December 2019 – 2RetireInPanama?

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are reminded constantly of how fortunate we are to have a wonderful life here in Panama. It is hard for us to believe that it has been nearly 18 months since we officially made our move here. Looking back over the past year we realize how wonderfully blessed we are to experience life in this beautiful country. We have no regrets and are truly living life to the fullest. Our friends Ray and Diane left last week after spending a little more than a week vacationing with us here. They took our Christmas cards back to the States and mailed them for us. If you are on our Christmas card list you may notice similarities in this post to our Christmas letter. As I sat down to make a final post for 2019, it occurred to me that a perfect recap of our year was right there in our annual letter. Those who read our blog regularly may find some of this year end review to be a repeat of some of our previous posts.

Our biggest news of this past year is that we bought and moved into our own place. We made our offer and it was accepted just prior to the end of last year. Things move quickly here and we were able to close the sale and do a minor remodel prior to moving in at the end of January. It is a 1700 square foot condo in the Coronado Golf Community inside the gates of Coronado. Our building, El Alcazar, is one of the most beautiful and well maintained condo buildings in the beaches area. We are on the 11th floor with beautiful views of ocean, mountains and golf course out every window. Every morning we wake to amazing views and praise God for another perfect day in paradise.

Our first guests to visit in our new home were two of Jen’s cousins Robert Buck and Bill Gilmore. they flew in from Pittsburgh to spend a week in April. While they were here we went zip-lining, took a Rum Distillery tour, Visited The Mira Flores Locks and Bio-Diversity Museum, ate a ton of great food, and relaxed on the beaches. We even stopped along the highway where we bought and ate ceviche’. When one lives on the beach, getting fresh seafood is marvelous and convenient. Buying ceviche along the road was a little unnerving for me, but it was very fresh and very delicious.

The four of us in front of El Macho — The four Of Us In Front of El Macho

While our good friends, Ray and Diane, were here at the beginning of the month, we spent the entire time they were here exploring places that they wanted to see. We took a two day trip to a wonderful bed and breakfast on the island of Contadora. Contadora is in the Pearl Island chain which is where there have been several episodes of Survivor filmed. Not only did the Survivor reality show from the United States film on an island nearby, but other Survivor shows from other countries filmed nearby. One even used the island where we stayed to film portions of the tribal counsel. The bed and breakfast where we stayed was home to crew for some of these filming’s. We spent hours enjoying the beaches on this awesome island and the food in the restaurants was unbelievable. After hanging out on Contadora, we took the Rum Distillery tour. and spent a day exploring in Panama City. We also spent a little time on the beach and went deep sea fishing with Lyn and Ty Gilbert. Ray and I even got a little dune buggy time while Jen and Diane went to the beauty salon.

Dinner with our Terrific Host at Contadora

The Aquarium at The Bio-Diversity Museum

One thing that we love about Panama is how easy it is to explore from here. While we have been settling in to our new lifestyle, most of our exploration has been local. We did however, take two trips to the States this past year, one trip to Costa Rica, and one trip to Jamaica. We went to Key West in February for the marriage of Jens older Brother Bill Jewell to Deb Wilson. In May we travelled to Michigan for our daughter Hope’s graduation with her Masters in Education. The trip also provided a perfect opportunity to see other family and friends. The Jamaica trip has been an annual tradition with good friends and we were able to continue the tradition. In 2020 we plan to travel at least one time to the States. We also will be exploring Israel, Greece, and Turkey in March, as well as Machu Picchu in Peru in May. We plan to continue our annual tradition of vacationing with our friends in Punta Cana Dominican Republic in April. The first few months of the year we will be pretty jet lagged, however when we are home we always look forward to welcoming guests and meeting our readers when they make it to our area. One thing you will not expect is to see us visiting any place where we can not wear shorts and flip flops. We do not have clothes for cold weather exploring.

pronounced Kapos — Quepos…Our first night in Costa Rica

West end of Lake Arnal (35 miles from Arnal Volcano) — West end of Lake Arenal The Arenal Volcano Behind us

It is always a thrill for us to connect with readers. Please, leave us a message or send an e-mail with questions and comments. We had a couple who started as readers of our blog and have since become friends, over for dinner this past week. We have frequent inquiries and we always try to provide a quick concise response. The highlighted portions of the previous paragraphs are links to past posts. Clicking on the links will lead you to those posts. We hope you are enjoying our blog as much as we enjoy sharing it.

Feliz Navidad,

Greg and Jen

Our friends Lyn and Ty Gilbert are always in favor of going on an adventure and we rarely refuse an opportunity to explore with them. The four of us have the greatest time heading into the unknown. You may recall our adventures previously that took us to the end of the road. A little over a week ago they asked if we would like to go to Shelter Bay to explore the area.

