Adventure Central – Page 2 – Retired In Panama

A Full Month of Adventures

Jen and I started our month of adventures on January 23 when we went to Panama City to prepare for a short visit to Florida. We are fully vaccinated and not required to test for covid when we travel TO Panama, but when we travel to the United States, even though we are citizens, a negative covid test is required. I am going to climb on my soap box for one brief moment, and then I will continue the story. The United States hardly requires masks, and the infection rate is under control enough for the President to repeal mask mandates at the White House. However, citizens traveling from a foreign country to the US must get a negative covid test to go home after a vacation or to visit friends and family there. We got our negative covid test and, as resident Jubilado’s, paid $30 USD each with our discount. Travelers without this benefit must pay $50 USD each, adding to the cost of travel. I believe that this is governmental overreach. Immigrants crossing the southern border are not tested and are allowed to board buses and flights all over the country, but as a tax-paying US Citizen, I must provide a negative test to go home. It is time to stand up to the tyranny of the government on this matter. These useless requirements should be removed.

We got our negative test at the airport which is required to be taken the day before travel. This cleared us to travel to our 2nd home in Florida on a flight the next day. Our winter guests in our condo were to arrive on February 1st, and we wanted to make sure everything was perfect for their arrival.

On Monday we boarded our flight to Florida. While in Florida we visited Jen’s brother, Bill, and his wife, Deb. They were snow-birding in Fort Myers, and it provided an excellent time to catch up with them. They treated us to a great meal at one of their favorite restaurants. In the morning, we all went over to a great outlet mall near their place, and I managed to buy a jacket and a couple of new shirts. Note to self…even in Florida a jacket will be necessary during the winter months. We had a delightful visit at their vacation condo, before continuing on to our place in Port Charlotte.

Mom and Rich had been staying in our condo since the end of November. It was a great time to be sure all the kinks were worked out. There were a few small mechanical issues that they were able to take care of for us before we arrived. One other issue required that we replace the washer and dryer before our guest’s arrival. With the nationwide logistics crisis, this was easier said than done. But we persevered and on Saturday, the new laundry pair was delivered. This gave mom time to do their laundry before traveling to Panama. We also had time to get all the sheets and towels washed before leaving, getting the condo in tip top shape for our winter visitors.

In addition to dealing with a few small problems, we were able to do some other visiting before turning our condo over on February 1st.

Lime Tequila in Port Charlotte is our favorite when we are there

The main reason we wanted to be in Florida at the end of January was to bring Mom and Rich back to Panama. They had been reluctant to travel to Panama because of the language barrier, and they had rarely been outside of the United States. On Tuesday February 1st the four of us boarded our flight in Miami for our non-stop flight to Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, Panama.

Our arrival in Panama was late evening, and I choose not to drive after dark when possible. We had reservations at the Riande Hotel near the airport. This is where Jen and I had stayed prior to our departure for Florida, and they allowed us to park in their secure lot for about $5 USD per day. This detail is for those of you who may be looking for similar options in your travel to and from Panama. We stayed the night, had a nice breakfast, and found the car just as I left it. We loaded up the next day, and began our journey to Coronado.

Our journey took us past Casa de Jamon and Price Smart. We made brief stops at both. Casa de Jamon is a great restaurant supply-type food store in Costa Del Este. We picked up a few groceries there and went on to Price Smart for a few other things. Then it was on to our home in Coronado.

We arrived in Coronado mid-afternoon, and our special guests were able to settle in and relax in preparation for their full month of adventure. Our dinner plan took us to Gold Coast Brewery for half price wing night. There they met a few of our friends, and we enjoyed the wings.

I do not know where to begin other than to take the whole month in chronological order. That first partial week, we relaxed by the pool, took the buggy to the beach for some sand play, Rich got a haircut, and Mom and Jen got pedicures. Thursday is our weekly domino game. Mom and Rich joined us each week during their visit. Throughout Covid, Jen and I got together with the same small group of friends for this weekly event, and it has continued. Everyone agrees that it was one of the things that helped us all maintain our sanity during the lockdowns and other measures imposed by MINSA to keep everyone safe from the virus.

Low tide. We explored a great stretch of beach

The other constant during their visit was Sunday worship at Coronado Bible Church. Each week we had brunch after church with many of our awesome friends. Our special guests enjoyed the church, brunches, and meeting a few of our friends each week. They were slowly beginning to understand why we love our life here in Panama. Mom loved that I was an active participant in the praise team at church.

Our first adventure outside our little community was to El Valle de Anton. We included good friends Diane and Mike for a full day of exploring up there. El Valle has been a favorite of all of our visitors, with those who have had repeated visits always wanting to return. There are so many places there that we had a difficult time choosing which to explore. That day we took them to the Orchid Sanctuary, The Butterfly House, El Macho Falls, and the Sunday Market. We were disappointed that our favorite restaurant was closed. This gave us a chance to try another place that just did not meet our high standards. The market gave me a chance to grab some fresh vegetables while everyone else shopped the vendors. El Valle is a short 45-minute drive from Coronado straight up the mountain. The entire village lies in the crater of a volcano. The climate is a bit cooler than the beach communities, and many expats live there. Check out my book or the archives of this blog to learn more about this magnificent place.

El Macho Falls. We couldn’t get them to zip-line it.

The bookstore, El Hombre de La Mancha, had requested more books which I was able to bring back from the States. The second Thursday our guests were here we went back into the city to make the delivery. This was a big highlight for me as, when we arrived, they asked me for an interview and photo session. They are promoting my book on their social media, and it appears that it is selling well in their stores. The delivery allowed them to stock it in every store nationwide. We were surprised to find it among the Panama Travel and History books despite the fact that it is only offered in English. People who have looked for it in the English section have been unable to find it in the stores. The price for it here in their stores is higher, but the bookstore is a huge advocate for literacy in Panama. That makes my day to feel like I am doing some small part for literacy here.

Mom found it in the main store in San Francisco

Karen Ceballos, Director of Marketing at El Hombre de La Mancha

After leaving the bookstore we were able to take Mom and Rich for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Michael’s. Mike Nikolich is the owner, and his place is a very successful for breakfast and lunch. He is a native of Michigan and has spent years in the restaurant business in Panama. Following lunch, we went down to Panama Viejo. This is the original ruins of the first Panama City. It was the first port where goods entered the country and were transported over land to the Caribbean for shipment to the America’s, Europe, and Spain. This gave our guests a perspective of what Panama was like before the canal was constructed. This location was repeatedly attacked by pirates who were after the precious gold and silver from South America. The city was later relocated to what is now called Casco Viejo (old town), where they could more easily protect it.

Mike Nikolich grabbed a copy of my book.

Mom and Rich in front of the tower at Panama Viejo

The following week we caught up with our good friend, and the master of tour guides, Marc Vargas, to take an adventure to the Caribbean side of the country. Marc picked us up and took us for a look at the Agua Clara Lock on the Caribbean end of the canal. Agua Clara is the new lock designed to accommodate the huge Pana Max ships. This gave Rich a firsthand look at how the canal works. Marc took us from there to the Gatun Locks just adjacent to the Agua Clara lock. The visitor center there is closed, but we were able to see a cruise ship passing through over the hill. He continued on down to the Gatun Dam where the Chagres River is dammed to provide water to Lake Gatun which is a huge part of the canal passage. We went from there across the new Atlantic Bridge. I call this the bridge to nowhere because, when it was completed, the road leading away from it on the west side of the canal was dirt. It is now paved and leads to Fort Sherman, Shelter Bay and Fort San Lorenzo Castle. We visited all three. The road is now nicely paved right through the jungle to the ruins at San Lorenzo. It is also paved all the way north to Shelter Bay. Fort Sherman has been mostly deserted since the United States turned the canal over to the Panamanian people. Shelter Bay remains a prosperous marina which is protected from hurricanes. After lunch at the marina, we went through the jungle to Fort San Lorenzo Castle. This was a wonderful experience. The Fort is under full restoration to maintain its UNESCO World Heritage designation. I cannot wait to visit again after the restoration is completed. Despite the construction going on, this is a beautiful tour. The Fort sits at the mouth of the Chagres River high on a bluff where it was easily protected from the pirates. Thank you, Marc, for showing us a great time.

Marc gives us a little detail on the new Agua Clara Lock

A cruise ship passing through the Gatun Locks

This Coate’ came to see where we were going

There was a major restoration in progress at San Lorenzo Castle

Fort San Lorenzo Castle sits at the mouth of the Chagres River

Fort Sherman is in ruins…no need to stop here

Every week during their visit we went to the club at Coronado Luxury Club & Suites. Jen and I are members, and we enjoy the entertainment on Saturday nights. That first week we enjoyed a comedian in the Sports Bar followed by Pascal Turner at the pool bar. We especially enjoy Pascal, and, fortunately, he played every Saturday night during their visit with us. Pascal often invites me to sing with him and it has become something for which I look forward. The third Saturday we took our special guests to the fine dining restaurant at the club, Secundo Piso. We invited friends John and Barbie to join us. This was a special treat, and it is one of the places which we highly recommend. Reservations are required and they are only open on weekends. In the past, non-members have been welcomed at the resort on Saturday night.

Mom and Rich take the opportunity to dance

Also, that last week in Coronado Mom and Rich spent three nights at the resort hotel to give us all a break from each other. Jen and I get free nights every year with our paid membership, and we wanted them to have a special treat. They hung out by the resort pool and got waited on. Rich wanted to order foo foo drinks with fruit and little umbrellas. I wish we had pictures of that. During one of those days at the resort, we got together for a special late lunch at the Beach Club. The Beach Club is reserved for members and resort guests. We had a nice lunch and missed the last shuttle back. I wish they had let us know that it would be the last, but we were hardly done eating when it came. The staff sent us back on the employee bus. Someone suggested that we just stay and sleep on the beach. That was not an option…LOL.

A bird’s eye view of the beach at the club

Almost every Tuesday we ventured to the movie. The local theater, Cine Moderno, plays movies in English every Tuesday, and it is a favorite way to spend Tuesday evening in the community. We always meet up with many friends there and enjoy the show. For Jubilado’s (retired people), the movie plays for $2.50 USD each. They have great refreshments also at a reasonable price. I put the movie schedule in my newsletter every week, but recently they have added more shows in English on other days. I cannot always put all the shows and times, so check with the theater for additional showtimes. Rich said he had not been to the movies in years, and both he and mom thoroughly enjoyed this activity…even if the movie was not always something we would normally go out of our way to see.

We ventured to Santa Clara to another of our favorite places on the beach, Deliciosa Del Mar. We invited friends, Lorin and Judy, along for what we hoped would be a lobster feast. Judy gets the credit for the magnificent sunset photo in the featured position above. Unfortunately, we missed the beginning of Lobster season by a few weeks. We all still had some great fresh seafood before venturing onto the beach. Everyone had a great time people watching and swimming in the ocean. This little restaurant has palapas on the beach where you can eat or have drinks. They rent them to people who do not order from them, but they are free to patrons. We all had a great time.

That last Friday night in Coronado we caught up with Mike and Diane for a great dinner at Café Med. We always seem to get a great meal there and this visit was no exception.

To cap off our month of adventures with Mom and Rich, we went from Coronado to Panama City at the beginning of Carnival traffic. Travel into the city can be a challenge during Carnival. We soon encountered the lane inversion and we were sharing our side of the highway with traffic heading to the beaches. This was not horrible, but it slowed down our journey. We anticipated travel challenge, so we wanted to have plenty of time to get them near the airport for their journey home on March 1st. This gave us a couple of days to adventure in the city.

When we crossed the Bridge of the Americas, the decision was made to check out the Amador Causeway and go to the Biodiversity Museum. This is something that all of our past visitors have enjoyed, and we knew that Mom and Rich would love the experience as well. We were not wrong. The Biodiversity Museum is something that no visitor to Panama should miss. We went down the causeway for lunch and some souvenir shopping, followed by our visit to the museum. After the museum, we checked into our hotel at the Radisson Panama Canal.

Panama City skyline from Amador Causeway Love the new Sombreros!

See the Biodiversity Museum over Rich’s shoulder?

