We actually
spent an anniversary and Thanksgiving in Panama a couple of years ago on one of our exploration trips when researching the country for possible retirement. Our
anniversary was in Boquete (by the Costa Rica border on the Pacific side) and
Thanksgiving was in Bocas Del Toro (islands on the Caribbean coast near the
Costa Rica border). There were several places there offering a “traditional”
dinner, but we opted for seafood in an ocean front restaurant.
This year we
were searching high and low for a “traditional” Thanksgiving and finally found
one at the Coronado Golf Resort. Then, we got
an email from our Picasso friends and they have a big potluck (this will be the
5th year) at the Coronado Country Club (known here as the Pink
Towers). So, we canceled our other plans.
Last night
(Wednesday) we went to the monthly Playa Community mixer. This month it was
held at La Teca which is our upscale restaurant here. It is under new ownership
and they presented a tasting menu. We were expecting small tapa sized portions
of all the courses, but each course was huge! The first course was Tuna Tartar
on Avacado, second was Mild Roasted Garlic Bisque, third was Duck Breast with
Caramelized Apples, fourth was Mediterranean Seafood Paella and dessert was
Strawberry Taco with sauce and vanilla ice cream. YUM! We sat with 2 wonderful
couples and it was a very enjoyable evening. Though it was after 10:00 as the
courses were slowly presented. Live jazz music was played….a bit too loud to
converse over, but otherwise quite nice.
Earlier that
day I made 2 cakes for the Thanksgiving Pot Luck. I made a carrot cake and a
caramel apple cake. Normally the carrot cake is not hard to make, but the lack
of finding convenience foods here made it more “work”. Normally I’d buy a can
of crushed pineapple and a bag of sweetened shredded coconut and it’s easy. Had
to make my own crushed pineapple with slices and a food processor. We bought a
whole coconut and Greg drained the coconut milk out and cut and peeled it for
me. Then I made shreds with the food processor and boiled that with the coconut
milk and simmered for at least an hour and let it dry overnight. For those of
you that have ever used a fresh coconut you know what a pain they can be to get
open and peel. The caramel apple cake is kind of fussy anyway with making the
caramel frosting and sautéing and caramelizing the apples (without burning),
but since the main flavor and liquid in the cake is buttermilk and that can’t
be found here either, I substituted thinned down sour cream. It came out
slightly dry, but not knowing my oven well here I may have baked it a tad bit
too long or it really needs the buttermilk. All done in this tiny kitchen and I
had stuff everywhere! Then, once they were cooled and ready to go into the
fridge, we discovered the “snap on” lids with the cool carrying handles did not
snap on, they were too small to work. Oh well, aluminum foil to the rescue.
Just couldn’t stack them to carry them. It’s all good!
Thanksgiving
day we went for a walk on the beach and Greg had to make another trip to the
bank (we have lost count, but somewhere around the 7th trip to get
this local bank account). Yesterday, they got the account open and we started
the wire transfer of funds which completed today so he needed to go in and get
the letter from Banco General stating we have an account with them with the
appropriate amount of funds. Once Greg got it home he noticed his passport
number was stated incorrectly on the letter so he had to go back and have them
redo it. We are now waiting to hear from the attorney to see when we can go to
Migracion, hopefully next week.
That taken
care of we packed up our stuff to spend the day at the Coronado Country Club
where the pot luck was held. The attire was swimwear and casual shorts etc.
There were nearly 60 people there and tons of wonderful food. They have a huge
pool (27,000 square feet ) that meanders all over with
walking bridges to get over the pool from place to place and a large Bohio with
ceiling fans. The food was set up in stations and very well planned. Tons of
appetizers in one area. Plenty of cold salads and turkey, ham, tamales (from
Texas), mashed potatoes and gravy, 2 kinds of sweet potato casseroles, several
kinds of stuffing, corn casseroles, bean casseroles, empanadas and more. Tons
of yummy desserts as well. Everyone brings their own drinks. We checked out the
beach area and went up and saw Jill’s condo there. They are quite large and
beautiful with huge balconies. Hers was decorated very nice. Our only issue
with these condos is their proximity to a public beach in Gorgona that is right
beside their beach. It makes for noisy weekends with the locals partying all
night on the beach. Otherwise they are quite nice. Our views are probably
better from here at the Bay. After all the food we grabbed lounge chairs around
the pool and relaxed. Life IS good!
After
everyone had gotten their food quite a few of the security/grounds guys from
the complex were invited to eat. Very nice! From the size of their plates I
guess they think we gringos can cook. (or they will eat anything….) Around 6:00
it was starting to thunder and rain seemed like a sure thing and some of us
packed up and went home. I’m sure many are still there partying. (it hasn’t
rained here though)
Our attorney
has a weekend place up the coast from us in Playa Blanca and they emailed to
see if we could meet here in Coronado to get our documents for my visa. They called around
1:30 and we were out grocery shopping. It sounded like they would be in the
area in a half hour or so. So, we went home and waited for their call. It
turned out to be 8:30 at night when they passed by here. They stopped for a
quick dinner at the KFC, so we met them there with our documents. They said if
anything else was needed they would stop and get it on their way back to the
city on Monday. There was one more document that needed to be signed and we met
again to give that to them. They will present to Migracion for me and will call
when I can go and get my photo taken and pick up my card. Should be able to
apply for my multi-entry visa on the same day. That, I can pick up anytime. We
are getting very close to having this task behind us! Cutting it close as my
tourist visa expires on Dec 8. YIKES!
