One Entire Week in Panama!

We have been here for an entire week! Adjusting to the heat is an ongoing process in our simple Panamanian style house. The only air conditioner is in the bedroom. This is normal for most homes here in the beach areas. We are learning to take breaks and rest during the hottest part of the day. 

Laundry needs to be done early to dry in the morning sun. Some have washing machines, but everyone seems to line dry. We haven’t checked out the laundry mat yet, but have been told that there is a laundry service that will wash, dry and fold for $4.50. We have decided to just hand wash for now. Our clothes smell wonderful after drying on the line out in the ocean breeze. No added chemical scent required. 

Cooking needs to be done early and we just eat it cold later. Food that tastes good… taste good at most temperatures, in my opinion anyway. We don’t have a microwave and are not sure we need or want one at this time. 

We are researching portable air conditioners to use downstairs on unbearable days or to use in our 2nd bedroom when we have guests. To be honest, a good fan is enough during the peak bug hours (7 to 9 am and 5-7 pm). If the ocean breeze is strong enough, we don’t even have to worry about the bugs. Thankfully, we have had more days with nice ocean breezes than not. 

We have placed our first Amazon order! We are told that once it reaches our mail forwarding address in Miami, it will take about 10 days to get to our mail service in Las Tablas. Homes here do not have house numbers and there is no mail delivery to homes like in the USA. Most mail services give a notification and you have to go pick up your package in Las Tablas. But we were referred to a company called Azuero Logistics, which delivers directly to your home. Looking forward to seeing how it all works out. 

Taxis have been our primary mode of transportation. It is $3 to get from our house out at the beach to the town center in Guararé and another $3 to get to Las Tablas. How do Taxis know where to pick you up without addresses you ask? We describe where we are at, like across the street from the church or just past the airport in the two story beige house. Fortunately for us, our neighbor, Bonnie, has been here for 50 years and everyone knows her. So we just say pick us up at Bonnie’s and they are out in front of our house to pick us up in about 15 minutes. We are told it is $.50 to take the bus and we are looking forward to trying it out this next week. 

Last night we shared a ride with our neighbors, Anne and David (a couple from Scotland), to an expat meet up in Chitré. We met at least 16 people while enjoying dinner and drinks at the Gran Azureo Hotel (yes, that spelling is correct). We were told there were a few regulars missing that we will get to meet next week. It was a wonderful group of people and we had lots of friendly conversations. The food was good too! We both had a Greek salad and shared Spaghetti Pomodoro. Side note; salad is not like in the USA, where we have lots of lettuce. Lettuce is not typically served here in the beach areas. Our Greek salad comprised of cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, feta cheese and a light dressing. It was refreshing and hit the spot. We did find lettuce in the grocery store and have made our own traditional salads at home. Although this is a social gathering, they did mention a future fundraising event on August 1st to support spaying and neutering of stray animals. We look forward to meeting even more people there.

Vic and I are establishing our new routines and working to learn Spanish with the help of YouTube. Our first week has been full and we are just beginning.