We headed to Panama with a huge to do list and armed with just enough information to be crazy dangerous. We had achieved the amazing feat of opening a bank account in Panama during our last visit in the summer of 2012. I know what you are thinking.... open a bank account? How hard can that be? Well in Panama you have to have a sponsor introduce you to the bank manager, who interviews you in person wanting to know how much money will be coming in and out, then submit several reference letters from two banks, an accountant and a lawyer. After about a month we heard we were accepted as a bank customer and our account was opened. The purpose of this visit is to get on-line access to our account and a debit card both of which have to be done in person. Luckily we found an English speaking bank representative to help complete these tasks. We arrived for our 10:00 am appointment at 8:45 am to meet Eva who had no idea that we had an appointment :). After two hours of Spanglish we had on-line access and had ordered a debit card which would be ready by the end of the week for us to pick up. Yeah Us.
The next few days were filled with a Panama City tour, meeting with a residency lawyer, an international mover, health insurance representative and renting a car so we could drive to Los Islotes and Pedasi. The most difficult and challenging task facing us in our move to a foreign language speaking country is...... driving in the city! OMG! No lanes, no blinkers, no manners, no street signs, too many cars, lots of honking and no idea where we are going!
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| Panama Canal so amazing |
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| Two toed sloth hanging in the city |
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| View of Panama City |
We were thrilled to get to Los Islotes to see the progress that has been made in the last year to our future neighborhood. We were able to drive to our new address, see the beautiful ocean view that will be ours and meet with an architect and builder to discuss our new home! We were part of a group of 25 people touring the property some of which like us had already purchased a lot and others just checking it out. It was great fun spending time with the developer Leif Simon and his team of great people as well as our new neighbor Patricia.
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| The swimming beach in our hood |
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| The surfing beach in our hood |
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| View from our lot - yep that is the ocean |
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| Our architect and builder |
We then made the two hour drive to the town of Pedasi to meet with some real estate professionals to see if we could find a house to rent. We fell in love with a cute little house with a nice backyard right in town. It is a fully furnished two bedroom and will be our home for three months starting April 1st. With that chore out of the way we spent the next day touring the town, beaches and grocery stores. We had a beautiful celebratory dinner on the beach with our friends Pat and Kim. And to drive the point home of why Panama.... we had four appetizers, lobster dinners, two desserts, cocktails and wine all for $100!
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| Our new home |
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| Our new backyard |
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| Dinner on the beach |
It was a fabulous productive trip. A very special thanks to our dear friends the Scheppners for putting up with our two dogs for twelve days and our new friends Cindy and Lawton here in the RV park for taking great care of our kitty's. Now the daunting task of getting everyone moved.
Great pictures! And too funny, I have that same sloth picture in my blog :-)
ReplyDeleteHi April and Pegg: Thanks for your blog update!!! Ruth and I have enjoyed following you along on your adventures and are excited to see how your Panama adventures work out.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Panama chicas. Life has just gotten brighter on the Azuero with your arrival. Lovely to meet you both and see you in April.
ReplyDeleteso i see the junior has your name in spanish on the license plate. at least you won't forget who you are when you get senile. sounds like you are accomplishing alot. when do you actually start building. i was with clients yesterday and they ask if your bought in a development or on your own and i realized i didn't know. can you let me know a little more about the land and the build? i'd love to hear about it.
ReplyDeletelove you both, auntie and almost