Wow! So, we were heading down the mountain on Friday, May 11th and our lawyer called to say that the house contract was ready to sign, whenever we were. Well why not on Saturday, we all agreed. So we did, and wow! was it easy! That afternoon, Tommy and I taxied around Panama City, buying a washer, dryer, a new stove and an exercise machine. The new stove is a luxury, for sure! And, per Cynthia, the exercise machine a necessity.
The following day, Sunday, we headed back up the mountain and met the sellers of the house, who handed over the keys and we moved in. Incredible! The house is about six months old, and still has a few things unfinished or needing fixing/improvements. It has four bedrooms and three baths, plus a maid's room and bath (!), which is now the exercise area. It is a great house, which makes up for the smallish lot. The house came fully furnished, with mostly new stuff, including linens for the beds, as well as a TV and DVD player which doubles as our stereo system. We'll give back much of the stuff when ours arrives but for now, we couldn't be more comfortable. And, we should say, the sellers have gone out of their way to make sure that we had enough of the right stuff. They will eventually be our neighbors because they are building a replacement house on the lot behind us.
We have had electricians, plumbers, builders, etc. here for the last week. It is amazing how little you can get done, when you have all these guys around (Skip says that it is like herding cats). Last week they kept all their promised appointments; this week, no one has showed up ... including the national telephone company. Fortunately, we were well trained in Portugal so this kind of stuff doesn't bother us as much as other "estranjeiros", who freak out if someone is 10 minutes late.
The garden is small but beautifully planted. We are adding plants to screen ourselves from the neighbors (way, way too close) as well as to give ourselves some privacy. There are also quite a few herbs (lots of basil, parsley, and rosemary) but eventually I want to expand this part of the garden. There is no coentros (cilantro) or lemon grass anywhere I can find so we are going to have to grow it.
By the way, "we" don't add the plants...for the first time in our lives, we have a gardner who comes 10 days a month to maintain the garden and cut the grass. We also have a maid (another first) who comes once a week, today being her first day. We are going to have to start making messes because she finished all her work (including windows) within six hours.
It is hot and humid here, and the rainy season has just started. And boy! Does it rain! This little internet place has a tin roof, and the noise of the rain on the roof makes it impossible to have a conversation here. At the moment, this is part of the charm as your man Tommy loves to say.
TwoBaby is thrilled to finally have a place of his own! As he did in Portugal, he talks to everyone who comes in the house. He and I were up early this morning, to watch the sun come up. We also watched a frog, hopping around the front terrace. Two didn't chase the frog but did investigate the frog's path/smell after the frog had hopped off. We are grateful that TwoBaby is an old, well fed cat because he hasn't gone after any of the birds which visit us each morning, chirping us awake.
Tommy is busy, cataloging all the refreshment stops. There are very few "bars" as we know them, but plenty of cafes which serve drinks. And there are two miserable concrete structures which are known as the beer gardens. I prefer the cafes any day.
El Valle was once the crater of a vulcano (a gazillion years ago). The town itself is flat, which is ideal for bike riding. I couldn't resist: I bought a bicycle. But because I have a really good bike which will be coming with our household goods, I bought the cheapest one I could find here. What a piece of junk! I have already had two blown tires. Everyone just shakes their heads and says "Chinese" because this bike was made in China. They say the same about the light bulbs sold here in El Valle. Now we all know that China produces good products, but the worst ones (i.e., with no quality control) seem to end up here in Panama.
Tommy visited the post office today to find out our address. It is:
Tommy and Barbara Camph
General Delivery
Province Cocle
El Valle de Anton
1001
Panama
We may also get a post office box in Miami (there are three different companies here, offering this service). Apparently this is a good thing to have for such things as Amazon shopping.
Our cell phone is (country code 507) 67 38 47 20. When the telephone company decides to appear and install a phone, we'll let you know the land line.
Crazy stuff, hm?
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
El Valle, Panama, May 9th, 2007
Woops...it has been awhile! We did go back up to Lake Arenal, and spent another two days looking at properties. There were two great pieces of land, overlooking the lake. We left the area, feeling really good about the people and the place. This time, on the way down to San Jose, we stopped to look at Volcan Arenal. Our bar of choice had seats looking directly at the volcano, who chose to erupt and throw some lava down our side while we were sitting there. This is truly an amazing experience! So primevil, so out of control, so stark and fascinating. You expect to see dinosaurs at any moment!
We spent the night again at the Belen RV trailer park, and the next day headed south (unfortunately, through San Jose...ugh!), arriving in the Dominical area late in the afternoon. What a drama, getting into the campground! Our van was too high for the first entrance, so we were directed to the back entrance, where metal lines had to be held up with poles to give the van enough clearance! The owner was extremely accommodating, and made a difficult situation good. What a gorgeous beach area is Dominical! This apparently is a great surfing area, so once again, we were the oldest folks around. We found a super restaurant nearby, and had great fresh tuna for dinner.
The next day we went back up the highway, so that we could visit Pete and Mary Jo's house at Tres Piedras. We were 40 minutes getting down to the valley floor, on a difficult road for our van, but when we arrived at their caretakers' house, we were welcomed with great enthusiasm. Irma, the wife, took Barbara wading across the river and up the grass driveway to the house. What a great location! And what terrific people are these caretakers. They cut us two pineapples to take along, and invited us to return when the river was low enough for the van to ford (in the "summer", which would be January or February...the season reverse is difficult to get used to.) Tres Piedras is a bit of magic!
