We had heard there was a fish market within walking distance on the beach of where we are living. We also heard that we couldn’t walk on the beach to the market at high tide. So we asked a few questions and were told to go in the morning. We headed out and walked down the beach toward Panama City and around the point.
Walking to the Fish Market…Around the point…Restaurants & bars & fish marketFishing boats…
But, when we got to the market, we were told that we should come back at 2pm when the boats come back in. So, we at least got a nice walk along the beach out of the deal. But, checking the tide tables, 2pm would be high tide, so we would have to travel the streets to get back to the market. It’s a nice afternoon for a walk, but then every afternoon is nice here. Out walking is another chance to see the beauty that surrounds us.
On the way to the fish market…Glomo Gorgano Beach
Once we got to the road down to the beach, we found out why you can’t get here during high tide. The beach was GONE!
There was a beach there…Watching the waves roll under the bar…Drinking til low tide…
So, fish were being sold at the top of the road. He had sea bass, langistinos (a kind of shrimp)
Langostino…
and stream crabs, I think that’s what they are called…
Stream crabs
We decided on sea bass. He said two, I said two. I was thinking two fish, he was talking 2 pounds. So we ended up with 3 fish, for 2 dollars. We headed for home, going past this great little fixer-upper…
Fixer-upper…cheap
and this beautiful place…
Another beautiful place…
Once we arrived home with our “catch”, our first step was to look up how to fillet sea bass. Thank heavens for the internet. With some good video instructions, I started to prepare the fish.
Internet & fish…Looks good so far…
My one recommendation, SHARP knives are a MUST!!!
Not bad for the first time…
Frying is easy…
Looking good…Almost ready…
Dinner is served!!!!!
Ready to eat…
Yes, it was good!!!!! Next time, Langistino’s…..:-)
It’s time for our 1st venture BACK into Panama City. Well, at least the outskirts. We took our 30 cent bus to the main road
Our 30 cent bus…
and hopped onto a bus headed back into Panama City. The buses are really a good way to travel here. An hour later, we arrived at the bus station/Albrook Mall. This is advertised as the largest mall in Central America, and after our day there, I would tend to agree.
This place is HUGE…
We came in on the 2nd floor and checked out the map.
da map…
We were looking for the Movil phone store (not just a kiosk) because we wanted to recharge our cell phones. I had tried doing this on the Movil website, but for some reason, the purchase was declined. We found the store on the map and headed off. We walked, and walked, and we saw animals,
Giraffes…Friendly, I think…
and people,
Why did the surfer come to the mall…?To use the internet…
and stores,
Lions and tigers oh my…
and we walked
Large animals…
and walked some more. Finally we found the food court
Lots of choices…
and decided it was a good time to have something to eat. No shortage of choices here! Even some familiar items from the states, with a Central American twist.
Burger King
How about Burger King: La Casa del Whopper!! And this is just one of a couple food courts.
King Kong at the food court…Lots of people enjoying the food court…
Our resources recharged, we set off again in search of the Movil store. My wife finally convinced me to ask somebody, (I’m a guy ok??) and they told us to look for the Dolphin…?? Wait, those animals MEAN something?? Back to our trusty map. FYI, we only found one map posted at this mall. There might have been others, but we didn’t find them. Well look, dolphins are right below the big gorilla which was at the food court that we JUST had been eating at!! We went downstairs and right there was a statue of dolphins, and just down the hall, the Movil store!! Mission Accomplished!! Both SIM cards recharged. Time to catch the bus back home. The bus station is attached to the mall so we went out the way we came in and found the ticket booth for our area. 2.50 each and we had our bus tickets. Minor confusion here. What looks like gate 57 that the ticket guy had written on our ticket was REALLY gate 51. And in order to get out to the buses, you need to purchase a Rapi>Pass.
Metro card…
Kind of a metro card. And I believe you can refill it on line. Haven’t tried yet. So we got our metro card and got out to the buses and thats when we found out we should be at gate 51…A woman with a monthly metro card had pity on us and used her card to get us through the gate to the RIGHT gate and onto our bus headed home.
Saturday the 17th of May, we ventured out again and took our local bus to the hiway. This time we boarded a bus headed west to Rio Hato
Mango Festival Headquarters…
and the 3rd Annual Mango Festival. We were greeted by the Claro girl handing out information,
Even Mango’s need a bit of sex appeal….
and then a table with all different types of mangos and papayas displayed on them.
