New York City

We travelled to NYC recently, and I have a ton of pictures so I’ll spread them out over three posts. It was a really fun time for my two daughters, Joel and I. I love my grandkids but it was very unusual for just the adults to have some time together, and it was really nice.

The weather was just perfect! It was warm, but not hot, blue skies, and beautiful enough to look like a travel advertisement. There were many special things, but one big one was the Bellclaire Hotel. It was an apartment building back in the 70’s, and I lived there. It was almost surreal to be back there in the same place! The downstairs has been remodeled beyond recognition, but the upstairs had the same hallways I walked down countless times. This picture below was my living room. There was a sofa bed where the bed is now, and a grand piano on the right. I had plants on all the windowsills, and the windows had a view both up and down Broadway since the road bends a bit right there. The place is full of so many memories!

My daughters stayed next door in what was my kitchen. The stove and fridge were on the right, and we had a table in the middle. Many meals and good times were shared there with friends, and many a homework assignment was typed at that table. I made cushions for the bay window but since I didn’t spend much time sitting in it, it ended up full of plants. The bathroom was between the living room and kitchen, but now it has been enlarged a bit so it could be made into two bathrooms, one for each room. There was a hallway going from the kitchen to the large bedroom, but since it is now another hotel room we didn’t see that room. But, I remember painting it a forest green and one wall had a wallpaper mural of a rainforest scene. It was like a relaxing oasis, and little did I know I’m be living in an actual rainforest many years later.

These are the views up and down Broadway. I was used to noise 24/7 – traffic, car horns, firetrucks, street musicians, and whatever so it was a big adjustment to move to a quiet place and I’ve never been comfortable in total silence. The hotel has replaced the windows with new ones that keep out the majority of the street noise, so it wasn’t quite like it used to be.

We went walking to Riverside Park and Central Park, so I have a collection of random pictures. I’ll add captions to them to explain what they are.

OK, I’m off to sort through more pictures. See you again soon!

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Riande, More Than We Thought

Going to the US always involves an overnight stay in Panama City, and the Riande is our go to place. https://riandehoteles.com/aeropuerto/ The rooms are comfortable, the grounds are beautiful, the staff is very nice, and there is an on site restaurant. There is a buffet breakfast and an hourly shuttle to the airport. It has everything we need for our stopover time in Panama City.

We fly in the morning in the rainy season, so we had most of the day in the hotel. We got restless and decided to stretch our legs and go walking, and we discovered parts of the hotel we had never seen before.

There is paintball.

There is a tennis court and shop

There is a garden area where they grow the plants that make the grounds beautiful

There is a casino (but we didn’t take a look at it)

The grounds that we usually see are really beautiful. There are many palm trees with orchids in them, and other plants everywhere. There is a lovely pool, and a swim up bar. We have enjoyed dinner and drinks on the dining side of the bar many times in a beautiful evening. You can get food from the restaurant, and sometimes the BBQ place is open for other options. We have found the food delicious, well presented, and affordable. The hotel suffered badly during COVID and showed signs of the struggle, but since then we have seen the place improved, upgraded, and made more comfortable.

One thing that is fun is the cats. The white one lives outside the front door, and the yellow and white one hangs out on the outside patio and bar. We found the black one out back on the way to the paintball fields. We see food and water dishes hidden discretely so we know they are cared for.

It’s funny how you can go to a place many times and not know half of what is going on there! I’m glad we went walking and wandering to find all these new things.

In other news, there isn’t much news which at our age, is a good thing. We have a band date on the 20th at Hops, our favorite place, so we are starting to gear up for that. We are recovered from a wonderful NYC trip (more on that later!) We are getting some rain, so everything is green and growing, and the rains have a welcome cooling effect. I’ve been spending more time on my bike and making a little progress toward building up my distance and endurance. If I ever want to make it back to my favorite routes though, I still have a way to go. But, life is good.

We see the news and the trouble, both natural and man made. Sometimes I feel almost guilty that we are so unaffected by all of it, but we feel for the people who are in the path of various things. Life is really hard for a lot of people. We are so thankful every day for our lives here.

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Some Bugs

there has been a fair amount going on, but I’ll start with a few bug pictures that I have been collecting. I spend most of my time outside, and interesting bugs are often attracted to my desk lamp. It’s also early in the rainy season and more bugs seem to come out at this time. It is so interesting to see the large variety of bugs and insects that can be seen here! I’ve been in Panama for a while, but I still see bugs and critters that are new to me quite often.


