OUR RETIRED ADVENTURE
qUEREMOS VIVIR AL SOL
KSha
Costa Rica is amazing! Beauty abounds.
Panama is "home" for now. Loving life!
South America is next! Columbia here we come.
Costa Rica is amazing! Beauty abounds.
Panama is "home" for now. Loving life!
South America is next! Columbia here we come.
First and foremost, the Panamanian haircut turned out awesome! We had some more wonderful days in Coronado before it was time to leave. Spent some time at the pool bar enjoying World Cup soccer matches. Sha and I made it a point to root for the underdogs--a few times had to bite our tongues as our cheers didn't match most of the crowd. All ended well...a fist bump and another beer made everyone feel better.
We also found a place called The Bench that had THE best burgers I can remember eating. Sha thought so too! To top it off; half price burgers on Lunes (that's Monday gringos)!! Their half price pizzas on Jueves (Thursday-now don't you wish you paid more attention in Spanish class) were also pretty good. We found Coronado a really neat place and an area we looked at real estate with a twinkle in our eye...even found a couple of places on or near the beach that we liked...knowing we have more places to see. We were victims of the cold front that swept through the U.S. this past week. Nobody realized it came way farther south than expected and Panama experienced its first snow in history... Just joshing...this was mom and dad's street in South Dakota...we're still enjoying mid 80's every day here in Panama. Travel day was December 13. We headed back to PanAmerican Highway 1 and took a left turn and headed south. Playa Blanca is only about a 35 kilometer drive, so on our way we were looking for places to check out on the way. The 80 kph speed limit was fine with me...ok I'll tell you-it's 48 mph...school is important people. I was a little concerned when two buses and a semi truck went flying by us in our little rental (it might be one of the smallest cars I've ever driven), but I kept steady with the 10 & 2 on the wheel while active driving. About half way we took a turn off the highway to the San Carlos area. About 4 km from the highway we ran into the town; narrow little streets and at a main junction in the road it appeared that a lot of people were gathered at a medical facility in queues in outdoor seating. We speculated on what could be going on but were unsure as we continued driving slowly around town. We marveled at the local houses and tried to head toward where we thought the ocean would be. We figured we had to be going the right way when we ran into this sign... Of course we went down this road...and turned around before we fell off the edge. We continued on and soon found the water! Once again, a rough road brought us to another beautiful area by the ocean. The slideshow below will hopefully give you an appreciation of what we enjoyed this afternoon (8 pics). We had plans to go out on the point in the pictures to see about getting some lunch, but the road ended at the lagoon and we had to turn around. So we drove back through town and hit the highway for the last bit to Playa Blanca. As we entered the main gate into the Town Center Playa Blanca property, we saw that this was a large complex with many different "components" to it. We did several trial and errors to find where we were staying and finally found the right person to get us to our building. Ended up feeling kind of weird by the time we finally found where we would be living for the next 10 days...realized we were both a little stressed by the situation; hadn't felt that since Chi town-didn't care for it. Here's what we saw as we entered our 3rd floor ocean view 2 bedroom/2 bath condo... We've got a cool view from our balcony (6 pics)... Our beach is about 150 meters from our building and has gentle waves coming ashore (4 pics). We've utilized our kitchen for our meals since we've been here as we haven't quite figured out the restaurant situation in this area. We have a large grocery store (Super 99) at the turn off from the highway to our place and have stocked up to be self sufficient for a time. Sha made some BBQ ribs the other night that were fantastic. We will venture out the second half of our stay here to find some places to eat. I have to take a few minutes to address communications from some of our active blog readers...(thanks for reading this stuff) Sorry it's so cold in SD mom and dad...remember you moved there...ha! The red hat may be needed dad for those morning walks around the neighborhood. We love you! Sharon, no not mine, I appreciate the vigilance on the photos; thanks for keeping me on my toes. Bob, not of the B & N AirBnB (who just turned 60!), who could be the adventure's biggest advocate as he spreads the word to those he meets; thanks "nephew-in-law"! Proud to have friends Judy and Eric who have dinner at the White House. You guys are too cool! I hope the Sombras' owners meeting went well Karen and Norm. Sorry to have missed that! Shout out to Randi and Ed in Georgia, loved the ornaments you made out of Jolly Ranchers! Pretty cool. And to the city employee of Indian Head Park, who is one of our favorite nieces and married to Bob; yes the above one not of the AirBnB birthday boy, who wondered about things that may be different in Central America...I give you jams and sauce in a bag! Almost forgot a shoutout to the West Point Academy plebe, great nephew John, who we are so proud of, and who witnessed (with his really cool parents Kev & Jen) the first ever overtime game victory of Army beating Navy. Thank you for your service! My Coppertone girl and I are enjoying our adventure...thanks for sharing it with us!
Pura Vida!
