My Latest Adventure

One of the things I love doing here is making cards. I made my first one yesterday. I have an order to fill for my donations for the last church auction. I must make four sets of five cards. So, it will be fun to see how they turn. The one I made today was a separate project, a card for a friend who lost a friend.

I had dinner last night at Kinnears. The other guests were Kathy Rutz, CathyAnne Schulte and Nancy Peterson. Wish I would have taken a photo. Joyce had a lovely cheese platter with blue and a goat cheese(?) with apricots as an appetizer. It was a great combination with CathyAnne’s focaccia, which is absolutely amazing. She brought one to me once last year when I was staying at Isla Verde. (She lived nearby.) We played Scrabble, drank wine, and I ate almost the entire focaccia. I tried really hard last night to share, but I think it is safe to say I had the healthiest portion. Joyce also made a broccoli salad with cranberries and nuts and a beef stroganoff. And, of course, she made dessert: a strawberry shortcake with a very unique type of shortcake. Kind of a pie-crust-shortcake mix. AND, fresh whipped cream – of course.

I spent a long time today working on learning Bubble, the new program being used by Boquete Health and Hospice. I think I mentioned earlier that I volunteer with this group. So, my latest technological challenge is learning how to create an app. Why not?! I’m going to give it two hours a day (as often as possible) for at least two weeks to see if I have the capacity to learn this. Also, as my wise friend, Patty, says, “If it’s not fun, fuck it!” Right now, it’s still fun.

Also, continuing with my lessons with Hola Spanish. My latest challenge is learning how to pronounce the “rr.” It is a tough one for me. I need to learn how to relax my tongue and speak at the same time. There is SO much tension in learning a new language, but this program normalizes that. I love the classes. The teacher, Brenda Romanello, is a perfect example, I think, of someone who has found their passion in life. She is one of the best teachers I have ever experienced.

Barb stopped over today. We talked about our plan for our walk tomorrow. I will call tomorrow, January 15, the official start of my training for the Camino, which I plan to do in the fall of 2022. It is one of the many gifts I plan to give myself for my 70th birthday. Stay tuned.

Gloria and Jon don’t know each other, and they likely never will. They represent for me the two extremes of political divisiveness here and everywhere. Gloria is my landlady and a liberal Democrat. Jon is a former landlord from Valle Escondido. I rented his basement apartment a couple of times in years past, which was beautiful.

And then there’s Jon. Early on, I connected, via WhatsApp, with Jon and neighbors in Valle Escondido, asking if they wanted to get together for a night out. Initially, everyone was in. Then I realized I forgot to add the new neighbor, Alex. Alex bought Adrianna and Charlie’s house in Valle Escondido a couple of years ago. Alex is across the street from Jon and next to Carmen and Emilio. (Last year, I spent two months at Adrianna and Charlie’s new place. ). Anyhow…when I apologized and added Alex to the group, all but Adrianna dropped out. What the…

So I contacted Jon. It went something like this:

“I have decided not to associate with people of socialist/communist view. I am tired of arguing with irrational idiots who know nothing of history. I have a lot of followers. At the same time lots of assholes of the progressive view looking to insult me. Looking to restrict my speech.”

I suggested then just me, Adrianna and Charlie.

“Good, four people. No fags. You a fag?”

“Not last time I checked.”

“Okay, then you can come. “

So, I’m walking up to Valle Escondido for lunch today. Should be lovely.

I had a very nice lunch today with Jon, Mimi, Rosa and Graciano. Jon made a wonderful linguini and sauce as well as a salad and garlic bread. It was nice seeing everyone again. I have discovered that my Spanish has improved. Mimi and Rosa are two of the very rare opportunities I have to speak Spanish here. Mimi is Jon’s cleaning person, and Rosa is his nurse. Rosa tended to Jon years ago after an experience with E. coli. Jon was in bad shape. Rosa saved him. They have a very strong bond, as he also has with Mimi and Graciano. They have quite a history. The people are Jon’s chosen family here, and they depend on each other. Rosa just graduated from nursing school, thanks to Jon’s financial support.

We missed Raoul today. Raoul was Jon’s neighbor. He became acutely ill about six months ago and was returned to the U.S. Today when I arrived, I asked Jon if he had heard anything about Raoul, as my last communication with him and his wife was just before I left home. Jon’s response: “Raoul…oh yeah, he’s dead.” Boing!!

Raoul arrived in Panama a number of years ago with stage IV prostate cancer. He chose to forego treatment in the US and instead live out his remaining years in “paradise,” and that’s exactly what he did.

One back home today, I had time to spend working on my cards before the Dupies Zoom.

