Stoney Family Panama Adventure: 6 MONTHS IN PANAMA

Well, its hard to believe that as of today, we have been living in Boquete, Panama for 6 months. WOW, time sure has flown by, and my guess is that the next 6 months will pass by even more quickly! So many people have told us that they would like to know more about our house and lifestyle here, so I thought I'd give a few more details.

We're renting a small 2-bedroom casita in Volcancito. The property is called "Wild Orchid" and used to be a working coffee plantation. We have come to love the 6 acre plot of land that our house is on. It is lush, tropical, peaceful, and has gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains. A previous owner was an avid gardener and orchid collector, so the property has extensive, wonderfully landscaped gardens. The two other houses (both with just one bedroom) that sit on the property were unoccupied during our first 3 months here. While we enjoyed having the entire property to ourselves for a while, we are so happy that a nice couple, Cathy and Larry, moved into one of the houses in October, as they are fabulous neighbors and have become good friends. Monica and Matt just love them, and we feel fortunate to be able to share this wonderful experience with them.

Volcancito is a small neighborhood that sits at the base of Volcan Baru, and our house is an easy 10 minute drive down the hill to Boquete. Volcancito is a fairly diverse neighborhood, and Panamanians, Expats, and Ngäbe-Buglé all live there. The homes and properties within this area are quite diverse as well, ranging anywhere from gorgeous and expansive coffee fincas with palatial sized homes to small homes made of slats of wood with dirt floors, a latrine, and no electricity.

While the interior decor of our rental home isn't necessarily our style, we have come to love our very comfortable space here, and the overall surroundings and property itself are pretty incredible. We always look forward to coming home at the end of the day, and this casita has definitely begun to feel like "home" to us here in Panama. Panamanians would characterize our house as an "American-style" home, with all of the amenities. It has a small but modern kitchen that even has a dishwasher, which is very rare Panama! Our house has 2 1/2 modern bathrooms. I say "modern" in that we have showers, hot water (usually) with decent water pressure, and we are even able to flush our toilet paper down the toilet as opposed to putting it in the wastebasket! Our kitchen, living room, and dining area occupy a small space and are all combined in one room that is probably the size of our living room in Carpinteria. I have come to love living in a smaller one-story home. It is so easy to manage and has a nice cozy feel to it. Believe it or not, a couple months ago I asked Greg if we could downsize upon our return to California and put a "yurt" on our property for our family to live in. We even went online to look at various yurt options. While I don't think we will end up moving into a yurt when we return (Monica and Matt would not go for this. Monica in particular misses having her own bedroom and a little extra space...), the simplicity of our life here is valued and appreciated.

In some respects, our lifestyle doesn't seem that much different than what we are accustomed to in Californa. We are living in a nice home, have hot water, and a car for transportation. Panama uses the US dollar for its currency, and in most areas throughout the country, the water is safe to drink so there is no need to drink bottled water or wash fruits and vegetables in purified water. We have been drinking the tap water since we've been here and have been just fine. Our house rental even came with "wifi" which we use regularly and are beyond thrilled to have, despite the fact that it is spotty and not always reliable. All of these factors have made our adjustment here fairly seamless. In other respects, our Panamanian lifestyle is somewhat different. Power outages are a common occurrence, and while they can be a little bit of a nuisance, most haven't lasted for more than a few hours. While our property seems to have hot water "most of the time", we have heard other families complain that they often don't have water service at all. We feel very fortunate! As mentioned in a previous blog, house critters, such as scorpions, have been a bit of a problem, and large beetles, geckos and other small creatures are a common sight. There are also larger critters in the area which we often hear on the roof at night. We have seen kinkajous, olingos, coatis and agoutis right here on the property. However, there are no monkeys here in this immediate area, and we have been told that this is because the local indigenous population (Ngäbe-Buglé) hunt and like to eat them.

I forgot to mention that we have DOGS here! Monica and Matt, for years, have been begging us to get a dog, and thus far, Greg and I have not succumbed to their requests. Here in Panama we have about 4-5 stray (but friendly) dogs who come visit us in the early evenings. We feed them our leftovers, and their presence on our front porch is always welcome!

Our Casa

This is the side view of our house as we pull up the driveway. Welcome home...!

One of the unique features of this property is that is has its own hidden "tropical jungle" off to the side of the house. Walking through the plant-lined paths makes you feel like you are in another world.

Entering the Tropical Jungle

Cooking is such a pleasure when you look out onto a beautiful view such as this one!

This is the view from our deck where we often bird watch and read books. This spot has become my favorite aspect of this property, and my many mornings drinking coffee and having breakfast out here are treasured.

Many Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous families live in the Volcancito area. Although the people themselves tend to be quite reserved, it has been a pleasure greet them on my morning walks. One can easily spot them walking along Volcancito Road, as the women and children wear brightly colored handmade "naguas".

I met these beautiful and friendly Ngäbe-Buglé children on one of my walks along one of Volcancito's numerous paths that are connected to Volcancito's main road.

Once the fruit are ripe, Greg picks the bananas and strategically places them in front our deck (with the great view) so that the birds will come.

This is one BIG beetle!

Beautiful flower in our jungle!

We never get tired of seeing these stunning gingers!

More beautiful flowers...

A few times we have stumbled across interesting clumps of caterpillars on our property. It's fascinating to see how they are "sardined" together.

The "Wild Orchid" property used to be a working coffee plantation and sold its coffee with the "Wild Orchid" label. Right now the small coffee plantation is being rehabilitated and doesn't produce much coffee.

The Volcancito area has many trails branching out from the main road. It's been fun to explore different paths to see where they lead. Coffee fields are abundant in this area, and most any path will lead to a beautiful field of coffee! During our first few months here, the "cherries" were green, but as you can see from this picture, they are turing red and will soon be ready for picking.

It rained almost every day that we were here during the "wet season". The seasons have changed now, and we have officially entered into the "dry season". The dry season has brought a lot of wind to our area, an occasional "bajareque" which is a slight mist, and has also brought a multitude of rainbows. During the past few days we have been seeing rainbows daily. Such an amazing sight!

Poisonous Caterpillar

Our friendly stray dogs taking a siesta on our porch in the afternoon.

Each day, Greg puts out various fruits to attract the beautiful birds. We never tire of watching them and sometimes just bring out our camera, knowing that there will always be plenty of photo opportunities. I often sit on the porch reading a book and find myself having to stop reading altogether, as the bird sightings just distract me. Not a bad problem to have...!