The Panama Fleets

Happy New Year! (really late)  Fred and Karen enjoyed bringing in the new year together on New Year’s Eve and a party at Las Olas Resort.  We didn’t worry about driving since it’s only less than quarter of a mile from home!

Richard decided to purchase a fishing net a few weeks ago.  He was determined to catch fresh fish in his backyard.  During low tide, he and a few of the local fishermen, placed the net into the ocean located a short walking distance from our houses.  It was anchoredby three iron rebars hammered into the sand on the beach and about 30 feet from shore in the ocean.  Early in the morning, before Fred is awake, Richard (along with the neighbors, friends, and Karen) pulls the night’s haul from the net.  For several days afterwards, Karen prepared the catch-of-the-day fresh Red Snapper, Corvina (local fish) and Catfish caught from Richard’s net.  Fred grilled two large fillets from the net and we celebrated the first catch of the day with Richard and Barbara.

Our shipment arrived from the states from our house in Pasadena.  It was storage for over a year.  Once it arrived from Panama City, Karen was busy unpacking all her dishes, furniture, paintings, silverware, while Fred concentrated on unpacking the books for his library.  

Fred ,who is a wonderful storyteller, often said he had over 200 boxes of books for his library.  While Karen, more down to earth, reminded him there were only 300 boxes in the entire 40 foot container.  So, when Fred was unpacking 40 boxes of books, she reminded him, he might have overstated the number a little.

Finding places to put all our stuff has been a challenge.  Karen realized she had more storage area in Pasadena and was quickly running out of cupboard and closet space for items.  Every time she opened a box, you should have heard the foul language that came out of her mouth like, “Where the *&(## am I going to put this (*&#!”  Here she is relaxing during one of our blackouts.  You can’t see it but we were enjoying wine by candlelight.

The salt water eats into everything.  WD-40 has become the Fleet’s best friend.  The salt has eaten into the lamps, lights, fans, stainless steel tables, fixtures, doors, and outside faucets.  Within months, paint has been rusting away from the windows and lamps.  It seems that Fred is out there every other day putting on WD-40 and axel grease to the doorways and windows. 

The moisture gets everywhere.  Karen covers all furniture every night.  You can see the moisture on the walls, tables, floor, refrigerator, etc.  Well, that’s the joys of living at the beach!

Toby sleeps most of the day.  Karen tried to adopt another dog, but after a few fights we realized it just wasn’t working.  We decided to leave Toby in peace for as long as he’s with us.  We know he’s about 14 years old (that’s like 90 human years), so we don’t want to mess with his serenity.   And here he is enjoying the beach.  He’s smart to find shade.

Fred received a note from a producer interested in a small screenplay he wrote.  It is only four minutes long.  When accepted, it will run on the Internet.

This time of year is the dry season.  Karen planted more trees, flowers and plants around the house.  We had Luciano put in an irrigation system.  All water comes from the well.  Even though there is hardly any rain this time of year, the well has not run completely dry.  The Lotification (our development) has installed a new water system and it’s been flowing since last week.  We planned to get hooked up as a back up to our well…. you just never know!

 We want to thank all our friends and family for their kind words.  We enjoy hearing about your adventures and notes about your families; the pictures are great too.  Keep those e-mails coming.

Filed under: Postcards on February 23rd, 2008 | No Comments »

Our friends Camille and Jim Abernathy came for a visit from Dec 6 to Dec 18.

We had a blast.  We started the visit by site-seeing together in Panama City.  Our first visit was to the Causeway also referred to as the Amador; it’s smack dab beside the Panama Canal.  The Causeway connects the mainland to 2 tiny islands.  And on the islands are restaurants and shops.  We drove all the way to the end and had lunch.  The Abernathys were glad for a break from driving around the crazy streets of Panama!

The following day we took a tour on a ship on the Panama Canal.  Wow, what a tour!  It was great! 

The man narrating the tour was so good — he spoke English and Spanish fluently and you could actually understand him.  This is a “must see” tour when you come here — unless of course you are sailing on a cruise ship.  Fred took an awesome video of the tour.  Hope you can view it.

We drove back to David and the Abernathys were snapping away on their camera at the scenery.  We spent a day to unwind then took a day-trip up the mountain to Volcan and Cerra Punta — the dairy and farmland.  You’ll be surprised how they farm along the hillside… every inch of good earth is filled with wonderful, delicious crops of onions, carrots, cabbage, you name it!

