right next door to our hotel. It was called Mu Fukin Good Ribs. How can you not try a place like that! It was only open Thursday-Saturday and lines formed early and if you were late they could run out. If you wanted something other than ribs they said to leave – only ribs and drinks are served. They were large meaty pork ribs and were excellent. Full meals for the 3 of us came to about $18. Thumbs up!

In the evenings we ended up at our neighborhood sidewalk café for a nightcap. Lots of people were out and about walking into the evening. We felt safer than walking around Seattle in the evening. On our last afternoon Denise and I came across this multi-block area that was a park with the surrounding streets full of restaurants, bars, and nice shops. Some of the streets were pedestrian only. Wish we knew this was there sooner! We stopped into Partick’s Irish Pub for a pint and spent at least an hour with Patrick himself. There was also a Hooters though we didn’t get a chance to go in, just for comparison sake. This area looked like the nightlife place to be.

Comparing to Panama, one thing we found in Panama is that the city is quite metropolitan and where we stay in Coronado is quite nice but the area along the highway and to/from the airports can look pretty poor, dirty, sketchy. What was so impressive about Colombia was that even the 45 minute ride to/from the airport, over the hills and down to the valley, was clean, neat, and did not appear poor with a run down poverty look. In a lot a ways it really showed up Panama, much more mature and sophisticated. The only thing Medellin is missing is the wonderful beach that we live on J. Maybe a trip to Cartagena on the Caribbean is due?

The trip back was non-eventful and it is nice to get back to the beach where we saw the lunar eclipse, which was spectacular. We would go back to Medellin in a heartbeat BUT we have other places we want to also see. It was great paying so little for so much. It was nice to finally get a break for being from the USA.

Below are a bunch of misc pictures from our adventures. I hope you enjoy them. Comments are welcome. These blogs actually take quite a bit of time to put together. So let me know if they are stupid and I will stop or let me know if there is anything you would like to know about.

RB

One big area of research we conducted before we choose to take off somewhere was Quality of medical care. Panama rated very high with well trained doctors, most speaking english and trained in the USA, and good hospitals especially near the larger cities. Think Oklahoma, If you are out in the boonies you may see a veterinarian but in Oklahoma City you will find good hospitals and doctors. So we knew we had good medical care in the area we were settling.  There is a pretty new medical center about 1.5 miles away with direct affiliation to a top notch hospital in Panama CIty.

Big big differences though are in cost. Cost of medical care in Panama is ridiculously cheap compared to the USA. One large reason is that Panama limits the ability to file frivolous suits. A doctor visit can cost as much as a co-pay in the US – $15/$25 and maybe $35/50 for a specialist.

We are very conditioned to have medical insurance so we finally investigated our options. Since medical care is so cheap the real protection we wanted was more catastrophic. Checking around it seemed there were 3 options. 1) USA type insurance that would cover us in Panama or a Panama based US plan from someone like Blue Cross/Shield. This was quite expensive. 2) An international insurance plan. This is mostly for people traveling and living in various countries. The coverage was good and the cost wasn’t bad that is unless you included the USA in the plan. In that case the cost went quite high. Again the litigation issue. 3) Local Panama base insurance. This had pretty good coverage and was recommended by a number of other ex-pats here.

So we went with MS-Panama Plan. It is actually provided by a US based company. To apply we needed to have tests done and we needed to pay for them up front. All this was done at our local clinic. We had full blood test, Urinalysis test, chest x-rays, EKG and then a review with a doctor of the results – basically a full physical.

At the clinic they took booth of us in within minutes. Within 1.5 hours we not only had all tests complete but the x-rays and EKG results were handed to us. In a couple days the other test results were emailed to us. Within a week we were at the local doctor – Dr. Levy for review. We had heard many good things about Dr. Levy. He is a young guy with great English. We were told to show up sometime after 3PM, no appointment. We were in with the doctor within 15 minutes. He not only went over the test results, which were all quite good, but he also took all the time we wanted to answer all and any questions we might have had about other health concerns.

Well not only did we pass with flying colors but the total cost for a full physical for 2 people– not just deductible – was just over $300. This includes clinic costs EKG, x-ray, lab results, and doctors time. Our monthly cost for full medical coverage for 2 people is $133 per month. Now full disclosure, this does not cover cancer. There is a $100/year rider for any cancer. It also does not include Chiro or acupuncture but if you want these you can pay the $10-15 per visit out of your pocket. Over all this was a pretty good experience. Left us impressed. Well we hope we never need to use it. We feel quite good here. We have lost some weight possibly because of the daily beach walks, floating in the pool, and eating foods not laced with GMO and round-up.

In summary, this is our experience base on real events and our own research. Questions are welcome and enjoy the random pictures below.

Here is a list of random things that bug me about being here:

1. Whenever I need to wear shoes which is rare. We are barefootin and flip-flopin.
2. To much litter. Remember the USA before the crying Indian commercials. Ya it was pretty bad and I think it is a little worse here.
3. Some people.
4. Boredom, yes you do get bored living like you are on vacation everyday but I will get over it.
5. When the sand gets so hot you think your feet burned.
6. Near impossible to get replacement parts for appliances.
7. Not enough Tiki Bars in this area. It ain’t St. Pete’s.
8. Can’t find Double Stuffed Oreos, not that I really ate them before I got here either.
9. No Corona Light beer. Lots of regular but not Light.
10. Need patio umbrella’s for the roof top pool area and beach chairs and beach umbrellas for the sand.

RB