So, there is the moth, a cute little striped bug but I don’t know what it is (there seem to be quite a few of them lately), the spider web, the stink bug, the tiny silver and black bug (one day I had a a speaker outside to work on, and a number of them were running around on it. They were in constant motion and hard to photograph), and the big ass ants, or big butt ants. We only see them occasionally at the start of rainy season. They are collected and roasted as a delicacy in Colombia! We didn’t have enough to roast so that is my excuse for not trying them 😁 https://www.tastingtable.com/1139773/big-butt-ants-are-a-south-american-delicacy/

We have leaf cutter ants here and they are fascinating. They cut pieces of leaves and carry them to their nest, where they use them to grow fungus which is their food. I watched them, and they are very organized. Some will be up in the plant or tree cutting pieces, and others will be below collecting the pieces and carrying them off. They can carry pieces bigger than themselves, and often for what seems like great distances if you are the size of an ant. They are capable of destroying a plant overnight, or a fair size tree in a few days. If they have been working for a while you will find ant “highways” in your yard, pathways that have been cleared to make their work easier. We have them here, but they have been eating our mani lately (perineal peanut) and we have plenty to share, so not a problem. I took a couple videos when we saw a neighbor’s flowers and plants crossing the road and disappearing into a vacant lot across the street.

Technology is great but also frustrating. WordPress “improves” things, so I got to spend time trying to figure out how to order the photos in this gallery, or find out how many words are in the post. YouTube now has “shorts”. I could not find the second video anywhere on my channel, but it had a red splotch on the lower right corner of the thumbnail. I finally discovered that it was a short. If your video is less than 60 seconds YouTube makes it into a short, no matter if you want that or not, and there is no undoing it. At least, this is what yesterday’s research led me to believe. At least the videos seem to look ok in this blog post. This is what I get when I don’t come here often enough. I get to learn new things!

We had two band gigs a couple weeks ago after quite a few weeks off. I think it really pointed out how much time, effort, and energy it takes to play. It had been a while, so we started planning and practicing daily a couple weeks ahead of time. Thursday, we played at Hops where there is a PA, sound man, and young guys with muscles which is a great help. But we still had to bring our own personal equipment, be “on” for 3 hours, and then reload our equipment and bring it home. Getting out of the car at the end of the night reminded me of how we felt every week when we got back from Boquete. Friday we had another smaller gig at a restaurant, but we had to bring the PA as well as our own equipment. Saturday we were totally worthless! We were tired and didn’t have enough energy to do anything. Thank goodness we had until Wednesday to get our act together for our upcoming trip (more about this soon!)

I don’t know what will happen in the future. The restaurant was a special occasion. They mentioned having us back occasionally but we’ll see what happens. Hops begged us for ages to play there, but once we ended our commitment in Boquete I had to ask repeatedly if we had a date. So we’re going to let that go. If they want us they can contact us, but we’re not asking any more.

So bottom line, we are realizing how much it takes out of us to play, and maybe it is time to hang up the guitars. If someone wants us they can ask but we are not going to pursue opportunities. This frees us up to go out and relax, and watch other people work. We can hear other music, and make friends with other musicians that we didn’t know before because we had little energy to go out while doing our own gigs. I didn’t realize either how much band work cut into time and energy for other things, like riding my bike and walking. At our age exercise is a critically important priority.

I’ve also had a great time painting. I think I mentioned that my granddaughters created art for my bass speakers, but I don’t think I shared the final results. Here they are on stage ready for the gig.

How cool is that! I liked the process and the final results much more than I imagined. When I look at them I remember sitting at the table with the girls while they created the art, and I feel like they are with me in spirit when I’m next to the speakers. And now, I have other ideas and the time to implement them 😁

Life is good, and we are happy. I’ll even have more time to write in the blog now and then.

I hope you all out there are doing ok. We see news of bad weather is much of the US, and so many other problems around the world. We wake up every day with thanks for our chill life here, and with hopes that the rest of you are well.

Posted in Panama | 7 Comments

Something Very Odd

Occasionally someone shares one of my posts to their blog or website. That’s fine. This is a public blog. Of course it’s good internet manners to give credit, which is done automatically with a reblog, and I don’t like people passing off my photos as their own (which thankfully has only happened a couple times).

This is my space where I post whatever I want to, and where I write in my own voice and my own style. Recently I have had a couple posts reblogged on https://financialeyeus.com/ I don’t know why since I never post about financial matters. But the most bizarre thing is the posts are rewritten using some very odd language, certainly not my voice and style. I do not want my name on this writing that is clearly not mine!

