ONCE AGAIN, GETTING IT DONE IN PANAMA

Night before our departure.

As usual,  Ray and I arrived to Panama via Copa Airlines this past Saturday without a hitch.  After an easy flight (I have a cold, so I decided to sleep through the entire flight but only once breakfast was served!), we breezed our way through customs since we could walk through the Residents line (and we didn't have fingerprints or picture taken this time) but for whatever reason our luggage didn't make its way to the belt for forty five minutes.

300 plus pounds of more "stuff"

 Once back to Casa 40 in Chame (thanks to Clyde and Terry for being our Roadrunners! and stopping for delicious sundaes), Ray and I knew yesterday we would be busy bees running errands in Panama City.  Sunday we did the usual grocery shopping at two different stores (I needed to buy a coffee bean grinder), and yesterday we started at the bank at eight am.  We had a few errands that were bound to take hours, and we were right.  By noon, we had accomplished four things.  Mostly due to city traffic.  A little due to the cake building not being called the domo.  Jumping ahead here, so I will back up a bit.

After spending two minutes first thing in the morning (eight am--no gym for me today), we drove to La Chorrera to have Ray's passport notarized for the shipping company.  We needed a Panamanian notary and could not have this done in the US.  There is a Notary in La Chorrera, and the office opens at eight am.  We arrived forty-five minutes after the opening hour to the Notaria Sexta building. 

 We grabbed the last parking space.  There were two lines, and there were seven men already sitting in all seven chairs.  Not looking good here.  We were behind one person on the first line, we gave our copy of our passport to the man behind the desk, he stamped, sealed and even signed it, and put the paper in the pile to his left.  We then knew (we had been watching and paying attention) to go to the window to his left and pay the lady behind the glass.  We paid her ten dollars (Ray is a Notary in the US, and he is only allowed to charge maximum five dollars.  But he is also not appointed by the President, and this is not the US.)  We then stood against a wall.  Some men dropped their papers off and left, so we thought this process might take a while.  We contemplated standing and waiting, asking the nice man how long the process takes, and maybe just returning another day.  Then a man in a business suit walked through the door closer to nine am.  This was the Notary.  The man behind the desk took the pile of papers he had been stamping and sealing all morning, and he gave them to the man in the business suit.  He flipped the papers for the man while the man signed away.  A few minutes later, fourteen names were called before ours with papers being given back to the owners.  Within ten minutes, we were walking out with our papers.  Nice!

Third errand was to head back to the Tribunal Building where we hoped to pick up our Cedula cards. We had tried this once before we left for the States, and we were told to come back later.  Even though we showed up a few days after the day we were told to pick the cards up.  Traffic was horrible, we blamed it on construction, but it was really heavy traffic outside the building.  There wasn't any parking, so the cars were simply circling the building, re-entering the highway, and re-circling.  The cars were jamming up the highway.  Cars were parked in both parking lots, along the curbs and other cars were parked parallel to these cars along the curb.  A mess.  At least police were directing the traffic, sort of.  Ray and I entered the parking lot, circled the building once, and then we decided I would run into the office while Ray circled the building.  I walked quickly up the steep steps (need to get back to the gym!), and yay for me, I had my Panamanian ID card in my hand!  Ray had circled the building once, I jumped into the driver's seat, he walked quickly to the office, and after I circled the building once, he had his ID in hand.

A beauty of a car we traveled behind in the city.