We decided a return trip was in order — some of us wanted to hike in the national park, while another of us (Camille) wanted to luxuriate and be pampered.  Believe me, we wished we could have been doing exactly the same thing after that hike!  It was great but we were pooped!  We all spent about 3 hours in our respective adventures.

We took another day trip to the border of Costa Rica and Panama –about 45 minutes away — where we did a little bit of shopping.  The rest of their time with us was simply relaxing at the ocean or at the resort pool.  We made it to the beach every morning for a dip — more like playing in the waves. 

On  an invitation from our friend Hershel, we decided to go to the a mission located in the mountains.  Our friend escorted us around the grounds.  The mission is dedicated to helping poor Indians located in the mountain regions above the mission ground.  The Padre, a Jesuit Priest, does not believe in handouts.  The mission will only help those who are willing to work and to learn a trade.  Jim was so impressed he donated funds on the spot.  Karen and Fred purchased fresh bread from the bakery operated by the Indians at the mission.  The mission teaches several skills on their grounds including farming, sewing, painting, baking and many more.  Once the Indians leave the mission they have the skill to make money in the Panamanian society.

We all had a great time and sorry time had zipped by so quickly.  We’re all hoping that their next visit will be at least a month!  We love our friends and look forward to their next trip.

We are planning a few trips in 2008.  What are your plans?

We didn’t get Christmas cards out, and don’t plan to either.  We wish each of you a joyous seasons greetings, and a blessed, fulfilled new year.  Can you feel our hugs and kisses?  Close your eyes and think of us, and you’ll feel the love.

Filed under: Postcards on December 27th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Driving up the street to our home.

Walk from the drive to our front door…

A look from the beach to our back porch (terraza)… From insid the terraza

A look at the guest room

A peak into the love nest

Enough peaking.  Now for the rest of the house.  Our living room, dining room, kitchen

Fred found some wild watermelons in our backyard… bringing one in to eat. 

Karen and Toby supervising.

Filed under: Postcards on November 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

We have a release of the baby turtles often here.

Filed under: Postcards on November 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

Hello everyone,
 
We are moved in!!! Yippee!!!  We moved in the first week in October. Here’s our first meal in our brand new home. 

A quick update on what we’ve been up to since we moved in.  We left Panama! We took a trip to Pennsylvania to visit with our friends Camille and Jim.  We spent quality time with Fred’s sisters Cindy and Amber, and of course with Mom and Dad too!  Now after a week of being back to Panama and trying to unwind, we thought we’d update this website.

We decided to have a neighbor get-together to celebrate immediately after our move-in!  Here’s one of our builders Angela with our new friend Michael.This is our other builder Luciano with our “not-so-old” friend Barbara.  Luciano is also Angela’s husband. And this is Nicole and her best friend (and ours also!) Richard.  Angela and Luciano are Niki’s parents.

OK now here are many of our other new friends who were able to join us.

Here is Luciano (one of our builders) with Meilin (she did our window shades).  Meilin is also another wonderful angel.

We said our goodbyes with lots of hugs to our landlady and her daughter.  We’ve made lasting friendships with them.

We have photos of our construction crew, builder, and a real Panamanian meal that was cooked outside in the fields across from our house…. Angela and Luciano own that piece of property and will be our neighbors too!
 

This week marked another wonderful milestone…we also have Internet in our house.  No more long trips to town to the Internet Cafe for us.  We use Skype to make our phone calls to those of you who do not have a computer.
Take care and we hope you are in good health and good spirits.

 Love from us!

Filed under: Postcards on November 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

This will be brief. (To you Smarty-Pants out there: Yes, we know how to be brief!!!!)

We are doing well. We are now in the rainy season. It’s not raining as much as we expected but it does rain almost every evening.

Fred got published in The Pasadena Star News and a film producer is looking at his latest script. I tell him it’s just a matter of time before we are going to the Oscars. Even with us out of the California loop so to speak, Fred continues to write and submit through the e-mail to various markets. Toby is doing a lot better now. We found a great vet in David who speaks English and has a great bedside manner. Toby knows when he goes on the stainless steel table he’s going to get a shot. So, he tries to jump off and I have to hold him down.

The car seems to be better. You’ve been writing to find out what’s the latest since we haven’t written since July. Well, we have NOT moved into to the house as yet. We had some delays due to one thing or another, such as lack of paint and tiles, not having enough people to do the tile work, the timeliness of the window and wood people. Ah, but what a wonderful house it is though. We think we see the light at the end of the tunnel…. Or is that another train? No, really, we think we should be able to get in the house before the end of September. We don’t want to jinx it so we’re not saying that we think it’ll be by mid-September.

