Our Adventure: What do we do all day?

Ok, so we had the last of our visitors head back to Canada. It was sure nice to have all our guests visit. It really lets us re-discover this wonderful country and forces us to go see good friends (when we take people to see the jungle in Altos Del Maria). It also gets us out of our comfort zone here in Panama. I wouldn't cal it a rut, but will call it a routine that is good to disrupt from time to time.

Here is a typical day for us here in Panama:
- Get up around 6:00 to get the kids ready to head to school.
- Make some coffee and drink it on the deck watching the sunrise and the fishermen go about their day. (There is one older man who paddles his small boat heaped up with nets so full that he has to stand, so it is like his own paddle board)
- Cut up some Papaya and sometimes some pineapple for breakfast on the deck.
- Get the kids on Jada's motorbike and off to school at 7:00 (school starts at 8:00, but it takes 40-45 minutes to get from door to door and the kids like to be early)
- Once the kids leave, Karen and I go for a walk on the beach for an hour or so looking for shells and people watching. We go either left or right with enough beach each way for a good long walk. We make sure to go through the resort beach (Decameron resort) on Sundays because the other way has a lot of local people partying from before sun up, so it can be loud and makes us uneasy.
- For a couple months we would most often stop and see our friends Ross and Debra at another condo complex for coffee and a swim in their pool. Since they left back to Regina, we have to entertain ourselves. (We both miss our time with them)
- By the time we get back from our walk it is time to have a snack and catch up on email or do some reading before lunch.
- Lunch is usually a salad or soup unless the kids are home when it switches to baked ham and cheese sandwiches (yum).
- The afternoon's bring another walk or a run into town on the motorbikes for groceries. Often we hang out by the beach or pool. Karen works on her tan and I people watch.
- We spend too much time on electronics like our iPads reading news and playing games. Although I have probably read 30 books down here and watched a dozen documentaries. Most of the reading lately has been about health.
- We have also spent quite a bit of time researching places to buy to retire and vacation. There are some pretty cool places in Central America for reasonable prices (at least compared to Calgary). I am really looking at catamaran cruisers as an option too.
- The kids come home around 4:00 and do homework until supper. I wish they would spend more time in the ocean, but they don't go out unless I go out (so I guess that means I need to be more fun for them).
- Supper is mostly fish or chicken with steamed vegetables. The odd night we have spaghetti or tacos, but the beef down here is not great and we try to keep away from red meat most of the time. There is a fish market really close and the fresh sea bass is very cheap and really good. They catch the fish right out front of our condo, so we know it is wild and not farmed fish (so much more healthy).
- In the evenings we play cards or more often watch tv or a movie. Although a lot of evenings Jada has homework so she puts her headphones on to concentrate. We have our apple tv box here, so we can get any tv show or movie we want to watch. It is tough to spend evenings out because it gets dark at 6:30 so even though it is warm, we tend to stay in the condo.

- When the kids have no school we tend to do more exciting stuff like heading to El Valle for lunch and the fruit/veggies market (my favourite). Or surfing, or visiting friends or trying a new restaurante in the area.
- The kids tend to stay up late and get up late on their days off (typical teenagers). They also do homework if needed.

Here are some pictures of our beach area.
ttfn
Stew