We are
having low tide in the mornings again so we are back walking on the beach every
morning. When the tide is high, you can still walk as there is plenty of beach,
but with the slope it’s hard on the hips walking with one leg shorter than the
other, so we walk the neighborhood instead.
From the
balcony we watched an Osprey eating a fish.
Picasso was
packed this week. We arrived later than usual and thought we wouldn’t get a
seat, but Sharon saved 2 seats for us. We met a few new people, but many
regulars. Once couple that is only down for a month (we hung out with them at
Thanksgiving), had taken a few days to visit Boquete and had just gotten back
about an hour before they arrived at Picasso. They really enjoyed Boquete. It
is a beautiful place. We stayed later than usual chatting with them. One couple
is down for 3 months from Minnesota checking Panama out for retirement.
No rain here, but a beautiful rainbow that lasted at least half an hour.....
The rain came later.....
Whoo Hoo!!!
I got my temporary Pensionado Visa on Friday. Migracion kept my passport to get
my multi-entry visa that is needed in case we want to travel before my
permanent one comes in. That should be finished next Wednesday, but our
attorney offered to bring it that weekend since they have to drive through
Coronado to get to their weekend home in Playa Blanca. That’s nice of them. The
wife is our attorney and her husband is the one that takes us to Migracion and
facilitates all the different windows that each process requires. Phew! Got it
just in time so I didn’t have to make a border run. We have now been living in
Panama for 6 months now!
This is my temporary Pensionada Visa. The permanent one looks exactly the same, but no expiration date.
A few people
assume to live in another country you give up your U.S. citizenship. Not true. We
keep our U.S. passports. Some have even asked if you escape paying taxes by
moving out of the country. Definitely not true. Getting our permanent residence
visas here in Panama allows us to live here without having to leave every 3 to
6 months to renew the tourist visa and we no longer must carry our passports
with us at all times. We also can go through the residence line at the airport.
(normally much shorter) There are also some other perks as well. Many places
have a special line jubilados (pensioners or people of a certain age) so you
don’t wait in long lines. If there isn’t a special line you can just go to the
front of the line. There are also some monetary perks:
- 50%
off entertainment anywhere in the country (movies, theaters, concerts,
sporting events)
- 25% off restaurants (15% off fast food)
- 30%
off bus, boat, and train fares
- 25%
off airline tickets
- 25%
off monthly energy bills
- 30%
to 50% off hotel stays
- 15%
off hospital bills & medical clinics
- 10%
off prescription medicines
- 20%
off medical consultations
- 15%
off dental and eye exams
- 20%
off professional and technical services
- 50%
off closing costs for home loans, and more…
Not all
businesses honor it and often airfare or hotels can be found at lower rates
with special fares etc. Still it is the most generous pensionado program at
this time for attracting expats. Panama is a fast growing and developing
country and they welcome foreigners.
While we
were in the city we bought an artificial Christmas tree. It’s really a pretty
one. It came with lights on it and pine cones, red holly berries and a bit of
snow dusting some of the branches. It’s 7½ feet tall, but it probably a bit too
wide for our space, but I like a big full tree. We bought it at the Discovery
Center and we ended up waiting a very long time to buy it. They tried scanning
all the bar codes on the box (there were 3) and even putting in the SKU# and
that didn’t work. I swear we were there at least a half an hour. Finally, we
decided to just leave. Just as we were getting into the car the cashier came
running out to find us to let us know they found the right way to ring it up. If
we had found one any place else we probably would have said to forget it, but
the trees had been in the stores for months and most were sold out. We started
seeing Christmas stuff out in July!
This year
was very special decorating the tree as I collected Christmas ornaments from
each port on our world cruise. Lots of special memories! Since this tree is
much smaller than our old tree in the States and the addition of so many new
ornaments, about 2/3 of my ornament collection will fit on the tree. It’s
pretty much all travel ornaments and a few special ones from friends and
family. I may have to find someone who can use some ornaments as I have way too
many now. (lots of generic ones) I got rid of LOTS of them before we moved, but
not enough I guess.
"travel tree"
Here is the
December holiday schedule for Panama:
2 December (Mon) Independence Day
(from Spain)
8 December (Sun) Mother’s Day
9 December (Mon) banks are closed
24 December (Tue) Christmas Eve (1/2
day)
25 December (Wed) Christmas Day
31 December (Tue) New Year’s Eve
(half day)
We saw some new parakeets today.
Brown-throated Parakeets. We also saw a Peregrine Falcon sitting on the condo
building next to ours. It was a cloudy/ rainy day so our pics aren’t great, but
what a beautiful bird. Pretty rare to see.
Brown-throated Parakeets
Peregrine Falcon
Oh, and my son & family got SKYPE
and we got to see and speak to each other last night. Very nice!
Til next time….