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For example, this is a bit of my writing in my last post “About the Comments” –

I really appreciate all of you who read my blog and those of you who take the time to comment. But, I’m sorry for the frustrations this has caused some of you!

I checked my settings, and if you have a previously approved comment your comment should go through immediately. The settings say you don’t have to be logged in, and you don’t have to put in your name and email address. But, if WordPress sees you as “anonymous”, which I’ve seen quite a bit, I’m guessing it won’t see you as someone who has a previously approved comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is what my writing turned into when it was posted on that site – (https://financialeyeus.com/about-the-comments-the-panama-adventure/)

I actually recognize all of you who learn my weblog and people of you who take the time to remark. However, I’m sorry for the frustrations this has induced a few of you!

I checked my settings, and you probably have a beforehand accepted remark your remark ought to undergo instantly. The settings say you don’t must be logged in, and also you don’t must put in your identify and e mail tackle. However, if WordPress sees you as “nameless”, which I’ve seen fairly a bit, I’m guessing it gained’t see you as somebody who has a beforehand accepted remark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What the heck is going on here! It’s like they ran it through a bad translation program. But WHY? So, whoever you are reblogging my posts, please use my original writing.

Yes, I also wrote to them directly. Sometimes this world is a very strange place!

©️Copyright All Rights Reserved

Posted in Panama | 14 Comments

About the Comments

I really appreciate all of you who read my blog and those of you who take the time to comment. But, I’m sorry for the frustrations this has caused some of you!

I checked my settings, and if you have a previously approved comment your comment should go through immediately. The settings say you don’t have to be logged in, and you don’t have to put in your name and email address. But, if WordPress sees you as “anonymous”, which I’ve seen quite a bit, I’m guessing it won’t see you as someone who has a previously approved comment.

If your comment doesn’t go through, it is put in the cue and I get an email to go look at it, and manually send it through. This will take as long as it takes for me to check my mail and take care of it. I’m pretty good at checking my email a couple times a day, but it might be some hours before I realize there is something to do. So, if your comment doesn’t appear, don’t worry. It’s just stuck and waiting for me.

So, that’s all I know about comments. Good luck, and thank you so much for visiting my blog!

Posted in Panama | 3 Comments

Water

I ran across this video that make me think of water, especially clean water. If the colors are representative of what is really going on, a lot of people have contaminated water. You can read more about this art, and the shocking and deadly effects of lack of clean water at this link https://ofnotemagazine.org/2016/06/05/serge-belo/

We are used to having water. You open the faucet and clean drinking water comes out. We don’t even think about it until we open a faucet and nothing comes out. This happened to me within a few days of moving here, and I couldn’t believe it. I asked a neighbor who nonchalantly told me that yes, that water was out, but there is a river down there.

We soon became familiar with working around water outages. We stored water for those times. Sometimes we did laundry or showered at odd hours or late at night to work around water availability. Eventually, when we could afford it, we put in a water tank and pump. The tank would refill when there was water, and it would be there anytime we needed it. But, one time the tank did not refill and we were without water for a week, just us and the neighbor next door. The water company did nothing. Someone suggested we call our plumber who diagnosed the problem immediately. We are at the end of the water line, and our meters had become clogged with mud and debris. I was SO happy when he got everything cleaned out and we had water again!

I think it only happened once or twice in 11 years that we were without water for more than 24 hours (not counting the clogged meter), When that happens, they send around a tanker truck to refill any container that you provide. So, it’s not like we suffer much. It’s just inconvenient, especially if you don’t have a tank. It’s the end of the dry season now, and you can expect frequent water outages because there just isn’t as much supply, so they do something like rolling blackouts. When there are heavy rains, sometimes the inlets to the water plant become clogged with debris, and then they have to shut off the water to clean everything out. Sometimes after this, the first water you get will be full of mud, (though thankfully this hasn’t happened for a long time). Sometimes they are working on repairing or upgrading something. Most of the time though, nobody knows what’s going on and they just patiently wait for the water to come back.

And, it’s not just the people here. The last rainy season brought much less water to the area, and the Panama Canal has been having a very hard time. When they raise the water level in the locks, the water comes from Lake Gatun, and when they lower the level it flows out to the sea. The new, larger locks have a water conservation system in place, but it still takes a considerable amount of water to operate those locks. With water levels alarmingly low in Lake Gatun, they have had to restrict the number of ships coming through the canal. They have had to offload cargo to lighten many ships so they can make it through with the lower water levels. It has caused ship traffic to back up considerably and it’s just a mess.