Now to find the the shipping company.  We love using Waze on our phones.  There aren't street signs for the most part in the city (there are more than I realized, but they are in neighborhoods and for major roads usually).  The one's we need to find are difficult to read (the side roads have small signs with little lettering).  Waze works really well, usually.  This morning it was an off day.  We put the address in for the shipping company and were directed to a housing community on the other side of Albrook Mall near the airport.  Ray called the company, and we were given pretty good directions.  Ray understood the office to be in El Dorado close to "the cake building".  The receptionist confirmed this with him.  The cake building is a round building that sells pastries and cakes.  It's a large bakery.  It's official name is La Casa Redonda del Dorado.  He believed this because when he asked "oh, by the cake building?", the receptionist told him the office was 'by the dome near the university once you turn by Novey'.  This is how directions are told here.  We arrive to the cake building, drive again to a housing neighborhood, and Ray makes a second call.  Clarification made, and we drive back to "the dome".  I have yet to get into that bakery!  We found the office very close to where shipping containers can be seen near Albrook Mall.  This is where we thought the office should be (and not in the city of El Dorado by the cake building), and once inside the gate, we were told our crate with five hundred pounds of "stuff" should be delivered mid-January.  Then the papers need to be sorted, Customs needs to check out the goods, and our crate should be in our hands by the third week of January.  Our four errands has taken three plus hours.  Not too shabby.  Traffic, miscommunication, and making our way around the city a little more today.

The Cake Building

Finally, we had more enjoyable things planned for the afternoon such as shopping!  We, along with hundreds of others (holiday week perhaps), were sampling Vodka, wines, and Amaretto at PriceSmart.  We were in a different PriceSmart, but they are all the same (except for those samples)!  Clyde and Terry had told us on our way back from the airport about MegaDepot, so we checked that store out as well.  It seems to be like a PriceSmart (which is like a smaller Costco), without the membership fee but higher prices.  Once through with the shopping, we hightailed it out of the city and stopped for lunch at Westland Mall.  At three pm, the mall was crowded, but with just needing some food, we were able to eat lunch and frozen yogurt along with some shopping at Conway.

Not to be ready to end the day yet, I dropped Ray off, hopped in the drivers seat and made my way to Wandita's.  I was going to have a much needed manicure and pedicure!  Manicures are $5 with pedicures being $15.  In the States, I paid close to $40.  I told the girl my hands and feet were a mess, and she smartly agreed.  I, in my quest to practice Spanish, spoke with the woman next to me about her two year old daughter that was there in the salon.  I saw another woman get her haircut just like mine had been cut last September (her head was upside down, but her hair was wet and had been colored).  I also slept a bit.  So relaxing.  I was getting primped and polished for the big day ahead.  Today.

Back to the gym.  Maybe not so relaxing, but it was quiet.  A casual walk on the beach with Ray.  A cool swim in the pool chatting with a couple from Connecticut.  Back to face time chats with friends and our daughter.  Losing electricity for thirty seconds.  Twice. 

 So here is what I have noticed since being back to Panama these past few days.  The muñecos.  These are life-like figures resembling cartoon characters (I have seen Sponge Bob, Super Mario, Spiderman to name a few), political figures, anyone really or even just situations of the past year.  We were told today that our town, Chame,  is having a competition (judges have been traveling the roads and stopping by houses selecting the best of the best), and on New Year's Eve cash prizes will be given to the winners.  These figures are a way to start a new beginning, and then right before midnight, they are lit on fire and the parties begin (or I imagine, continue)!  

Super Mario 

 Gas prices have gone down along with those in the US.  A gallon of gas is now about $2.49 (.66/liter--it was .86/liter when we left). We paid anywhere from $1.95 near the lake house to $2.49 closer to Northern VA.  Food prices are the same for the most part.  We will buy some brand name things here in Panama, and other things we are fine buying Panamanian brand.  We'll go with what tastes good and with what works for us.

 The sun is hotter and more intense.  It's now summer, and the temperatures are no longer registering 89-91 degrees.  It is now 95 degrees, but there are breezes!  Warm breezes when in the sun, but on my back porch at Casa 40, there are cool breezes and really no humidity.  This is only based on the past three late afternoons.  But I can sit on the porch again.  Like I could in August.  And then the air turned a little stagnant in the back yard.  Burning has started instead of having the machetes cut back the high, dry grasses along the highway.

A new building is going up near Coronado just like the owner's at Frosty's promised (possibly an Arrocha).  The Gorgona Mall has windows in it now.  Progress!  And we still never really know what lane we should be in when driving in the city!  And that in Panama, no one else knows along with motorcyclists being able to get around it all scarily, but they get around it while we wait.  And wait. 

There are actually five lanes here.  One turns left, but there should really be only three.

