Our first guests in Panama!

His son Jack-o came back to Panama with us after we were in Denver for about a week in late July, early August. It was really great to have him. We have moved to our second place – another apartment – in Panama City, on the Amador Causeway. Thankfully, there is a lot less noise – while the original place in Punta pacifica was beautiful and right on the ocean, it was loud – with Corredor Sur and 12 other high-rise buildings next to it, all under construction. With the concrete and steel shortages here, when concrete arrives, no matter what time it is, they start pouring. And,when steel arrives, they drill caissons, even when it is 2 AM and so forth. Aw, well, this is Panama.

No matter, we did decide that it was too much for us – that, and the fact that our international landlord had not had anything fixed in the time period we had agreed to in our lease. So, we gave our notice and got out early and found the new place that we really like in Amador.
The new apartment on an isthmus (not sure if it really is, but it sounds cool) – surrounded on three sides by water, essentially – overlooking the Panama Canal, the Pacific Ocean and back to Panama City. Some photos show the views, which we think really must be the best views in all of Panama.

We like to sit up on our 7th floor social area and watch the huge ships come through the canal. It truly is spectacular to see.

Anyway, Jack came and he and his dad did a bunch of exploring the city together while I had to go back to work for a couple of days right after we returned from Denver. They had a great time, even getting over to the Caribe side to have lunch one week day. Then, they had a 4.5 hour ride back (only 60 miles) because the construction on the one highway between the city and Colon shut the highway down to one lane. And, then of course all the Panamanians got impatient and there was no one moderating the traffic, so everyone started pushing through trying to get through and it turned into a crazy standstill for literally hours. They were so stressed by the time they arrived home, he said, ‘I will NEVER go that direction again,until that highway is finished.” So, we may never see the Caribe again while we are here unless we fly. It was interesting for Jack, no doubt, to see the stupidity that exists around no traffic planning for a major construction project. Bottom line, we take all that type of thing way too much for granted stateside.

My sis Hannah came in from NYC which was really special. She arrived Thursday night, and I took off Friday so the four of us could go the beach. We drove up to a tiny beach called El Palmar – about 60 miles west of Panama City – a great tiny hotel there with 30 rooms, very rustic but clean. The beach is good for learning to surf, which originally we thot Jack might enjoy. But, instead, we all did a lot of hanging, which was lovely. We ended up drinking a lot of beer, eating a lot of fish and lazily wandering up and down the beach. It was a really nice day and a half.
The next morning and afternoon, more of the same. Again, lovely.

Then mid afternoon, we packed up and drove further west – 15 miles or so, maybe – to Playa Blanca. This is an all-inclusive resort, probably the second nicest in all of Panama. The grounds are really nice, the rooms are pretty nice, and the food is the expected middle of the road, all inclusive crap you get at most all-inclusive places. We tried to get into the nice restaurant there, but it was a busy weekend of holiday-ers (kids were out of school, we had no idea, so the place was booked), and we could not get it. Drat. Anyway, we enjoyed the two pools and the beach too and all got some more R & R in, and some sunbathing. After dinner, Playa Blanca has its own theater for entertainment and they do a kids show first, and then a pretty erotic adult show. It was a bit of a shock for us, when we walked back through around 930 PM and the adult show – mostly mimicking videos by Beyonce and stuff like that – but with the ladies on stage in thong swimsuits and such – going on and dancing like strippers…..and all the kids were still there! I guess maybe in North America we are pretty tame, according to Latin American standards, no one else really seemed to mind it. And, no, I did not take any pictures.
Jack and Hannah left early the next week. We both were sad for a few days because we had enjoyed their visit so much. It really was special to have both of them.
Now, we are getting adjusted to the new place in Amador. We love it because there are a mating pair of Toucans right outside our apartment. We probably see them about once a week, flitting around and sounding like frogs. They are beautiful birds, such pretty beaks. For those of you that do not remember what a Toucan looks like, think of the bird on the Fruit Loops box. That is them. Pretty frigging cool!

I am back to work. He has started his company and already has two clients, which is really exciting for him.

Now, back to hanging our new hammock on our porch……and we are having some new friends from Columbia over for dinner….should be fun. It is nice to be making some social contacts and getting a little more acclimated to life here. The first few months were really lonely, and we missed our friends.

Til the next time. We love you all and are thinking of you!

From our balcony

I decided today to take some photos from our 16th story balcony, so that you can share with us what we see every morning and every night.

