Chasing Panama

The other day I asked Nancy if it was Saturday and she answered “Every day is Saturday.  What difference does it make?  It feels like Groundhog Day over and over…”.

Here in Panamá a few weeks ago we had hopes that things were slowly starting to return to normal, or at least “The New Normal” as people seem to be calling the post virus world.  Since then the cases here have been increasing almost every day, parts of the country have returned to total lockdown, and the situation seems out of control.  Availability of hospital beds are getting low, people seem incapable of social distancing, mask wearing seems to be a problem (for reasons that escape us), what contact tracing is occurring doesn’t seem to be having any impact, and there does not seem to be any solutions in sight, other than maybe a vaccine – whenever that may happen.  There are rumors that the Chiriqui Province where we live may be going back into total quarantine “for fifteen days”.  We can see that fifteen days turning into weeks and then months, just like the first total quarantine.  Nancy is part of a couple of local Facebook Groups and I stay on top of the news and its easy to see people are really getting more and more restless and angry.  We are starting to believe that when this pandemic starts to draw to a close the damage to the Panamanian economy and people’s lives is going to be lasting and brutal.

It is the rainy season here and the weather seem appropriate for the situation.

We are hoping we have some more positive news soon…

Saludos, Craig

I was originally planning on adding a blog post today about the light at the end of the tunnel getting farther and farther away.  Due to the expanding number of Covid case in Panamá the date for the borders and airspace reopening was moved form June 22 to July 22.  We are really looking forward to getting back to the USA to see family, friends, and just doing some different things.  When the date was moved we were very disappointed but looking at the surging new Covid cases in the US maybe its just as well we hold off for now.  Somehow, that does not make us feel any better, but here we are.

Late yesterday we read on the local news that President Cortizo has removed three cabinet ministers:  The Minister of Health, the Minister of Social Development, and the Minister of Housing and Land Management.  Rosario Turner, the Minister of Health, has had an almost impossible job trying to control the spread of the pandemic and balance the means to do that with the economic and social needs of the people.  We will see how the incoming Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, manages.

Its early to tell exactly what this means for us, but I believe that here in Chiriqui the schedule for moving forward with reopening sectors of the economy may be accelerated.  This will certainly be welcome news to us.  Certainly, some changes will be forthcoming.   

We have seen friends here hightail it back to the US on some of the humanitarian flights, and some will probably not return.  Nancy and I are not sure how much greener the grass is back in the states right now, but its home and we do miss it.  We are hopeful the governmental shake up here will change things for the better.  Time will tell…

Saludos, Craig

How many of us actually do a google search on their own website? I really haven’t in quite some time, but it certainly pays to do so on a regular basis.

I have to thank my brother-in-law, Keith, for making us aware that our site may have been hacked! Yes, we were freaking out! It looked OK on our end, but when I did a google search on our site, there was a line that said “this site may be hacked” message. I am fairly good with a computer but when it comes to code, that is way over my head. I clicked the links that said “what to do when you see this message” and “remove this message from your site”. It took me to Google Search Console, who showed me that some hacker had added a page to my site, one that neither of us had created. I tried looking for this page under control panel in order to delete it to no avail. Apparently it is way more involved to get rid of.

I started my troubleshooting with my hosting company, Bluehost. I can’t say enough nice things about them, and their hosting prices are very low as well. I spent time on an online chat with a technician yesterday who scanned my files, found the suspicious files, sent me a .txt file with the names of the files and where they are located. So I went through them one by one with the technician. I did not know what suspicious code looked like, but he schooled me on it. I edited each file individually, resaved the file, and finally, the final scan showed we were clean. (Sigh of Relief!). I have been paying for Jetpack personal which is a plug in for WordPress that advanced security and backup tools, but apparently this was not enough. I will be upgrading my security tools for sure.

I submitted a reconsideration request to Google after I got the final OK that everything was clean, and this morning the site is back to normal. I got an email from Google Search Console stating that the actions had been adjusted. So I logged into my account and lo and behold, all is well in Google-land!