The white truck puts a stop to all of us proceeding.  

So the Crowley truck can back up.  The motorcyclists came up from the back.  Because they can.  They did wait patiently except one drove on the sidewalk around the mess.

 This is retirement in Panama.  My five weeks in Virginia were amazingly busy and wonderfully happy.  The next few months here in Panama I will embrace and love just as much all the while looking forward to seeing my daughter, sister, family and friends once again in VA as well as here.  Home here and home there.  It's all so good.  

I love palm trees, ocean water, cool breezes and sunny skies.  

THREE THOUSAND MILES IN THREE WEEKS, INTO FIFTH AND FINAL WEEK, AND I THINK WE DID IT ALL.

Our boathouse "houses" our kayaks.

View looking out of our cove.

Lake Anna by the dam

Lake Anna 

Having returned from our trip to Tazewell, Ray and I took a day off.  No visits, dinners, lunches, appointments, but just a day to have no place to go and no one to see (sorry, we did miss seeing some people, but this was a work/week day so we know no one was available!).  I used a gift card for an hour massage that I had held onto for four months, and I picked us up a gourmet dinner of Subway.  The following day we met up with our daughter, and while she and I shopped and had a wonderful dinner of, oh so good, Mexican food at La Sandia in Tysons Corner mall and great conversation about everything, Ray joined one of the lake house roommate's and her sister for dinner.  He then connected with us while we finished shopping.  I managed to knock out many Christmas presents for Carly (a few she will still be surprised by), and for that I was thankful.  Then the next day, more driving, but all for big fun spending time with our dearest friends that have a house on the Piankatank River.   We had spent some time with them once already, but this was a longer visit planned for dinner and overnight just to be able to relax, eat dinner, drink wine, not have a care, and continue catching up.

Stunning Piankatank River (Gloucester, VA)

It was my sister's birthday at the end of the weekend, but we never could make a connection with her just having spent a crazy fun-filled week in NYC and with us being in Tazewell.  I knew I would be seeing her soon though. It was on the schedule afterall.  haha  After leaving the river, we continued driving north past the lake house, shopped a little more for Christmas (I think I bought some shoes for myself, and Ray picked himself up a new tablet), and spent that Sunday's dinner time visiting with a longtime former co-worker of Ray's and her husband.  No wonder we have piled up the miles on the car!

Then, on a bright and sunny Monday morning (rare these days in Bumpass), while baking seven dozen chocolate chip cookies, three men spent ninety minutes packing up five hundred pounds of our things to move to Panama for us.  We chose Hilldrup International movers, and so far we have been impressed with the service.  Now once it gets to our door in Chame in less than six weeks, I will be really happy and relieved!

Even the rubbermaid totes got wrapped up!  Easy enough!

Our part of a container.

Dipping and chatting

Rest and relaxation on Tuesday morning (reminds me of Panama in that the mornings we spend at the gym or running errands, and the evenings are spent with friends), and back in the car to our daughter's apartment for cookie decorating.  First stop though was by our old Chinese restaurant stomping ground for the best ever Chinese food take out!  Oh, how we have missed Formosa!  Once at the apartment, we shared an enjoyable dinner with our daughter and one of her roommates, and while Ray hung out nearby on the couch chatting with us and the roommate, Carly and I dipped cookies and made peppermint bark.  She was making goodie bags for her co-workers holiday treats.

Nothing like melting chocolate and a little wine nearby.

Few Oreo's 

 More dinner plans Wednesday, but first some light shopping, this time with Ray's former co-workers from Giant Food.  We spent three hours eating chips and salsa (more Mexican!) and chatting about all things Panama, and on Thursday afternoon we drove to Ray's dad and stepmom's house in Louisa, VA for dinner.  We wanted to get one more visit in to see them before the holiday rush.