When we might have a moment of 'why did we leave our organic dog food behind?', it is good to go out, grab a seat and breathe.....

This is a fabulous opportunity, and a beautiful place. We are incredibly blessed.

April 1st, a few weeks late

Where to begin….
I have had so many emails asking about where we live and what we like most about Panama, that I thought perhaps I should start from the very beginning.
They thought they had rented a place for us in a high rise in an area called Punta Pacifica, an area where there is a lot of new high rises and even one going up named after some guy named Trump. We thought we were all set to move in the night we all arrived from Colorado. Furniture was to be delivered two days before we all arrived, so that we would have beds to sleep in, and places to sit, and so on. (Ahem, let me clarify, ‘they’ would have beds to sleep in. They packed my two dog beds and thus I was subject to sleeping on the tile floors on a blanket. As if this were ever a substitute that I would have approved!)
At any rate, being the A types that they are, we all thought we were set.
Ha. The fun began
24 hours before we got on the plane (again,do not fall for the ‘time to go to bed’ trick when the kennel has been placed in the yard.), she received a phone call. The new apartment had had some issues. Of course she freaked out, and there was a lot of anguished calls and words and a bunch of stuff that I did not understand, except for a bunch of high pitched exclamations.
At any rate, some arrangements were made and when we did get here, the five of us spent a week in some very small place. Seriously. My dog bed was more spacious. And, I was left there much of the first few days we arrived here by myself,so they could begin the process of finding us a new home. I did not approve of this either, but I conceded so that we could get out of there as soon as possible.
A week later, we moved into another apartment in the same part of town where they originally had found the first one. She kept saying how karma worked things out because the new place is even nicer, and I had four acres just for me to walk in. (As it turns out, this is not entirely true – the ‘just for me’ part – because we keep running into a bunch of smaller dogs in my four acres.)
The new place is really nice and really big. Plenty of room to chase the cats and lots of windows, so I can lay in the sun in the morning. And plenty of tile floors, which is a new experience for me, and nothing to hold me back from sliding around corners while chasing the cats. Evidently they get some level of fun out of the sliding action because they are always laughing about my running efforts. Some comment about the road runner, which I do not understand.
He especially likes the deck, which looks out to the Pacific Ocean, facing southeast. He and I spend a lot of time there in the evenings, he with a cigar and me with a tennis ball. Well, at least I did have some nice tennis balls out there, until I pushed one under the fence and it fell 16 stories down into the swimming pool. Now for some reason, tennis balls are taboo on the patio. They don’t allow the cats out there either, though I personally think it might be a lot of fun to see one of them jump out there. (He made some comment about the exorbitant cost of getting the cats down here as being a reason not to see them do some fun acrobatics off the patio….I am not buying it.)
After five weeks, the rest of our stuff arrived yesterday from the U.S. I was not too pleased to see a bunch of strangers in our place bringing in a bunch of boxes, but after they unloaded my two beds, I forgot all about them. She always makes comments about ‘it is the little things’, but frankly, sleeping on the cold tile on a blanket for five weeks is not a little thing. It does make Panama more like home to have your own bed.
For some reason, when I go on walks in the four acres behind our building, there are a bunch of kids playing in the street around dinner time. Often they ride by on their bikes while we are walking and appear to talk to me, but I can’t understand a word they say. One little boy keeps using a word that sounds like mohair (muerta) and evidently that means do I bite. I would like to show my teeth as a badge of honor but neither of them will let me do that, so I ignore him. She keeps saying she is going to reply that I only bite in the apartment, but she never has. (I am not really sure why the boy would be coming to our apartment, but I do not ask questions.)
A few weeks ago, she came home one day and said she figured out why the kids keep asking if I bite. They went to a party and at two of the homes near the party, they saw dogs like me behind the gates (everything is gated here). When they turned around in one of the driveways (directions here are a whole ‘nother story), she said the dog went nuts and attacked the fence and showed teeth and so on. (If I had been there, I am sure it would have been different, but alas, I was not invited to the party.) Anyway, apparently, mine and similar other fierce looking dogs are not kept as pets, but only used as watch dogs and guard dogs, and so I am generally taken for one of those.
I do not understand the word ‘princesa’ or ‘nina’ but I have heard her describe me that way when she is talking about me. As long as people know I rule the roost, then they can call me whatever they want. Now that I have my beds back, I am feeling much more like the one in charge!
It is April 1st today. April Fools Day does not exist in Panama, but this day does officially mark the end of the dry season. I do not understand the ‘dry’ description when I get wet every time we go outside. This thing called humidity really wears me down. She and I used to walk for hours and now I can barely manage 20 minutes.
Anyway, back to the weather. This ‘dry’ season is actually really hot. It is summer time in Panama and it lasts from December to April. It has been so dry here this year though, that there have been some mild fires. Not anything like what used to hear about on the news back home (you know,the governor saying the whole state was one fire), but fires here (anywhere) are pretty unusual.
Now, we begin the green season. She laughed because she says someone in marketing came up with this name. At one time, it was called the rainy season. We have heard it rains every afternoon for months on end, and that at times, it can become a deluge with street flooding and things like that. Really, we have no idea, but supposedly it does get a bit cooler. Like maybe 80 degrees instead of 98 and so on. Anything cooler would be nice. I have never liked the rain, and I am hoping some other arrangements can be made for my walks when the rain starts (involving someone other than me, walking). However, no commitments have been made.
Next time, I will tell you more about their recent trip to the beach. Some place called Coconuts. And they left me alone with my new buddy Joel all weekend. It was strange but Joel and I bonded, which was good. It is nice to have a new friend.
I forgot to mention that while they were gone that the cats and I had a party on the patio and I took some photos. One is of the cats hanging from the balcony edge. But of course I can’t post it because they will find out and then there won’t be a next time. But we did have fun.
Hasta luego! (Until next time)
Lily
Ps. Gosh, we are way behind. I think I have begun to embrace Panamanian time. This has been on my computer for a really long time and I just did not get around to posting it. They are on me tonight to write a new one, so I figured I should get this one up first. A new one later.