Even after almost four years living in Panama, I look for new adventures when we have company. Sometimes the new adventures are a giant failure, but this one was a definite high and one of the best experiences for myself. On Saturday evening we ventured to the JW Marriott (former Trump Tower) for a ringside seat on the 66th floor for sunset. The pool bar is owned by the casino and only accessible through the casino. The elevator will only stop at the parking garage or the 66th floor unless someone has a key to stop elsewhere. When we exited the elevator, we were welcomed into an amazing outside venue with an infinity pool, and our reserved table was waiting for us next to the pool. The views of the city and sunset were unbelievable. We enjoyed a light dinner (pub food) and drinks while we watched the sunset. This will be another of those experiences that we share with others. If you get the chance, do not miss this one.

The following morning, we were whisked away by shuttle to a boat dock in the middle of the Gamboa Rain Forest where we caught our boat. It is definitely a small world when every one else on the tour bus is from the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, really close to where mom and Rich live! The Pacific Queen took us on a partial transit of the Panama Canal. Rich was so intrigued by the canal that we could not deny him this experience. When we departed the dock, we had a few drops of rain which quickly subsided. Our boat went south on the Panama Canal as the guide told us interesting facts about what we were seeing. We traveled past a Pana Max ship, the largest of container ships. We would see this ship later passing through the big new lock at Miraflora while we were passing through the smaller locks. We passed the prison where Noriega spent the last years of his life, and several big dredging cranes. The Gaillard Cut, which was formally known as the Culebra Cut, is where most of the lives were lost in the construction of the canal. It is the narrow mountain pass taking the canal through the Continental Divide. This stretch of the canal requires constant maintenance due to the mud slides and silt accumulating in its bottom. This is where the canal authority spends the majority of its maintenance budget.

The prison where Noriega was incarcerated

This is a large Pana Max ship. We passed it after entering the canal from the dock in Gamboa

We continued through the cut and past the Centennial Bridge before reaching the Pedro Miguel Lock. We moved into the lock which we shared on this journey with another tour boat, a small cargo vessel, and a larger ship. We were lowered in the lock to the level of Mira Flores Lake. Mira Flores Lake is a manmade lake connecting the Pedro Miguel lock with the Mira Flores Locks. Once across the small lake, we entered the Mira Flores locks once again sharing with the other three vessels. Mira Flores has two locks taking us down to sea level. After passing through all three locks, we moved on toward the Pacific and our destination port. We passed under the Bridge of the Americas, then past our hotel and the Amador Causeway before rounding the point and making dock at the Port of Panama. The total time of our excursion was right around 5 hours. Previously, Jen and I did a full passage which took around 12 hours. The partial passage was much better, as the full passage took several hours crossing Lake Gatun.

A small cargo vessel entering the lock at Pedro Miguel ahead of us

The Welcome Center at the Mira Flores Locks.

The Centennial Bridge. See the Gaillard Cut (part of it) as we approach.

This is the 1st lock at Mira Flores. You can see the last lock ahead of us.

While going through the locks we were next to this other tour boat.

Moving out from the locks toward the Pacific

Every vessel has a pilot from the canal authority during transit. This is our pilot departing the vessel.

Our day was not over. We went back to the hotel for a minute, and Marc Vargas picked us up for a little tour of Casco Viejo. We wanted to have another sunset experience from a rooftop in Casco. Marc selected Tantalo, where we had a bite to eat and watched the sunset from a different perspective. Marc graciously showed us around a little, and we took in the amazing sites of Casco Viejo. This is one of those places that really requires an entire day. If you are fortunate enough to get to this neighborhood, check out the many plazas, the churches, The Panama Canal Museum (among others), the artisan vendors, architecture, restaurants, coffee shops, chocolatiers, souvenir shops, and do not miss the rooftop bars.

Another cool picture. This is a panorama before the sun began setting.

On their last day in Panama, we mostly just rested from exhaustion. We relocated to a hotel near the airport, got covid tests, and shopped in a mall nearby. Jen and I are still recovering here, and I imagine that mom and Rich are doing the same in Florida.

Our visitors waiting to be tested with their capable translator

El Hombre de La Mancha at the Metro Mall

For more information about adventuring in Panama, grab a copy of my book 2 Retire In Panama?. It is available at Amazon, on Kindle (Kindle Unlimited Readers get it free), and at El Hombre de La Mancha bookstores in Panama. I am sharing some links below for some of the adventures and sites that contributed to this great month of adventures with my folks.

Blessings From Paradise,

Greg and Jen

#welovepanama

Casa del Jamon

Coronado Bible Church

Coronado Luxury Club & Suites

2 Retire In Panama?

Tantalo

Panama Canal Tour

El Hombre de La Mancha bookstores

Cine Moderno Coronado

Casco Viejo

Café Med

Blessings for an Amazing Holiday Season from Panama

As I toyed with the idea of publishing a blog post to wrap up the year, I could not help but think about the letter we write every year to include in our Christmas cards. I thought how simple it would be to write a post by using the letter as a reflection of our year. Our list of holiday greetings go out to about 40 friends and family by U.S. Postal Service. When I thought about that, I thought how there was no way this completed our desire to send greetings to everyone. We are blessed to have friends, and others who we consider family, all over the world now. Our core of friends and family here in Panama swell and contract with the seasons, but is tending to mostly grow now with my book on the shelf for more than a year. I continue to be amazed by the reach of the written word and how people are helped by sharing the experiences of others. I get frequent messages in my inbox from fans sharing pictures of themselves holding my book. I also have people approaching me to ask if I am the guy who wrote that book. These people have often become fast friends. I have even started getting messages from people who are purchasing the book locally since it started showing up on the shelves of El Hombre de la Mancha the first week in December. There is no doubt that this has been an exciting year, so allow me to unpack our Christmas letter below. After the letter I will make a few more observations and share some pictures.

We hope that this letter finds you all in good health and enjoying the holiday season. We are happy and healthy and still enjoying our retirement in Panama.

2021 has been a slow and unique year but filled with blessings for us. It started off with a bang as we were in Gulf Shores, Alabama to ring in the new year with our good friends, Ray and Diane Barber. Although the sun was shining every day, it was a little on the chilly side there. When we left to come home to Panama, it was a mere 34 degrees Fahrenheit. We were happy to come home to the 34-degree Celsius weather!

In January, there was a second wave of Covid in Panama, and we were put back onto restrictions. We had a special trip planned to Bocas del Toro with our travel buddies, Lyn and Ty, for Lyn’s birthday. Bocas del Toro is a series of islands on the Caribbean side of Panama. Unfortunately, our trip was cancelled due to the restrictions. We were able to reschedule it to April but, as is just our luck, we hit the beginning of rainy season there. We still
had a good time, but it was sure wet and muddy!

In May, Melinda (Greg’s sister) found us a cute little condo in Port Charlotte, Florida. We thought that pulling money out of the stock market and investing in a hard asset was probably a good move for us, so we purchased it. It became ours the first of June. We spent several weeks in the states during this time decorating and making sure the condo was to our liking. We did find time, though, to take a trip to Michigan to visit with
family and friends. It was nice to see everybody and to spend time on Gravel Lake, our old stomping grounds.

Our plan with the condo is to rent it to snowbirds for the winter months and to stay there when we visit. By the time we left Florida for home in June, we had tenants lined up for February through April of 2022. What a blessing! And it is nice to have a place to stay when we visit the states, so we don’t have to impose on family and friends (at least in Florida)! And it is also a nice place for Greg’s mom and Rich to get away from the cold of Michigan when it’s not rented.

Since coming back home to Panama in June, we have not traveled much. We went to an archeological site, which was on a farm in Las Tablas, and explored around that area. We spent a long weekend in Boquete with Greg’s writing group and did the hanging bridges tour in and above the tree line (a huge accomplishment for Jen with her fear of heights). We also decided to spend a weekend in Panama City and explore the shops, restaurants, and other tourist areas we had not yet seen.

It seems like we are not doing much, but it seems we are always busy! To occupy her time, Jen is typing transcripts for a couple different courts in Michigan. To occupy his time, Greg is working on a new project — a murder mystery fiction. In addition, he is very busy promoting his published book, 2 Retire in Panama?, which is doing well. His book was approved to be sold in the Panamanian bookstore, El Hombre de la Mancha (The Man of La Mancha). That is very exciting for us!

We are looking forward to 2022. Greg’s mom and Rich are coming to visit us for the entire month of February, and we have our good friends, Ray and Diane, visiting us for a week in April. Our home is always open for visitors. We know with Covid that travel plans are iffy and have to remain very fluid. We’ve tossed around the idea of traveling or not traveling in 2022. We’ll see what we decide next year.

Our wish for all of you this Christmas is to be able to spend time with family and loved ones, and to stay safe, happy, and healthy in 2022.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

No recap of 2021 would be complete, for me, without sharing the amazing Father’s Day celebration in Florida. This was the first time that all three daughters, all four grandchildren, my dad, sister, and I have been all together to celebrate Father’s Day. We got these special pictures and many others.

My beautiful daughters and grandchildren

Father's Day with my dad (Doug), and sister (Melinda) — Father’s Day with my dad (Doug), and sister (Melinda)

Father's Day with my beautiful daughters Jennifer, Hope, and Kara — Father’s Day with my beautiful daughters Jennifer, Hope, and Kara

They got me a special Father’s Day gift from Story Worth. Story Worth sends me a weekly prompt to write from. This goes on for a year and at the end of the year I will get a bound hardcover book of all my written prompts to share with my family. I highly recommend this gift for yourself or a loved one. This is a gift that will live on in infamy. I have attached a link below to subscribe to Story Worth. The subscription link below will give you a $10 discount while crediting me with a sale to help purchase volumes for my family.

The pictures above of our condo in Port Charlotte. It is only a couple of miles from the harbor and sits on a great location with a lake, pool, and clubhouse. The neighborhood is quiet and the area is convenient to everything. It is a bonus that it is near my dad and sister.

The pictures above are but a few more highlights from our year. The biggest highlights include friends old and new. I have around 600 subscribers now to my free weekly newsletter. It helps me to keep information about Panama fresh for friends and visitors. Readers of my book appreciate the newsletter for keeping them informed in changes to covid requirements and other government information which is constantly changing. Recent changes in immigration requirements, for some visas, caused a portion of my book to be already outdated. As we prepare for Christmas and the coming of a new year here in Panama, I remain committed to publishing updates to the original book and completing my first work of fiction.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of appearing on a podcast interview with Roberto Hernandez at Morning Tempo. My interview was very humbling. It has been my goal through the writing of my blog, book, and newsletters to help people. Through the process, I have become an influencer and a go-to guy. I did not set out for that distinction, but enjoy the feeling that people are being helped. It amazes me that there are so many people, like myself, who would rather explore Panama themselves on their own terms without being driven around on a “relocation tour”. A link to that interview is below. If you click the link you can read the synapsis or listen to the entire interview (it is 27 minutes long)

I hope you will consider subscribing to this blog and the free weekly newsletter. Liking and sharing also helps others to find it that may not see it otherwise. I have the previous blog posts listed on the right sidebar and the previous newsletters are on my Pinterest feed on the tool bar below. I often share interesting things on my You Tube channel which is also on the toolbar below. At the bottom of this post I am sharing links to several of the things that I talked about above. We love to hear from all our readers, so feel free to send us a message.

Blessings From Paradise,

Greg and Jen

#welovepanama

Click here to visit Amazon and purchase 2 Retire In Panama?

Click here to visit the website for El Hombre de la Mancha.

Click here to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter.

Click here to visit my 2 Retire in Panama Facebook page. Please like and share it.

Click here to listen to my interview at Morning Tempo.

Story Worth

Our Writers Group Invades Boquete

Jen and I explored Boquete’ on our original exploratory trip to Panama. The trip was beautiful, and it inspired future visits. It did not inspire us to want to live there, although it is a place where many expats choose to live. When the Coronodo Writers group decided to do a remote writing workshop, Boquete’ was the perfect destination.

We departed from Coronodo on Saturday morning and caravanned the 404km to the Boquete’ highlands. To put the geographic location of Boquete’ in perspective I wanted to share a portion of my book from Chapter 6 “Our Due Diligence Exploration”.

