March 1: First full day on Boquete. We decided to go for a quick walk before morning…. The walk started about 9am and the plan was to come back and make pancakes. It was so beautiful and so many coffee plants! The mountains are very scenic and steep. The coffee plants are growing on hills that almost seem vertical! They want to maximize land usuage. It was so pretty we decided to go out for breakfast and we kept seeing cafes on google maps. Then when we walked there, there was nothing there! Benjamin took a poop and we didn’t have any diapers. I ended up taking a taxi to our place and grabbing diapers. I also grabbed some oranges, bananas, water, and baby cereal. Luckily I did because the walk turned into a full day adventure! We went so far, and so high! We found a truck that drove through the hills, from house to house, it sold groceries. We bought some cookies. We stopped walking around 3:30, when we got to a sign that said restaurant. It was a super fancy coffee farm. It was gorgeous, and the people there were so high class. We were so dirty and hungry. However, the restaurant was so high class, that even though we didn’t eat all day, we chose to take a taxi back to our place and cook. Scrambled eggs and rice never tasted so good. We hung out and then went to town to get ice cream. Then we went to bed.
March 3: Today was a bit of a different day, the babies kept me up a lot during the night and I was so tired. I didn’t know how I would make it through the day. There is a playground close to our place, so Frank took all the kids there and I was able to sleep. I got 3 hours, what a difference I felt! We then went to get lunch and drove around. It was so relaxing. We came home did some writing and watched Netflix. I went for a short run, it was scary, for me, because it was getting dark and the locals were coming home from work drunk. They were walking home from the coffee farms, and were young guys. I felt a little unsure of myself, so I went running the next day more, during the morning. After my run, we had some dinner, took showers, and went to bed.
The babies have a sunburn on there faces, I hope it won’t be too bad:(.
March 4: Another restful day. I went for a run, it was nice and relaxing, because I was well rested. I then did laundry and Frank worked on his computer. We then went to David, because we had to renew our car contract. It took almost two hours…it was so annoying. I hope we got it right. Not speaking Spanish is really hard. We drove around David and it is crazy traffic…it’s Panamas 2nd largest city, but definitely feels like an overgrown small town. Frank did well driving, I would have had a nervous breakdown. We got Pizza and tried to find a playground, they were all locked up. Peter cried :(. We decided that we didn’t like David. We then went to the mall. It was huge! It had bouncy castles inside and the kids loved that! It was the biggest mall I have ever been in. Only it had only used half its space, still developing. I had to go back outside to get diapers in the car, when I was leaving there was a large bat also trying to get out. That’s something you don’t see everyday! We then drove home and went to bed.
March 5: Today we went for a beautiful hike at a near by coffee farm. The kids hiked amazingly. It was almost 5km. The first half was through the amazingly big coffee farm. It is incredible how steep the plants grow, almost vertical! The second half was through a forest, it ended at a waterfall. We didn’t go down because we felt it was too steep and the babies were strapped to us.
March 6: Frank took the kids for two hours in the morning, to let me catch up on sleep. We then went to visit Tim. Tim is Frank’s old step dad. He has a nice home in a remote area. The kids loved it because they could go swimming.
March 7: Travel day. This morning we left Boquete around noon. We had pizza in David. Then we drove to Santa Catalina. It was 6 hour trip! It was long and the last half was really remote driving. Panama is really beautiful! The new air bnb is so beautiful too, it’s hot, can’t wait to explore tomorrow.
March 8: First Day in Santa Catalina. Since yesterday was a driving day, we didn’t get any groceries on the way here. Thus we went out in the morning to try to get some groceries. There are two mini marts and a fruit stand. We started at the fruit stand, only locally grown items, watermelon, potatoes, bananas, and tomatoes. The other two mini marts were very limited as to what you can buy. I wanted to get ice cream, but, the only thing frozen that they sold was chickens, eggs were bought in plastic bags. Only cash! We went home and made lunch. It was so hot! Thus we stayed and did work until about 4 and the. Went exploring. We found a playground and an awesome beach, they waves were so big! Then it got dark so we went home, showered and went to bed.
March 9: relaxing day! I got to sleep in because Frank took Adam! It was nice. We then made breakfast and lunch and got some school work and exercising in. The kids spent some of the morning, looking for soothers, because they are very precious, as I don’t know where in Panama I could buy them, and the babies need them. The kids got a chocolate bar for each one they found. Two out of three were found. Alice got one and Sophia/Peter got one. We checked out the beach near the town. The kids loved it, it wasn’t as pretty as the other beach, where the paved road ends. I sat under a palm tree, and a local told me how stupid I was because a coconut could fall on my head. I never thought of it! We ate a pizza and went to bed.