We continued along the coastal highway, which was absolutely beautiful and the road in great condition. We spent the night at the Bunka Lodge, about 60 km from the border. We had our own little guest house, which was so well equipped and laid out that we took measurements, thinking to copy it if we were to build a guest house.
The next day we crossed the border, and you all know our feelings about borders so enough said. We had intended to spend the night in David but after an hour of being rejected at the hotels (all full!) we continued on to Boquete, which is a mountain town and much, much nicer than David. We found a hotel which gave us our own cabin (which we are really liking!) and started exploring. We found a jazz club! We liked Boquete a lot so spent the next two days looking at houses, and did find one we liked.
After two days in Boquete, we headed east and ended up in Santiago for Saturday night. On Sunday, we continued eastward, checking out beaches as we went. Our favorite was Santa Clara, which has white sand, a couple of casual restaurants and ranchos with hammocks. That night we ended up in El Valle, which is a mountain town where our friends from Silves, Rene and Tom Cosans, live. We spent Sunday night at a hotel and then met up with Rene and Tom on Monday, April 30th.
Rene and Tom took us to lunch at a neat local place (garlic shrimp...yum!). As we were finishing lunch, one of their friends came to the table and, after hearing that we were there to look at property, she announced she had something for sale and would show it to us that afternoon. She did, we liked it, Rene and Tom couldn't believe the value for money, we looked at it again the next day, made an offer, and here we are!
The agent is named Chola and she has 10 brothers and sisters, and they all have children. One of Chola's nephews is a lawyer in Panama City and he and his partners specialize in ex-pat matters. Chola bundled us up, took us to Panama City and for two days we did the visa stuff, the bank account stuff, and met the owners of the house in El Valle. Oh, and Chola found someone to take care of TwoBaby while we were in Panama City. The Chola universe!
So, now the lawyers are working out the contracts, our terrific bank (SRI Federal Credit Union) has already transferred the down payment, and we are on hold, waiting for a summons to Panama City to sign the promissory contract for the house. Wild, isn't it?
We spent the night again at the Belen RV trailer park, and the next day headed south (unfortunately, through San Jose...ugh!), arriving in the Dominical area late in the afternoon. What a drama, getting into the campground! Our van was too high for the first entrance, so we were directed to the back entrance, where metal lines had to be held up with poles to give the van enough clearance! The owner was extremely accommodating, and made a difficult situation good. What a gorgeous beach area is Dominical! This apparently is a great surfing area, so once again, we were the oldest folks around. We found a super restaurant nearby, and had great fresh tuna for dinner.
The next day we went back up the highway, so that we could visit Pete and Mary Jo's house at Tres Piedras. We were 40 minutes getting down to the valley floor, on a difficult road for our van, but when we arrived at their caretakers' house, we were welcomed with great enthusiasm. Irma, the wife, took Barbara wading across the river and up the grass driveway to the house. What a great location! And what terrific people are these caretakers. They cut us two pineapples to take along, and invited us to return when the river was low enough for the van to ford (in the "summer", which would be January or February...the season reverse is difficult to get used to.) Tres Piedras is a bit of magic!
We continued along the coastal highway, which was absolutely beautiful and the road in great condition. We spent the night at the Bunka Lodge, about 60 km from the border. We had our own little guest house, which was so well equipped and laid out that we took measurements, thinking to copy it if we were to build a guest house.
The next day we crossed the border, and you all know our feelings about borders so enough said. We had intended to spend the night in David but after an hour of being rejected at the hotels (all full!) we continued on to Boquete, which is a mountain town and much, much nicer than David. We found a hotel which gave us our own cabin (which we are really liking!) and started exploring. We found a jazz club! We liked Boquete a lot so spent the next two days looking at houses, and did find one we liked.
After two days in Boquete, we headed east and ended up in Santiago for Saturday night. On Sunday, we continued eastward, checking out beaches as we went. Our favorite was Santa Clara, which has white sand, a couple of casual restaurants and ranchos with hammocks. That night we ended up in El Valle, which is a mountain town where our friends from Silves, Rene and Tom Cosans, live. We spent Sunday night at a hotel and then met up with Rene and Tom on Monday, April 30th.
Rene and Tom took us to lunch at a neat local place (garlic shrimp...yum!). As we were finishing lunch, one of their friends came to the table and, after hearing that we were there to look at property, she announced she had something for sale and would show it to us that afternoon. She did, we liked it, Rene and Tom couldn't believe the value for money, we looked at it again the next day, made an offer, and here we are!
The agent is named Chola and she has 10 brothers and sisters, and they all have children. One of Chola's nephews is a lawyer in Panama City and he and his partners specialize in ex-pat matters. Chola bundled us up, took us to Panama City and for two days we did the visa stuff, the bank account stuff, and met the owners of the house in El Valle. Oh, and Chola found someone to take care of TwoBaby while we were in Panama City. The Chola universe!
So, now the lawyers are working out the contracts, our terrific bank (SRI Federal Credit Union) has already transferred the down payment, and we are on hold, waiting for a summons to Panama City to sign the promissory contract for the house. Wild, isn't it?
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