Shelter Bay is at the north end of the Panama Canal. Previously the only access to the bay and its magnificent marina was by boat or a ferry ride across the north end of the Panama Canal. Recently the Atlantic Bridge across the canal was completed which made access to this area a little easier. When we reached the bridge it was a great surprise to find almost no one using it. At first glace I thought that this must be the bridge to nowhere. It basically starts and ends in dense jungle. When we reached the west side of the bridge the roads leading away were all narrow and rough. Ty says eventually a nice road will take people from the bridge to the new copper mine where he works. Otherwise there is a long stretch of undeveloped ocean front from there to Bocas del Toro. The Caribbean coast is very pretty but not as accessible as the Pacific The dense jungle has a little bit to do with how populated this area is.

Our first stop after crossing the bridge was the gate at Fort Sherman. Fort Sherman was a U.S. army base tasked with protecting the north end of the canal. The gate is protected by a Panamanian Aero-Naval company. We told them that we were going to Shelter Bay and they let us pass. Once inside the base we were amazed to see how the Panamanians had allowed the unused base to fall apart and deteriorate after the American military was pulled out. Panama uses some of the former U.S. Military buildings in the canal zone, but has little use for a lot of it. By the way, since President Carter returned the Panama Canal to the people of Panama it has done very well and even expanded under the management of The Panama Canal Authority. The Panamanian Government does not technically run the canal. It is owned by all the people and decisions for its operations are made by directors who are elected to their positions.

The barracks at Fort Sherman Army base are deserted.

Shelter Bay lies on the west side of the north end of the canal. It is on the Caribbean and like all of Panama is virtually exempt from hurricane activity. Many people from North America sail south to safety here during hurricane season. We found the marina which is on the former Fort Sherman Army base to be very busy and almost at capacity. The marina has a restaurant, pool, stores and just about anything people will need who typically live aboard their boat. They even have scheduled bus trips to Colon and Panama City for shopping and entertainment. We were there to pick up some paint for Ty and Lyn’s boat.

After we picked up Ty’s paint, we headed south through the jungle. After driving a couple of Kilometers we reached a ranger station for Parque National. The park is part of the extensive National Park system of Panama, however I could not find a name for it. Several of these guys came to meet us as we entered the park. They are called Coate’, and they are a little bit like a racoon. We found them very friendly and nearly as welcoming as a dog. They probably thought we would feed them.

Several kilometers of driving through the jungle in the park we found ourselves once again at the end of the road. The road ended where the Chagres River meets the Caribbean on a point where the early Panamanians protected the trade route. This place was called Fort San Lorenzo Castle. It is a protected historical site and it is a great place to explore. In the late 1400’s early settlers would take their wares by land from the Pacific to a place in the mountains near what is now Gamboa. From there they would travel down the Chagres River to the Caribbean. This trade route had to be protected from the pirates. The Chagres river is now the source of much of the water used for the operation of the Panama Canal.

We found Fort San Lorenzo very fascinating. As we traveled through the jungle we were doubtful that we would find other people at the end of the road. We did, however, find many people there exploring. The price of admission was $3.00. The fort lies on a point where the Chagres river meets the Caribbean Sea. We learned that the original fort was built in 1595. After the fort was built it was first attacked in 1596 by English pirate Sir Francis Drake. The fort was continuously attacked until the original wood fort was destroyed by Sir Henry Morgan in 1671. Morgan then went over land to attack Panama City. These pirates were very interested in this area because early settlers brought gold from South and Central America across land into the jungle high in the mountains near what is now Gamboa. There they took it in boats down the Chagres River to the Caribbean where it went by ship to America. This trade route had to be protected from these pirates. Fort San Lorenzo Palace was part of the triangle of protection which ran from Gamboa to here to the ruins near Portobelo called Fuerte San Jeronimo. We explored the ruins near Portobelo a few months back. Clicking on the Fuerte San Jeronimo link will take you back to that post. Fort San Lorenzo was rebuilt of stone in 1680, which lasted until an attack in 1740. In 1768 it was once again rebuilt and in 1779 it was fortified. It is the remains of this fort that we explored on our visit. In 1980 UNESCO declared this and Fuerte San Jeronimo both World Heritage Sites. As I stood on the point looking over to the Chagres River and out into the Caribbean it was easy to imagine how the soldiers protected this area from the pirates. We were able to explore the moat, barracks, ammunition’s storage, and even get up close and personal with the cannons. Enjoy a few pictures from our adventure. A picture paints a thousand words, but there is no way to visually or verbally describe this place, and do justice. This is a must see if you are ever fortunate enough to visit this area.