Here is an article that talks about it in more depth. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-panama-canal-averts-crisis.html

I will never ever take water for granted again! It makes me think of all the people in the world who never have clean water, or they have to carry water sometimes at considerable distances. Now every time I open a faucet and clean water comes out, I give thanks. Now that we are transitioning back into the rainy season, we all hope we get plenty of rain, not only for us, but for many parts of the world that have been affected by low levels of rainfall.

Thank you for the clean water that we enjoy every single day!

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Seasons and Weather

We are in a transitional period right now. Dry season starts in December, and it’s OK. People can enjoy holiday festivities with little chance of rain. January is ok too, but by February it’s been dry for a while. Plants are starting to suffer and it’s starting to get too hot. March was pretty miserable even for those of us who like warm weather. The locals were even complaining that it was the hottest summer they remember. Now it is April and we are transitioning back into rainy season, but in stops and starts. We get a few days of overcast skies and some rain, and then we wake up again to hot sun, and wind. Then, a bit more rain, a bit more summer… Today it definitely feels like summer, and biking home in that strong head wind gave me some real exercise. It’s 10pm now and the wind is blowing like crazy!

When you are used to the distinct seasons up north, it can feel like nothing much happens here. But after a while, you become more aware of the differences. Trees burst out with flowers that you don’t see in the rainy season. Mango trees fruit, and now there are mangoes falling from the trees all over town. The bougainvilleas are spectacular! There are good things going on in the summer, but I still prefer the rainy season when everything is lush and green. Since we usually don’t have to be out in it, we can just relax on the terrace and enjoy the rain.

Pretty bougainvillea

Summer is less humid, but there is still humidity all the time here in the tropics. I am part of an admin team that manages some expat Facebook groups, and it comes up regularly – I want to live in Panama but I don’t like humidity. Where should I live? Well… nowhere here. It may be cooler in the mountains but if anything, it’s more humid. But, when the mist rolls through it can make for some spectacular rainbows!

even a double rainbow for a while!

The Azuero Peninsula gets less rain but it’s still humid there also. It’s just humid everywhere in Panama. Personally, I like it. I never need skin cream or Chapstick. We have had to take some measures to prevent mold. We don’t leave wet towels or clothes that have been worn in the shower/closet area, and we try to give enough space for some air flow in the closet. We also use air conditioning in the afternoons so that helps get some of the moisture out of the house. Overall though, the humidity hasn’t been a problem and I’m much more comfortable in this climate.

But, it sure is crazy tonight! That wind is roaring through the trees. It gets windier in the mountains so I can only imagine what it’s doing up there. What will tomorrow bring? What season will we wake up to? We shall see!

Posted in Panama | 5 Comments

Surprise!

Yes, I am back here again. There have been many long absences, but I have more time now so I’m going to try to write more often. Without the constant responsibilities of the band, I feel like I can resume my retirement and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been riding my bike almost every day and getting stronger, and taking longer rides. Rainy season seems to be coming back and the cooler weather really helps. We had a couple days of rain last week and then summer abruptly resumed, but this week we have been having more clouds in the morning and a bit of rain. Thank goodness! I like warm weather but March got really hot. The locals were even complaining and saying it’s the hottest summer they remember.

I’ve also been able to spend most of my time outdoors, which I really enjoy. My other granddaughter made some really detailed and challenging art to paint on my speakers, but I really enjoy the slow, quiet process of painting while I listen to books on my headphones. I’m making a bit of progress every day and I’ll be very interested to see how they look when they are finished.

Last week I mentioned a lizard that hangs out on our bathroom window, one who apparently lost his tail.

I’m happy to report that 8 days later, he’s making very good progress on regrowing his tail.

I also have a desk lizard. When I’m outside after the dark my desk lamp will be on, and this little guy has been visiting every night to catch the bugs that are attracted to the light. Isn’t he cute! Sometimes he hangs upside on the shelf next to the table, and when he spots something he’ll leap to the table. But most of the time he peeks from below the table, and runs out when he spots a tasty bug. It was interesting the other night when there was a little stink bug on the table. The lizard came out and stared at it for quite a while but wouldn’t touch it. He apparently knows that stink bugs aren’t good to eat.