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Our exploration of the Chame peninsula was fruitful and rewarding. We found the Punta Chame Villas, a small resort (that looked like a cool place to stay) with an outdoor restaurant to watch the U.S. play a World Cup soccer match and have some lunch. We just happened to be the only people there...so we got great service. We also hit the Mini Super market a couple of times to restock items for our kitchen. We were intrigue with some property that appeared to be on the beach named Sandpiper; but the first time we saw the "Se Vende" sign it didn't have a welcoming feeling to the gate to the property. On one of our travels back to Punta Chame we overcame our concern and drove in to see if the units were visible from the outside. As we drove in the grass drive and approached the complex, there was not one car in the parking area. The only person we saw was the gardener trimming the grass at the front of the property. We smiled and waved (trying to appear friendly) and kept going onto the property. As I was moving forward I noticed another car behind me and thought we were going to be chased out (or worse; detained by the authorities). I drove as far as I could next to the last building (I could see the ocean!) and the car behind me pulled into an apparent spot to park. I thought ok; maybe an owner we can talk to...nope, wrong again. Turns out this gentleman was doing what we were, trying to look at the property. We chatted a bit and then proceeded to look around. We learned Nils was a fireman from Canada here to do some wind surfing. We found a first and a second floor unit facing the beach empty (and these were the ones Sha thought were for sale after she investigated the property). We walked out to the pool and then to the beach as the high tide waves lapped onto the white sand. Turning around to the building, we both joked that we should buy both of them (we were only joking a little bit!). We told Nils we were going back to the Chame Villas to watch soccer and he joined us for a really nice afternoon. On the way to the 'Villas', we picked up a hitchhiker that we didn't anticipate. Our last night in Playa Caracol, we went back to the peninsula and had dinner at the Solé Beach Club which is on the lagoon side of the peninsula. This place caters to wind surfers and has a laid back vibe to it. Driving to the place for the first time in the dark, (sun goes down around 6 PM EST) we approached on a twisting and bumpy dirt road that appeared to be going nowhere...right up our alley. We finally saw some lights in the distance; and then several cars parked quite some distance from the lights. After parking, we used the phone flashlight to light our way to the restaurant some 150 meters in the distance. We saw several large tepees for "glamping" as well as multiple container rooms for guests. The restaurant was in a huge outdoor palapa that was put together like legos and stood about 40 feet high. Some beer and excellent pizza made for a fine last meal in the Chame District. The PCC also moved forward with Sha increasing her lead; 17-13. Sha is averaging one win a day so far; and I'm not. December 3rd was travel day. The road from hell was a bit more navigable in the bright sunshine-still didn't make it any easier, and we were both glad to get back to Nacional Highway 1. We turned left onto 1 and about a half hour later, WWW told us to turn left...and what do you think was at that corner? The Rey's grocery store we did our first major shopping after getting to Playa Caracol! Had to laugh about that for a sec or two. We continued down that road, which by the way is trying to be the road from hell #2, and found Ave. Punta Preita and drove the last few miles to our new home; Coronado Luxury Club and Suites. Upon entering our room, we were greeted with this... Our pool runs the length of our building, about 60+ meters (~200 feet)! The complex is large with one and two bedroom designs that owners live and/or rent out. There are multiple pools around the property and a golf course connected as well. This property is not on the water, however, it does have a Beach Club that is exclusively for owners and guests, that is on the beach. An open air shuttle takes you there and back to the complex. We had a wonderful day at the Club, walking the beach, catching a few rays and swimming in the pool. We had a great lunch and even had time for Sha to kick my behind in cribbage before we left. I need to regress and talk about the day before we went to the Club as we explored the area by car. We decided to find a place to have lunch somewhere in the direction we thought was the ocean and started driving. We picked a road not far from the junction to our complex and soon were caught up in looking at the properties and homes along the way. Another bifurcation in the road came along and we went right-had the right feel to it. We then came to what appeared to be a dead end at a gated community; but then we realized it continued to the right; alright! Not daunted we kept going, albiet, at a slow pace as the road was getting rougher. We were unsure if we had made a good decision just as a colorful building came into view. Gaviota Beach Club! And we could see people there and the ocean as well! You are correct in assuming we pulled in and parked. We had a fabulous lunch and enjoyed the views during the early afternoon. When it was time to leave, it appeared that we would have to retrace our pathway from Gaviota; but we had to see the end of the dirt path out of the parking lot to be sure... There was a large bus at the end of the road that almost blocked a "road" going off and up a hill. We didn't let the large mud puddle keep us from going up that road. Driving very slowly, we (mostly Sha as I had to concentrate on missing the holes/rocks/dips and twists in the road) looked at the homes we came across. We found ourselves marveling at the beautiful homes we came across, some in the middle of nowhere with questionable access roads. We just kept driving and only had to turn around one time as we dead ended in someone's driveway. We somehow came across the road improving and we also noticed the houses getting bigger; although some were hard to see behind the fancy gates. We realized as well that we were traveling along the water; there are slivers of land that allow access to the beach for anyone that allowed us to see the water. Marveling at the estates we soon realized that our Beach Club was also on this road as we slowly continued our drive. By the time we headed for home, we had a new appreciation for the wealth in Panama, and that we had been driving for over two hours.
Today we explored Nueva Gorgona and drove on the road from hell 2.0...wowser! Sha trumped WWW and found us a great place in a high rise complex with an Asian fusion theme right on the beach. After enjoying a great lunch, we realized we could look around the beach and see our Beach Club across the water. Our pool bar has the World Cup games on and beers are two-for-one during the games. We also have enjoyed several restaurants in the near vicinity to our new home and are planning to hit another tonight for half-off burgers. Sha is still leading the PCC at 25-21...but I'm not giving up. I'll try and be a bit more frequent with my posts...I'm finding that I forget that I need to write something...ha! We are finding Panama quite to our liking and are seeing that it is less costly in many things that we are enjoying or need. Sha is getting her first Panamanian haircut tomorrow; stay tuned for details. It's Mother's Day here in Panama...Feliz dia de la madre! Pura Vida!! |
Kevin & Sharon SeibelBeginning our next big adventure! Archives
December 2023
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