September 9 to 15

We went to Westland Mall for shelves, goggles, a new router and to chat with the pharmacist for some OTC meds.  Armed with my list in English & Spanish (generic names) in search of Tums (not to be found anywhere here), Claritin and the PM in Tylenol PM without the Tylenol. (Benedryl) Just about everywhere in the world Tylenol is sold as Panadol and I was finding Panadol PM, but not just the PM part. So, the pharmacist had it behind the counter as well as the Claritin.



We also had lunch again at lunch at Leños y Carbon. Of course we had to have gelato too!

We went to the San Fernando Medical Clinic to see about RX’s for my prescription meds $34.00 for both of our office visits (without insurance). It was $20.00pp, but we got the jubilado discount. (retired down here) We have insurance, but you pay up front and fill out forms for the insurance company to reimburse after the deductible is met. (we pay 20% after the deductible is met)

Next task was to see if we can get all of the needed meds here. The doctor called the pharmacy and said they had all but 2 of them.  (yes, the doctor himself picked up the phone and called. We each saw different doctors and both spoke English. One of the two receptionists spoke English well. Despite the nurse who took our vitals saying she didn’t speak English well, she knew plenty and explained everything as she worked.  As our Spanish improves and locals like to practice their English, conversations often turn into “Spanglish”. 

I can get all but 2 of my meds here. I have one more pharmacy to try, a large chain here called Farmacias Arrocha, before we contact our insurance company and see if they can assist with getting them here. The doctor told us he could only write for 1 month on some and 2 months for the others. So, I thought we would have to go back to see him frequently. The pharmacy filled our scripts and then hands us back the prescriptions.  That night at Picasso’s we asked someone about that and they said yes, you just keep using the same scripts to get more refills. Lots of things here are over the counter that need an RX in the States, but insurance probably needs to see the prescriptions. The only things that can’t be done that way are the controlled substances, which of course we don’t use. So, we paid outright for the meds and then submit to insurance and they will reimburse us 80%.

We met an interesting young couple at Picasso’s that are biking around South & Central America. They had just ridden their bikes from Panama City. He is American and she is from Colombia, but they met in Ecuador where she joined him and is getting used to long distance cycling. Since Greg has done lots of long distance rides he was quite interested in their travels.

Tried Bamboo Express for Chinese food this week and it was pretty good. Huge portions.

Our shipping company called to let us know that customs was going to go through our boxes this past Friday and said it was our right to be there if we wanted to, but she also said most clients don’t like to go since it’s a long hot day in a warehouse with no A/C. We opted not to drive to the city to do that. We got an email today saying they will deliver our stuff on Monday morning. Whoo Hoo! Since we have such limited space here we rented a storage unit where they will unload everything and we will bring things over a little at a time as we go through things.

We saw a couple different birds on our beach walks. This month a lot of birds migrate through here. We saw a pair of Oystercatchers and a Surf Bird. I have added their photos to the web albums.

 



Today is my son’s birthday! Happy Birthday Scott! Tomorrow is my Dad’s birthday! Happy Birthday Dad! Love to you both!

August 26 to September 8

Two weeks have flown by as we have settled into our new beach life rhythm.  Now that Greg has gotten his visa we haven’t had to make the trips to the city and since we have gotten most everything we needed for the condo we haven’t had to make the weekly trips to the mall.

The only really big news is that I finally got my FBI background check! I guess the lady at the FBI was right that after 3 submittals (total of 8 sets of fingerprints) were  rejected by the machine, then they would look at them by hand.  They do need to be authenticated (Apostile) and that can’t be done here in Panama, but only in the States. So, we had our mailing service send them directly to my Dad. We filled out the forms and sent him instructions to get them to the proper place for apostle and then the State Department will mail them directly to Miami where they will send them to the MBE here in Coronado. Phew! Thank you so much Dad! After we get those back then I can finish getting my visa.

We have met some nice people up at the pool and at Picasso’s. We had worried about a lady we hadn’t seen in about a month and she was at Picasso’s this week. She had a severe case of pneumonia and she barely had been out of bed for a couple of days.  Yikes! It was good to see her again.

We tried California Burger for the first time, but we preferred the burgers at Coronado Café, so for the rare times we actually splurge calorie wise and eat burgers and fries we will return to Coronado Café. They have a large menu there, so lots to try.

Since Buon Appetito in El Valle is only open for lunch on the weekends we purposely went on Saturday only to find that they were on vacation until the middle of the month. ARGH! We ate at Don Pepe, a place that we tried a year ago when we were there and really liked it. So, we’ll wait a couple more weeks to get that fantastic pizza at Buon Appetito.  The rain did let up and we were able to visit the Serpentario. It’s really a rescue center for the snakes and is quite small, but we enjoyed it. There was a small Rainbow Boa named Houdini that I held. We got to see the Fer-de-Lance, a venomous viper that is found here.



It is the rainy season here and while it doesn’t rain all day very often, we have had some pretty lightening shows in the evenings. One day we had a huge beautiful rainbow. The huge arc started in the trees in front of the mountains and ended in the ocean.



The kids have had a week off from school so the beach and stores in town have been busier than usual. We wondered how long the school day is since we have seen them waiting at bus stops at 6 in the morning and after 6 at night. Someone told us that the school day is split into 2 shifts so it’s not the same kids. They get their summer break starting in mid December (the dry season) and they return the end of February or early March.

I finally have added some Panama pictures to my web albums if you want to check them out. I posted some El Valle, Coronado neighborhood, whale watching, sea shells and am working on birds, beach & more which should be done in a few days.