Mango’s for judgingSo many shapes and sizes
Did you know there are over 15 different types of Mango’s. I believe most are edible…although, I’ve heard sometimes the taste might not be to your liking
Types of Mango’s
We strolled through all the vender stands,
and were treated to a sample of mango jelly.
Free samples always a hit
Very good!! Even pineapples were featured with their own display.
The fresh pineapples are SO good
Once we got back outside to the main street, we enjoyed a papaya smoothie from one of the local venders.
It DOES taste better than this looks…
Its a food truck AND home…
We walked down the street a bit
The streets of Rio HatoLook both ways before crossing…
and then caught the bus back home before the rain set in.
Our “driver” from Tocumen International Airport in Panama City to our condo in Gorgona was the nephew of the condo “leasing agent”. .Since most of the condo’s where we stayed are privately owned, the owners all have their own “leasing agent”. Dante was right there when we came out of customs. We had his picture and he had ours so we both knew what the other looked like. We waited outside while he got his truck and we started the hour long journey to Gorgona.
On the way to Gorgona, Panama
Navigating traffic was an adventure and I was glad I wasn’t doing it. We dropped our bag at the condo and Dante took us down the road to the stores to get some food. Gorgona is just a small town of 1400 people and is the closest beach area to Panama City. There are several local markets here, but for real shopping we went to Cornado. $100 dollars later and we were dropped off again at the condo for our 2 month stay. The next day was Mothers Day, and the kids had slipped cards into our suitcase so we celebrated out on the balcony with coffee and a view!
Happy Mothers DayOur daily view…
The week was spent finding our way around the complex and checking out the town of Gorgona. This being the off season, its really a very quiet little place. We can walk a couple blocks from the condo and for 30 cents, catch the “coaster bus” to the main hiway.
Suzi & friends waiting for the bus
From the main highway, you can catch buses to anywhere else in the country. The good bus system is why we decided NOT to rent a car. Its a very beautiful place down here. Very green with flowers growing everywhere. And the temperature is always in the 80’s or 90’s!! Very nice!! Our first week went good and we managed to use the pool and take a dip in the ocean also. A good first week…
May 4th, 2014 we flew from Albuquerque to Houston to Tampa with my wife’s son, his wife and their 3 kids. I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. Traveling with kids wasn’t a big deal. Oh wait, that’s FOUR adults to handle 3 kids…:-)
Kids on a planeI’m not tired…1st class for small people…
We stayed in Tampa for a week and then on the 10th of May, we boarded an American Airlines plane to Miami and then on to Panama! We arrived in Miami at gate 16, our departing flight was to leave from gate 14, not a problem, right? Wrong! After a half hour delay, we are told the Captain isn’t “comfortable” with this plane, BUT, there will be a plane up at gate 26 that we can use. So we all scurry off to gate 26. Up two floors and a tram ride later, we are all waiting at gate 26. But WAIT! Now, the gate we need is really back at gate 14 after all. Let the migration begin again!! So, an hour and a half late, two gate changes and we are on a plane to Panama!
On the way…Panama CityClose to landing…
We arrived at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City and made our way toward baggage claim. 1st stop, immigration. We showed our passports and received our notice of 30 days free medical insurance. Gave them our fingerprints and moved on to baggage claim. Our bag arrived just fine and as we headed toward the rental car area to meet our ride to Gorgona, we checked in at customs and gave them our declaration paper. They didn’t check our bags. It nice to know we look like the trusted travelers that we are. 🙂 A side note here. We were prepared to show either credit card statements OR bank account statements OR $500 cash for each of us, but were NOT asked for any of it. We also had proof of return trip tickets but were not asked for that either. We contacted our ride to Gorgona through the owner of the condo that we rented. More on that later…
We got back from the cruise and we talked long and hard about “retiring” to Panama or Costa Rica. We crunched some numbers and did some more talking. My wife proposed that if I was willing to give up the show cars, we could make the retirement thing happen. Humm, not getting up at 1:30AM anymore??? Count me in!!!!!!!!! 🙂
When we proposed the idea to our kids, they were not as happy as we thought they might be. The idea was to first head to Panama/Central America for all but a couple weeks of the year. The kids thought that was too long for us to be away. They wanted us to see our grand children more than that, and frankly, so did we. So we finally decided to travel to warmer areas for 10 months of the year, and we would come back state-side for two months in the summer. I put our 1966 GTO Convertible on eBay,
The 1966 GTO Convertible
and when it sold, and I got the check in hand, I put in my 2week notice at work. My last day was April 5th, 2013!!
