Penny In Paradise

Let’s see….where did I leave off with my last post…oh yeah, I had just been to Argentina and was returning to my beautiful home in Boquete, after having lived in Ecuador for over a year.    So…let’s begin there….around February 1, 2010.

Well, my tenant (a single woman from Iowa) and I reached an agreement to share my house since she has a lease until the end of June and I want to come back into my home.   She immediately took off for a 3 week trip to Mexico to see the Monarch butterfly migration and other wonders.   After coming back for a week, she took off again for 10 weeks in Colombia.   She’s due back tomorrow and will be moving out on June 15.    So…I’ve had my house virtually to myself since I got back.   It was a great solution for both of us.

So, as usual I’m looking for something about my house to pound on!!  I have 4 bathrooms in my house, but they all have showers.   I do have the hot tub outside, but in rainy season I’m unable to use it much.   So, I decided to install a bathtub in my guest shower (the only one big enough to accommodate a bathtub) while my roommate has been in Colombia.   Unfortunately, the ONLY white plain bathtub in Panama with left hand controls was accidentally dropped in the warehouse and broke.    The only other one they had was a right hand control, which required the plumber to chip out the floor and run drain and water lines to the other side of the shower stall.   It was quite a process, but he was impeccable and got it done beautifully, with some creative concrete work to fill in the unused space around the tub.

I’ve had some really special time with various groups of women that I know and love here in Boquete, since I returned.   One day, Babbe Earle asked us up to her little hacienda on Jaramillo Mountain with beautiful views down to the Pacific.

Babbe & John Earle’s House

We had a potluck lunch

It was a perfect day for art projects (Marni, Carol & Marnie)

Gina & I watched Barbie at the easel

And….there was SHOPPING!   Babbe’s daughter makes fabulous pearl necklaces and earrings….so we all got a strand of what we are calling Sorority Pearls that we wear with jeans and tee shirts.  It’s very elegant

Picking out our favorite pearls….

Lazing the day away in the sun!

On another day, Carol and her husband Peter had a party at their place to celebrate Peter’s birthday, and to say farewell….they return to their beautiful home in Vermont for the summer…..they’ll return to us when it gets cold up there!   Pretty fabulous life they have….and their house is on the mountain, just above Babbe’s….so the views are spectacular.   This day we were mostly in the clouds, so couldn’t see down to the Pacific…but who cares, in a surrounding like this!!

Carol & Peter at his birthday

As you can see, their house is literally up in the trees….

Their bedroom is the highest tower…imagine waking up to the view from up there!

Inside the house

Bocci Fun

Another friend named Carol Putnam has moved back to the US and I will miss her terribly…..we shared a going-away dinner

Carol will definitely be missed

Now it’s time for some words and photos from the garden!

Did you know how Pineapples have babies???

Beautiful hibiscus on my terrace

This one is called Navidad (Christmas)….it has taken me 2 years to get the first bloom off my little cutting

Twins

Coral

Giant Pink & White

Here’s a video clip I shot in the garden this morning….

An American metal artist has arrived in Boquete, and I needed a new gate.  He designed something beautiful, and on the opposite side I saw how very, very secure it was…..so I asked him to continue his work along the top of my rock wall.   This was my only vulnerable spot and now it is totally secure.   He curved short metal pieces and cut the ends sharp….so no one in their right mind would try to crawl over my rock wall now.

From my side, the appearance is very organic..you can barely see the bars

But from the other side….OUCH!

Back to adventures…..so one day a bunch of us women drove the brand new paved shortcut road over to Volcan on the other side of the volcano.  We came around a curve, and some Panamanian workers were there…can you imagine…3 gringo cars screeched to a hault, all these women climbed out and started taking photos….and asking them to take photos for and with us.   Then, we just as abruptly climbed back in our cards and sped off.   I would love to hear the talk around those guys’ dinner tables that night!

Girlfriends On The Go!

Road Guys!

When we got there, we played Mexican Train and then went to dinner at Cerro Brujo, which is a wonderful little jewel of a restaurant in Volcan, whose female owner/chef created a wonderful party for us.

We spent the night at the resort/spa that is immediately next door to my very first property here, in Bambito.   The next day, Denise had a fabulous brunch for us (lobster quiche, champagne, salmon rolls) under the trees.   We felt so blessed to be living in this paradise!

When Denise bought this house it was covered with vines…and had no running water in the kitchen!

Denise, Debbie & Helen

Denise, Carol, me, Helen & Debbie and our Mimosas

The setting for our brunch was heavenly!

Our scrumptous brunch!

Does it seem like all we do is eat down here?

OK….you might be getting bored watching a bunch of women eat and drink all the time….so here’s an adventure when we included some guys.

• This guy came riding up out of nowhere!!!!
• 

  Doing dishes was interrupted by the urge to DANCE!

  

  Bonnie, John & Marni doing what they do best! Hanging out

• Just so you don’t think that all I do is play……I’ve taken on 2 volunteer jobs doing publicity for our local community theater and for our annual charity auction.    The first thing I did for the BCP (Boquete Community Players) theater was to….GUESS WHAT?   Yes, to create a blog for them.  Check it out:   www.bcpboquete.com I am pretty pleased with it.  The annual auction is www.bid4boquete.com and I got my bank to become the event sponsor for a $5,000 donation.   So I’m pretty busy with these 2 volunteer jobs, but they are only temporary.    It was just a great way to get back involved with Boquete, and do something good for the community.
• And, finally….for those of you who wonder if you can find a good cup of coffee when you come to visit me in Boquete, check this out:
• Boquete Coffee Wins Again