VACATIONING IN PANAMA SOON!

So excited to write that in October we are definitely committed to visiting Panama.  Dare I say vacationing there?  I cannot wait!  We have booked our non-stop flight out of Dulles International Airport to Tocumen International Airport, we have put a deposit down on a two bedroom condo rental for five nights in Coronado, and we are in the process of either renting a car to drive out of PC to Coronado or having a driver drive us to the condo, and there we will rent a car.   We hope to travel to Pedasi, Las Tablas, Altos del Maria, Sora, El Valle, La Chorrera, Gordona and Punta Chame (I am clueless as to what we will get done in seven days, but I hope to just drive the roads researching and note taking.)  I think some of these places are in the same area except El Valle, Sora, and Altos del Maria are into the mountains and Pedasi is about two hours west. I will post link of who I am renting the condo from, but I want to get her permission first. She has been so helpful in her emails to us and is calling Ray as well.  It is $150/night, and my sister and her son are splitting the cost with us. Much better than a hotel, and it has pools as well as being on the beach.  I also have to thank my three friends (as I jokingly tell Ray I have in Panama already) Terry, Clyde and Stephanie for all of their suggestions.  I know that when I ask questions they are answering honestly.  They don't sugar coat things and tell it like it is, and I really appreciate that quality about them. They have allowed me to continue asking questions, and I hope to meet them in October! At the end of the week (once we have investigated where we think we might like to rent and buy a home), we are going to travel back to PC for the last two days of our trip (most likely staying in the Courtyard Marriott using our points which means FREE), so we can see the city and be close to the airport when we fly back home.  The biggest downer is that my daughter, the one that speaks fluent Spanish (!), will be in school and won't be accompanying us.  But there's always the next time AND if we get to retiring to Panama, she will hopefully visit us and keep our Spanish in check!

HOA's

We had our quarterly HOA meeting the other night.  The same five to seven people attend that have been showing up for six years.  Ray and I always go, the Board members have to go (there are three of them) and then there may be one or two homeowners that show up here or there (one is a past Board member), and the other is a new homeowner in our development of 25 houses. It is a small community.  We pay $88/month in Homeowner Association Fees (this has gone up 10% twice since we moved in six years ago).  The dues cover trash removal, maintenance of the common lawn area (has a picnic table and benches around the path that no one uses regularly and a gazebo I have been in once when there was a Halloween block party) and upkeep/maintenance of the storm drainage area.  Why we have this storm pond in our neighborhood, since it is the most costly part of where our monies go, I haven't a clue.  Must have something to do with how the land is at the back of the development and reasons I, not being an engineer, have no clue.  So while I sat there listening to  where the money is being spent, hearing that flowers aren't planted because the irrigation system isn't working correctly and reviewing who wants to do what with the exterior of their homes (I am one of two Architectural Review Committee members--ARC for short), I realized that while I do care about how the homeowners keep up their grounds here in The Gables community (and in the three other communities I have lived in that have had an HOA), I am unsure as to how I will feel when I get to Panama.
While I want to see the Panamanians or even Expats paint their house a different color for the holidays and not quite complete the job because I find this humorous, do I want my neighbors to have unkempt yards?  Or to build on to the house with a porch, let's say, but not quite finish it or use the wrong materials?  Or as I read in the blog "Along the Gringo Trail" (by Clyde and Terry Coles) just have cement and stone left at the end of the property to sit until it is mixed later or never?  Do I want to live in a condo or house in a gated community?  I have read that condos are more secure, but anyone can really drive through the gates of these communities, so how secure are they really?  And why would I want to isolate myself from the locals?  Growing up we moved to the gated subdivision "Lake Montclair" in Dumfries, VA. There were no other communities like this (it was middle class, but I felt "rich"--both my parents worked outside the home). There was one area where the houses were huge (okay, I was ten so every house looked bigger than mine in this development), but none of those kids were ever tormented.  Because they were a stone's throw away from the poorest of the poor living in Dumfries. They shopped at the same grocery stores and drove the same roads. I didn't dare hang out with anyone "out there" because who knows what would happen to me.  My sister, on the other hand, was smart.  She befriended everyone, and she was left alone by all the scary middle schoolers! And also protected her little sister at the same time fortunately.
 I know I will have to relax about and gain more patience with the way it is in Panama. I guess it also depends on where I "settle".  I do know this though.  I will be happy to have that $88/month back in my pocket.

