I looked at the calendar and realized it has been over two weeks since I have posted something. I don’t know what happened. A day goes by and I don’t write something, and then another goes by, and then another.
Maybe life is too normal. I have been here almost 2 1/2 years, and it’s easy to forget that daily life in Panama might be interesting to people reading about it from afar. But, mostly, I have been too busy living life and haven’t taken the time to write about it.
My usual view at my outside “office”. The flowers are a gift from one of my neighbors, and the green spiny thing is a guanabana (soursop) that Joel managed to climb up and get before it fell.
Days seem to fly by and I never get everything done. How did I ever manage to find time to work and do everything else I used to do? Every moment was scheduled and I felt guilty for any moments of “doing nothing”. I still have trouble with doing nothing. This time seems like such a gift and I don’t want to waste it. Now though I have so much more choice about how I spend my time.
But, ask me what I do all day and I have to think about it. We have had more cyclists and guests here, and of course I want to spend some time with these interesting people. I go biking myself most days. I have a new friend who plays tennis so we have gone out a couple times to hit some balls. I went to the Feria with some friends. My neighbor showed me her favorite produce market. Of course there are the usual household chores too.
The back yard – the bananas look pretty shredded after weeks of windy summer weather. The ground cover looks good for late in the dry season. The squash plant in front has been watered daily and seems to be thriving.
Today is mostly a quiet Sunday at home. This morning I checked email while eating breakfast and then went bike riding, visiting some friends along the way. Then I showered and made a smoothie for lunch – banana, mango, strawberry, and guanabana (soursop). Guanabana has a bit of a strange taste but maybe I am getting used to it, and in a smoothie it’s fine. It is supposed to be really good for you so I have frozen cubes of it for later use. The mangoes (picked up from a tree in the neighborhood) are still mostly green but a friend said you can cook them like green apples, adding sugar or sweetener as needed. She is right! Strawberries are a treat usually only found in the highlands but I got lucky at my neighbor’s produce market – 5 pounds for $6.25. I have enough in the freezer to last a while. The bananas are a gift from Cedo’s farm.
Laundry is under way and drying quickly in the hot sun. A little house maintenance and floor washing is in order today also. Dinner only needs to be warmed up. We bought a used BBQ a couple days ago so we have some BBQ pork and chicken in the fridge. We have some veggies that only need to be warmed up and I’ll make a cucumber and tomato salad. We’re watching Episodes on TV/on line, the Showtime comedy series with Matt LeBlanc, so that’s this evening’s dinner entertainment.
The terrace roof is now insulated with a blue tarp, and the light installation is under way.
The rest of my time today will probably be spent catching up on my blog, reading others, and maybe a bit of yard time with my audio book. Joel has put a tarp under the terrace ceiling which looks kind of cool, and is also insulating us from the roof which gets warmed up by the afternoon sun. Now he is moving a light to the other side of the terrace so he can BBQ after dark more easily.
The BBQ waits to be put back in place while one of our frequent visitors gets a drink from the not fancy, but much used bird bath.
So, there you go, a little slice of our life in David, Panama. It’s pretty sweet!
The Panama Adventure 
Been wondering why no posts. You got us all spoiled then – no post 🙂 Anyway, we are heading out to a cruise on Wednesday and will be gone two weeks – — trying to get accustomed to No kids. Loving it so far. Now the fun part begins — real retirement 🙂
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It’s about time you guys are having fun! Where are you cruising to?
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Sweet indeed! It may be a normal day to you, but your routine just makes us more excited to be there 🙂
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Soon! Every day is a bit closer. You are almost to the last month now.
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Before we moved here, I read every blog I could find and was disappointed the many times that someone skipped a few days. Now I see that it’s understandable. We get on with our wonderful lives here but forget to write about the special things that other people look forward to reading about. We sure are some lucky people! Happy cruising J & J
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True, true. But I also don’t want to feel like it’s a job so a break now and then when I’m doing other things is probably a good thing.
