WhyPanama.net
Overview
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I officially moved
to Panama October 19th, 2006 when I and
our dog Cricket touched down at the Tocumen airport. It was around noon and
already hot but we had made arrangements
for the vet to meet us to take her off
the plane and get her checked over then
quarantine at home. I was nervous to say
the least, I had visions of her in the
cargo hold and overheating, but lo and
behold while I was waiting to go through
immigration the vet came up to me and
said she was the first off, even before
we were, and was safely in an air
conditioned office waiting for the
original paperwork from me. Five
suitcases and one kennel later we were
on our way to our new home.
I say this lightly as the pre Panama
move started way before October. First
with the decision in April, then with
the ‘Why Panama’ or ‘wow, that’s a gutsy
move, good for you’ or ‘what about
health care?’ questions from friends and
family, then there was our house to be
sold, all that was in it to either be
sold or given away and the end result
was just bringing with us what we wanted
to in suitcases. Not a small feat
considering we have been married for
over 30 years and the last home was home
for 14 years. While Tom was in Panama, I
was in St. Albert sorting, packing, and
pricing for a garage sale and let me
tell you in a way it was a very good
thing to do. Why do I say that? Well for
one thing, we don’t have children and
after going through all the stuff that
one accumulates over time, it was a
chore that I didn’t want family or
strangers to have to do.
You must be ruthless … and of course
there will be things that you just
cannot part with ... that is why you
take them with you. But all in all it is
just stuff and boy did we have a lot of
it. I ended up giving about 4 bags of
almost new t shirts and 3 bags of small
toiletries that I had picked up during
all my travels to a friend who had
friends who were helping some women and
children in Brazil. A huge collection of
garden books went to a small garden club
who now have what I believe to be the
largest library of any garden club in
Canada! Our garage sale (which Tom
kindly made it home for and a good thing
because I had lost my voice a day before
it started so croaked along for a few
days) was a smashing success…everyone
commenting on how great the items were
and what good shape they were all in…a
recently separated fellow came by and
outfitted his new home with a lot of it.
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I can only say that
2006 was one
heck of a year for me ... with my tours,
travel, the old house, the new country
and all the paperwork involved in both,
the new condo we now live in here…well
it was no wonder my hair went so gray!
Now being here I can safely say it was
worth it … we always wanted to move to
someplace warmer and when the
opportunity came up with Tom’s company
that he is a partner in, we said ‘why
not”. So here we are, in a country where
it rarely goes below 27C at night and is
usually around 30C during the day, has
two seasons – wet and dry, and loving
it. The plant material here is wonderful
and with over 900 different kinds of
birds, well it is just so incredibly
different than Alberta…we live in a
condo on the 7th floor. Looking out our
living room we see the ships waiting to
go through the Panama Canal. We have a
huge park in front of us and a drain
canal beside us that takes the water
when it rains and channels it out into
the ocean. As a result we have lots of
birds around us and I know there are
many more in the forest to be seen.
I will try and keep this area updated as
we see things of interest …. I do still
work from my home and am so thankful for
that…I still have the website and garden
tours to keep me busy and I continue to
travel and write – nothing has changed
for me except my address …. but what an
address! We are meeting lots of new
friends, and many people from Canada and
the US are making this their home now.
Visit our other websites:
www.icangarden.com
www.gardeningtours.com
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