Next to our condo tower, we seem to have a pasture. Looks nice and peaceful anyway ! They wander around freely even into the flower beds of the homes across the way. Mind you the occupants of those homes are rarely there and likely don't know how tasty their plants are to these 4 legged wanderers. These horses are likely the ones that are taken to the beach to give rides to the people relaxing there.
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We have moved to another home in Panama. It's in a large residential and resort complex called Playa Blanca. We have a2 bedroom home on the 4th floor in Torre 2. It's less than 1/2 the size of our previous place, but that means we have to do 1/2 as much cleaning !!! Our apartment faces East and South so we can see a huge man made lagoon which is supposed to be expanded soon. Already it covers about 10 hectares. There are about 15 condo towers and some lower rise apartments as well as some nice looking homes. There are two all inclusive resorts about 500 meters away in case you'd prefer to stay there rather than with us when you visit .... (hint, hint) One is the Playa Blanca Resort which is about 10 years old and then a new Riu which is about 1 year old. Within 4 km are 3 other all inclusives - the J.W Marriott and the Royal Decameron. There is a Wyndham too, but there are some financial messes there and while it did open briefly, it is under bankruptcy protection. It looks really gorgeous though.
About 4000 km from Toronto to Panama (yellow line) We’re at 8°31'25.81" N 79°53'58.51" W Panama is the bridge between North and South America About 60 km wide at the narrowest between the Pacific and the Caribbean. From the mountains, you can see both oceans at the same time. We go to the San Carlos Kingdom Hall. It’s about 10 minutes west of Coronado where we live, on the Panamerican Highway Zooming in a bit more on our place using Here.com because Google Earth’s most recent imagery is dated 2003 and doesn’t show our apartment since it was built about 5 years ago. There’s our pool ! And there we are! The green dot in Here.com shows the exact spot from where I’m writing this. Going down to the infinity pool in a few minutes to cool off. Its 28 degrees and breezy right now at 8:45 am. Then we’re going out to do a few calls. No service group today because it is Carnival time. The Panamanians make a HUGE production of Carnival here and the highway is not safe to travel on from noon onward due to all the drunks. Carnival here is a big party of alcohol, sex and traffic accidents. Panamanians love to party. So we’re just going to have a few quiet days at home!
We've been watching these guys stroll around in our garden for the past few weeks. We're not really sure whether there are more than one of them or whether they change colours once they go for a drink in our little lagoon which is covered with a bright green algae. What do you think? Most days are sunny and hot, but at this time of the year at around 2:00 the heavens open up and it pours !
Our home is about 200 meters from the vast Pacific Ocean. To get there we walk through a hotel/bar/party site called La Gaviota. Apparently on special weekends, this is a wild party place. This weekend is a long weekend so we'll see if it lives up to it's reputation!
When we reach the beach, to the right is Rio Las Lajas which is a stream running down from the mountains into the Pacific. What is interesting is seeing the interaction of the tides with this small river. In this area, tides are often 18 feet! So when the tide is rising, the river actually reverses direction and water runs upstream ! It is fascinating to visit because everyday, the estuary changes shape and colour. We will add pictures as time goes on showing the same spot looking completely different all the time. Pacific Ocean beaches in Panama are either Black volcanic sand or the normal ivory coloured sand composed of coral, seashells and crushed rocks. So as one walks down the beach, it changes from black to white and back again. Strangely, the black and white don't seem to mix! As we walk down the beach, we pass the beach sides of million $ mansions, high rise condos and other structures which look like they were abandoned decades ago. We have a lovely, very large (2000 sq ft +) apartment in a 3 story Condo about 200 meters from the beach. It belongs to a brother who is back in the USA for a while. He kindly rented the home to us for a very reasonable amount. Bright, light and completely furnish. Everything we need for cooking so Randy is really happy and is baking lots of things!
The condo complex is in two small towers and each tower has 6 units. Ours has 3 bedrooms with full attached baths (just in case we get any visitors..... ) The complex has a nice warm pool and jacuzzi as well as a bohio with charcoal bbq that anyone can use. And we do use it! Well, we're finally getting ourselves organized and a schedule too! We're living in Coronado which is a gated community about 100 km west of Panama City on the Pacific Coast. Maps will follow (eventually)
Coronado was settled by natives centuries ago and when the Spanish conquered Central America developed this area as a farming centre to feed Panama City. The current area of Panama was founded and settled by the Eisenman family from Panama in the 1940s as a weekend beach getaway from Panama City. See the following link for more interesting historical info: http://www.insidepanamarealestate.com/panama-communities/coronado-panama-real-estate-information/ We had visited this area first about 7 years ago and then again 6 years ago for our 40th wedding anniversary. Once we decided to move to Panama, we contacted various brothers and finally found that a brother from the USA wanted to rent out his condo for 8 months. So we took it ! We are attending the nearby congregation of San Carlos which has only 24 publishers and 12 pioneers but has over 150 Bible Studies! So we thought this would be a place where we would be of use. So here we are. I'll post a series of photos about the place and our experiences as time goes on. |
AuthorGordon and Randy are embarking on another adventure. First Quebec, then Pakistan, then Mexico. This time in Panama, Central America. Follow us and we hope you'll enjoy our stories and photos! We will update several times a week. Archives
January 2016
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