My original plan for today was to walk into town, run a couple of errands (I’m completely surrounded by no wine!) and then walk over to the Tuesday Market. Tuesday Market is a weekly open market of local and expat vendors. Here you will find the indigenous selling hand-woven bowls and pillows shams, Panamanians selling fresh produce and crafts, and expats selling all of the things that gringos can’t find in the local stores. The market has grown rapidly over the years (although it closed down during most of Covid). We’re all happy that it’s open again. It is an opportunity to socialize and connect with friends and neighbors, but we remain aware that it could close at any time.

This morning I received a message that the Liberal Spirituality Group was being cancelled because of Covid worries. I offered my Zoom account, but that didn’t go over well. So, we’ll have to see how that goes.

I say it wasn’t a “Tuesday Morning” kind of day because it was raining – at least in town. I live in Santa Lucia which is at a higher elevation than the town center and one of the drier of the five microclimates here. By the time I reached the bottom of Volcancito Road in front of the Information Center (a yesterday photo), still about a mile from the town center, it was coming down pretty good. So, I hailed a taxi, went into town, did a little taking-care-of-business, bought a bottle of wine, and hailed a taxi home.

Now, back home in Santa Lucia, it’s bright, sunny, dry and 73 degrees. So, I did a bit of BHH database work (learning a new program called Bubble) and then set up my painting table.

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Tonight is Trivia night. I’m waiting for Nancy to pick me up.

I love this word. It’s not in the dictionary. Just a bit of trivia: You may have noticed this word on a sign suspended above the area just beyond TSA at Mitchell Field. It’s where you put your shoes back on and put all your stuff back the way it was…after being discombobulated. I searched for this word one day and found that it is a jocular neologism utilized by one of the security managers. I can’t find the reference now, but I still love the word.

I finally feel like I am settled and back to my routine. First morning routine: coffee and calligraphy.

I spent some time today meeting with Chris McCall, one of the Boquete Health & Hospice (BHH) volunteers. He was showing me how to use the new program (Bubble) he hopes we will ultimately choose to build the BHH database. I started working on the database last year while here using Excel, and I ran into snags, which neither I nor any of my geeky friends could solve. I was starting a search to find an Excel expert, and Chris thought that was a bad idea and suggested this program instead. After our meeting this morning my head is spinning. We’ll see. Bottom line: I love technology, and I love a challenge…IF it is fun. We’ll see.

I walked into town and back this morning. It’s way more of a walk than necessary or desirable on a daily basis. It just takes too long. It’s about seven miles round trip. I think I’ll try walking in and taking the bus back.

Here are a couple of shots from my morning excursion. The photo of the rainbow was taken a couple of days ago in the midst of bajareque, which is a very, very light rain shower. It is one of the things I found enchanting about Boquete when we first visited here in 2008. You cannot see bajareque unless you look up toward the sky, and then you can see what look like tiny insects flying about. Those are the raindrops. It is the lightest mist. I remember the first time it happened. I asked Dan if it was raining because I could feel the tingling on my skin, but I couldn’t see any rain. It is during bajareque that one can see many rainbows at the same time.

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I had a lovely day today. Started out with a massage from Gloria, and then she prepared blueberry pancakes for us. Such a great way to start the day.

I then spent some time studying Spanish with the new online site I joined recently on Dan’s recommendation. It’s called Hola Spanish. It is by far the best online class I have encountered. They have both beginner and intermediate/advanced. And they are truly separate. Most of the classes I have taken recently are always a mix, and sometimes I want to poke my eyes out. Not with this class. The teachers are excellent and speak very clearly. Today the online lesson was practicing the “r” and the “R.” This is very challenging for most gringos because we have never been taught to use our tongues this way. These videos spent a lot of time showing exactly how to do this. Tonight is my first Zoom conversation class. I’m looking forward to it.

If you’re interested in the class, here’s the link (I just like inserting links now).:

https://holaspanish.teachable.com/

I also spent a little time updating my blog. It’s a fun project. Here is a little video I took of my view across the street.

My apartment:

I did not plan very far in advance to rent this apartment. I was originally booked at Isla Verde where I have stayed in the past in a beautiful little room called Sark. Sark is right next to the river. It has a lovely covered porch where I could sit and write and paint all day long, and no one could see me. I could also leave all of my things on the table all day and night without any worry. But Isla bumped me in order to allow the present renters to extend their stay until May. They offered me another room, but no other rooms there possess the perfection of Sark. I want the option of sitting outside.

Betty, one of my knitting friends here, suggested this apartment. She lived here for a couple of weeks years ago while she waited for her rental to become available. The owner, Gloria, became her friend, so I made the connection and was able to rent the room. It is not quite Sark, but It is only $450/month. Sark was $1100 month. Sark was right in the center of town near all the shops. Santa Lucia is located about three miles from town, which is a perfect walk. I had to buy a few kitchen supplies, but no big deal. Ideally, I would love to be able to return here. Whenever I have a challenge here, I repeat my mantra, “It’s only $450 a month.”