Prior to dinner on Thursday, we sold our second and last car, the Mini Cooper.  We decided to simplify things and took it to CarMax.  Happy with the price they gave us, we then picked up a rental car for the week, and we did all things you do when selling a car.  What we thought would take all day took maybe one hour.  We aren't in Panama anymore but to be fair, I did do some comparing:

DMV to turn in plates=3 minutes!  Who would have thought!  That's just crazy nonsense that it took only three minutes.  The stars and moon must have been aligned just so that day.  Okay, when we got our placas in Panama, that only took 45 minutes, but we didn't get the placas that day haha  

Spotyslvania Courthouse to tell them we sold the car, and the lady made good notes in the computer=2 minutes.  

Selling car=ninety minutes (Ray had done most of the work the day before, so all I had to do was sign some papers=20 minutes on day two).  Okay, buying car and transferring titles in Panama only took 3 hours.  

Getting rental car=10 minutes.  We never have had problems getting rental car at Tocumen airport in Panama, so I would say maybe 15 minutes there.  No stamping or stapling here.  

Chic Fil A Lunch=Priceless Plus a Peppermint Shake!  There isn't a Chic Fil A in Panama.  Not to worry though, Carl's Jr's salad is pretty good, and they do have a Salted Caramel Shake I have yet to try.

One more thing sold.

And here we are with this past weekend!  We spent some time with our lake house roommate on Friday night at a fabulous Italian restaurant near Richmond, VA called Mamma Cucina's and with our bellies full, we then went on to the Wacky Tacky Richmond Tour lights.  Just the thing needed to get in the mood for Christmas!

These are two houses with over a million lights!  The two owners are related thankfully!

Me hanging out in front of a mess of lights!

This was a crazy family of snowmen.  The largest snowman is a woman with a snowbaby inside (look closely)!

 And on the ninth day...okay, I have no idea what day it is now as usual but just thinking about the 12 Days of Christmas song, this past Saturday we had big plans for our annual cookie decorating at my sister's house.  Carly would be coming from the north, and we would be driving from the south.  Fortunately we were not wanting to use the all new, save some time on your road trip, HOT lanes that are free until next week.  (The HOV lanes that have been in use in this area for 25 plus years just turned into toll lanes that have been extended five more miles south bringing the back up now farther south---what a mess!).

Now there are five lanes stuck traveling south instead of three.

And alas, cookie decorating did happen even though there was a rocky start to it.  For about twenty four hours, things kind of went south in the planning department, but once back on track with the stars and moon lining up again, all things are good.  I will just say here that I am glad, so thankful (!) and  fortunate to have one more week with my family.   It is much needed this week for Ray and I to be with our daughter and to be there for each other.

Our daughter's masterpieces!

My sister's tree with my gifts underneath.

And then there were more!

Back on track with the visiting of friends though--Ray and I had plans to attend a Christmas party in our old house (the one we sold in April to our friends/neighbors), and it was a surprise and treat to have Carly come along.  We were given an extensive tour of the house, we were able to catch up with our past neighbors, and we are just again so happy that this family is residing in the house we loved as well!

Yesterday, my little family of three trekked to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA to experience Illumination.  While Carly and I are amusement park aficionados, Ray has not been to an amusement park in eight years (?).  We immediately knew to ride the roller coaster (again and again with lines so short), and Carly, having been to this park many times while at The College of William and Mary, knew the layout of the land.  She pointed the way and, although Ray cannot tolerate rides that go around in circles, he was a good hot chocolate holder, and was there with us in laughs throughout the day.  The day started out bright, sunny and warm, but once the sun went down, the temperatures dropped into the thirties and the earmuffs and gloves came out.  We walked the park for five hours enjoying each other and, as the brochure/park map told us to do, "making memories" this holiday season.

Ray photobombs us while we get ready to ride the teacups!

