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Monday, September 19, 2011

Living here, stop signs and gas stations!

Well, we spent from 1 pm yesterday until 5 pm at our home. It was so nice just to sit there overlooking the Ocean and dream about actually living there in the next few weeks. Our builder is just awesome, and he told Don this morning that his plans are to have the house 90% finished by the end of this week.
It's only been 5 1/2 months. This is like the speed of light for builders in Central America.
We originally had thought that we might have to rent here for six months or so and was hoping to get into our home by Christmas, but now looks like the possibility of the middle of October now.
They have painted most of the outside, have all of our floor tiles down and working on the baseboard and putting the tiles around the pool.


Outside Paint Color

Floor Tiles throughtout the house and on front entrance

Outside Shower
The pool tiles are not what we ordered and when Don went to the development on Saturday he had a fit as they are so different than the ones we wanted. He brought home samples for me to look at and I really liked them.
If we change them now, it will put the progress back about 2 weeks so we are just going to leave them. Don hates them and I do see what he means about the 'red' circles in most of them. What do you think?
The ones that we ordered!

The ones we got, minus the cigarette butt :)  

I really hope they will look ok when down. 
We had the most amazing afternoon yesterday.
We sat and talked and watched whales jumping from our patio. (The whales weren't actually jumping from the patio, lol)
The skies were dark and we could hear thunder in the background but unfortunately did not see any lightning.
We sat there in awe talking about how we really are living in Central America and how we got there.
Three years ago this whole thing was barely a dream, and now here we are just weeks away from moving into the house of our dreams with our dog Sadie, and myself with the most amazing husband in the world.
To think that after 33 years together we packed up 4 suitcases and 3 boxes and left the only place we had ever known and moved to a Country that we knew from only having visited twice before.
When I think of it that way I now realize why some people thought we were nuts, lol.
I have to pinch myself at times to make sure this is a reality and not just a dream.
We did it!!
We're almost there!


A storm brewing over the Pacific

There are many, many reasons why I just love living here in Panama.
One is of course is the beauty of the area and the people.
The Panamanian people are the most gracious, friendly people I have ever met.
We are the 'Gringo's' who have invaded their beautiful nice quiet town, but still they treat us as locals and always have this huge smile to greet us when we pass them by on the streets.
Even the local Police are friendly.
When we were sitting on our patio yesterday a police car drove by with two of their finest in it and they both put their arms out the window, gave us a huge wave and greeted us with a huge 'Buenas Tardes'.
Would the police in North America do this? I think not!

Today Don is out helping a friend of ours who we have met of course since coming here to live.
They are an awesome couple from Connecticut.
They are moving from one rental to another one that is much bigger while waiting for their house to be built.
It's a sad story as the couple who lived in it were killed last month while driving from here to Las Tablas to go shopping when a truck coming towards them blew a tire and swerved right into them. They were killed instantly.
They did not have a 'Panamanian' will, and we find out that it's imperative that you do as our wills in North America are useless here if anything should happen to you.

You have to love these people and some of the things they do. Case in point.
If you follow my blogs, you will remember that I have spoken about the new hospital being started here just out of town.
Well we drove by where they are just beginning to start construction and here is what we saw!


A Stop sign that nobody obeys, lol
They have put two stop signs, one on each side of the road and nobody stops..LOL
It's just too funny.
When we first saw them of course we screeched our tires in order to stop as naturally there is no 'warning' of a new stop sign ahead as they would do in North America. Nope! They just put them there and expect people to stop, I guess, but noone does. 
Traffic just goes on like they are not even there.
This is hilarious.

New Hospital in Construction
I also would like to share with you a picture of a place on the beach that we walk where the surfer's gather and where they sometimes pitch a tent and go for something to eat.
It's amazing!

Also a picture of a family on a horse drawn carriage with their milk containers that they are taking to sell, with their family dog trailing along.
I am so happy to be living here. I feel so very fortunate to see and experience the way of lives of these amazing people.



Taking their containers of milk to sell 


We need furniture for our house and we want to buy as much from the locals as possible.
We have found one guy who is not Panamanian, but from America, who has set up a shop here and makes beds, tables etc, so we have decided to use him just to build our beds.
We were driving just last week and came across this home where there is a local guy making pieces of furniture. Don happened to spy a round piece of wood that would be good for a table for our patio and in our broken Spanish asked him if he would sell it to us.
He said 'yes' so we are getting him to make it for us along with a couple of chairs.
He is such a nice guy and he has his father who is 85 years old helping him. Honestly these people look like they are 60 when they are 85.
This is what makes  Don and I happy. Giving back to the people who are so graciously accepting us into their lives.
We don't really even care how good the table looks as long as we are helping him out. Having said this though, we went yesterday to pick it up and in the typical Panamanian way, it wasn't ready, lol. He said something about it being too cold to put the stain on? LOLOL..I don't really think that is what he meant, but he will have it ready today.

 It's warmer out now....:)

Our new friend, Isreal who is making our furniture. That is our table.
Just love this guy and his father.

If you read my blog last week about the Police building their own station on the beach, I am now posting a picture of it.
I think this is hilarious that they build it themselves.
Here it is:



Well heading out now to the beach for a walk. The tide is high, but should be able to make it ok.

Take good care, thanks for reading, and remember to 'Stay in the Light'.

Update:
It's pouring!!! No walk today.

We are participating in the <a href="http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20060127222437483">link exchange program</a> on Don Winner's <a href="http://www.panama-guide.com/">Panama-Guide.com</a> website which contains "Thousands of Articles in English" about life and living in the Republic of Panama.
  










1 comment:

Ian said...

Have I indulged in too much vino or is that building tilted ? Gives a whole new meaning to ' Bent Policemen ' !! LOL