BUMPASS, VA (yes, this does exist)

We are back at the lake house, and what a treat!  Because of Cinco de Mayo party one weekend and graduation festivities last weekend, we haven't been here for a while.  It's sunny, warm and really no humidity. Well, it's great now that the yard work is done (for the time being that is), and I'm sitting on the screened in porch.  But since poison ivy and ticks are out now, I think I'll just call it a day on cleaning up the yard until the fall again.  Sounds like a great plan.

Ray and I own this house with friends we have had for close to thirty years (he knew them first when he was sixteen).  So with Ray tackling the garage and cleaning up the fountain/courtyard area, one roomie staining the deck and picnic tables, and me taking the hedge clippers like mad to the azaleas and pulling out all the weeds (okay, I'm sure I left one or two behind) in the front yard bed (it's getting ugly and unruly in my opinion and like my daughter says, needs a backhoe taken to it), things got done eventually but efficiently.  The other roomie got a later start in getting here.  And with Memorial Day weekend coming up, we will start floating in the lake not giving a thought to the yard for three months!  So it's best it gets done now.  My muscles are telling me I did a little something today.

But while pruning and hedging and getting vegetables at the Farmer's Market, I had a lot of time to daydream.  We have a nice size bedroom here so our hope is that we can move our other bedroom furniture (at our "full time house" that we will sell when we move to Panama) to this house and give our daughter what we have here.  She will just have to find a two bedroom place once out of school :)  And we will still have some room to move a few pieces of furniture into the room here, bring some storage units that we have in our basement now to the sheds here along with rakes, shovels and tools and oh so much more to this house.  And I talked to Ray about a fall project being to redo the closet here so that it makes sense (not just a clothing rod and a shelf).

And on the way to the Farmer's Market we talked about what we wished for in a house in Panama.  We have pretty much figured out that we won't need a rental house that is too large since it will be temporary (two bedrooms with a bathroom).  And that while we don't want too much land with the house that we buy, we won't have a whole lot going on everyday, like work getting in the way (!), so we would like to have a garden.  Today we spent $26 on 2 tubs of strawberries, 6 zucchini, and 3 batches of asparagus.  Fresh and delicious but ridiculous.

Our friends question why we would go to Central America.  One of our closest friends told us that she had recently spoken with a Panamanian about her country. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about her country.  When my friend told the woman about us wanting to retire there, her question was "why would they leave the greatest country in the world?".  It's not like we are giving up citizenship, it's not like we won't be traveling back to the States (wherever my daughter may be) or that we won't able to travel in general, and it's not like we are giving up on the US.  We are looking forward to a different way of life and retiring to a place that we can reasonably afford and not just working to pay for healthcare.  We need to do this while we are young and healthy, establish another way of life to continue being healthy and if things don't go according to plan, we know we at least tried and learned from any mistakes we made along the way.  You know what they say, "don't knock it till you've tried it".

Some huge Hosta!

Just part of the ugly, unruly flower bed

Another flower bed

Clearing of the woods for a better lake view (in our cove)

RISK IT

First and foremost, I am completely baffled as to why my last post looks crazy.  Odd.