With the weekend behind us, and with our plans for lodging at the end of the week being mixed up a bit (not to be considered a bad thing at all here, just a little more confusion with packing), Ray and I set out to pack up a few things yesterday.  UGH.  Enough said.  It's all there somewhere.  And to think I shipped five hundred pounds.  I should have made it six hundred.  I had a lunch date planned that I couldn't keep, so I reworked it for the end of the week.  I took today to stop by and visit former co-workers at my office plan, and then Ray and I attempted to have lunch.  What I have learned in Panama equates to today's experience in satisfying our hunger.  First, things aren't always open, so have a Plan B.  Not only was Moe's closed (trying to pack in more Mexican food), but it no longer exists in Massaponax.  Second, pack patience with Plan B (we seemed to have a little of our lost patience here in VA).  There was a line at the entrance to the Red Robin restaurant nearby.  But I knew what I was going to order (salad, yes, you know me well).  We were never seated.  Service was very slow.  We left.  Third, beef in Panama isn't always tender or delicious (always have a good recommendation before ordering beef at a restaurant in Panama and cook it for a very long time at home), so perhaps Ray could get a good juicy burger at the Five Guys still nearby.  We were running out of ideas.  The things I do for the guy--I think the four times I have had red meat this year have been four times too many.   I will stick to chicken, thank you very much!

These five weeks have been fantastically wonderful, and I wouldn't trade one lunch, dinner, sleepover, or those three thousand plus miles of road tripping for anything!  Looking forward to this final week of more memory making (rule follower that I am, I will continue doing what the Busch Gardens brochure/park map told me the Christmas season is all about), laughing with my daughter and family, and making more travel plans to home here in VA as well as for helping those visiting us make their travel plans to our home in Panama.
Slowness might come when in Panama, but somehow I doubt it!

HO HO HO, and a very Merry Christmas to everyone!

Santa Claus at Polar Point 

OVERSEAS MOVING, AND A THIRD OF OUR VACATION

While visiting with my mom-in-law this week in Tazewell, Virginia, Ray managed to settle some last minute paperwork with Hilldrup International Movers.  I am still amazed at what can be done from anywhere as long as there is a computer, internet connection, and in this case, a scanner.  There have been a few things, okay more than a few but I can't remember many of them now, that Ray and I contemplated before our move to Panama.  First really big thing was renting a house long term versus buying one eventually, and another was deciding whether or not we would continuously load our things back to Panama little by little in four to six suitcases weighing fifty to seventy pounds depending on what section of the plane we would be settling ourselves into each trip.  While in Panama, I contacted several overseas moving companies with the names being given to me by a friend we had met at the gym.  He had several companies he had employed in the past, but I found one company to be more responsive than the rest.  This is the company we chose using Hilldrup International on the US side.

Our appointment was scheduled in October for a surveyor to come to our house last Monday.  He was going to survey our goods and perform a "pre-move survey".  He walked the house with us looking at our things and establishing a weight of those things.  We opened up Rubbermaid totes to show him our valuable cargo that we ourselves haven't seen in four months.  Photo albums, frames (these I need to consolidate once more), some Panamanian dolls from my dad, then there's the butter churner and ox cart, a vacuum (yes, they have these in Panama, but we don't want to just give this away if we can ship it), kitchen items (dishes, glasses--wedding items), jewelry box, and who knows what else. Two days later, we had an estimate that was in our accepted range of what we expected it would cost for approximately six hundred pounds, and a date was selected for the movers to come to the house to pack, load and carry away our "stuff".   The cost will be adjusted if the weight is less or more when the packing is complete.  Lucky for me, the following day I went off to a huge event held at the Richmond Raceway Complex called Bizarre Bazaar.  This marketplace has been a Virginia tradition for thirty-nine years but unfortunately (or fortunately for my wallet),  I have only been to the event twice browsing and shopping at over three hundred vendors.  The vendors sell everything seasonal and decorative for the holidays to clothing, crafts, art, toys, food, furniture, jewelry and so much more!  First, Ray and I enjoyed dinner with our wonderful friends that we met on a cruise vacation thirteen years ago, and then I had a lovely sleepover.  Ray knew better than to be a part of the shopping extravaganza!  While I was exhaustingly busy browsing and spending, Ray was equally busy filling out the moving survey, contacting the bank, confirming the moving day, and finalizing the insurance paperwork.  I have to give a shout out to him, because he is really good at organizing our papers and just taking care of all the paperwork.  Like I have said before, I am the researcher usually, and he enacts the plan.  This is why today, in the comfort of his "Momma Cora's" living room, he was scanning all completed and "verified to be correct" paperwork to the Panama City office.  It will take up to six weeks to ship our things door to door.  And then it will be complete.  Another task we hope to have accomplished pretty much as easily and organized as all the other tasks we have managed to finish in the four months we have lived in Panama.  But for now, we are visiting relatives in Tazewell (Southwestern VA) relaxing like most retirement days.