Gloria and I have hit a couple of minor snags, but we’re working it out. She is a sweet woman with a good heart, but I learned early on that she came from a family of 11, is now 75 years old and has made it this far in life on her own in her own way. I respect that.

Our latest snag this morning told me we would be fine. Gloria has the condition known as “electromagnetic hypersensitivity.” If you ever watched Better Call Saul, you might remember that Saul’s brother suffered with this condition. It is a sensitivity to all things electrical. Here’s a wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity

Because of this condition, Gloria does not use a phone, television, computer…nothing. The Internet modem is located in a tiny room in her house. When I first arrived, she said she would turn it on at 7 a.m. and turn it off at 10 p.m. 10 p.m. turned out to be too late for her, and she changed it to 9 p.m. I thought I could live with that, but last night I was chatting with a friend, and I was cut off mid-sentence. It was not yet 9 p.m. I left a note on her door and asked if she would consider moving the modem to my room. I explained that it would be a win-win. It would be out of her environment, and I could access the Internet whenever I needed it. I told her I would be happy to pay for the rewire.

She came to the window this morning and apologized for the disruption in my chat and agreed that we could move the modem. Of course, we discovered it is not that easy, but she said that I could just come into her place at night and unplug it before I went to bed. Works for me! “It’s only $450/month.”

Barb took me on a hike this morning on one of Price Peterson’s fincas. A finca is the word used here for coffee plantation. Peterson has been here for many, many years and has purchased quite a bit of land. Much of the land is in conservancy, and a lot of it is used for dairy farming and growing coffee. The Peterson family provides employment, housing and income for many of the Ngöbe-Buglé, one of the indigenous populations of Panama. The Petersons have also built a beautiful library here, parks, and are now planning a performing arts center. I haven’t met them, but they are good friends of Barb and Murray’s, and they have granted them access to hike their many hectares of land.

Some of the videos here are from yesterday, but it doesn’t really matter.

Here is a link to read more about the Ngöbe-Buglé. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C3%A4be

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Here are some videos from yesterday:

I’m back in my room again. So, now I can finally unpack and get organized. I have reached my video upload limit, so I will post a video of my room tomorrow.

I have a lot coming up; I need to get organized. I’m feeling a bit discombobulated. I’m meeting with a spiritual discussion group on Thursday, which has opted to use the Soul Matters format from the Unitarian Universalist church at home. The group is called the Liberal Spiritual Group. I know, it sounds redundant, but one must be very clear about things here. I have a hospice meeting coming up (I’m a volunteer), Spanish lessons and calligraphy lessons. I also want to start working on making more cards. Three months to play.

Three great highlights of my day: My morning hike, my afternoon surprise call, and another great dinner with Barb and Murray.

Do the words “stroll” and “jungle” sound a bit incongruous to you? They did to me and made me laugh when Barb said it this morning, “We’re just going to go for a stroll in the jungle.” It was absolutely amazing. Here are some photos, thanks to my surprise caller who helped me install them in my blog.

Well, that’s as far as I’m going to get today. And this is progress thanks to a very unexpected call from my friend Simon Karvelas in Greece. I was very pleasantly surprised when Simos called me today and said, “Christine, I see you are trying to set up a blog.” He had seen my attempts launched on Facebook. The operative word in the previous sentence is “trying.” He continued, “You forgot; setting up websites is one of my jobs.” Oh my, yes, I did forget, and here he was like an angel offering to help me. Simos spent a good two hours with me to help launch the blog at a much better level. I obviously have lots of room for improvement, but at least I was able to get a better grasp.

One thing I could not figure out this evening is how to post a video. That will be lesson number two from Simos. Stay tuned.

Had another lovely dinner with Murray and Barb this evening. We prepared ribs, but the “low and slow” prepping method suggested to me by my master-grilling friend, Tim Stasinoulias, doesn’t quite fit with the 7 p.m. bedtime of my hosts. So, the ribs are still prepping, and this evening we had instead shrimp with fettuccine and a parsley/almond pesto. Ribs tomorrow, at least for them. I’m not sure where I will be tomorrow. Stay tuned.

I marvel at the technology that made the experiences of this day possible. Out of “nowhere” I get a call from a friend across the globe offering me help. In seconds I receive cooking advice from a friend in another part of the world. I receive news of a very ill friend at home who is recovering beautifully from a sudden health challenge. I end the evening with a sweet-dreams call from my lovely husband. Thank you.

January 5 My friend, Mary, said, “In the movies, the luggage alway shows up.” And that turned out to be true for me. Six days! That’s a record for me. Our luggage was lost once in Greece, but it came the next day. Mine finally arrived yesterday morning. Barb drove me to the David Airport to pick it up. I knew it was a big ask for her to do this because driving here is a bit of a nightmare. Too much traffic and two few traffic controls. I played navigator with the GPS, and Barb said the swear words. She was very assertive and did a great job. I would not want to drive here.

