A room with a view. If you love geography, this is going to mess with your head a bit. We are looking east. That is the Pacific Ocean where we see the sun rise every morning. And we are in the Eastern Time Zone.
These are the guys we are staying with at their AirBnB in Panama city. Juan Carlos, Jacob and his mother. This huge kitchen is the most well equipped place for preparing meals I have ever cooked in. It is easily about five times bigger than our kitchen in Jackson, Mississippi.
These are our friends from Canada, Edwin and Natashia that we share an address and kitchen with. We have thoroughly enjoyed their company.
This is one of the iconic sky scrapers in Panama City. The F & F Tower office building.
We are really enjoying this well maintained walking and jogging trail around the perimeter of Omar Park. It is more than 3.5 kilometers long. Before this was a park, it was an 18 hole golf course. We get to greet a couple hundred fellow exercisers every morning. Hola! Buenos Dia! Muy Bueno! We are slowly becoming part of the regular crowd.
At the back corner of Omar Park this ‘mother’ tree is a real joy to visit every morning.
This is a very large tree in Omar Park that is shedding pink blossoms everywhere.
A variety of palm tree with a very thick trunk and branches in Omar Park.
A thick clutch of yellow bamboo in Omar Park.
There are so many amazing trees in Omar park. This one is like a banyan tree that sends down roots all over the place.
This is a guinea hen hanging out in the Omar Park parking lot.
After a morning walk around the perimeter of Omar Park, we often get a banana-orange drink or drink coconut milk at a park drink stand.
This is the gym in our building. We work out here every morning and usually have the entire place to ourselves. You can’t see it or hear it, but they are always playing intense, loud workout music here.
After our morning workout, we cool our soles in the fifth floor swimming pool.
We are living with two wonderful, very fluffy cats here. I know the camera makes this guy look like he is possessed, but he is actually very sweet.
Growing up near the Mall of America in Minnesota, I always thought it was the end all of malls. Nope. We went shopping for luggage replacements here at the Allbrook Mall in Panama City. The largest mall in the Americas. And the 17th largest in the world. I think it is about a mile walk through this thing.
It is right before Carnival (those days leading up to Ash Wednesday). The great Minnesota Twins baseball legend, Rod Carew is from Panama and will be the master of ceremony at this years carnival parade in Panama City. Rod Carew had a lifetime batting average of 328. That is amazing.
A street of lights inside Omar Park leading up to the library.
A tree gets the light treatment in front of the National Library in Omar Park.
A free concert in Omar Park. This concert featured Panamanian songs and artists.
We ate here at NationSushi, which our Air BnB host, Jacob is involved in (its a global chain). This is a wall of living plants in the dining area.
Panama grows nice sized avocados, but they lack the nice nutty taste of the Spanish avocados.
Charlotte had an electrocardiogram. You can see the cost here in US dollars. Many ex-pats don’t even bother with health insurance here as the medical costs are so reasonable. This is a private clinic, Clinica Einstein. General medical consultations at the government hospitals and clinics are $5.00 – and it’s often the same doctor!
After a lot of searching we finally found a place to recycle paper and plastic and metals and glass. But no sooner did we find this than everything was shut down for the pandemic.
We had to check this out. It went to the bathrooms in a nearby restaurant. I guess under the right conditions this could be the way to heaven.
We get to Skype nearly every weekend with our grandson, Jude and his mother Maya and dad Chris in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is quite an advanced two year old.
At the time this did not seem early on in the Pandemic. Looking back on it now after more than six million confirmed cases, it is ancient history. Look where the USA ranked in most cases. 8th. Who knew at the time that we would shoot up to have sole possession of 1st place.
While we were hearing stories of supermarkets out of toilet paper in the USA,, we had plenty here.
Wish I knew how old this sign is. We live down this road a couple blocks.
Based on the last digit of your passport or government ID, these were the times you could go for groceries. Women on M-W-F. Men on T-Th.
About 4 blocks away is the organic grocery store called, Organica. I never saw a Dr. Bronners truck in the USA. Lovin it.
Charlotte is going crazy in one of the two cloning machines we have in our building. One of these clones is called Crazy Horse and that clone joined the Earth Walk 2020 that you can join or follow on Facebook at a page by that name.
We aren’t allowed out of our building but luckily – luckily? – we have a five story parking garage below us. We walk up and down it again and again hundreds of times.
Here we are enjoying Skyping with our newest grandchild. Adelaide is about three months old here with her dad Tao in Missouri. Persephone and Milo are nearby.
Elevator capacity is now 2. The floor shows where to place your feet.
The family that Zooms together! From top left to right. Mary and Marv Handt in Bloomington MN, Luke and Charlotte Lundemo in Panama City, Panama, Lois Lundemo in Bloomington, MN, Steven Handt in Bloomington, Kevin Handt and Carly Jung in Minnesota, Maya Ott in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Amy Ahern in Minnesota, Garrett Ahern in Minnesota and Tao and Adelaide Lundalos in Missouri
The US Department of State had no answer for this important question.
Rey means King in Spanish. This is the local supermarket and we can look down on it from our living room window. People are lined up because only so many people can be in the store at once. Here’s the drill to get in: Have your ID checked to see if you are there on the correct date and time. Have them shoot a thermometer at your forehead and pass the fever test. Have your hands squirted with sanitizer. Clean your shoes on a sanitizer mat. Then you may enter.
The full moon rises over the Panama City skyline.
This is the look of the Pacific from our living room on June 11, 2020. Lots of shades.