Boquete’ is halfway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, high in the mountains, about 60 km from the border of Costa Rica. At 11,397 feet, the highest elevation in Panama is Volcán Barú, which is located near Boquete’.

We made a stop in David for lunch and arrived in Boquete’ around 2 pm. The timing was perfect. Our check-in time at the Boquete’ Garden Inn was 2 pm and we were able to get settled into our rooms. The spouses were tasked with a grocery store run, while the writers gathered nearby in a delightful little space on the grounds of the Inn. The writers had previously written and submitted a piece of work to be critiqued by the others in the group. The exercise was both educational and informative. This was the first of 2 workshops we had while in Boquete’.

After the workshop we all returned to our rooms to get ready for dinner. It became a daily tradition to gather for a drink at the Allison’s patio before dinner. There was a wedding going on down the road, so many wedding guests were housed at the inn. It was fun watching them walk by in their wedding best attire. This was the beginning of our getting to know a few of the other guests.

As the sun was setting, we headed into town for dinner. The staff at the inn recommended Restaurante’ Retrogusto. I still do not know if we enjoyed the environment of the mountain community or the food more. Retrogusto had a wonderful selection. We ordered drinks and food shortly after arrival. The kitchen was within site distance and every time dishes came out someone at our table wanted to change their order. Everything served was a work of art.

Needless to say, nobody left the place hungry. The picture above is of my plate. It was the pork chop with roasted vegetables. It held me over just fine until breakfast.

We were so impressed by the Boquete’ Garden Inn that I feel compelled to recommend it. Our room was well decorated, comfortable, and clean. We had full accommodations including a living room, full kitchen, bedroom, and bath (with hot water), internet, and cable. We have paid more for much less while in Panama. Often, nice bed and breakfast places do not even offer hot water in their rooms.

Each morning we were served a nice breakfast. We were provided with a menu to order in advance for the following day. My breakfast on day one was fresh fruit, coffee, juice, banana pancakes with syrup, and fresh locally sourced sausage.

The breakfast was served on a delightful patio surrounded by gardens. The inn keeper would put out fruit on small stone statues to feed the beautiful birds. We were able to see some great birds right there while we ate. This is such a daily event that it is listed on the activity list that the inn provides.

While we ate breakfast on our first, we discussed the day’s adventures. We decided to take the waterfall hike. It is also known as the pipeline trail. This was the same hike that Jen and I had attempted on our first visit to Boquete’. We had showed up to the trailhead only to find it deserted and no other hikers around. We were a bit apprehensive at the time to enter the jungle across private property without anyone knowing where we were. We thought it best to wait for another opportunity.

It seems that the day was perfect for that trail. When we got there, we were met by the owner of the property who accepted $5 each to enter the trail. As we passed through the gate we were met by friendly dogs. It was clear to me that they were hungry, but none of us had anything to give them. If you head out for this hike, take the dogs a little something.

As we walked along, the waterfall was directly next to the trail on our left. There was a couple of homes on the right. I am sure that this is where the dogs lived. There were also chickens, geese, and other farm animals. I have become a bit embarrassed by our privilege. I am often hesitant to take out my phone and take pictures of the rustic, impoverished homes of the local people. As we continued up the trail, I did take a few which I am sharing. We came across a family walking out to the road on their way to church. We also spotted a couple of boys swimming in the river, before walking past another farm. The farmer was working a patch of ground where he was growing cabbage.

Soon the trail started a gradual incline and became rocky. It appeared to me that it was a watershed which wound up next to the river. I believe that they call this the waterfall trail because it is almost all soft rapids. I wish that I could photograph the wonderful sound of the rushing water. As we went higher in elevation the rocks became wet and slippery from the mist in the air. The mist was part cloud forest and part light rain. The temperatures of the higher elevation were very comfortable hiking weather.

We continued to hike up while enjoying the beauty of this magnificent place. Soon we came across a bridge where we stopped to grab some great pictures. Ty and Lyn posed on the bridge for a selfie, then we got the writers to the center of the bridge for another shot.

We continued up the trail until the mist from the cloud forest made the rocky trail a bit slippery. We soon arrived at a place where the pipeline crossed the river. Continuing on meant crossing on the pipe or walking through the river to the trail on the other side. Some of the group continued up the trail while others settled in on the edge of the river to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds. I was a bit disappointed that we did not see much nature. We probably were not quiet enough, disrupting the birds and wildlife which caused them to hide. Those who continued on found a tree which was over 1000 years old before arriving at the pinnacle of the hike…a beautiful little waterfall.

Lynda near a tree that is believed to be 1000 years old.

The return was just as delightful as the hike up. We stopped frequently to photograph many of the flora and fauna on the trail. Soon we were back to where we left our cars.

We began the drive down the mountain on the narrow mountain road, and soon came upon the San Ramon waterfall where we had someone take the picture which I used for the feature image on this post. After a short mile or so we came upon the rock formation pictured below. It was packed with people. Some were marveling at the site while others were preparing to climb it. We took a few pictures before continuing on. The drive through the area was beautiful. We passed coffee farms and people walking about. It amazed me that there could be such a disparity in the homes and living conditions co-existing there. I am certain that most of the people we saw were workers for the massive amount of farming on the mountain.

It was time for lunch. This group never missed a meal, and many of us had recommendations for great places to eat. We decided on a quaint little Chinese Restaurant called Restaurante’ Panda on the main road into Boquete’. The food was excellent despite the 1-1/2-star rating on Google.

Ty and Jan toasting a successful hike with the restaurants fabulous iced tea

We departed the restaurant with plenty of afternoon left to have another writing workshop. Our group normally meets on the last Thursday of the month to write together. We write from prompts provided by Lynda Allison. Lynda and her husband, Lowell, operate Tranquilo Retreat in Coronodo. The bed and breakfast was established to give writers a peaceful and inspirational place to write. While their place is awesome, nothing is more inspiring than getting out in the beauty of a place like Boquete’. I have been writing non-fiction for the majority of the time. Often, I write from Lynda’s prompt, while at other times I am free to write newsletter articles or just fun little pieces that will never be seen or read by anyone outside of the group. We write for 10 minutes before sharing our work with the others. We then all comment and give constructive encouragement to one another. Lately I have been encouraged to write a fiction piece. I had been resisting the encouragement until Lynda provided us with a prompt that struck me in a positive way. My first piece of the session came out well and left the group hanging. I continued the story through both of the other prompts and at the end of the day the group was asking for the next chapter. There may just be the beginning of a murder mystery in my journaling book. Stay tuned…

We gathered for drinks again before heading off to dinner. We did not decide on destination, other than we would park downtown and walk around until we found just the right place. the group decided on Tre Scalini. Our meals were nice, and the conversation was special. It seems that getting to know the people we write with a little better is inspiring…or perhaps it is the breathtaking nature all around this place. We did discuss our possible adventures for the following day. The decision was made to split for the day with some of us driving off to the volcano Volcán, while the rest of us were going to hike the hanging bridges of Boquete’ Tree Trek.

Our morning breakfast was again perfect. I had fruit, juice, coffee, french toast with syrup, and the wonderful local sausage. Following breakfast, Lynda, Jen, and I were going to Tree Trek, while the others were off to Volcán. Jen is fearful of heights, so the hanging bridges were quite a challenge for her. We drove up the mountain to the trailhead where we would meet our guide at 10:30 am. The others left for Volcán.

The Boquete’ Tree Trek has the second largest zipline in Central America and the Hanging Bridges Tour. Jen and I are not candidates for ziplining again. Our last zipline adventure was enough for a lifetime. This would likely be a great adventure for many, but we wanted time to pause and take in the sites along the way. We opted for the Hanging Bridges Tour which was fully guided, and it did not disappoint. We found the trail to be fairly well maintained and there were even a few places along the way to stop and rest. This is important for people like us, who are not in the best physical condition, with many parts that do not often recover from serious abuse like mountain climbing.

Our guide, Ingrid, was awesome. She met us promptly at 10:30 and spoke perfect English. She filled us with great information about all the nature we were seeing along the way. This experience left us speechless.

Ingrid started right away pointing out interesting insects and plants unique to the area. We should have recorded her so that we could remember all the names and origins of these magnificent things being pointed out. After quite a strenuous hike we arrived at the first bridge. Ingrid explained that it was the longest bridge of the tour. Once we got to the other side, she said we passed the test to continue on. Jen was surprised that she made it without the fear to continue. The bridges were safe and solid construction, usually anchored to trees on either end. Maybe Jen was thinking that these bridges would be constructed of rope and planks like the ones you see in the movies.

Jen cautiously walks out onto the first bridge

These elephant ears can reach 14′ in diameter.

Continuing on, we came to the second bridge. The higher we went the more incredible the views were becoming. These bridges were actually taking us above the jungle canopy. Ingrid continued to point out amazing plants and insects. We were fortunate to see a rare glass butterfly. It posed for me and patiently waited until I got the perfect picture. It was completely transparent, almost as if it was made from cellophane wrap. We also passed an Armadillo den. Ingrid explained that they were nocturnal and only came out at night.

As we continued on, Ingrid showed us the smallest known Orchid and a tarantula hole. I was surprised at the size of both. I loved seeing and photographing the orchid and hoped that I would not see Mr. Tarantula. His hole was huge for a spider.

Bridge number three and we were still going up. When would we start our decent? There were steps but they were often difficult for my old knees and back. Thank goodness there were a few handrails at the most opportune times.

These elephant ears were way below a bridge. They measured over 14′ in diameter.

As we closed in on the fourth bridge I was still wondering when we would begin our decent. I have to admit that the higher we got the more magnificent the views. I took over 2oo pictures during our stay in Boquete’ and I cannot seem to find the best to share. I concluded that the pictures just do not do justice to this wonderful adventure. Ingrid began pointing out the huge oak trees along the trail. There was a couple in particular that were 700-800 years old. These trees were here and alive during the last eruption of Volcán Barú. If these trees could talk, they would have such a story to tell.

Oak Tree predating the last Eruption of Volcán.

With only two bridges left in our journey, we did begin our descent. We reached a split in the trail where we were forced to take the trail less traveled. Ingrid explained that the trail to the left had been washed out in a recent rain. I soon noticed that there were not handrails on this part of our journey. The trail down was not any easier than the hike up. When we had steps on the trail, they were often uneven, and some were very long steps down. Along the way we were able to see some of the stations of the zip line. I imagined what a rush it would be to zip line through this magnificent jungle paradise. Realistically though, I still would not do it.

Ingrid explained that the Tarzan Vines, like those pictured above, really are parts of the tree rooted back into the ground. No person could actually swing on such a vine.

I am truly embarrassed by the pictures. Of the more than 200 I took, along with others shared by group, I cannot seem to find the pictures that intimately speak to the beauty of the place.

I cannot deny that I was relived to finally reach the sixth and last bridge. This bridge did not have a sign. This old body was wearing down from the trek. I realized at that moment that adventures like this were not long for us. I told Jen that we need to prioritize our Panama bucket list to get these type of adventures done soon. The first picture here is of Boquete’ as we emerged from the last bridge.

Boquete' From Above — Boquete’ from above.

I believe that the other was taken earlier but it reminds us of our friends who took the 1-1/2 hour drive to Volcán. Our phones were dinging from time to time as they were sharing their pictures. We had only the smallest of cell signals in the jungle, so we could not see the pictures until we got back to a place with a wi-fi signal. If you notice in the Volcán picture the foreground is really the top of the jungle canopy. I suspect that was our view from somewhere shortly after crossing the fourth bridge. While crossing the fifth bridge we had some great views that I could not capture in photographs. On the rocks near the river below we spotted an Iguana couple. They were huge but only a speck on the camera. Ingrid told us that the iguana mate for life, and that one was the male and the other female. At the middle of the bridge, she pointed out a fern straight below that had the distinct appearance of a spider web. It was one of the most amazing things. As we exited the bridge, she pointed out the elephant ear plants that I pictured above. We had seen these plants all along the way, but none were as huge as those below. While we were so high on the bridge that they did not appear big, these were, in fact, as big as they usually get. That should put into perspective how high on that bridge we were.