While I was spending time with my family this past weekend, we obviously started talking just a bit about Panama.  My nephew told me and his uncle that he is so coming to visit us!  He is so excited for us to start an adventure, a new experience, to just go out there and try something different.  My daughter's good friend told me (while I was cleaning her teeth today) that she is also "so going to visit" me and Ray in Panama.  And my sister just told me that  we are to plan our trip in October to include her.  I don't know what her future plans are except that she does want to find a place to live some of the year that isn't in Virginia and wants to see what we see and learn what we learn.  This trip could be hilarious with the three of us in unfamiliar territory. And while we laugh at ourselves a lot and laugh with a lot of our family and friends over the prospect of moving to a "third world country", we still remain steadfast in our decision to continue daydreaming, researching and note taking for our early retirement to Panama.

 We are taking a risk with our goal being to retire to Panama, but I will say we are taking the necessary steps to soften the blows of what a risk can do (I hope).  Jim Lehrer (American journalist and former news anchor for PBS News Hour) was the Commencement speaker at my daughter's graduation this past weekend. The most important part  that I tried to retain (and later "googled" to get it completely right) ) was that the graduates need to "serve and take risks". He stated that "to search for a safe place is to search for an end to a rainbow that you will hate once you find it.  Take charge of your own life.  Create your own risks by setting your own standards, satisfying your own standards. The way to happiness is to risk it. Risk it."  Boy, it sounds so great those words of wisdom.  I hope he knows what he's talking about.  Not to say that I am only listening to him, but it is just one more reason why I am thinking this really might be the way to go or the thing to do--mix it up, step out of the box, take a leap and take a chance.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Mothers Day in the States falls on the second Sunday of the month.  It falls about a week after my birthday, so May for me is a big deal.  Lots of pampering or just letting me do my thing (when my daughter was little, I can remember planting flowers and just being left alone outside to get it done--after she had made me breakfast.).  My daughter is graduating from college on Mothers Day this weekend.  It is a really big deal.  Magna Cum Laude, and she finished in three years.  This is a huge gift (I won't get breakfast in bed, but I won't be cooking either---not that that has happened around here a lot in the last three years.).  To be with my family and closest friends is going to be one of the best days for me.  It will also be bittersweet since I lost my mom to cancer almost two years ago, and my daughter lost her Nanny.  (My dad passed away eight years ago to cancer--not looking too great for me!  My parents would be having the time of their lives seeing the grandkids graduating--two from college and one from high school).  But I continuously think that all I wanted was for my mom to live her life to the fullest.  My family just wanted her to be happy.  We didn't agree with some of her choices (like relocating half the year to Florida with an old high school sweetheart--seemed odd), but we knew this was her decision and where she wanted to be.  And that she was happy.  She was content.  She was having fun.  She was living.  
This is what I think about when I think about an early retirement to Panama.  I think about leaving my daughter and family back in the States (which is why I want a three bedroom house).  We are all super supportive of each other.  Since Ray and I usually follow all the rules and are vanilla in what we do, they are listening to our ideas and wondering just like we are if this will ever come about.  They know that we all have to do our own thing in life to be happy and content and fulfilled.  They know how much we love to travel, see new places and want to do something that isn't exactly on the straight and narrow.    

So let's see where I will be a few Mothers Days from now.  Of course, it will be the start of the rainy season so will I travel home to bother my daughter and have her make breakfast for me?  OR when it is celebrated in Panama as a legal holiday on December 8th, will I enjoy the festivities there?  I will have two Mothers Days to celebrate ME in Panama...just two more reasons to retire there, perhaps?  It's looking better and better when it is a win win for ME!

HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY NEED

I was talking to a patient yesterday about his wife's job as an Office Manager for an Endodontist (root canal specialist).  She loves the new job, but her commute is one plus hour depending on traffic.  Her office is across the street from Ray's in Old Town Alexandria, VA.  His commute is ONLY forty-five minutes in the morning because he leaves the house at 3:30 am.  In the afternoon (at 4:00 pm), it can be one to two to three hours depending on the way the stars and moon are lined up that day.  (Today it was one hour and forty five minutes).  My patient commutes to Washington DC everyday.  He wakes at 4:30 am (this would be way too late for Ray!) and starts his day three hours later after arriving to work via MetroBus.  (Not to outdo any of them, my commute is ten minutes and isn't a part of this story).  I asked him what the heck he and his wife are still doing way down here in good old Stafford (they are an older couple without children).  His answer was that they had started looking at housing "up north and closer in"--a condo where you can step outside and everything is right there within walking distance as well as Metro to get you into DC, but it is all so expensive for the little space you get.  He said, "We can get so much more space and a lot more house for the money down here".  My response was, "But do you really need all that space now?  Isn't health (blood pressure) and sanity and overall well being more important?"  Because what he and his wife are doing now is what and Ray and I started doing six months ago and what was Plan A (I did remember)--go north, downsize, be able to walk everywhere/take Metro and spend a heck of a lot of money doing it, too.  I am too excited and curious not to see if Plan B (retiring early to Panama) is the way to go here.  Heck, I'll take one for the team since I have such a little commute and try to get Ray to better health, lower his stress, and save his sanity.  Which then means no more working for me either!  The way I'm seeing it...it's a win win!

UP 4% AND OUT $240,000

Melissa Gilbert was one of the one's sent home on "Dancing with the Stars" last night.  I haven't seen the show in years, but this was one of the blurbs of news I caught while getting ready for work today.  The other blurb of news that I caught, which really annoyed me to no end, is that a retired couple this year is now spending 4% more of his savings on health insurance than last year which today amounts to $240,000 that will be paid out in their lifetime.  And this is today.  What the heck will I be paying out if I decide to retire in the States in, oh let's say, eight years or so?  Will I be here to find out?  I really don't want a huge chunk of my retirement ($10,000+ a year for us multiplied by thirty + years--I hope!?) spent this way.  Maybe I have the numbers drastically wrong, maybe the laws will change, and it won't be so difficult and expensive to get covered, and maybe I just have so much more to learn.

 This I do know--we are now planning to go to Panama this fall when it will be rainy, it will be fast paced, we will drive on crazy, unknown roads in an unknown country, but we will make it an amazing trip. And one of two things will happen after this trip: we will come back with more determination to turn our dream into reality OR it will scare the heck out of us and it's back to Plan A (now if only I could remember what Plan A has been all along).

BEING BRAVE (because "it could really happen then!")

I have decided to just be brave (I mean, I did just turn a year older), comment on some blogs I "stalk" (which is a lot like Facebook Stalking so I have a lot of practice with this), and ask questions about blogging etiquette.  Incredible making friends with Gringos in Panama!  Another thing I love about Panama (keep adding things to the list) is that, this is a biggie, it's still pretty close to my time zone here in VA.  Panama is one hour behind me, but what I loved last night is that after posting to a blog that I follow (xpatescape.com), the writer Facebook chatted with me, and it wasn't past either one or our bedtimes.  My husband asked "are you Facebook chatting right now".  Yep.  This technology still amazes me.  And what a lot of help Stephanie gave me in that chat, too.  (She and her husband own a restaurant called "Pacos Mexican Restaurant" that is on our go-to list when we visit and eventually move to Panama!). Then I told Ray in one of my morning emails to him before work, "I am going to be a bit braver now and post my blog on my Facebook page (in the "about me" section).  And  tonight I get a great email from Clyde (who writes Along the Gringo Trail/www.alongthegringotrail.blogspot.com--or his wife, Terry, does, and he adds to it) who also assured me to just ask lots of questions along the way, and when I told Ray that, his comment was "OMG.  This could really happen then!".  Yep.  That's the plan.  For today.  Like I said, when I do something, I do it.  I get it done.