Speaking of wildlife, we discovered that there are porcupines in the area! Or, I should say the dog discovered it, and it wasn’t a good thing. Poor girl! She only had 18 spines but they hurt. She was very good but the last few were in her lip, and it took both of us and a pair of plyers to get the last one out. Thankfully she was fine afterward, no signs of infection and no problem eating her dinner that evening.

We are the last house on the street, and next to us is a large, wooded area. We had opened a spot in the fence where we could toss yard debris through the fence instead of over it, and I’m guessing the porcupine came through there. Joel let her out about 9am, and it was maybe an hour later that we discovered the problem so thankfully the spines weren’t in her for a long time. But still… poor girl. She’s all good now though. This beautiful husky lives a couple blocks away and always greets us when we go walking. We have all become good friends and she and Avioneta love to play together.

Yesterday when we were walking, we saw this really cool cloud formation.

That’s about it for now. By the time I get this published it will be tomorrow since it’s late now. I’ll give it a final proof read in the morning. You take care! The news says there is a lot of stormy weather coming up north, so I hope it doesn’t cause too many problems for you all up there. Hasta pronto 😊

Posted in Panama | 4 Comments

Things are Changing

Has it really been three months since I’ve been here?! Wow. Life happens. I think something would be interesting to write about, but I never get around to actually writing. Every day seems busy, though often I couldn’t tell you what I did all day. 😄 The band has been playing. There was another trip back to the US. The band took a break over the holidays because our drummer went back to the US for a while. That was the beginning of some positive changes. I don’t think we realized how hard we had been working until we stopped.

It all started with our friends in Dracma (a local band). They have an awesome drummer, and we thought we’d borrow him to cover while ours was out of town. (This video is by our band friends. She is also an amazing bassist!)

We were talking and it came out that they would like more work, and they live in Boquete (45 minutes north of us, where we were playing every week). So, we thought, rather than go through the process of getting things ready to take out with a different drummer, why not just give them the gigs. So, with the boss’s approval, they took six of our Sundays over the holidays.

That was six weeks of not driving to Boquete with our equipment, six weeks of not practicing for the gig while also trying to add some new material, and most important, six weeks of not driving back in the dark, late at night, when we were tired. The boss was very happy with Dracma and said they could cover for us anytime. Dracma was very happy with the gig. So, we finished our obligations, (until our planned US trip in February) and handed the job over to Dracma full time.

Another video by our friends –

There is a venue, Hops, just minutes from our house and we have played there a couple times. It went really well and we expect to play there again in the future, but definitely not every week. Not only is it close, they have an excellent PA which is all set up for us when we get there, and they have a wonderful sound man. How nice to have that part of the work taken off our shoulders, and the sound man makes us sound really good. It’s a fun place, comfortable, plenty of parking, good food and drinks, and a staff that makes you feel like you are going to Cheers (where everybody knows your name). We have been having a wonderful time going there every weekend to hear other music, to see other bands, and to watch other people work while we relax and enjoy ourselves. We’ve met new people, new musicians, and been exposed to music we don’t usually hear when we are busy doing our own thing.

I’m getting pieces of my life back that had gone by the wayside. I’ve been riding my bike more, and not worrying about getting home so I can practice. I’ve been spending more time with friends. And, I’ve been painting, something I haven’t done for a very long time. I loaned Cesi, (the Dracma bassist) my amplifier and speakers while I wasn’t using them. She sounded so much better that I wasn’t about to ask for them back. So, Joel built me new speaker boxes. He said they were mine to do with whatever I wanted. I could paint unicorns and rainbows on them if I wanted. 💡 Who likes rainbows and unicorns?? My granddaughters, of course! So, I have been putting my granddaughters’ art on my speaker boxes 😁 I may have the strangest, most unique speakers, but they mean a lot to me. I was with the girls when they created their art, so as I carefully copy it on to my speakers I remember the times sitting at the table with them watching them create. And, I will think of the artists every time I look at my speakers.

This is my 5 year old Seattle granddaughter’s octopus with fish. This is the front of the speaker. I have added more white because it wasn’t showing up as well as I wanted.
This is my 8 year old Seattle granddaughter’s art. The black part in the middle is a handle, very useful for lifting the heavy speaker and moving it around.

I am working on the third side now which features my favorite drawing from my 8 year old granddaughter, a smiling unicorn. With no pressure to produce or finish anything (they work fine no matter what they look like), I’m finding I like the process more than I remembered. There is something calming and satisfying about working on something, bit by bit, and watching it all take shape.

The latest video from our friends. Can you tell that I think a lot of them? Not only are they outstanding musicians, they are the nicest people as well.