I am sorry if any of you have been affected, and rest assured I will be on top of this!

Thanks, Nancy

The quarantine where we live here in Chiriqui Province was lifted on June 1, 2020 as advertised.  We are now allowed out from 5 am to 7 pm every day, and we are actually allowed out together.  At first this was a real novelty and it has been great to go out, but there are still very few places to go, and not a lot of things to do other than grocery shopping, picking up mail, and picking up take-out.  (Thanks to Mike’s Global Grill and Big Daddy’s for the great food and friendship!)  Masks are required when we are out, and most places will take your temperature and give you hand sanitizer before you can enter.  We have no problem with this, everything that helps keep us and others safe and healthy is a small price to pay.  We still spend most of our time at home, reading, exercising, working on our Spanish, and this and that.  Still not great, but most definitely an improvement over the total quarantine!

The number of daily cases here in Panamá have been increasing almost every day since the quarantine was relaxed.  We cannot tell you how disheartening this has been.  We feel like we have endured one of the strictest quarantines in the world for nothing!  There are even a couple of places in other provinces where the quarantines have been reinstated.  It seems like this is happening for several reasons:  people here (and probably everywhere) just find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to social distance, people live in too close quarters to make social distancing possible, there has not been sufficient follow up contact tracing, and there has been not been sufficient testing.  Testing here has increased lately, and this partially explains the increase in positive tests, but this community spread is turning into a huge problem, here and around the world.

We really hope this situation starts to resolve; we are really looking forward to a trip back to the States as soon as the borders open.  We are hoping to buy plane tickets soon, we are waiting for when we can travel safely (relatively) and without undue restrictions.

We finally want to say a word about George Floyd.  What happened to him was very wrong; it does not matter what he did nor what happened beforehand, to watch him get killed with his face pushed into the asphalt and a knee on the back of his neck was horrifying.  Hopefully, some changes for the better will start to come about.

We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

Saludos, Craig

Some good news…a few days ago it was announced that starting this Monday, June 1, the lockdown/quarantine will end, and instead, a curfew from 7 pm until 5 am will take its place. Children will be allowed out accompanied by their parents in the late afternoon hours.

Yay!

We have been under virtual house arrest since April 1 and curfew prior to that. Nancy and I will actually be allowed out together for the first time in eight weeks. Masks will be required and social distancing rules will be in place, but its going to be a welcome taste of freedom.

During the lockdown we have been diligent about keeping to daily routines and exercising regularly (lots of aerobics on our terrace).  Somehow, we have both lost some weight and, more importantly, avoided conflict with each other.  We may be in better shape now than we were before all this started, although we REALLY miss going to the gym.  No news on that opening yet.  We are luckier than most people in that we have a piece of very private property to spread out on.  Our Panamanian neighbors have been good to us and our working on learning Spanish has really helped.  The government expected everyone to stay in their homes or apartments for the duration which would be almost unimaginably difficult.

Going out during my allotted day/time for shopping has been interesting.  Lines waiting to get into stores, temperature checks, police checkpoints, hand cleaner everywhere, and having to make do with what products were available became the new normal.  Over the past couple of weeks we have seen a lot more activity on the streets, signs of some relaxation of the quarantine.

For us, the most disappointing aspect of this entire crises has been the lack of news, conflicting news, and conflicting directives coming from the various divisions of government. We have followed the rules here as best as possible and we don’t disagree with the goal of controlling this virus, but the way it is being handled here is lacking at best in our opinion. We feel like we are being treated like children – nos tratan como niños – as our neighbors and friends say. The no alcohol sales, the oppressive rules, the lack of coherent communication, and the perceived attitude of the powers that be have been very disheartening.

It is too early to tell how deep the scars left by this economic and social shutdown will be, and how long it will take things to rebound.  I am sure there are a substantial number of businesses that will not survive.  Some of the individual hardships we have seen have been heart wrenching.  We have provided rice, beans, and some other staples for some friends of ours just so they would have food in their bellies.

So we are optimistic that things here are slowly starting to return to normal – or the “new normal”.  How long and what shape this will take remains to be seen.