FORTY-SEVEN

Today it's my birthday!  Happy birthday to me.  The title tells it all.  Ray is now two years younger than me until July when he catches up a bit.
We are driving down to see our daughter today.  There are a few things we can load into the car (that she will let go of now) a week before she graduates from college--WOW!  Father Time has some set of wings!  Next weekend we will load up two cars and then re-move her in June into an apartment where we will hand over some of our furniture to her.  Downsizing a bit, even though we just bought (in January) the biggest tv we could get our hands on and an even bigger piece of furniture to put it in!  (Do we ship stuff to Panama?  We are now thinking, flat out, NO.)
Wonder where I will be when I am 50?

BEACH BOYS (not really my favorite)

"Kokomo".  Remember that song?  Came out in 1988.  The year Ray and I married, and I loved it (even though I don't like or love many Beach Boy songs), because it was about islands and sun and warmth and just getting away from it all.  And we were going on a cruise for our honeymoon that November to sunny, warm islands to get away from it all for a week.

Many years later, instead of humming "Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna take ya, Bermuda, Bahama" well you know the rest, I am now humming "Boquete, El Valle, ooo I wanna see ya, Coronado, Gorgona and all the wonderful places" I have not been to yet like Pedasi, Las Tablas, Altos del Maria, Sora, Cerro Azul, David, Bocas and so many more!

International Living was the first magazine Ray and I subscribed to.  Yes, we spent money on this dream subscribing to the magazine (some have written not to buy into IL and the conferences they hold annually, but we will--we want all of the good, bad and ugly--and if they sugar coat things, so be it.  We will find others and also other ways to find the ugly out.).

Our number one concern in retirement is health insurance.  In the States, we won't have it once our careers are finished. I am a dental hygienist covered through Ray's employer and would not have coverage even if I carried it on my own once I left employment in the private practice dental world.  Ray works for a large law firm, and he too will not have insurance once he has finished his career as "Assistant Billing Manager"--assuming this is how he finishes his career.  More on this will be in later posts.

So what we know from that part of our research is why we are looking to Panama to retire (this from the 2012 Global Retirement Index found in the January 2012 issue of IL)-----

Panama is second to Ecuador in this index (Ecuador scored a 91.1), and Mexico is third (89.6)

The way they score is based on Real Estate Costs (95), Special Benefits (100), Cost of Living (96), Integration (96), Entertainment and Amenities (91), Health Infrastructure (82), Climate (high avg 82 to low 68)
FINAL SCORE==90.4

So whether it's www.Internationalliving.com or liking them on Facebook and getting updates that way or getting snail mail in the form of paper, we started there and continue along reading, note taking and daydreaming.


                                               

ENLIGHTENED MOMENT (from a popular TV show!)

While doing the most normal thing Americans can do which is yes watching tv (and no, it wasn't the Caps playing the Rangers--but woo hoo, the Caps won today!), I caught up on a show called "The Middle" using my fantastic DVR (do they have these in Panama? And how much tv will I be watching?). I was enlightened!
This show is about Frankie, a working-class mom married to Mike and their three kids living in a small town in Indiana.  In this episode, Mike was yelling at Frankie about a new bed they had bought and his comment just stuck with me.  This is what he yelled out at her:  "You've got a million plans to make things better, but they don't last.  Open your eyes.  It's not getting any better.  This is it!"  I sat there and thought 'jeez, I hope this whole Panama thing isn't the quest to make things better because we have things really great right now', and then I thought about the second half of his phrase and thought, 'no, it's more like we are looking for even better!  That this, as we know it, isn't it!  There is so much more and if we can do it (retire early and to Panama) why the heck shouldn't we be able to do it!?  Why shouldn't we be able to find better and realize that what we have now, all the wonderful things we have now isn't really IT just yet.  We have only scratched the surface of what IT will be for us'!  Not to say that all things will be better all the time in Panama, let's not kid ourselves, but why not mix it up a bit and go more rocky road than vanilla soon?  And definitely, let's all look to television to be the reason why we would make those life altering decisions and changes :)

