The Three Amigos!
We now have witnesses that can validate what we’ve been saying all along: Panama is NOT an island. You can drink the water. People do not walk around in grass skirts with bones in their noses….well at least not here in Pedasi. The napkins do indeed suck here. Chickens and roosters do not sleep, ever, EVER!!!! Men absolutely do bark at each other, on occasion even the ladies get into it. If you order fish, expect it to be smiling back at you from the plate.
Amy, Ellyn and Pete arrived here in Panama on Nov. 6th and stayed until this past Saturday. Total travel time for them was about 18 hours. Thankfully Wayne and I are so worth it! They were up at 1:30 AM to drive to JFK, flew to Costa Rica, had minutes to spare before jumping on a plane to Panama where there was a driver waiting for them. Ahhhhh, who wouldn’t be up for a 5 hour drive at this point. The first thing Ellyn said to me was ‘you need to move closer.’ They were beat but were good enough sports to stay awake through dinner. We heard the airport in Pedasi has been stalled for a couple of months but hopefully by the time they come again, or we get some of you others to come, it will be open. It will shorten the 5 hour drive to about a ½ hour plane ride.
Fischer had no problem vacating our spare room for Pete and the girls stayed 2 minutes away…at a place with a pool. I was thinking of me when I had them book there. We got some good use out of it. More use out of the ocean though. One highlight for sure was Ellyn catching a wave on a boogie board and screeching like a schoolgirl for the full 50 feet of travel. Pete took surfing lessons. He managed to at least get to his knees on the board. He was a hurting puppy the next day. Nothing a little rum couldn’t fix. Amy, aka the Snack Queen. Do not let her go hungry. You won’t like Amy if she gets hungry!!!
The week was full of lots of trips to the beach, boogie boarding, canteen visits, pool side cocktails, visits with friends, tons of food, rum, wine, SUNSHINE. Every day was sunny and perfect…..and it’s still rainy season. Since they left we’ve had rain every day. So thanks guys for bringing the SUN.
Given all of our activities during the day, I think the latest we were up was about 10 – 10:30 and that might have been the night they arrived and the night before they left. We had a great send off Friday night at Pedasi Cheese. Yes, it’s a cheese store now turned into a restaurant too. Cheese…..Restaurant…..HELLO. The restaurant allowed the guys to bring their guitars and drums and Kristen had her violin. It was a blast. Nothing like a little ‘hill billy camp fire’ music to really freak out the locals.
THANKS GUYS FOR COMING OUT. IT MEANT THE WORLD TO US. I finally stopped crying around noon the day you left L
Other news. Pictures attached are of a couple fiesta’s that have taken place over the last few weeks. November is a big party month. We actually spent a lot of time listening to live, GOOD music. Well, until the singing started then ‘good’ turned to ‘ok, let’s get another beer.’
Our land purchase continues to be quite interesting. I’m so happy Central American pharmacies do business like they do. “hello, I need something that will make me tranquil.” “Of course, here you go, these work very well.” And indeed they do!!! We have actually put a down payment down on piece of land we were shown just last week. It got Ellyn’s approval while she was here. It’s a local guy and pretty straight forward. So we might be land owners in a couple weeks. Holy crap! Where did I put those pills any way?
Fischer and Melvin LOVE each other now. Of course many pictures of them are attached too. When Melvin squeaks in his cage, The Woo gets out of his bed, and we all know how much Fischer loves his bed, to go investigate. There have been a few moments of heart stopping excitement when Mel won’t let go of the rope that Fischer is swinging around on the bed 3 feet in the air of the hard tile floor. Another really good time is right after washing the floors. The tiles are like glass. Melvin pretty much skids all over on his belly while Woo looks like George Jetson….’get me off this crazy thing!’
We did our required border crossing a couple weeks ago. We are allowed to stay here 6 months before needing to leave for 72 hours. The border between Panama and Costa Rica is a total crap hole. But we did our thing and are now legal for 6 more months...However our drivers licenses are only good for 3. Go figure. We actually stayed in a nice hotel while we were there. The lines to get stamped out/in and out/in again were about an hour long. We had no issues. We did everything by the book this time however, next time we will certaily be taking up the many offers of help to get us in and out in less than 72 hours.
Ok everyone. We miss you all and REALLY, REALLY mean it when we say you are welcome anytime! Please pass along what’s been going on with you. I’ve said it before, we love hearing back and knowing what’s going back home.