With the hanging bridges in the rearview mirror, we headed off to grab lunch. A place with wi-fi would be great so we can look at the pictures from our friends in Volcán. We opted for Big Daddy’s, a nice relaxing place with a back patio facing out into the jungle. We grabbed a table and signed into their wi-fi to look at the pictures our friends were sending.

The Volcán group stop for a picture at Cerra Punta

The other group had a great road trip. It seemed that they had a great time driving and cutting up. They stopped for fresh local strawberries and cream. And later they stopped at a farm where Lowell posed as a scarecrow. They also found a place along the road to pick up 2 huge bags of local vegetables for $5 each.

Lyn and Ty pose in front of one of those cool signs.

I wish that they taken a picture of the vegetables. The bags were massive. Since we have been home Lynda has been posting Facebook pictures of her culinary genius. She posted this one yesterday.

Lynda, Jen, and I had a little time before the others returned so we explored the local artisan market just outside Boquete’. We found it at the end of the bridge which crosses between the Tuesday Market Buildings. It was friendly, with local Panamanian vendors selling their wares. Jen found a new hat and Lynda found a few treasures.

Late afternoon found us all back at the inn. We had our regular visit on the patio of Lynda and Lowell. We relaxed and enjoyed the time. Our dinner plans were already in place as we were meeting Melinda Miles-Lindberg, a local Boquete’, author at Mesa Azul. She invited a couple of other local authors, but none were able to make it. Our dinner, and the conversation was wonderful. Mesa Azul was another highly recommended restaurant that did not disappoint. I highly suggest checking it out if you find yourself in Boquete’. It is in the Hotel Oasis just down from the market. After dinner we retired back to the Garden Inn for the night. Our adventure was winding down, and we would be checking our after breakfast to explore the Tuesday Market.

On Tuesday morning, we got up and had another great breakfast. I repeated the first day menu. I found those banana pancakes to be well worth another try. After we ate, we all loaded up and made the short journey to the market. The market occupies two spaces. If you go, make sure you check out both buildings. We found Melinda and her significant other in the building adjacent to the flower market. Melinda’s significant other is a magnificent artist, and in her booth, she displays her work which is mostly paintings of pets that are commissioned work. Melinda maintains a booth next to hers where she displays books from authors who live in Panama. In Melinda’s booth you will find her book, my book, Diane Maxwell’s book, Lynda’s books, and the work of other local authors. She sells the books of local authors for $15 which covers shipping to Panama. After we had all explored the market, we made the journey home to Coronodo.

I have shared a lot without talking about anything more than our 4 days in Boquete’. Click the highlighted links in this paragraph if you are interested in anything mentioned. The links will take you to information related to each. I have mentioned our writers group, including Lynda Allison’s Write Along. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. In it I spend a little time each week giving informative updates about the goings on in Panama. It puts my butt in the seat to write, and that is important to me. Every week I get a new writing prompt from my daughters. That also gets my butt in the seat to write. Those prompts go to Story Worth which will compile the whole years’ work into a volume to be treasured by my family for years. You can subscribe to Story Worth for yourself or a gift by clicking the link. Clicking through this link will give you $10 off. My book, “2 Retire In Panama” is available at Amazon and on Kindle. It was born from the early blog posts here. Diane Maxwell’s book “An Expats Struggle” is a memoir detailing her retirement in Panama. Lynda Allison is a retired English teacher. When she isn’t hosting authors in her marvelous B&B Tranquilo Retreat, she writes Science Fiction for teens and young adults. Her final book of the summer trilogy is out for publishing and the first 2 books are available at Amazon and on Kindle. Melinda Miles-Lindberg wrote and published “Mommy No. 13“. It is also a memoir of her adoption and raising of a child born to a murderer. This is just a few of the people with whom I write on a regular basis. There is a growing list of great work from many of my other author friends on the author board of my Pinterest feed. You will also find a newsletter board on my Pinterest feed that will have an archive of all of the past newsletters.

It has been a pleasure sharing our Boquete’ adventure. If you have enjoyed this post, please like and share it. I am also thrilled to get messages and comments.

Blessings From Paradise,

Greg and Jen

What Have We Been Up To?

We love our home in Panama and are always waiting in anticipation for our next adventure. Having been in the United States for the Christmas and New Year holidays, another trip north was not on our radar. While we visited during the holidays, we were realizing the opportunity for investment in Florida real estate. My sister, Melinda is an agent in Punta Gorda where she and my dad both now live. She was telling us of the thousands of people who are relocating to Florida because of the positive handling of the COVID crisis and the particularly good political environment. With the huge influx of people relocating there the real estate industry has almost no inventory. I mentioned to her that we were anxious to get some of our money out of the stock market and park it in a hard asset. I asked that she keep her eye out for something that may meet our need in the way of a condo. In May she contacted us with a possibility.

The condo that she found for us was in our price range and showed pride of ownership. The systems and appliances were all recently updated, and it was recently repainted top to bottom. She immediately gave us a video tour and we made an offer. We were competing with other potential buyers, but our offer was cash with a guaranteed 15 day close. The elderly seller was happy to accept our offer which gave her a quick easy closing. We waited for the inspection report, which revealed almost no issues, and booked our trip to Florida to close on our new investment.

We did our own final inspection the day before our closing and found it to be very much what we expected. It is less than 15 minutes from my dad and my sister in nearby Port Charlotte. We found it to be very convenient to restaurants, shopping, churches, and the harbor. The community is quiet, and our neighbors were very welcoming.

We settled in and did a little redecorating. We prepared the unit for a potential tenant during the high season in Florida. We equipped it with fresh linens and replaced the small appliances in the kitchen. We purchased cookware and a couple of pieces of furniture. By the time we were through it proved to be wonderfully comfortable.

By the time we left to return to Panama we had secured a tenant for the high season and are pleased with our new investment.

While we were in Florida, we were terribly busy. We registered to vote, got drivers licenses, celebrated a couple of important birthdays, helped my dad with a project, celebrated Father’s Day, and got our COVID shots. In addition to all of that we made sure that everything worked properly in the condo. We also made a trip to Michigan to visit with friends and family.

I wanted to report on the vaccination process in Panama, but had we waited for our turn to get it here we would still be waiting. The process in Florida was quick, free, and simple. We made our appointment at Walgreens and the process caused us no stress whatsoever. By the way, it is important to note that when we were returning to Panama, we got our COVID test free at Walgreens as well. That process also requires an appointment, but it was also easy. We made the appointment on-line and were directed to go through the pharmacy drive through at our appointed time. Once there, they passed the swabs through the window, and we were instructed how to swab ourselves. Another important note here is that neither of us had any side effects from the vaccine. I know that there is much controversy regarding the vaccine, however we did our own research and made the informed decision that it was right for us to vaccinate. We got the Pfizer vaccine, and we both agree that we feel much safer having gotten it.

When we arrived in Florida it was Memorial Day weekend, and every place was hopping. The first thing that we noticed was that mask wearing was nearly non-existent. With the majority of the Florida population vaccinated the mask mandate is optional. It was not hard to get used to NOT wearing a mask everywhere. We still exercised caution until we got our second shot. I got some great pictures over the long weekend.

It was that first weekend that we celebrated my dad’s wife Renee’s and Jen’s birthdays. We went to a Carmelo’s Italian Restorante in Punta Gorda (Renee’s favorite) and had an awesome celebration with the whole family.

You may imagine that that first full week was perhaps the busiest of all with closing on the condo and getting it equipped. The truth is that it was perhaps the easiest of the 5 weeks we spent on the ground.

The second full week we flew to Michigan, rented a car and couch surfed around the state visiting friends and family. Our first couple of days we spent at my mom’s house in Cedar Springs. She and Rich were gracious hosts, and it was a thrill to have the opportunity to see their new house. Mom planned a BBQ for Hope and family which was so nice. The rest of our stay we visited and relaxed.

Hope, Jeremiah, Victoria, Nellie, and Jameson

By the beginning of the third day, we were on the road to Jen’s brother’s house on the east side of the state in Clarkston. Bill and Deb also did a great job of showing us a good time. They planned a cook-out and invited all of Jen’s local family. That gave us the opportunity to see and visit with our nephews, Cullen, Donovan, Connor, and Connor’s wife Olivia. After dinner they staged an impromptu book signing that was so cool. I remain honored by the love and support that family has shown for my book.

Check out future newsletters for some great individual fan photos that I got while on the trip. If you are not getting my newsletter on Monday mornings, and would like it, sign up here. You will see the archive page of past newsletters. Scroll to the bottom for the sign-up. I have been working hard to improve the newsletter since returning to Panama. While traveling we ran into some technical challenges that caused me to miss a few weeks, but we are back on track now.

After a couple of days with Bill and Deb we ventured to our old stomping grounds and visited with our good friends Linda, Ron, Ray, and Diane. We had a nice dinner with the four of them at Black Rock in Kalamazoo.

We had a wonderful meal and spent some much-needed time catching up. Later in weekend Diane and Ray hosted us for a great dinner and boat ride at their place. Mom and Rich came down and we all relaxed and had a great day. On Sunday we returned to Florida.

I addition to boring you all to death with the details of our month, I wanted also to provide valuable information. Post COVID, rental cars are in noticeably short supply across the United States. If you find yourself in need of a rental, be prepared for the price. Our rental car in Michigan for a week with limited mileage was nearly $500. When in Florida we were able to use my dad’s car. Our initial estimate to rent a car for the whole stay in the states was nearly $3,000. That was cost prohibitive for us. When I complained about the exorbitant rental car costs at the rental counter, the clerk would only say that they were unable to get new cars because of manufacturers shortages. She told me that they sold a lot of cars during the pandemic.

For me, the pinnacle of our visit to the states was the wonderful Father’s Day celebration. Our kids started arriving in Florida on Wednesday, and by Friday night all 3 girls and all 4 grandkids were there for the celebration. Jen and I vacated the condo and let them have run of the place.

Friday, we took everyone to the Shell Factory in North Fort Myers. We did not know exactly what to expect, but I think it was a great time for all the kids. First, we went to the animal preserve where all the kids were able to get up close and personal with many of the animals. After that we had a great lunch, played mini golf, ziplined, and toured the gift shop.

Mister Tree says welcome to The Shell Factory

Quiet please…we don’t want to wake up the dinosaur.

Jameson feeds the birds while Nellie and Lucy look on.

Victoria, Jameson, Nellie, and Lucy pose in front of the Dinosaur exhibit.

Jameson, Nellie, and Lucy are hatching from dinosaur eggs.

Between all the other events we had plenty of time in the pool at the condo. We also had a great pizza party, went to Gatorz, and checked out the Peace River Wildlife Refuge. On Saturday the kids went to Gilchrist Park with a photographer to have a family picture taken for dad and I. They managed to have the pictures developed and framed to give us at our Father’s Day luncheon.

Kara, Lucy, Jennifer, Hope, Jameson, Victoria, and Nellie

On Father’s Day my sister arranged our luncheon at Laishley’s Crab House. We all had a nice time with great food, followed by a trip to the beach at Ponce De Leon Park where we grabbed some more awesome pictures. This time was super special for my dad and I as we rarely have this whole crew together in one place. In addition to the picture of the kids and grandkids, I got a subscription to Story Worth. They are sending me a writing prompt every Monday. I will be writing on the weekly prompts and returning the work to Story Worth where they will put the whole thing in a book at the end of the year. I guess I am writing my 2nd book. I am still trying to decide if any of it will end up in future blogs or newsletters. Let me know what you think! If a Story Worth subscription is something that interests you for yourself, or a gift, see tomorrow’s newsletter for a link to a valuable coupon.

When all the kids left and the dust settled, Dad and Renee took Jen and I to the Elk’s Club for Chicken and karaoke. We enjoyed the setting on the Peace River while listening to some of the most talented people I have ever heard sing karaoke. These people were so good that I almost forfeited my chance to sing. At the end of the day, I did sing as the sun was setting over the Peace River. Thank-you dad and Renee for hanging around and treating us to a great time while I waited to sing.