So, that’s a little of what has been going on here. Maybe I’ll even get back to writing in my blog more! It could happen 😁 I hope you all out there are well and happy.

The banner picture is a lizard than hangs out on our bathroom window. He lost his tail and we have been watching him grow another. It’s coming along nicely.

Posted in Panama | 9 Comments

Renewing the Drivers Licenses

December seems to be a busy month, with a lot of things coming due for renewal, maintenance, or some sort of attention. One thing we needed was our drivers licenses. I’ve seen more and more technology being used to get things done, and now it is possible to do the drivers license renewals on line.

First, they sent both of us email reminders with the link to the website where we could do the renewal. Then, the next step was to go to the doctor. We are both over 70 now which means our licenses are only good for two years, not four, and you have to present a certification from a doctor that says you are in good physical and mental health. We went to Dr Euripedes Espino G, who had done this for us before. He took our ID’s, made the necessary document, and for $60 we were both good to go. He’s at Chiriqui Hospital and doesn’t speak English, but he’s a good doctor and a very kind man. (something about a previous experience with him – https://blog.thepanamaadventure.com/2021/12/31/a-bit-of-health-care/)

So, now, onward to tackle the website. There were a lot of instructions and explanations to read, so I was thankful for Google translate to ease some of the strain on my brain. You need to put in all your personal info, name, ID, location, phone number, etc.etc. I also needed to upload a picture of the document from the doctor, our licenses, residency cards and cedulas (IDs). It took me a couple starts to get them in the right order so they would land in the right places on the website. I’ll do my best here to remember the various steps and order, but it’s been a little while ago now so I could be off.

Then, you need your picture taken. You face the screen and try to get your face properly positioned in the oval outline until it turns green. For the first one I was instructed to smile, and when the system was happy the whole screen turned green for a moment. Then I was instructed to open my mouth, which took me a while to figure out. I finally got frustrated and just faced the screen and opened my mouth very wide, and on the way to wide the thing got happy and turned green. That was a weird one. Then, the last picture, look serious, that was easier.

Next, the vision test. They had a square on the screen with arrows top, bottom, sides, and corners. In the center was a very small red C. Your job was to figure out where the opening of the C was facing, and click on the corresponding arrow. I don’t know how many you were allowed to get wrong, but it kept going until I got eight right.

Then, it was back to the pictures, the same drill as before.

Next was the hearing test. I put in my earbuds and listened for various tones. My job was to click on right or left, depending on which ear heard the tone. I know I missed one when I heard nothing and just guessed, but again, once I reached eight correct answers, I was done.

I think that was all! At least the website didn’t ask for anything else and said I was at the end. It felt a bit uncomfortable that they didn’t email anything, no confirmation or any reassurance that you completed the process. But, a couple days later we got emails with instructions on how to pay for our licenses ($16/each). The instructions said it could be done at any ATM. I think you need a Panamanian CLAVE card though. We got nowhere with our USA credit card so we went to the office a couple days later (If you are retired, you can just walk in without an appointment!)

The office was very quiet, with only a few people getting things done. They found our info, asked for our ID’s and doctor documents, took our old licenses, and sent us to the cashier to pay. We waited a short while for our new licenses to be made, and the really nice, English speaking gal at the back had us check that our info was all correct, gave us something to sign, as we were done! 

We’ve gone through this process at the office before and it was fine. But I liked doing it on line better, especially the vision and hearing tests. We could take our time, and didn’t have the distractions that come with doing things in an office.

So, we are legal to drive for another two years. And I made it through the whole list of other chores! We just have a couple more appointments this week to get it all wrapped up. And, we’re on a staycation at home. Our band gig was cancelled on Sunday because Boquete was essentially shut down for a Christmas parade. The venue owner didn’t think we could even get to the place, let alone have an audience to play for. So, now we’re doing our own thing until our next gig on January 28th.

Meanwhile, summer has returned and we’re having some fabulous weather, sunny, beautiful puffy clouds, light breeze, not too hot, and it’s a pleasure to be out. I’m trying to recover my biking muscles after being away for a while, and it’s getting a bit better every day. And, the dog is very excited that she gets to go walking with us every afternoon. Life is good, and especially at my age, I appreciate it every single day.

I hope you all have a good holiday time. It’s a hard time for some though, and I loved this video. This guy invited 50 strangers who were spending the holiday alone, and arranged a Christmas dinner and party for them. They had a total blast!

Posted in Panama | 2 Comments