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The Thai restaurants offer green mango salad which I absolutely love. This might be an idea for using your green mangoes. Good luck
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Thanks! Il. Have to do some research on that. I definitely love Thai food.
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What happens is life gets in the way…
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Yes it does, but it’s all good.
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Sweet indeed mi Amiga! Life is Good! Love hearing about your day…miss you!
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Yes indeed, and I miss you too.
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Hi, Kris! Please don’t ever get to the point of feeling that blogging is a chore or job. It is only for your enjoyment and we get the benefits of it 🙂 You are able to share your goings on in your part of the world with us and I’m loving it! Summertime is when we are always on our deck hanging out after yard/garden work then enjoying a nice BBQ. One day we’ll be in a warm climate year round, yeah! Thank you for taking the time to update.
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Thanks! Yes, I don’t want the blog to be an obligation. That’s probably why when things seem ordinary to me I don’t feel the urge to write.
Where do you live? It seems like everywhere I lived in the US had too many mosquitoes to enjoy evening BBQ’s. That’s a great thing here, almost no mosquitoes.
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We live in northern Illinois. Actually, last summer we very little mosquitoes but they don’t usually get very bad.
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Ahh good, makes it much easier to enjoy the outdoors.
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I know what you mean. Every day just becomes every day to us, the new normal. I think we forget that are others out there who are living vicariously through us and gleaning bits of information from our mundane lives. 🙂 Your days sound very much like mine (less the biking visitors). We really have no idea where the time goes.
Yesterday SU suggested going to the Beach Club for a swim and I didn’t realize it was after 3:00 until I saw the clock in the truck! The mundane is pretty fantastic when one lives in one of the top ten happiest countries.
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It is a happy and full life here, isn’t it! Maybe if it wasn’t so the days would drag by. But, thankfully, even the mundane here is really good.
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It is in the ordinary where Life happens … thanks for the post … we have our tickets and will be there Nov 25 – Dec 7! Can’t wait … if you know anyone in the Boca Chica area that has a vacation rental space with views of the ocean, feel free to pass that on … we want to do some kayaking! So can you ‘feel’ that people are happier there? Is that perceptible to you in comparison to US? Do you kayak?
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I love Boca Chica! It’s really beautiful there. We have stayed at http://www.seagullcovelodge.com/ It’s really lovely and they have kayaks you can take out. It’s expensive though. Another option is http://hotelbocabrava.com/ It’s less expensive, and you can walk on the island and look for howler monkeys. If you don’t stay there it’s worth a visit. There are other options but these just happen to be a couple I know.
Yes, I definitely feel the people are happier, and we are also happier. It’s a laid back attitude, kindness, respect… it’s hard to put into words but you certainly feel it here and it is definitely different from the US.
I like to kayak but the only place I have here was at Seagullcove Lodge. It’s a good area for that because it’s protected from the ocean waves and is very calm.
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Wow….great blog….thanks so much for taking the time to do it. You’ve got me re-thinking our plans. I hope this post isn’t viewed as ‘hijacking’ the site…if it is, I can email you instead. I’m thinking we’ll fly into David and then run the coast from CR down to Pedasi, and then cross the country to Bocas (to visit some friends we met in CR last year that now bought in BDT). It will be our first trip to Panama, so when we arrive we’d just like to stay somewhere close to the airport where we can just relax at a bar/restaurant. Any tips would be greatly appreciated (i.e., a nice hotel near the airport, any real estate contacts and/or expat groups that we might be able to contact along our journey. Thanks.
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Thanks! Glad you enjoy the blog 🙂
http://thepanamaadventure.com/links.html You might find something useful here. There are no hotels near the airport in David, but it’s not that big a city and you can get to the hotels in town in a few minutes. Expat groups? If you happen to be in David on the first Thursday of the month, the Gringos in David group has a get together. There is a Tuesday market in Boquete that is attended by a lot of expats. There are quite a few expats in Pedasi but I don’t know if they have any organized activities.
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