12/13/2013 6:12 pm I received an email from Isla Verda this afternoon that they have a place available for the month of February. At first I was jubilant, but then Dan said that he thinks he might just stay for the month of February, and he would rather stay here. We talked it over, and we agreed that if went made the trip into town together at least once a week to shop for supplies, it would be okay to be up here. It’s amazing how the place has grown on us in just a couple of days. So my message to anyone reading this who was hoping to come down to visit or just wanted to get out of Wisconsin for a while, I could check with Yelin about getting some extra beds in here. We don’t use the living room downstairs much, and that could easily be converted into a sleeping area. Or, you could get a place in town and we could get together either here or at your place. I haven’t heard back yet from Isla Verde, but if you’re interested, let me know, and I can send you that connection. It’s a great place to stay. So looks like we’re Volcancito residents until the end of February! I’m happy.
12/13/2013 12:26 pm. We’re pretty well settled in except that our Internet connection is marginal. We’ll have to work on that the next few days. I’m back into my usual routine of work, study and cooking. Here are a few new foods for you: So upper left is “un aquacate” (avocado). This one’s not ripe. Avocado is very popular here, so it’s difficult to find them in the market. I think the trick is to just buy the under-ripe ones and time it so that you always have ripe ones on hand. On the right, “limon naranja.” Seems like a cross between a lemon and an orange, but it tastes more like a lemon. The beans are called “luz milena.” Luz means light. I have no idea what milena means. They look like a cross between pinto and kidney. I’m making beans and rice for dinner - so creative. :) So, the dogs’ parents came home yesterday. Apparently they leave the dogs out in the yard while they’re gone. So, now that they’re home, all is quiet. Dan shouted out hello to them as they were getting into their car this morning. Their names are Ted and Pam. I think they’re Americans. They asked how long we were going to be here and then immediately apologized about their dogs. ”We try to keep them quiet, but…” I can’t imagine they’re too happy about this little house being built across the street from them. I’ll post a picture of their house and ours. Our house is now their view, which previously was just the lush natural landscape. 12/12/2013 7:15 a.m. When we first moved in I noticed a dog across the road. Oh, how cute he is. Oh, there’s another, and another, and that one looks kind of like a Border Collie. I love dogs. Maybe we’ll make friends with the owners, and I can play with their dogs…. Well, I wasn't quite so happy when they carried on barking all night. I guess I’m going to have to get used to it. Like Grandma used to say, “You’ll get used to hangin’ if you’re there long enough.”
I went grocery shopping yesterday in town at Romero. I bought enough food for about a week. When Fernando came to pick me up, he asked if i found everything I needed. “Yes,” I said, “everything but bananas.” So, instead of driving me straight home, he stopped at his mother’s house. There on her porch was a huge bunch of bananas that had apparently been recently chopped off a tree. Fernando went into the house, came out with a knife and chopped off a bunch of bananas for me. ”There, now you have bananas, and the best bananas you can’t buy.” He was right. They are thinner than the bananas we buy at home and about twice as sweet. What a nice guy. Almost makes up for the stupid dogs. We’re still settling in. We started out sitting out on the patio yesterday, but the setting sun pushed us indoors. I emailed the owner and asked if we could move a bamboo room divider from inside the house to the patio to block the sun. He said he didn’t like that idea because he didn’t want it exposed to the elements. He said he would look into a shade. When I returned from grocery shopping, Dan said that Yelin had come in with a man, and they were measuring the opening on the patio. He didn’t talk to her because he was on a conference call, so perhaps we will get a shade. The Wi-Fi unit is touch-and-go. We completely lost it last night. Not sure what is happening there. This morning it is working fine, especially if I put it out on the patio. Yelin purchased the unit for us with just 10 days of service. She said that I needed to go to the Claro office in town to extend the days of service. I did that yesterday. Claro said that they don’t do that there; I have to go to Romero. I went to Romero, and they said that they don’t do that there: I have to go to Claro…, and by the way, try reading the instructions in the box. She didn’t say, “by the way,” but that’s what I heard. So, this morning I read the instructions, and they mention nothing about how to extend the service. Yelin!!! A note to anyone who had ideas of coming to visit, not sure that would be such a great idea. We had hoped to find a two-bedroom place in town, and in that case we would love to have you come. But now we’re up in the hills in a one-bedroom. I asked Yelin about guests coming to stay, and she said that we could get a fold-out bed. I’m guessing that means a cot or something, and where do we get that from? I believe she is intentionally evasive on this point. So, all I can say is if you were planning on visiting Panama anyhow to escape winter and to see the sights, and we can find a place for you in town, where you would be comfortable, great. I would just hate to have you come and be stuck up here with nothing to do (unless that’s what you want). Since we don’t have a car, we’re limited. I asked at Isla Verde that they put our name on a waiting list in case of cancellation. If that comes through, it would be a completely different story. 2/11/2013 1:10 pm Well we just got here a short while ago and were finally able to unpack our bags and hang up some clothes. Dan is pleased with the place, and we were able to get everything connected and working with the Claro Wi-Fi unit. We can even access Netflix! Beverly just called from David, and she is on here way here with the table. Riight now we are just sitting out on the patio with tiny tables and a couple of lawn chairs. Beverly is going to take me back into Boquete with her so that I can do some grocery shopping.
12/08/2014 2:17 pm Just came in from meditating on our little patio. About halfway through my meditation I heard “Hola!” I opened my eyes to see two little girls and a boy, all about 5 or 6 years of age, standing just outside my patio waving to me. I returned their greeting, and they ran off giggling, only to return every few minutes to repeat the routine, giggling harder each time. I was struck how even at this very young age they sensed the humor in repetition. I also found it interesting that my meditation mantra today was “I AM joy,” and here it was in my reality, pure joy. I can’t explain how I feel being here. I assume part of it is just due to the stark contrast in climate and landscape, but if ever I have experienced “rarefied,” this would be it. It feels like another dimension. I am reminded of how I felt when I used to play Candyland as a kid, a beautiful place of my dreams.
12/08/2013 a.m. I’m sitting here on our patio at Isla Verde enjoying my morning coffee waiting for Beverly to let me know about our meeting today to test the Internet. I received another email response about a place closer to town. I’m going to explore any options. Right now I’m happy to have found this place, but it is not walking distance to town,and I would prefer that. Here are a few more shots of Isla Verde. 12/07/2013 late morning. Just returned from looking at the place in Volcancito. We are going to take it if it passes tomorrow’s experiment. We are going to go back with Dan and his computer and make sure that everything works with the Internet. The way it works here (when you live outside of town) is you buy a little box from Claro, the cable company. This is your Internet connection. You pay about $20 a month for this.
The place is a “townhouse,” meaning it is a two-story on one side of a building. It is not as nice as Isla Verde, but for the price ($550) and the fact that they will allow a 3-month rental, I am feeling fortunate to have found it. It is only one bedroom (upstairs), but we are told that it would be easy enough to bring in a fold-up bed. The realtor says she does it all the time. Also there is no table, just a snack counter. Beverly took me into town to look at a department store where you can buy a fold-up table. Here they are $80. She said she could get one for $40 in David. She also said that she has plenty of chairs, so we don’t have to worry about that. Yelin, the realtor said that there is a little table and chairs in the closet to be used on the patio. So I think this is it. Tomorrow we will experiment with the Internet and if that works, we’ll move in on Monday morning. Here’s the link: http://www.viviun.com/AD-194995/ |