Then we came to her house. I am here for the previously agreed upon three days that I had to be out of my apartment. It was part of my rental agreement with Gloria.

I am so enjoying my time with Barb and Murray. They have a beautiful home here in Palmira. It is one of the highest areas of Boquete and very windy, but beautiful. Murray captured a scorpion last night and saved it in a jar to show me this morning.

Barb is an avid hiker and took me this morning on a lovely hike with the dogs. We walked through a pine forest and a dairy farm. Of course, I didn’t have my phone with me, but I promise to take a video tomorrow and post it soon. I also want to capture their home here and, or course, Barb’s beautiful greenhouse.

After our hike Barb and I went into town for a pedicure ($16…thank you very much) and then did our grocery shopping.

I cooked dinner this evening: a puttanesca with fettuccine and sauteed salmon. Barb doesn’t cook much at all, and Murray cooks the basics; so, they were very happy to have me cook for them, and I was happy to do so. They assured me that I can feel free to do so anytime I want. Looking forward to that. I love the sound of the wind here, the roosters crowing and the dogs barking. I feel like Alice who has walked through the looking glass. I have such a full, beautiful life at home and another one here. It’s magical.

January 3  So, I’m starting this blog because a lot of people don’t like Facebook, I don’t know Instagram, and I’m tired of repeating myself.

My flight here was challenging. I was supposed to arrive in David, my final destination near Boquete where I stay, on 12/30 at 5:00 pm. Instead, I arrived on 12/31 at 9:00 am. I missed my connection in Chicago because my flight from Milwaukee was delayed due to airplane mechanical issues. We had to de-plane there, wait an hour and board a different flight to Chicago. Because of that, In Chicago, I missed my connection to Panama City. So, I was re-routed to JFK with an overnight flight to Panama City, and then on to David. I finally made it, but my suitcase did not. Thanks to technology and WhatsApp, I was able to stay in communication with my Boquete friends who were making the 45-minute drive from Boquete to David to pick me up. When they arrived at the airport, we filed a claim with Baggage Claim in David, and they said the bag would be delivered to my friends’ home.

Today Copa Airlines sent a follow-up text saying my bag was delivered to my friends’ house. It was not. We continued to communicate with them, and just a short time ago, I received another message from Copa saying they found my bag – in Milwaukee!! It should be here soon. I am so happy they found it.

So, my place here is very nice. It is a studio apartment. It is an attachment to the main house, which is owned by Gloria. The kitchen is tiny, but I’ll make it work. The rent is only $450 a month (as opposed to the $1100/mon. last year), so I’m going to make it work. I’ll try to attach a video or photos here. Not sure how to do that yet. Gloria and I are hitting it off quite well.

I’ve been able to connect with a few friends: my friend, Barb, and my knitting group. The knitting group had their movie day yesterday, so I went to that. We watched an old Bette Davis movie called Now, Voyager (1942). Although quite comical at some points due to the 40s drama, it was really quite good. Very risque for its time and insightful regarding mental illness and conditioning, although they didn’t call it that.

I walked into town today to buy a few groceries. It’s a three-mile walk, perfect for my daily routine. Barb has agreed to do a longer walk with me once a week. While in town, I stopped at my friend, Cathy’s house to say hello, and while standing outside, a truck pulled up with my friends, Carmen and Emilio. It was nice to see them, and we plan to get together soon. As soon as I have clothes.

It was nice being in the town center again, visiting my favorite grocery stores. I took the bus home, crammed into the Volcancito minibus with the locals. Not much concern about Omicron here yet, although I did not see a single person without a mask anywhere. The one change from last year is that there are no longer temperature monitors at the doors to shops.

So, I have all the food I need for a while. I’m getting my to-do list together, which includes the all-important pedicure on Tuesday. Shaving my legs was usually a first-day chore, but…no razor. So far, my chin is not out of control. Thank goodness I have light-colored hair; I might be mistaken for wildlife. I also have not put a comb through my hair in four days.

The weather, of course, is perfect. It is 72 degrees with sunny, blue skies and blooming bougainvillea everywhere. I saw my first Motmot today at Gloria’s feeder. That was a treat.

I have been asked to join two spiritual study groups here. They are both starting up after covid breaks, so I am hoping they may join forces and become one group. I shared with one group leader the program I have been doing through the UU church I belong to in Hartland. The program is called Soul Matters. I have had some great discussions with my group at home. Hope it works here.

I’m looking forward to my suitcase being delivered soon because it contains my calligraphy pen. I miss my morning routine of coffee and calligraphy.

So, that’s it for today. I’ll try to keep up and learn how to attach videos.