Anyway, here are some pictures. We know many of you are SO BUSY with working that you enjoy the pictures more than reading. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you (here would be nice) soon.

Fred, Karen and Toby too!

Filed under: Postcards on September 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Pasadena Star News (click for cached original)
By Fred Alexander Fleet
Article Launched: 07/26/2007 09:11:09 PM PDT

OUR liberties are not to be squandered away each time a popular belief challenges them. Even a cry of national security allowing unwarranted searches or nebulous wire taps on American citizens would not deter me from saying “No administration is above the Constitution.” Let no one erode our liberties.

A free society must treasure protocol in exercising law that protects everyone. Even regarding those insurgent minds that blast upon our political scene with rhetoric of us against our neighbor, our mission should be clear: Protect your neighbor’s liberties at all costs.

Thomas Jefferson realized the need for periodic freedom riots. He was convinced blood must be shed for democracy’s survival. He believed the condition of liberty is not a given; it is a continuous battle.

Today, freedom should be our main concern. The conservative politicians want more censorship placed on rebellious speech. No matter how popular censorship is, liberty will not tolerate any of our freedoms being diluted. She commands independence. We can not glorify her liberating persona and ignore the revolutionary element that makes it so. Freedom is forever rebellious.

President George Bush cannot use the cloak of patriotism as a way to tweak the Constitution to his liking while shielding his unauthorized investigations into our lives from Liberty’s scrutiny. For Liberty will shove the Constitution in his face. How many more individuals will be labeled un-American for their comments? No American can preach liberty and democracy on one hand then attempt to de-Americanize anyone who challenges his ideas. We are not a terrorist or communist when offering our own opinions. We are Americans. And every veteran fought to guarantee that right and to hold our elected leadership accountable to ensure it.

A quest for civil liberties has no descriptive face. It might be high school students protesting our immigration policies, Pasadena City College students protesting military recruiting on their campus or a writer who pens an essay.

How do you silence those voices and limit their access? You begin with censorship. In several communities across the country, local school boards have banned what they consider inflammatory literature from the school’s curriculum. These books include: Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye,” Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” and the list goes on. What is next? Movies? Video games? The Internet?

If you must protest, then let it be for liberties. Allow your voice to sing out against oppression. Be vigilant in our responsibilities to encourage dialogue with those who disagree and present forums to practice peaceful civic defiance.

Fred Fleet is a freelance writer who splits his time between Pasadena and The Republic of Panama.

Filed under: Articles on July 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

To the Ladies out there who can likely relate to this: Karen is now sharing a bathroom with two men. What’s with the aiming issues? It’s not like the bowl moves around during mid-stream. She has been tempted to post aiming instructions on the door. Fred accuses Toby of sneaking into the room when no one is looking. But that lame excuse didn’t fly in Pasadena either. We heard that some people stick a cut-out in the shape of an insect or a bulls-eye at the bottom of the toilet to help some of the guys aim better. Until then, Karen decided to place a bottle of 409 near the bowl and told her husband it wasn’t there for decoration.

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Filed under: Postcards on June 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

Got Gas?

In Panama there are no natural gas lines into your house. You call up one of the propane gas distributors. There are 2 major ones in Panama. We’re not exactly sure how many different companies there are here. Panagas Gas is the company that we will use at the beach once we move in so we thought we’d call on them for the service. Here’s how it works. You call, they deliver. Sometimes, they just drive around the neighborhood and you can flag them down. They have trunks with these tanks that are either small or large. Or, you can exchange your empty at the nearest store. They’re at almost every grocery store, a store of every conceivable size. What’s a tank look like? If you make a circle with your arms, that’s about the diameter of the tank. A small tank is about 3 feet high, the large is about 5 feet. The government subsidizes the expense of the small tanks so that’s what we use.

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Filed under: Postcards on May 25th, 2007 | No Comments »

This is the background to that story. A few more details to what we wrote the last time.

Karen and Fred decided to go to the Fair in David. It is the largest one in Panama. People travel from all over Panama to attend as well as people from far as Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and Columbia to set up shop. Local farmers, merchants, and governmental offices proudly display their wares and provide information much like our county and state fairs in the USA.

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Filed under: Postcards on April 24th, 2007 | No Comments »