While at home in Virginia, the days are flying by first with Thanksgiving Eve spent with my sister and family prepping for seventeen family members to enjoy the big feast.  My sister, her boyfriend, Ray and I hung out in the kitchen putting together many of those side dishes that tend to become laborous at the last minute.  We enjoyed our victory eating waffles at the Waffle House and grabbing a drink (had to enjoy happy hour somewhere!) at a nearby bar and restaurant catching up with each other all the while focused on the next days events.  Early Thanksgiving morning our daughter came to the house ready to help in the kitchen and to also check in on the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (my favorite always being The Rockettes and then Santa).  With the Thanksgiving dinner along with those delicious desserts being a huge success, Ray and I made our way back to the lake house with our bellies full knowing we still had so much more to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Prepping for Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving Eve mess

Wonderful holiday!

The next few days after Thanksgiving we spent catching up and dining with former co-workers along with Ray's dad and his wife.  We also had to catch up with our financial planner.  That was a lovely  morning spent in rush hour traffic (there was rain and sleet to be blamed along with a car accident or two thrown in the mix).  We had seven minutes to spare and wisely had allowed three hours for the ninety mile trip.  But it was a successful meeting still assuring us that we could continue our retirement in Panama.  Whew!  While in Northern Virginia (usually ninety minutes from the house, not three hours), we enjoyed the afternoon again catching up with another very dear friend of ours who Ray had the great fortune of working alongside with back in his grocery store days.  Happily, her husband was also around for the first hour of our chatting, so we could fill him in on life in Panama.  That night was spent with our daughter, her boyfriend, our lake house roommates/best friends of thirty plus years along with siblings and other friends of the friends (!) enjoying dinner and a competitive game of trivia.  Our team "The Leftovers" placed third.  I knew all of two answers. This is why I prefer "Wheel of Fortune" over "Jeopardy".  My daughter took me to her apartment where we had a sleepover, and the next day she put me to work in her classroom.  I spent nine hours with her trying to accomplish all the things on her list of "things to do but haven't had time to do" such as filing and sorting papers, putting together microscopes, organizing books for the library, and, I think, helping ease her load if only for just that one day.  We had dinner with Ray (who also helped with the microscopes), and there was another day of "vacation".

Seven am ready to start a fifth grade kind of day!

More friends to see and this was accomplished first with our lake house roommates spending the weekend at the lake house (so we could see them for longer than a quick meal or game of trivia), and also enjoying the 69th Annual Manassas Christmas Parade at my high school friends home.  Her father is still overjoyed that we made our way to Panama, and we were able to catch him up on our antics.  The best part is that the rain held off until the last thirty minutes and with a temperature hovering around fifty degrees, we could handle standing outside waiting for Santa.

A Chiropractor's office rendition of a spine in the parade.

Our bounty of goodies on the dining room table ready for us to enjoy while watching the parade.

A shoe with a slide down the center.

The big moment!  Santa!

We continued our annual tradition of watching "Its a Wonderful Life" with our daughter and lake house roommates that night, and here we are making our way to hump day in Tazewell.

Now with this time in Tazewell coming to an end and Christmas around the corner, my mind is wandering to shopping, baking and celebrating everyday still with my family and friends.  It's snowing outside which makes me feel much better than just seeing clouds and misting rain.
The calendar is almost full these next three weeks, and once the holidays are tucked behind us, we have busied ourselves planning future trips home here to Virginia along with our daughter visiting us in Panama as well as several other vacations and trips for the first half of next year.  What Ray and I have figured out and shared with others that are confused as to what we are doing and why we are doing it (retiring and living full time in Panama, this is) is that while Panama is going to be where we settle permanently, when we are here in Virginia, we aren't "back in the States", we are back home.

There are 28 stockings hung by the chimney with care (wink, wink)