El Valle, Panama, May 23rd, 2007

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?