Saludos, Craig

As the days turn into weeks and quite possibly months, it is easy to let this very restrictive Panamanian lockdown get the better of you.

The nationwide lockdown went into effect on March 25, but more restrictive measures were said to be needed since many people were not heeding the restrictions. Since April 1 we have been on a very restrictive lockdown with different designated shopping days for men and women and a 2-hour time limit to shop for essentials on your designated days.

I consider myself lucky that I have a #8 (last digit of my passport), which means I can leave the house at 7:30 AM and must return by 9:30 AM. I am really not an early bird, but I have adjusted to this schedule. I say that I am lucky because the senior crowd (age 60+), all have the same time, 11 AM – 1 PM, regardless of the last digit of your passport. There are so many that fit into this category living in Boquete. The stores can be quite busy during this time. I have heard reports of long lines and stores that are a bit too full for my comfort. Craig falls into this category but he stays away from the larger grocery stores and uses his time to pick up our Amazon packages at MBE, pick up our vegetable order, and stops at the smaller Dorado stores to pick up any loose ends.

There are also businesses who are doing deliveries to your house which also has been a godsend. I placed an online order from Price Smart, which is basically the Latin American version of Sam’s Club. Tomorrow they are supposed to deliver my order. Hopefully I get everything I was looking for. I would drive to Price Smart myself if there wasn’t such a short window for shopping. Price Smart is in David (about 35 minute drive). By the time you drive there, do the shopping, wait in line, then drive back, I don’t want to take any chances being out past my designated time. Also some local restaurants have been delivering as well as Dos Hombres, who has really good frozen prepared meals.

I’ve developed a routine to help me cope and keep up my spirits. That’s not to say I don’t have bad days. We’re all human and it’s OK to not be OK sometimes. I try to include 30-45 minutes of exercise every morning. Doing power walking videos from YouTube has been a Godsend to me. Craig has been doing the “walk-walk-walk” videos with on lots of days also. I’ve been spending more time practicing my Spanish, and video chatting with our family in the US as well as reading my Kindle and social networking.

I have also tweaked a great healthy banana bread recipe using honey instead of sugar and olive oil instead of butter. I wish I had applesauce instead but I have not been able to find it. Adding chopped walnuts and sometimes a little cocoa when I need a chocolate fix. The crazy thing is I have not gained weight, in fact I have lost a little. It is a ray of sunshine peaking through the clouds.

The alcohol ban which started on March 17 was supposed to tentatively last until April 7, but it is still in place. There has been mention that they are talking about lifting this slowly in the near future. After our stash ran out, it was strange, I really missed it, but now I find myself not really thinking about it too much. Yes of course when the ban is lifted, this household will be very happy! Craig is really looking forward to an icy cold Balboa Ice.

Since housekeepers and gardeners haven’t been able to work, I’ve been unenthusiastically keeping up with the house cleaning and weed pulling. We have a rather large yard here that our regular gardener takes care of. Believe it or not he cuts the entire lawn with a gas trimmer in a very expeditious manner.  The last time the lawn was cut was mid-March. So, it is very necessary at this point especially since we are now in the beginnings of the rainy season. We are waiting for these restrictions to be lifted, hopefully soon.

And of course, indulging in a little nap on occasion is nice. I think my introvert nature has helped me adapt a bit. My extrovert side really does miss the friends that I’ve made, visiting our local watering holes, going to the gym, and especially our weekly hikes to all the beautiful places that we are surrounded by.

This has become our new “normal” and look forward to better days ahead.

Footnote…

Just announced – end of the Dry Law! Controlled sales will start Friday, May 8!

Here in Alto Boquete we are now in week six of total lockdown/quarantine and life is becoming more and more stressful as the days go by.  We are confined to our house and property and as of now there is no indication of how much longer this is going to last.  Panamá stopped all sales of alcohol on March 17 supposedly for three weeks but still being enforced over six weeks later.  The following week total quarantine was put in place supposedly through April 15 but still ongoing with no end in sight.  The uncertainty and lack of coherency and clear communication from the government makes everything very difficult to deal with. Nancy and I are continuing to follow the rules and hanging in there as best as we can. To make light of the situation, it sure feels like we are in the movie “Groundhog Day”.