You have to start somewhere!

All right, here are the ground rules for this thing called a blog that my people have been after me to get up for at least two weeks now. I am a dog and my name is Lily. Against my better judgment, I ended up here in Panama with my people (a he and a she) and I plan to keep a regular script of the happenings here for my own records, much less your enjoyment. Topics will be chosen at my own free whim and while you are welcome to send me a text with requested topics, don’t count on it. I don’t have opposable thumbs remember, so certain stories may be easier for me to bang out than others.

I’m a dog for god sake I can’t type. It’s hell trying to get my pads on these little keys. Thank God I’m not getting paid by the word. It’s bad enough I can’t understand a word anyone says down here besides my people. I don’t think they understand much either. What a team! He can’t speak a word anyone can understand besides me. Maybe I could learn Spanish and he could learn to type? Unfortunately that would take too long he is a veeery slow learner as most of you know.

Oh, Panama! How the hell did I end up here? Don’t ever fall for the “get in your kennel for the night trick. I will never let my ass be put in one of those again. I swore my people said Pueblo at the airport, next thing I know it’s 14 hours in a kennel and my God, did the weather change. It was 26 degrees in Denver when we left, it was 90 degrees in Panama (Yes, I said Panama) when we arrived. Did I say it was hot? Did I say it was humid? Damn right it is! It’s great on my skin, not that you can tell, but I seem to be ready for a nap all the time.

Speaking of time, it seems to be very different down here. Let’s start with zones. We started out on Eastern Time, then, the United States sprang forward to put us on Central Time last weekend. Then, there is the perception of time. Somehow when someone says 10 minutes here, it means 3-4 hours. When they say 3-4 hours it means 2-3 days. When they say manana (and, no, I can’t find the right n on the keyboard), it means sometime next week. It will take some getting used to this Panama Time. I can only hold it for so long.

I have been spending a lot of time with my new friend Joel. Thank God he is around because otherwise I would have to ride in the car with my people driving. Not a pretty site! When Joel is behind the wheel the pandemonium that is Panama traffic makes a bit more sense. When my person is behind the wheel, I cover my eyes with my paws and hope he named me in the will! This traffic piece is going to take some serious getting used to also.

When I am not praying for my life in the car, I am looking out over the Pacific and what a view it is. From the apartment, I can see the ocean and all of the city. I can also see the ground is a lot farther away from the floor then it was in our house in Stapleton. I don’t know about this. In the Mile High City, my floor is sitting on the ground and in the city on the Bahia, my floor is 200’ off the ground. This is more than a mere dog can understand.

Until the next time,

Very truly yours and I hate fleas.

Lily