ENVELOPE NEEDS TO BECOME A BINDER

For those of you that know me or as much as you think you do or want to, you know that I when I do something I tend to get it done.  I won't start something unless I know it will be done that day or soon after that.  If I have an idea, such as having a room painted (notice I said "having it painted"), I will call the painter, schedule the date and have the idea completed.  I have done my fair share of painting, so the same thing goes for when I set myself out to perform a task, I want it started and finished in a really timely fashion.  This I know for as much as I can know, from my readings of Panama (blogs, magazines, internet stories, interviews/forums with ExPats already there...) will not be anything easy once in Panama.  But for now, when it comes to this blog and the hope of retiring to Panama and what I can control, I will be all over it.

I kept a journal for my daughter for 15 years (I started writing it on our first computer in 1994 and finished it in 2009 when she graduated from high school).  This was my "Computer for Dummy" lesson. I did go crazy loco over it at times...if I hadn't written an entry in weeks or months, that was a bit nerve wracking, but the reward of having it bound into two separate "books/journals" and even having pictures added to it along the way was priceless.

These days, I have been keeping an envelope for Panama.  I keep articles, International Living magazines (more on this later), website links and pieces of paper in this envelope.  I need to turn it into a binder though.  I hope it will someday hold legal documents and all of the forms Panama requires to have this dream even turn into reality--it will become a big binder if that's the case because Panama isn't easy.  From what I have been reading, Panama has a person for every form, an appointment needs to be made first to get to that person for that form, and things are done tomorrow...maybe.  If I keep telling myself this and writing it down, perhaps I can build up more patience.  Will have to check with Ray on that later!

The biggest hope is that as I put our daydreams into words, these words will soon turn into actions that get Ray and I to Panama in the coming years!

MERRY, MERRY MONTH OF MAY

May Day just came and went a few days ago.  I posted my first entry into my brand new blog.  I wanted to shout out "May Day" (which is a big celebrating holiday of Spring in many countries but is also a call out for help!), because:
 1) I didn't know WHAT I was doing with a blog,
2) I didn't know WHY I even had a blog,
 and 3) really?  Are Ray and I crazy for thinking what we have been thinking for the last two months?
Notice that post no longer exist, because it was part of the deletion process last night (and I think it was a really good post, too haha).  But in the past three days, I have come to realize that May is going to be a fantastic month--no need to call out for help!  It carries with it a lot more researching for Panama, as usual (and we may now even head there as early as this fall to take our first look!),  today is a big graduation day for my nephew from college, my birthday is coming up super soon and our daughter's big graduation from college is on Mother's Day--what a day that will be!  So proud of her!

And let's not forget that tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo!

GOOD MORNING EMAILS

Most of my early morning emails from Ray have to do with whether or not I want him to pick me up a Panera salad (this restaurant has some tasty salads and yummy breads--with the breads not being what we would eat of course early on in Ray's quest to lose a few pounds) on the way home from work, what to bring to the lake house that weekend, or where I want to eat dinner on the way to the lake house.  (We co-own a lake house on Lake Anna, second largest lake in Virginia and spend all the 48+ hour weekends we can there.)
But the emails I started getting in February were way different and way, way better!  They were emails containing information on retiring to Panama, of course.  They were emails regarding housing, healthcare, weather conditions and, oh yeah, the how-to's of trying to get to an early retirement in a Central American country (Costa Rica, Ecuador, or Panama?).  And while I don't love "workday" mornings, I found myself looking forward to those thirty minutes before leaving the house reading his emails and pouring over the links he was sending, all the while daydreaming about our future.

TRYING THIS AGAIN!

I really tried to start this blogging thing three days and three titles ago!  I had, what I thought were, pretty good posts, but since I cannot make a decision to save my life, I am starting over.  Tonight.  Perhaps later, I will post a blog that has something to do with how Ray and I came about the crazy idea of us being "wannabretirees to Panama!".