Dad, Renee, Jen, and I Beautiful evening on the Peace River

When it came time to go home to Panama, we were both excited to sleep in our own bed. I was asked what the first thing I wanted to do when I got home after 39 days away was. I had a hard time coming up with a response. There were so many things I missed. I think mostly I just wanted a $5 haircut from my favorite barber and to start planning our next big adventure. Finally, I think we are going to make it to the archeological site near Penonome’. Stay tuned.

If you have been enjoying the blog, but are not subscribed, please hit the subscribe button and we will let you know each time a new post is published (about 10 times per year). We will not spam you or share your information. It is really cool when people hit the like button, share and/or comment. We love you guys and hope to see you soon here in paradise.

Blessings,

Greg and Jen

Newsletter Volume 38 June 14

Do not forget…

…Fathers Day is this Sunday in the United States. We have awesome plans for the weekend with visits from our daughters and grandchildren at our condo in Port Charlotte. They are all coming in for a long weekend and a special luncheon is planned for Fathers Day. My dad is over the top thrilled that his son, daughter, and all his granddaughters and all his great grandchildren will be here to celebrate this very special day. Living in Panama makes it difficult during holidays and birthdays when many families get together to celebrate. Some people decide after a few years that living abroad is not worth lost time with family and friends. For this reason, I always suggest that these things be considered before buying a home in a foreign country. For Jen and I, video chats meet our needs as long as we can have periodic visits. Our children are at an age when traveling to our home in Panama is difficult for the whole family so these visits from us are important.

Many of you may be wondering…

…why there was no newsletter delivered for the last 2 weeks. I wrote both newsletters and have been experiencing delivery issues. For this reason, I am publishing this newsletter as a blog post. If this is our first newsletter that you are seeing I hope you are enjoying a rare case where it is being published as a blog post. While traveling we have had challenges with the newsletter app. My plan is to resume regular newsletter posts when we return to Panama in July. Newsletters come to your inbox free on Monday mornings as subscribers to our blog.

While Jen and I travel…

…the original photos that I usually share on my newsletter head are a little harder to come by. For that reason, I am sharing on the header for the next few weeks some stock photos that are from the internet, and have been shared by others. Generally, I try to credit the photographer, but these photos are just floating around and credit is unavailable. These are, however, some very cool pictures and they remind us of all the great things in the country where we choose to live.

Last week…

…Jen and I traveled from Florida to Michigan where we were able to visit with family and friends. Many of our visits were with people who we have managed to see periodically when they visited us in Panama, and many we have not seen in quite some time. We had a great time and the week went much too fast. Thank-you to all of you who hosted us and went out of your way to catch up with us.

This week’s fan photo…

…is Diane. Diane and husband Mike are expats who moved permanently to Panama a few months ago. Mike told me that he has three copies of my book, and has used them for helpful information when planning for their move. When I signed their book, I found it to be dog-eared and highlighted which delighted me. We have enjoyed getting to know both of them, and consider them to be among our best friends in Panama. They also maintain a second home in Florida, which is another thing we have in common. They are in Florida now for a few weeks and we may have an opportunity to catch up with them next week. I was happy to sign their copy of my book, and can do the same for you. I have a few copies left that I had shipped to Panama. Including the shipping cost these paperback books will cost $12. Let me know if you are in Panama and would like a copy.

I love getting original fan photos, so if you are willing, and can share a fan photo with me it would be greatly appreciated. It will appear in an upcoming newsletter.

It would also mean a lot to me if those of you who haven’t, would go to Amazon or Goodreads and leave a review. This makes my book easier for people to find.

You can get a copy of my book by clicking the link here, or the link on the blog. It is exclusively available on Amazon or Kindle. Kindle Unlimited subscribers read it free.

Blessings from paradise,

Greg

Our Bocas Del Toro Adventure

Last year when I published my book, Jen and I had not been to Bocas. Our trip last week was one of the most anticipated adventures yet, and I was really looking forward to making more great memories with our travel buddies Lyn and Ty.

I would like to share the first paragraph or two from the Bocas Del Toro chapter of my book to set the stage.

No book on Panama would be complete without a little bit about Bocas del Toro. Jen and I have yet to explore this magnificent part of the country we now call home, but I felt compelled to write a bit about it. I shamelessly stole a bit of information about it from their official web site, bocasdeltoro.com. I think that I will be forgiven.

Several friends have visited this magnificent area and most say that the average age there is much lower than the beach area where we live. They tell me that the
islands of Bocas are a continuous party. This seems to me that it may be the place to find the party crowd. Internationalliving.com describes Bocas del Toro as the
best-kept secret in the Caribbean, and that makes it a rare off-the-radar gem indeed. Part-mainland and part archipelago, Bocas is one of Panama’s two western-most provinces, right on the busy border with neighboring Costa Rica.

On Tuesday we left our home in Coronado to drive to Albrook regional airport in Panama City to catch the 1-hour flight to Bocas Town. We allowed 4 hours for the 90-minute drive to alleviate concern about morning traffic. Waze usually works remarkably well for directing us, but on Tuesday there was a protest on the Bridge of the Americas which crosses the Panama Canal. The protest shut down the bridge and we were trapped in traffic for almost 4 hours. Our flight left before we arrived at the airport. We were fortunate to be able to rebook on the 1 pm flight and settled in at the airport coffee shop to wait. Rebooking our flight was simple but cost us $50 per couple. We contacted the property where we would be staying to let them know we would miss the water taxi which was scheduled to pick us up for our adventure. Missing the already arranged transportation cost us another $30 per couple. Another water taxi had to be ordered for us.

Upon arrival at the airport in Bocas Town we were quickly processed through and a taxi took us to the dock. Our boat captain would be there in a few minutes which gave us time to walk down the street and get soft drinks and chips at a deli. Our ride on the water taxi from Bocas to our accommodations on Isla Bastimentos took about 45 minutes, so it was nice to have the chips and drinks. We had all had light breakfasts and no lunch.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were all dreaming of a nice swim and getting settled in our cabanas. We were met on the dock by a friendly crew who gave us a bit of information and showed us to our cabanas. We ordered drinks and changed into our swimsuits. After the day we were having the swim was delightful. We were told that dinner was at 8pm so when it started getting dark, we went to shower and met back in the dining area to play dominoes with Lyn and Ty. We also spent a little time trying to plan our excursions. Snorkeling, visiting a native village, and a tour to the organic cacao farm were all high on our list. One snorkeling adventure promised dolphins.

Dinner was delightful and we were all so hungry that we scarfed our food and went to bed. The beds in our cabanas were protected by mosquito netting. I also opted to use Deep Woods Off the entire time which proved minimally effective toward the end. We were deep in the jungle and the actual amenities were sparse at best. We had water sometimes and no outlets in our cabana except for a USB port. At least we were able to keep our phones charged. The only thing a phone is good for deep in the jungle of Bastimenos is the camera. We took a lot of pictures. We were getting a great dose of data detox. It was possible to get an internet connection with a 20- minute walk up the beach, and we did check in on Facebook and looked at e-mail a couple of times.

If you think that the end of our woes was when we missed our flight you are sadly mistaken. Once we settled into our beds under the mosquito netting it started to rain. It rained almost the entire time we were there. That gave us time to play more dominoes, card games and feed the mosquitos. Every time the rain stopped, we tried to get an adventure in, but the mud and humidity were unbelievable. I am trying to spin the positive stuff out of our adventure. The problem is that our host was very inattentive and seemed to care less that our plans were being short circuited by the rain. He kept to a strict schedule of breakfast at 8 am, lunch at 1 pm and dinner at 8 pm. Our drinks, excursions and meals were included, but getting a drink other than mealtime proved difficult. He said help yourself, but there was not much to choose from.

Now that I have climbed off my soap box let me tell you about what we did manage to do…The first excursion we took was to a native Ngäbe-Buglé village. The Ngäbe-Buglé are one of Panama’s largest indigenous tribes. The boat ride to the village was spectacular, winding through mangrove waterways and taking in the jungle all around. We were expecting an experience like the Embera Village we had visited in 2018, but what we found was heartbreaking. The village was impoverished and rundown, with most of the homes and inhabitants living in conditions like any other slum in the country. We were able to purchase some hand-crafted jewelry and paid for a tour of the village. The tour guide showed us around and told us a little about the background of the tribe. We later learned that many of the boat captains and kitchen staff at the place we stayed were from the tribe. We tried to make sure that we tipped them well when we left on Saturday morning.

Lyn and Jen buying the handmade bracelets

That is a termite nest. They live above ground here.

On Thursday we arranged to visit the organic cacao farm. The farmer had come to the island over 20 years ago to surf. He ended up buying 10 acres and a small stretch of waterfront called Wizard Beach on the surf side of the island. The piece of land is on the top of the highest hill on the island and when he bought it it was nearly bare. Over the years he has reforested and farmed the land which supplies most of the necessary food for his family and some amazing cacao. He also grows coffee and spices which his wife uses to operate a small coffee café on the site. A small shop offers spices and chocolate along with herbal soaps, shampoos, and lotions to mention just a few. We were transported by boat to the village of Old Bank and told to follow the path and the signs that said Up In The Hill. The locals knew where we were heading and were more than happy to point the way. Once we started walking it only took a few minutes to reach the end of the sidewalk. Once the sidewalk ended the hike was along a trail for about 15 minutes on a good day. Remember, it has been raining a lot. That trail was a slippery, muddy mess and we were not prepared for it. Two of us slipped and fell in the mud on the journey, but nobody let it dampen the spirit of this amazing tour. The farmer showed us how he was producing all this amazing food and spices alongside the cacao. He also showed us how he planted bamboo and trees to protect areas of the farm creating an amazing ecosystem which supports life and animals in the jungle. At the conclusion of the tour, we were invited to sit down and enjoy many of the fruits and vegetables produced on the farm. He called it a snack, but it was a meal to us. His wife did an incredible job in the preparation. If it seems that I overused the word amazing in this paragraph, I will beg to differ with you. Every time the farmer showed us something on his little farm the passion would ooze from him as he said, “it is amazing”. If you ever get to Bastimentos, follow the signs from Old Bank to Up In The Hill. The host is amazing, and the tour is unbelievable.

We finally made it. Tour begins shortly.

Amazing Farmer shows how he starts new coconut trees.

Many of the items available that are made from things grown on the farm.

We were fortunate to make it back before it started raining again. Along the way we were also fortunate to see a dolphin, although it was impossible to get a great picture. We got in a swim and cleaned up for dinner. Our shoes were all ruined but it did not really matter. The four of us managed to get in a game of cards before dinner. There was discussion about what we would do on our last day, but no decision could be made before we saw the weather on Friday morning. We turned in early with hopes of spending the day snorkeling with the dolphins at Coral Cay.

Our hopes were dashed by the wind and overnight rain. On Friday morning snorkeling was hardly advised. The boat left for the dock to pick up more guests, so we relaxed and played dominoes until it returned. By that time, it looked like it may be safe to have the captain take us on a boat tour. Right after lunch we left in the boat and he gave us a great tour of the marinas and the waterfront of Bocas Town. The entire time we were out it only rained in sprinkles, until we got about 10 minutes from the dock. It was then that we had a torrential downpour. The rain did stop by dinner. One of the highlights during dinner here was an evening visit by a monkey family. The alpha male would come into the dining to announce their arrival and then go to a little platform where mama and baby were waiting for a couple of bananas. We were able to give them bananas and take pictures. This was the first time since coming to Panama that Jen and I had an opportunity to see monkeys. With the rain having stopped, the jungle sounds were so different during the night. Jen and I had a hard time sleeping while listening to the profound sounds in the jungle all around us.

When we woke up early Saturday morning the sky was clearing, and I managed to get several pictures of an amazing sunrise. The pictures were taken from the deck of our cabana which hung out over the Caribbean. We were told that the magnificent sunrise could be better witnessed with a short walk through the jungle to the east point of the island. I opted to forgo that journey in favor of the safety of our deck. Once the sun was up, we packed in preparation for our departure.

