Paddies in Panama

2009-05-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

I have discovered that a blog is a pain in the ass. That is because you must continually update it, otherwise it is of no use!
So, the last time I updated the blog was late last year.
What's happened since then? We went home to Ireland for a month at Christmas, I went on missions to Ottawa, Washington, Bogota, Quito, Geneva, and tomorrow I'm off to New York for a week.
We're moving house at the end of this month, downsizing because of rental considerations!
The dry season came and went and now the rainy season is upon us! Heat and humidy!
Colette and kids are off to Ireland in July, for a month, I have to stay here and work.
Next stop Christmas 2009, and we have rented a house in Dunmore East for Christmas week, so that should be a blast.
Now that I've started updating the blog again I'll try and keep it up to date, with photos!
All for now....

2008-11-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

I recently put up a video on Youtube of our travels to date..
Click on the link, then when the video appears, click "watch in high quality"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY3P03XjPys

2008-10-30T13:26:00.001-07:00

2008-10-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

Oh well, I suppose it was too good to last. I really thought we would get away without having a car accident. Thank God it wasn't serious and nobody was injured.

Last Saturday we drove 95kms on the Pan-American Highway to a beach, where we had a booking in a reasonably priced hotel for the night.

Just when we were nearly at our destination we had to turn left off the highway. In order to do this we were required to stop in the fast lane, with the indicator on, until the other carraigeway was clear.

We had barely stopped when we heard a screech of tires followed by a loud bang and we were pushed two metres forward.

Nobody was injured, Katie started crying because she thought she would not get to the beach.

The back of the car is quite badly damaged, whereas the SUV that hit us suffered damage only to the bullbar.

My lovely Lancer!

2008-10-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by, we have been in the house for nearly a month, here's a pic taken from the front door and one of the lounge/dining area.

The house has six substantial airconditioning units, and lots of fans on the ceilings. We try and keep the aircon to a minimum.

2008-09-26T20:12:00.001-07:00

I bought a table

2008-09-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

So we got the keys of the house yesterday and are planning to move in today, because the studio gets a little smaller each day, and we are tired beating up the kids. Sean says it doesn't hurt any more.
One of the prerequisites to moving in was to buy a kitchen table and four chairs, so we would have at least one table and chairs moving in.
I bought a nice table and 4 chairs in the local mall for $250, which came in a large cardboard box full of pieces, rather like one of Sean's lego sets.
When the guy arrived with the cardboard box, the furniture manager arrived and they proceeded to open the box and check the contents. This proved to be a good idea because there was one chair leg missing. The guy disappeared and came back with a chair leg, cannibalised presumably from another cardboard box.
In the middle of this my cellphone rang and it was Joan in the Ottawa office; a user in Toronto was having problems with a Groupwise Remote installation, looks like the NTLDR in Windows XP got corrupted and the PC won't start.
Eventually the table and chairs were transported out to the carpark by a different guy with a trolley. The cardboard box would not fit in the back of the car. No way it was going to go in, so we opened the cardboard box and put all the pieces separately in the boot. Thankfully not too many people witnessed this pantomime.
I am back in my office this Friday afternoon and my car sits outside with the kitchen table and four chairs in the boot, awaiting construction later today.

The New Car

2008-09-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

So we finally bought a car. Or, to be more precise, a used car. Quite used, in fact, since 1997, when it was constructed in Japan by the Mitsubishi Motor Corporation.

We paid the princely sum of $3,000 for our white Mitsubishi Lancer. It has 173,000kms on the clock and all the basic requirements, including central locking, aircon (a definite must) and automatic gearbox.

The oil looks nice and clean, so it's a good sign that it's not burning much, and apparently the gearbox was changed out a year ago (for a second-hand one).
They actually have a car inspection requirement here, which is a bit of a joke if you see the state of some of the contraptions on the road.

The car also has a nice Sony stereo with an aux input for the mp3 player.

Now we just need a name for it (besides La Bamba!).

The new house

2008-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Not a great pic but gives you an idea of what the house is like. The complex has a couple of playgrounds which will be nice for the kids.

Inis Mor in Panama

2008-09-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a small ferry out to Taboga Island, 20 kms off the coast from Panama City, where we stayed for the night in an apartment.
It reminded me of the Aran Islands, but unlike Inis Mor, the Connemara men there spoke Spanish.

The water was lovely and warm and Katie was in it for about four hours!
Before we left Panama City Colette had bought some local sun screen in a supermarket, factor 45, especially for kids, etc etc. We all put this on and six hours later we were all burned! It was useless!

And we were a bit disappointed with the amount of litter lying around, the locals could do more to protect their tourist amenity..

But there you go, all in all a good weekend.

Into another week!

2008-09-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

Things starting to happen! This morning we signed a contract for a house rental, from the end of this month. Nice three-bedroom house in a walled complex with security guard at gate. Neighbours on both sides work in the American embassy, which is just up the road, so security should be good!
The owner's wife is also selling her car, a Kia Optima. Never thought I'd see myself driving one of those, but there you go!
The owner also has a 25 foot 4-berth yacht with inboard engine, but that's for another day!

The Battle Rages

2008-09-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

Today the battle has been raging on three fronts - school, house and cars!
This morning I looked at a Jewish school, Isaac Rabin College, it looks very nice, is
very close to the office and has space available for the kids, so hopefully they can start next month.

Nothing too positive on the house front, but we are putting our names in to try and rent a house in the City of Knowledge, where the office is, and where there are houses left over from when the USA was in control of the canal zone. So we might become Zoners!

We are now looking at two specific types of cars, a Toyota Yaris (booted version) for Colette and something like a Honda CRV for me.
I'll be going to a car dealer in the morning. The only difference between a car dealer and Dick Turpin is that the car dealer doesn't wear a mask when he's robbing your money!

More pics from last weekend!

2008-09-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pics from last weekend on the beach...

Trying on school uniforms!

2008-09-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Katie and Sean - AntsSkul - 09.09.08

Tuesday, and Katie's last day as a four year old!

2008-09-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today the kids started in a play-school near my office. This was necessary because they were driving us crazy!

Colette has booked a one-to-one Spanish language course for two hours a day, starting next Monday. This afternoon she has started ringing estate agents looking for a house to rent.

I really must buy a car!

Tomorrow is Katie's 5th birthday, not sure what we will do yet to celebrate the event...

the first weekend

2008-09-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we drove 115kms west to a place called Las Sirenas ( http://www.lasirenas.com/) for the night - lovely beach, warm water. Colette put some pics on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33038&id=755572179&ref=mf

We've been in Panama for 5 days

2008-09-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

So, we've been in Panama for 5 days, jetlag finished, getting used to the humidity and change of lifestyle.
Off we go...