We are also doing our best to get enough exercise.  Aerobics on the terrace, push-ups, yard work, and walking the property like tigers in a zoo (next time I see a pacing tiger in a pen I will be far more sympathetic to its plight) are the main ways we burn off energy.  Reading, watching TV, working on our Spanish, cooking, keeping an eye on the news, and keeping in touch with family and friends are the things that, for the most part, round out our days.  We have also made a couple of batches of pineapple beer with mixed results.

The number of daily new cases of Covid-19 have been fairly steady lately, and Panamá is purportedly past the peak of the pandemic.  There are also hundreds of daily arrests of people for violating the quarantine, and this seems to really incense the powers that be.  I read on the news the other day there is talk of making violators subject to prison terms of up to eight years which strikes me as excessive to the point of insanity.  Both the government and the populace have limited funds and resources and they are going to start to run out in the very near future.  What we find disturbing is that there seems to be no game plan in place to wind the quarantine down and get the economy running again.  How much longer is this sustainable? Nancy and I are hoping our next post brings better news!  In the meantime, we wish health and good things to all!

Saludos, Craig

With everything going on in the world today, it’s not easy task to keep yourself from going stir crazy or falling into a depression. Most of us have never seen the likes of this situation we find ourselves in. People infected with Coronavirus worldwide are now over a million, and deaths over 50,000. In Panamá alone, there are almost 1,500 known cases and death toll is at 37, with 10 recovered cases.

We are going with the flow and following the strict guidelines the government has set to keep us safe. We are in total quarantine indefinitely. There is a prohibition on alcohol, so if you didn’t stock up before hand, you are out of luck for who knows how long. The days and times that we can go out for essentials have become more restricted then ever because of people who have not been heeding the quarantine. Women are allowed out during their specific 2 hour window on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; men on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. No one can go out on Sunday. Exceptions apply to holders of permission letters (salvoconductos) or if you have an emergency situation. If you have a dog, you can only take it out close to your house.

Presidente Nito has launched a Solidarity Plan which includes the distribution of vouchers, food bags, medicines and tanks of gas to at least a million people, including informal workers, lottery sellers, residents of vulnerable areas and those affected by the economic impact of the pandemic. The amount of the electricity bill will be reduced 50% to those whose consumption does not exceed 300 kilowatts. Service will not be cut nor that of water or internet to those who cannot pay their bills in the next three months. Banks will not execute the mortgages of those affected by the pandemic. The use of the government ID (cedula) as a debit card is currently being finalized in the registers of supermarkets and shops.

The U.S. Embassy in Panamá is currently collecting names of people who wish to repatriate back to the United States. There were two flights scheduled this week that have been cancelled, but they are exploring other options for evacuation flights. Craig and I had not considered this. We feel safe and believe that the government is doing a good job. And God forbid we get sick, I’m not sure if our international insurance plan will cover us in the U.S. if one of us contracts the virus.

I’ve been taking this opportunity for self-reflection and self-improvement. Craig and I have been doing Power Walking Aerobics on our terrace almost daily. We are spending more time on our Spanish. We’ve been trying to eat healthier. I feel like a homesteader, freezing all kinds of fruits and vegetables for my Smoothies. Group chats with friends and family help keep us up to date and lift each other’s spirits. Spending time with your family feels more precious somehow rather than mundane. We are all going through this fearful time together. We need each other, kindness is so important.

I’d like to share this poem with you written by Kitty O’Meara, a retired Irish American teacher, that I feel is so relevant today…

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.

 ¡Quédate en casa! We will all get through this together!

In this season of Easter, we have been missing the ability to attend Sunday services. But Father Michael has solved that problem. He will be recording his services which will stream live on Facebook. We thank him for helping us to keep things as normal as possible and to find inner peace.

To our family and friends, we love and miss you all! I hope that God keeps you save and allows your mind to be peaceful.