We carried our bags to the dining area and had breakfast. Our host arranged for an early departure back to Bocas so that we could walk around town and see some of the sites. The 45-minute boat ride back was rough and the wind on the ocean was a bit chilly. Once we arrived at the dock, we could store our bags while we walked around the streets of the busy little port. Bocas Town is on the Isla Colon, and is the hub of activity for the nearby islands. We witnessed a ferry unloading fuel trucks and groceries before walking down the streets just coming alive on this early Saturday morning. After our walk about town, we returned to the dock to wait for our taxi to the airport.

La Buga Bocas. Do these people look familiar?

We made some amazing new friends on our trip. There was a family from Spain, a young couple from Poland, a couple of doctors from the Dallas area, students from Muskegon, MI, and the family from Virginia with whom we shared our Cacao farm tour. People go to the islands here to surf, snorkel and explore, as well as investigate retiring destinations.

On the flight home I got some great pictures of the Caribbean islands and shoreline. The Caribbean shore here is almost all jungle and undeveloped. Other than the north end of the Canal zone and the Islands of Bocas, the only beach communities in Panama are on the Pacific where we live.

It is good to be home and planning another adventure. If you are enjoying my blog, please, subscribe and share it with friends. Subscribing to the blog will get a notice when I publish future posts and my weekly newsletter in your e-mail. I do not share subscriber information and vow never to spam you. Also feel free to visit our Facebook page.

Blessings From Paradise,

Greg and Jen

My Lack of Recent Blog Posts…

…is without excuse. I have been attempting to provide a weekly newsletter that is being enjoyed by nearly 600 people every week. The newsletter is morphing into quite an undertaking, and while I vow that it will not replace my blog, I will probably blog less with the newsletter providing brief up to date information for would be expatriates and many on the ground here in Panama.

If I had to offer up an excuse for the lack of recent blog posts, I would say that I have been less than inspired by the pandemic and politics of late. I am deeply concerned for the United States. I am amazed that the country would ignore the recent failures of Socialism around the world and vote it in to their own back yard. The protests are okay as long as you are the party of the media and not if your not. It has become okay to censure anyone not fitting into the game properly. I have been careful to remain neutral on most political matters here, however this is something that people in the United States seem to be missing. I have friends here in Panama who have escaped the political situations in places like Venezuela and South Africa. They are beside themselves that the great country of the United States would go the way of these and other countries. That is all I am going to say about that here. If any of you want to debate any of these issues with me it will have to be on some other platform. I want this space reserved for positive experiences and adventure.

The pandemic is the other issue causing my reluctance to blog. I have been posting the statistics of Panama weekly in the newsletter. Please take a look, if that interests you. I am like many who are frustrated about the lockdowns and quarantines. The bright side of all of that is that we are possibly in one of the safest places on earth. Panama has contracted with Pfizer to buy vaccine and Jen and I are already on the list to receive it. We are too interested in adventuring, and without the vaccine it is frightening to climb aboard a commercial flight or go with a group into the jungle.

This past weekend we were supposed to be on adventure in Bocas Del Toro. It was one of our adventure buddies birthday and her surprise was this awesome trip. Due to the extended weekend lockdowns and difficult travel (even domestically) we were forced to cancel the trip.

Jen and I did travel to the States for the holidays. It was quite a stressful time with all the covid-19 restrictions and mandatory masking. We visited with several people who are high risk so we did a voluntary test prior to our departure. Testing upon our return was required by the Ministry of Health in Panama. One of the worse parts of the experience was the swab probe up the nose into the nasal cavity. When asked about future International travel, I have been reluctant to say positively that I will do it. I do not blame any of you who refuse to travel back to Panama, or come for the first time, until all this crazy pandemic business is in the rearview mirror.

Our trip started on Christmas Eve and we traveled from Panama to Miami on Copa. We booked Business Class at $6.00 each more than Coach. It always pays to check both prices. Business Class on Copa proved to be almost the same as Coach except they gave us a food box. Only water was available. The advantage was that we were in the front of the plane for easy departure of the aircraft at Miami. Planes are being unloaded by row to keep people distanced as best they can. We were surprised to find the International Terminal empty and we breezed right through Immigration and Customs. We picked up our luggage, rented a car, and were bound for Punta Gorda, Florida within 30 minutes of landing.

The International Arrival Terminal at Miami

Florida does not have masking requirements, however masks are required by many of the shops and restaurants. We were able to relax for Christmas with some of my family under much less restrictions than we have become accustomed to in Panama. We were very selective where we went to avoid being exposed to the virus. It was really nice to visit with my parents and sister. We got a bunch of new fan photos for my book, and took care of some business that could only be done in the States. We learned that even temperatures in the 70’s F are a bit cool for us. We never even took any of our shorts out of the suitcase.

Renee nearly incited a riot when she made all the girls put on Santa Shirts

After Christmas we drove north. We made an awesome lunch stop to catch up with some friends in Homosassa. After lunch, we continued north to Orange Beach, Alabama. I did not figure out the mask requirement there, but every where we went, outside of our friends condo, required masks. Our friends just recently purchased their condo on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico. They are taking their first stab at being snowbirds. They considered Panama, but they ultimately chose a place that is driving distance from Michigan. Their condo is delightful, but the temperature outside while we visited was 50 degrees F during the day and down into the mid 30 degree F range at night. Despite the cool weather, it was really nice to see and catch up with our friends. We did a little shopping and enjoyed the beautiful little beach community where they are spending the winter.

On January 4th we departed early for the airport at Pensacola, FL. The temperature in the car was reading 37 degrees F and we were freezing as we turned the car in and checked in for our flight home. We were again in Business Class. We knew that we would be doing a little shopping while in the States and a 1st Class ticket allows more bags at a higher weight. That is something that also merits consideration. The return flight was on American with a layover in Miami. I give American high marks for their hospitality on the flight. Despite the covid-19 restrictions, they did everything possible to make us comfortable. They did serve drinks and gave us a choice of a sandwich or a cheese tray. The flight was almost completely empty. I settled back in my seat and watched a movie. By the time the movie concluded we were on approach to Panama City.

We were very comfortable in Business Class on American

The flight from Miami to Panama City was shorter than our experience with the covid-19 testing center at the airport. I have been advising people in my newsletter to get the test free if possible before leaving home. If that is not possible it is available at the airport upon arrival for $50. Jen and I could not get a free one so we opted for the airport option. We had been told that the testing center was easy to find with a lot of signage. We did not find adequate signs, but followed the crowd. We joined a line that may easily have been 300 people. I felt that the most likely place to be infected with covid-19 was the line at the testing center. The Ministry of Health should evaluate the system in place there and seek to improve it. We were there for over 3-1/2 hours from start to finish. Most of the time was spent in a crowd waiting for test results. We were there so long that we figured out who was delivering the negative results and who was delivering the positive results. Periodically a man would come out and take people away while there was a woman who brought out paperwork for those testing negative. You cannot get through immigration without a paper showing a negative result. Those people being escorted away were being taken to a covid-19 hotel to spend 14 days of quarantine at their own expense. I am told that they will give you a second test after 7 days and release you if it comes up negative. I am sharing the pictures from the testing experience below. If you choose to arrive and be tested this way I pray that your experience is better than ours.

The line was nearly the length of the concourse

In November when I last blogged, outside of the newsletter, Jen and I were finishing up a bathroom remodel. It was one way we could give back to the local workers while getting something that we have had on our wish list for quite some time. Prior to our leaving on vacation the work was completed. Many of you followed along in the newsletter, but in case you did not see the newsletter and want to see the final result I wanted to share a few before and after pictures. It came out beautiful, if I do say so myself.

Book sales have remained strong through the holidays and into the beginning of 2021. For this I feel blessed. Thank-you to all of you who have bought a copy and/or suggested it to a friend or acquaintance. I would like to extend a special thank-you to any of you who left a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Those reviews help others find it. I never wrote the book to make money. It was something that I had to prove to myself that I could accomplish. It may never turn a monetary profit, but the profit is the knowledge that it touched a few people and helped others in their quest toward expatriating. Click here to see a montage of selfies that book readers have shared.

I guess that I had more than I thought to say this time. I hope to share some real adventures soon. It means a lot to me to have you all following with so much intention. I had a couple of people let me know that my last post (with advertisements) caused them some grief. Apparently, one of the advertisers nabbed them and made it difficult to get away. I took those comments very seriously and discontinued almost all of the advertisers. Please forgive me if you experienced anything less than you deserve. If you are finding my blog and/or newsletter inciteful and informative, please, share it with friends. Also check out, like, and share my 2 Retire In Panama Facebook page. I am closing with a link to a video trailer for my book. The book is without pictures so the video trailer contains a few pictures of past adventures.

Blessing From Panama,

Greg and Jen

Our Official Update From Panama

The past 6 months have been a challenge for all of us. Jen and I have been in virtual lockdown since returning from our abbreviated adventure in Israel last March. I have been reluctant to make many blog posts as it seems everything appearing in others posts and on social media has been largely negative. I have never been a fan of spreading negativity here or in any other medias. I never want the unvarnished perspective that I present in my posts and in my book to be mistaken for negativity. Often when we have a negative experience, we prefer to refuse to return for a repeat experience rather than spread hatred of a business or vendor. People often contact us to inquire about something of which we have been vague. The fact that we have been vague about an experience does not necessarily mean the experience was bad. We have been offering endorsements sparingly, because we want to keep our blog honest and raw, allowing our readers to create their own experience. Hopefully, all the readers are sharing our experiences from afar or learning enough to help pave their own path. Today I am going to share with all of you a bit about how we have spent the past 6 months and where the country of Panama is heading as they attempt to reopen the economy here. The next few paragraphs are rooted in my research and come from various sources that I will attempt to give credit as I share.

In a previous post I detailed our experience upon returning from Israel. I will give a brief recap to bring our new readers up to date. While traveling to the Middle East we found no concern for the COVID in the airports other than in our own departure from Panama City where they were doing health checks of all passengers arriving. Our departure was early in March and we did not see any widespread concern until about half way through the first week on the ground in Israel. Nothing about our time in Israel was as we expected. After being told that the tourism industry was closing and that we should plan to leave the country as soon as possible, we began having concerns that we would not be able to return to our home in Panama. As it turned out, we just barely got home before the airport in Panama closed. Other than the numerous cancelled and rescheduled flights, and difficulty finding a restaurant opened in Miami where we had an unplanned overnight layover, the only real appearance of a world-wide pandemic was upon landing in Panama City. We were carefully screened in the airport and sent home for a 14 day quarantine. We were only allowed to leave quarantine to go for groceries or the pharmacy (only 1 of us was allowed to go). Within a few days of our return the entire country was placed under strict quarantine. Gender specific days out of the house with people only allowed out for 2 hours at a time. The time for going out was based on the last number of a persons cedula with foreign residents allowed out based on their passport number. Only people meeting the proper criteria were allowed into a grocery store or pharmacy. All other businesses were closed and any person with a special need to be out during a different time were required to have a special permission from the government which is called a salvo conducto. While none of this was particularly comfortable, we agreed that the restrictions were there to keep us safe from the pandemic. After a few weeks, some restaurants were allowed to open for take-out and delivery. I think the number one income of people in Panama for most of the past 6 months is delivery drivers. The streets have been deserted and traffic concerns dropped to nearly zero.

Wear your mask and practice social distancing

Fast forward to today…things are starting to re-open. The 2-hour time restrictions ended at the beginning of September. The gender-specific quarantine ended this past Monday with all people being allowed out Monday through Saturday from 5am to 11pm. Only those with a salvo conducto are allowed out on Sunday and from 11pm to 5am. For the past several months we have waited patiently every evening for an update on one of our Facebook groups like the one below. Our friend Karyn Saunders gets the update in Spanish from the Minister of Health, translates it, and posts it to the group. A careful look at the post from yesterday will show just how successful all this lockdown has been for Panama.

September 17th, 2020 UPDATE

104,138 total cases +672 new, 2213 deaths +15 new, 152 ICU, 731 hospitalized, 24,044 active, 77,881 recovered +1094 new, 2.1% death rate,

- 417,620 total tests, +5355 new, 12.5% positive rate, 9761/100,000
- There are over 218 tracking and tracing teams throughout the country.
- Vice Minister Ivette Berrio and her team paid a visit to the new mask manufacturing company in the Panaparkfree Zone. She is pleased to report the masks follow all the requirements needed for the medical industry (KN95 and surgical). The company is also making other equipment that will be used as PPE.