But this also started “Garage Sale Hell”!! We had 23 years of “stuff” to get rid of. We started having yard sales…ok, not “yard sales” but “moving sales”!!! It sounds better, right?
Our garage exploded “stuff”!!
3 good tips for a successful yard/garage/moving sale…good signs to your location, advertise on craigslist and Facebook and any where else you can think of, and put prices on EVERYTHING!!!! Something else we figured out, there will be things that you don’t know what to do with, things you just can’t part with. It’s ok to put it in a box and “revisit” the item in a month or so. You should feel differently about the item after a month or so. We also advertised our 1969 Camaro through the local Camaro club.
1969 Chevrolet Camaro
In September we towed our 1938 Chevrolet Master Deluxe to the Mecum Auto Auction in Monterey California to see if we could get a decent price for the car.
1938 Chevrolet Master Deluxe
It did not make the reserve price so we towed it home. And the “moving sales” continued.
More Moving Sale
One of the HARDEST things we had to do was re-home our dogs. It’s really hard to have to say good bye to our best furry friends. Our oldest dog, Lucky, we had put down. He had stopped eating and I think he knew something was up.
Lucky
Izzy and Murphy were next. Izzy a chihuahua mix and Murphy, a Shepard mix were the best of friends and had we have known, we might have gotten them placed together.
Murphy & Izzy
Izzy went to Watermelon Mountain Ranch. A no kill shelter (?) that I am still not all that comfortable with. I have the feeling that the Ranch only takes dogs they believe will be adopted and doesn’t bother with anything that doesn’t look “adoptable”. Murphy was adopted out through PACA, an organization that does whatever it takes to find ANY dog a good home. Through out this process, the moving sales continued!!!! Stuff was being sold on eBay, Craigslist, The H.A.M.B. (for car parts) and tossed out as trash. We listed our house for sale, painted a few rooms and added some carpet where it was needed.
Originally, we had hoped to be in Panama by November 1st 2013, but, all good things take time and this was no different. We had our LAST moving sale on April 4-5, 2014, and closed on the sale of our house on April 11, 2014!!! FINALLY, after more than a year, we had our belongs down to 2 backpacks and 1 suitcase,
Our Belongings
tickets were bought, and we were ready to become Senior Nomads!!! First stop, Gorgona, Panama!!!! In keeping with the truth here, we do still have a 4′ x 5′ climate controlled storage room with some stuff that we couldn’t/didn’t sell yet (artwork, printers, a dresser and our tax papers)
Our Storage Space
and we still have a pick-up and the Streetrod to sell. More on that later….
We left Ft. Lauderdale and headed toward Aruba. The waters of the Caribbean Sea are rough this time of year and even our cruise ship is affected. The order of the day was barf bags and a LOT fewer people at dinner!
Barf bag hanging by the elevator
We arrived in Aruba to rain, so we stay on board the ship and spent a quiet day at dock. Next stop, Cartagena Columbia. Former drug cartel head quarters and more recently a Secret Service mis-step location. For us tourists, a beautiful old city filled with color and charm.
A street in Cartagena, Columbia
Next stop, the Panama Canal and Panama City!! The entrance to the canal that we used was at Colon. I have only heard that as a tourist, we shouldn’t go there. It appeared as we sailed by, to be mostly a shipping port.
Sunrise in Colon, Panama
We entered the first set of locks and to someone who has never been through a lock, it’s a fascinating process.
Ships coming through the locks
Once past the locks, we sail through a large lake and into the next set of locks.
Close-up of locks
We arrived in the port of Panama City and took a tender to shore. We met up with Jainella Torrez from New World Real Estate and piled into her van for our 4 hour tour of Panama City.
Panama City, Panama
Panama City has some 2 million people. More people live in the city than the rest of Panama. We were told the traffic is alway bad in the city, and in 2013 they were working on the new Metro System. When we go back, we will see if it has made a difference in traffic.
Traffic in Panama City, Panama
We were taken all around the city and even shown an apartment in Trump Tower. Yes, he has a tower in Panama!! That guy really gets around!!! During the 4 hours, Jainella answered hundreds of questions that we had about moving and living in Panama. All in all, it was a great tour and we feel, money well spent doing “research”. After our tour, it’s back to the ship and on to our next stop, Costa Rica. Took a tour and saw many different species of wildlife, including these two guys.
Costa Rica AlligatorCosta Rica Bird
A few days at sea, heading north, and we arrived back in the states, armed with information and ready to make the most important decision either one of us has made since we got married….