We are still on course and our numbers are going down. A great sign 4 days into our new found freedom.

Our church has been involved in a very comprehensive process to open back up. Approval has been granted, however we still have a total lockdown on Sundays. We had a service today to test the system for allowing us to reopen. Every person was required to walk across a shoe cleaner, have their temperature taken and recorded along with their cedula number and name (for tracing purposes). Attendees were required to use hand sanitizer every 30 minutes, wear masks, and exercise social distancing. 13 people were in attendance which is a long way from the average of 100 pre virus. Thank you Pastor Jon for the video of the Doxology and the picture of our small gathering.

We will continue to have Sunday service via You Tube and Facebook until things open up a little better. I am still not sure about having services on Friday to conform to the government requirements. People here are starting to feel a little rebellious with the restrictions and I am not sure why it has taken this long. Jen and I are putting it all in God’s hands and accepting that we are guests in this country. The Constitution of Panama guarantees health care to all. They have to keep us all healthy or prepare to take care of us.

Car washes were allowed to open on September 7. That is nice, but I fail to see the importance of this being put above many other things. They allowed the beauty parlors and barber shops to re-open, due to public outrage, a few weeks ago. This was done with huge limitations. Jen got her hair done the other day and her salon has enacted significant price increases.

On September 28th retail stores, restaurants, and portions of the service industry will be allowed to open. National Aviation will resume and National Parks, rivers and beaches will open. Earlier this week my friend Roberto posted a tour of the beaches near our home here on the seco arc. Roberto Hernandez writes a popular blog called The Spartacus Papers on WordPress. Jen and I have had the privileges’ of enjoying most of these beaches and I am sharing the link to his post for your enjoyment Roberto’s beach tour. After you check out the link, please use your back browser to return to the remainder of my post.

International Aviation will resume along with hotels, motels, rural hostels, other accommodations, and tourist activities. Tourism, tours, cultural industries, music and art academies, libraries and swimming pools.

NO date has yet been announced for the remaining which includes schools, colleges, universities, cinemas, theaters, museums, galleries, and closed structure tourist sites. Also remaining closed without an opening date are gyms, casinos, bars, canteens, discotheques, and carnival parades.

At our house we are anxiously awaiting the reopening of the beaches, pools, restaurants and gym. Even in our closed private community, gyms, the country club, and pools have remained closed.

We have had friends who returned to the States to wait out the restrictions. It has been hard to remain in virtual solitary confinement and that is taking a toll on the mental stability of many people. Many parts of the world have far less restrictions but the mental suffering is still a huge concern. For several weeks now we have been having a weekly lunch with 2 other couples. We have rotated the location and cooking responsibilities with an afternoon of dominos following lunch. This has given us a wonderful thing for which to look forward. Our condos have not told us we cannot do it and our friends are all happy to escape solitary confinement once a week as well. In the past, this was possibly against the rules, so I will not disclose the locations, day, or time.

Today our ballots arrived. Pursuant to the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE) we requested our ballot be sent to us by e-mail. The email ballot includes instructions for completing and returning the ballot for the upcoming election. We will be required to print and sign the ballot. It must be returned in the pre-addressed, postage paid envelope which was included with the e-mail with instructions for assembly. Our ballot must be delivered to the US Embassy no later than September 24th. They will return it to the States in a diplomatic pouch. From there it will go by mail to our jurisdiction. I learned from a friend in Michigan today that she has received 6 applications for an absentee ballot in her mailbox which she never requested. I hope that this does not cause voter fraud. Every legitimate vote counts; once you move to a foreign country, make sure you continue to vote.

When I started writing this blog post I was unsure if I had enough content. There are actually several other points that I wanted to make. I will save these for another time. Thank you for the overwhelming support of my book. If you are among those who have read it, please go Amazon or Good Reads to leave a review. That helps others find it on search engines. If you have not yet picked up the book please go to Kindle or Amazon to get a copy today. Kindle Unlimited readers get it free. As always, like and share my blog to help me build the reader base. I am considering publishing a newsletter once we have the readers to support it.

Lynda Allison enjoying her copy of my book.

Blessings from Panama,

Greg and Jen

The Passion To Write

Since returning from our COVID19 abbreviated adventure in Israel I have been spending some of our lockdown time to organize photos and complete my first book. I never imagined the task of writing, editing, formatting, and creating a cover for publication would be so daunting. All of these things must fit into the parameters set forth by the publisher. The cover is featured above as my featured image. In the weeks to come I will be completing the publishing process.

In the book, which is based on the blog, I lay out in detail the immigration process and everything that went into our move to a developing country. My goal was to educate and entertain in a fact filled book for anyone considering the expat lifestyle. Everything in our life over the past two years has been an adventure and my goal was to give readers honest straightforward information for what to expect as they explore retirement options.

For Jen and I, we wanted eternal summer on the beach with a relaxed lifestyle. We wanted a location that would not break our budget and we found all of that in Panama. I found tons of information on the internet for would be expatriates. I will however warn you right up front that many of the websites, blogs, and companies promoting living outside a person’s home country are not all on the up and up. Many only want to attract the attention of investors, home buyers, and others with money to spend. A savvy researcher must glean information from those sites that will support one’s own agenda. Perhaps you have considered retiring, moving overseas, and even reinventing your life as an expatriate. I hope that you will read 2 Retire In Panama?.

In the next few weeks I will begin promoting the book. I will send the blog followers and all the others reading it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram a link to buy the electronic version or the print copy of the book. I hope to be putting a clickable link in the blog to purchase, review, and comment on the book.

I want to thank all of you for the continued support and encouragement. The writing has been a passion of mine for quite some time. My friends following the process who have read excerpts think that I have a winner; and it has been a pleasure preparing to share it.

Above all, I must thank the great God from whom all inspiration and encouragement has come.

No work is ever complete before it passes through many hands to help with the fine tuning.

I must start by thanking my patient and understanding wife without whom we would never have had any of these adventures. She also encouraged me, proofread for content, and was my first check for mistakes. She was instrumental in helping with the formatting and she never once told me that I could not do it.

The adventure partners are numerous and a group that will continue to grow. Thank-you to Ty and Lyn Gilbert who are always ready for an adventure. Thank-you also to John and Barbie Yoder who showed us an awesome adventure in Costa Rica. And a special thank-you to all the people who have visited and participated on the many other adventures that went into the writing of the book (you all know who you are).

Thank-you Lynda Allison for being that special person who mentored me, answered all the questions and was my guiding force to get the book to a publishable form.

The cover is about the most frustrating and yet important parts of a published work. I toiled over cover art and asked for help from friends and family who came up with the idea for my cover. An exhaustive search of photo sites helped me to discover photographer, Valentin Antonucci. The cover photo is his work and the book would not be the same without him. Check out his other works @NeonStdios and @antonuccival on Twitter.

Last but certainly not least…Thank-you to Vicky Ireland for the many hours spent editing and organizing the manuscript. Without her I never could have finished it. The book is immensely better with her input and finishing touches.

Once the worldwide borders and that of Panama begin opening up, and we are all allowed to move about more freely I will be blogging more frequently. Everybody here is ready to embark on more adventures. In the meantime, please scroll down to like and share. Oh…and pick up a good book. As always if you are not yet subscribed, it would be a great time to do it (the subscribe link is on the right margin). Many of my blogger friends have taken the COVID lockdown as an opportunity to rant about it. I did not feel the need.

Blessings,

Greg

Travel in a Corona Virus World

As many of you know we had extensive travel plans for most of March and again in April and May. On March 4th we left Panama for Israel. Our journey to Israel was very uneventful with the threat of the pandemic still minimal. Our first sign of any concern was as we were leaving the Tucuman International Airport in Panama City. The government of Panama was in the airport checking the temperatures of arriving passengers. We felt that this was a strong indication that the government here was doing due diligence to keep its citizens safe against the threat of the virus. Our flight took us to Madrid where we connected to Tel Aviv. We saw no other attempt at other airports to do any due diligence in attempt to protect travelers and population.

Once in Tel Aviv we spent a day awaiting the arrival of the others in our tour group. On our free day in Tel Aviv we explored the Museum of the Jewish People and the Ben Gurion home. Ben Gurion is the modern founder of the State of Israel. His home was donated to the State upon his death and it is preserved as it had been during his life. His libraries, awards, memorabilia, and pictures from his life were amazing and it helped us to understand the current Israel. Israel is, in every way imaginable, a first world country with excellent infrastructure, military, medicine, and technology. They are very dependent on tourism. Our day ended with a trip to the Carmel Market where the vendors were very busy and the streets were full of tourists and locals buying fruits, spices, vegetables and just about anything else you can imagine. The following morning the remainder of our tour group arrived from the United States and we set out to explore the awesome country of Israel.

Our tour was an awesome group of individuals put together by Mesu Andrews who is an author of Biblical fiction. Among the group were four authors (including myself), three ministers, a professional photographer, and twenty other people who were the perfect mix of inquiring minds. We felt totally blessed to find ourselves among such an incredible group of people. Our guide was Israeli and she had a wealth of information about every place we visited. As the tour progressed she tweaked the itinerary so that we could see the most of her beautiful country should the tour need to be cut short by travel restrictions imposed by the Corona Virus.

On our first day we went north from Tel Aviv to Caesarea, where King Herod built a magnificent Roman seaport. This is where Peter baptized the Roman centurion Cornelius, the first gentile convert to Christianity. (Acts 10: 1-8) it was from this port that Paul set sail to preach in communities all over the Mediterranean, and where he was later imprisoned for two years and made his powerful speech before Felix, Festus and King Agrippa (Acts 24-26). From Caesarea we continued along the coast north to Mt. Carmel for a breathtaking view of the Jezreel Valley from the spot where Elijah (1 Kings 18: 16-45) challenged the prophets of Baal. We then drove through the lush valley to Megiddo, the strategic city in biblical history and biblical Armageddon (Rev 16:16). Our last stop of the day was at Nazareth Village. This was a recreation of the original village in the center of Nazareth. The original village would have had a population of about 200 people. It is in the center of modern day Nazareth which has a population of about 65,000.

From Nazareth we continued to the Sea of Galilee where we stayed in a magnificent resort on the bank of the Sea. We enjoyed the sunrise and had a nice breakfast with our group. Following breakfast we travelled to the Mount of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5-7) where we worshiped together. This amazing group never once gave up on faith, which is what I attribute to the fact that we all remained healthy for the entire time in Israel. After our time at the Mount of the Beatitudes we travelled to the dock where we boarded “The Ancient Galilee Boat”. We enjoyed a wonderful ride out across the Sea of Galilee with a captain who was inspiring beyond belief. He led us in singing some contemporary Christian songs. The time here was much too short. Once back at the dock we were able to visit a place where a boat was recently excavated from the shore of the Sea of Galilee. This boat is Carbon dated to the 1st century. It could have been used by Christ. We then traveled to Tabgha the site of the stone where Christ performed the miracle multiplication of the loaves and fishes (Matthew 14: 13-21). There is a chapel here built on the foundation of the original church. The Chapel is built over the rock where The risen Jesus fed his disciples after a miraculous catch and gave Peter his commission to “feed my sheep” (John 21: 1-25). After our amazing morning we spent the afternoon at Capharnaum. We visited the Synagogue where Jesus based his 18-month Galilean ministry. We stood within the foundations of the synagogue where he preached and healed. We saw the house of Peter’s family where Jesus stayed. Our day concluded with a traditional Israeli dinner and sunset over the Galilean Sea.

Day three started with a visit to the village of Mary Magdalene, Magdala. It is a beautiful geologic excavation site. We saw where archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 1st century synagogue and a Byzantine Monastery. After leaving Magdala we traveled on to Bethsaida which is described in (Mark 8:22-26) as the town where Jesus met a blind man seeking healing. Jesus led the man outside town before healing him and asked him not to return to the town, nor inform the people of the town, after his sight was restored. The next stop was Dan where we explored a couple of unbelievable excavation sites. The first archeological site we saw dates back almost 3000 years to the time of Abraham. It was discovered in the 1980’s (Genesis 14:14). After that we visited the actual excavated gate that Abraham entered as he first journeyed through the Promised Land. We climbed up to the altar where it is believed King Jeroboam placed one of the golden calves to make idol sacrifices (Kings 1:25-28). Our last adventure of the day was Banias Spring, one of the sources of the Jordan River. Caesarea Philippi is a center of Roman might and pagan worship in Jesus’ time where He challenged his disciples then and now, “Who do men and do you say that I am?” The archeological site of Philip’s Castle was the home of Salome and Herodias. Our day took us to the far northern border of Israel near Mt. Hermon and the borders Syria and Lebanon. We had dinner on the journey back to our resort.

After a restful night sleep we enjoyed breakfast and loaded up the bus for our journey south to the Dead Sea. The days are long and every minute is filled with adventure. The ride south gave us a little time to relax and anticipate what the day would bring. Our first stop was along the Jordan river at a site where people go to be baptized. The shop at the site was closed. This was the first place we encountered closed due to the Virus. The shop sells the baptismal gowns worn by those being baptized. Several from our group were baptized by two of the ministers who we travelled with. Jen was in the group baptized and she was truly inspired by the experience. Those who were baptized wore their swim suit in place of the traditional gown. After leaving the bank of the Jordan we headed south toward Qumran. This is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found about 80 years ago. The terrain on the drive south was more like I expected. It went from lush green to desert. After leaving Qumran we traveled on south to the Ein Gedi oasis. which lies in the middle of the desert. This is the place where David hid in caves and spared the life of King Saul (1 Sam. 23:29 & 1 Sam. 24: 1-22). Following our hike through the oasis we again continued south to the Dead Sea where we checked in for the night at the Dead Sea Spa and Resort.

Day five and we started out by exploring Masada which was one of our most amazing experiences so far. King Herod had it built using excess to all imagination. When you look at my pictures notice the black lines. From the black lines and down is what was excavated in tact. Above the black lines has been reconstructed. After an exhausting tour of Masada we traveled back to our resort where we all took the afternoon to enjoy the Dead Sea. Jen got herself all covered in black Dead Sea mud. We all swam and enjoyed the time. The water has so much salt that you can barely keep your feet grounded.

Inside Masada looking out to the Dead Sea

Cave where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered

Day six we headed to Jerusalem. The tour guide was concerned with the future of our tour because the government had closed the borders and the airport to incoming tourists and asked that all travelers prepare to leave as soon as possible. This was almost laughable as our flights had already started being canceled. The tour company was exploring the possibility of still going to Jordan. Our guide’s concern caused us to take an alternate route from The Dead Sea to Jerusalem to avoid the possibility of road blocks. This gave us a look at Israel that few tourist experience. The moment we arrived in Jerusalem our driver took us straight to the Mount of Olives. Soon after that we made the Palm Sunday walk from the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane and Church of all Nations (Church of Agony). After that we went by bus to Old Jerusalem. From the Jaffa Gate where our hotel was located we walked to Temple Mount. The beautiful Golden Dome is atop a mosque. It is controlled by the Muslims and we were required to cover arms, legs and shoulders for women and legs for men. We were able to visit the Eastern Gate which is also known as the Golden Gate. This gate has been sealed for many years. Christians believe that it is to be the entrance of Christ upon his return (Ezekiel 44: 1-2). We then were allowed a few minutes at the Western Wall. This is considered the holiest site in the Jewish world. For the first time in my life I put on a yarmulke and spent a few moments at the wall in silent prayer and reflection. We then settled comfortably into our room at the Gloria Hotel inside the wall of Old Town Jerusalem. This was to be our home for 4 nights. Due to travel concerns related to Corona Virus our tour company canceled the Jordan portion of our trip. That moved up the departure date of several people traveling with us. Jen and I were supposed to continue on to Athens, Greece after Jordan then on to a Greek isle cruise. Given the fact that the worst possible place to be during a virus crisis is a cruise, Jen and I cancelled everything after Jerusalem. Everything from that point was dependent on getting flights changed. Nobody on the tour was letting that affect our visit to Jerusalem.

Church of the Nations on The Mount of Olives

Day seven was spent exploring Jerusalem. Our first adventure of the day was a walk under the Temple Mount through the Western Wall Tunnels giving us a close-up glimpse into the past. The next place we visited was Yad Vashem. It was difficult to understand the extreme brutality that was inflicted on the Jewish People during the Holocaust. There is no room in this world for antisemitism. This visit was a sad and somber moment in our time in Jerusalem. Over 1.5 million of the 6 million Jews exterminated during the Holocaust were children. The most moving exhibit and the most visited place in Israel is the Children’s Memorial at Yad Vashem. Out of respect no photography was allowed inside the museum. Later in the afternoon we visited the High Priest Caiaphas’s House where Jesus was taken before crucifixion. For dinner we enjoyed an invitation from a Jewish family for an authentic Shabbat celebration in their home.

The Eternal Flame at The Holocaust Museum

Our first stop on morning eight we found a sign on the Cathedral of St. James indicating it was closed due to the Corona Virus. The people in Israel are really fearful of the virus. The government was continuing to ask that all visitors leave the country. We had flights scheduled but the airlines kept changing things. All the people in our tour group were in the same boat. We were committed to continue seeing the sights until the airlines can get us home. After we left the monastery at the Church of St. James we enjoyed a nice walk that took us through the Zion Gate and led to David’s Tomb and on to the Upper Room. The location of the Upper Room is believed to be constructed on the site where Jesus held the Last Supper. A little further we found the church that was built on the site where it is believed Jesus went to visit His grandmother. We wandered through the Via Dolorosa and the streets of Shuk on our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. From there our group visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and The Golgotha And The Empty Garden Tomb. Our eighth night dinner was at the Jerusalem YMCA. Built in the early 1900’s the place was nothing short of amazing. The tourists were starting to leave at an alarming rate which improved our enjoyment of this Holy City. The bad news of the day was that one leg of our trip home has been canceled again. The hotels and stores in Israel were preparing to close their doors the following week with no new tourists arriving. We were all praying for the people there and others worldwide who would lose their jobs and income from the Corona Virus. The good news was that we were assured that we would be accommodated should we find ourselves trapped there.

On the morning of day nine we met to discuss the future of our tour. The State of Israel Ministry of Tourism closed all tourist sites in Israel, limited people gathering to less than 10, closed most of the restaurants, and asked that we stay in our hotel rooms. Our hotel told us that they would be closing the following morning. Our tour operator made arrangements for accommodations for us in Tel Aviv until we could get flights out. We were working on getting flights home. The God we serve is able to deliver (Daniel 3:37). We were advised to take the last day in Jerusalem to explore in small groups and perhaps do some shopping. Jen and I walked the ramparts on top of the wall of the Old City in both directions from the Jaffa Gate that morning. We got some amazing pictures and had an awesome experience. The streets and market are almost void of tourists. We did do a little shopping and the vendors appreciated the opportunity to make a little money before closing down.

On our last day in Jerusalem five people from our group decided to take an opportunity to climb to the hotel roof for some sunrise pictures. The sunrise was amazing and we were all a little choked up about having to leave this incredible place. After breakfast we started back by bus to Tel Aviv. The tour guide was with us but we were asked to put as much distance between us on the bus as possible. They also asked that we discontinue wearing our name tags in a effort to look less like a tour group. The tour operator made arrangements for all of us to stay in a hotel in Tel Aviv until we could leave Israel. The Corona Virus had caused all of the rest of our adventures to be cancelled. We had to say good bye to our wonderful tour guide Hedva and our driver Akmed when we were delivered to our hotel just a block from the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. Some emotional moments were shared when we parted ways. Thank you, Hedva for sharing your unbelievable knowledge and wisdom with us over those two weeks. Our group all remained very healthy and we spent three nights at the hotel where they tried to get us to stay in our rooms and served us breakfast and dinner at the hotel to keep us close. Most of us did go out exploring a little each day in small groups. Our tour operator was very responsive to our needs. We all felt blessed to have had this awesome adventure. No one can deny that the memories and friendships are lifelong. By Thursday all 27 of us had confirmed reservations out of Israel.

During one of our bonus days in Tel Aviv Jen and I walked down to the port of Jaffa. This is where Simon the Tanner lived and story of Jonah and the whale. There are some other sites from Jesus time but we were at a disadvantage without a guide. We got some great pictures along the beach promenade during our walk but found that really nothing was open. We made it back to the hotel before the rain started. On another day we walked to the Carmel Market. When we arrived in Israel 2 weeks earlier we could hardly navigate through the place. It was a beautiful, colorful and vibrant market. When we returned we were the only tourists. It is becoming more and more apparent that the locals for the most part want us to leave. We would be gone already if we could have gotten flights. Our flights were still scheduled to depart the following day. Every person was praying that there would be no further delays or complications. The hotel was awesome with us. They were frustrated that we wanted to congregate because the Ministry of Tourism was making surprise visits and giving fines to businesses that did not close and allowed customers to be closer than two meters apart. They served us breakfast and dinner every day and made us sit two to a table.

Promenade on the Mediterranean Sea at Tel Aviv

On Thursday our shuttle picked us up and delivered us to the airport. Those of us traveling back to Panama left before the others. The others were on two different flights to the United States and they traveled home without any problems. We however flew to London where we were to overnight and continue to Miami the following day with a connection into Panama City. We had an early flight from London to Miami. The 10 hour flight to Miami went fine except while we were on the plane our flight to Panama was cancelled. We learned of the cancellation when we checked the departure board at Miami. We went to the Copa ticket counter to learn that there were 300 people waiting for 160 seats on the only flight left for the day. We found a hotel and made a reservation for the next day. They gave us little hope that the flight the next day was going to go. When we settled into our hotel we ordered dinner for delivery and made a back-up plan for travel the next day. It was our back-up plan that ended up getting us home with only a day to spare before the International Airport at Panama closed to all international travelers.

As residents of Panama we were allowed to travel home, but all others were refused entry to the country. When we exited the plane we were screened and our temperature was taken. Those travelling on connecting flights were sent on their way and once we were screened we were advised that we would be required to stay in our home for 14 days quarantine. The only reason we would be allowed out was to go for groceries, and only one of us would be allowed to do that. The airport was nearly empty and customs and immigration took a very short time. Our driver picked us up and we took off for Coronado. The driver advised us that we would need to produce utility bills or something to show we lived in Coronado to pass through the check points. We all get our bills by email here so that was not a problem. The trip normally takes about 90 minutes, but even with nobody on the road it took us almost 4 hours to get home. There were 2 check points where they took all of our temperatures and verified that we had reason to travel into the interior of Panama (home). After a quick stop for some fruit along the road and a McDonalds drive-thru we got safely home before dark. We have learned that breaking quarantine could result in a fine between $50,000 and $100,000 so we will be home for the next several days. I made our grocery store run and some friends and neighbors have dropped by with some goodies. Other than that the only thing to do now is order delivery if we decide not to cook.

Life here in quarantine is not a whole lot different than what others are facing. Earlier this week, Panama’s president ordered a 22 hour per day curfew. Everyone is allowed to go out during a 2 hour widow of time only for essential needs, like groceries and pharmacy. The time a person is allowed out is based on the number on their Cedula, with foreign residents allowed out based on their passport number. We feel fortunate to be here where the incidence of the virus is much lower than the rest of the world. If the world wants to beat this virus, everyone should just stay home and order takeout!

I have wrote one of the longest posts to date and have had a very difficult time with the pictures. I have to think that the internet is partly to blame. With everybody home taxing the internet capacity, my band width is definitely affected. I am spending hours putting more than 800 pictures into a presentation. With any luck I may be able to share it in the near future. Let me know if that may be something that is of interest.

Blessings from quarantine in Panama,

Greg and Jen

P.S. I felt really disappointed with my ability to share our awesome pictures in this blog post so I put together a U-Tube video to chronicle our adventure for those interested. The video runs for a bit over 30 minutes and is best viewed full screen. Just click the link below.

Category: Adventure Central

A Full Month of Adventures

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Our Official Update From Panama

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Travel in a Corona Virus World

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