March 10: we stayed in Santa Catalina all day today. I really love it here, just wish it wasn’t so hot! I went running and it was nice, so peaceful and a good vibe here. I then did school work with the girls. They are missing school, I do my best, but find it hard to motivate them. We then had lunch and after 3pm we went to the beach. It’s still hot, but not as bad. I walked around with the stroller, while the rest of them were swimming. The waves are really big. We then went out for some chicken and fish.
March 11: today was an easy day. The babies were awake a lot! Thus Frank went for a walk with all the kids and he let me sleep for a few more hours, it was so nice. We then had lunch and went to Sona, the nearest town with an ATM. Sona was 1.5 hours away. We got there and walked around. It wasn’t that nice, the people seemed very nice. They are very interested in our kids. Also it is Friday, so lots of drinking happening. We got some Supplies and cash and drove back to Santa Catalina. We almost hit a cow! We then went to bed.
This is Adam, wanting to cuddle <3.
March 12: I love Santa Catalina!! It is such a cute town and the beaches are beautiful. I went for a run in the morning and had to stop by the mini market and fruitateria for fruit. I love getting fresh food to cook. I also really enjoy our air bnb, it’s really cute. I included some pictures of it from the air bnb website. The only thing I don’t like is the heat! Too hot, and I usually love hot weather. I tried cooking a pizza today, it took a long time and I was so hot over the propane stove and oven. Sourdough starter loves the heat, it always starts for me, and really quickly too! We went to the beach in the afternoon and I felt so dizzy. I drank so water and felt much better. At night I baked cinnamon buns, they were delicious.
March 13: Last full day in Santa Catalina. This is my favourite beach town. I’m going to miss it, there is property for sale, and I wish I could buy it. I’m going to miss the sunsets and the walks to the market. I wont miss the heat. Here is a video of Peter and Daddy working out.
March 14: Travel day to Playa Cornonda. What a culture shock - from a very small fishing village to built up over the top rich community. The air bib reminds me of condos in Toronto. I miss Santa Catalina, but the kids will love the fact that there is a pool here.
March 15: Culture shock! The gated community that we are in is very built up, very rich. I thought our house was nice, but the mansions outside are picture perfect. Everything is locked away, fences or concrete walls separating the outside out. We played in the pool in the morning and beach in afternoon. It is so easy to forget we are in Panama. Kids were so tired they were asking us to put them to bed.
March 16: Today we woke up and went to the pool, that is all the kids want to do. They could swim all day. It got hot and very sunny so we came in for lunch. We then went to clean the car, it was $10 and they did a pretty good clean, we have to return it tomorrow. We then drove to Punta Chame. It is a very beautiful peninsula, but e didn’t swim because there were lots of jellyfish. There were lots of kitesurfers. It was a nice small laid back town. We then came home and went in the pool for a little bit.
March 17: Car day! We were in the car all day, we had to go to Panama City to return our rental and we picked up a new one. They wouldn’t let us extend our contract. Frank forgot his phone, so we had to find the rental place from memory in Panama City. It took a while, but we found it! We then went and had pizza, outside the city. It was call Leonard’s, it’s a chain and it was so good, and cheap. We went to the Panama Canal, but didn’t see too much. The museum and visitors centre was closed. We saw some big ships. We saw the locks. The worlds greatest shortcut was pretty amazing! We drove by the canal to Gamboa, a rainforest town too. It was really pretty. There is a huge national park there, one day we will hopefully explore. Then we drove home, it was a long drive with lots of traffic. We then went swimming and then bed time. No pictures today, my iPhone is broken.
March 18: We were at the pool for a long time today! We had some drinks and it was really nice.
March 19: Today was a lot of walking day! I started the day with a run. Then pool time with the kids. We then went for a walk around the hatted community. It was 8km. Then more pool time with the kids. The community is weird, rich homes inside fences, everywhere there are fences, then outside the fence is construction nor a run down road.
March 20: Today was another big walking day. I went for a run. Then we drove our into the hills for a hike. It was super busy with locals. Perhaps because it’s a Sunday, or we are close to populous places? No other hiking area we went to was this busy. We gave up on the first hike, it was super steep, narrow, and busy. We walked around a had a good time. We we then came home and went to the pool. Benjamin had a little scare, I thought he was chocking, he was, but it cleared and he was crying for a while. I don’t know what it was, but, he’s okay. I’ll probably find something in his poop.
March 21: Travel and Stressful day! We left Playa Coronado around noon, we had Pizza again….so healthy! The trip was suppose to be pretty quick 2:45 hours to get to our new and last air bnb. The owner kept messaging the day of about 4x4. We don’t have that, but he said it was sunny. We thought we would be okay. It was 5 pm when we got there. It was in the mountains. So beautiful. We got to a small community, maybe 10 houses. A guy flagged us down and spoke only in Spanish, it was clear that he was trying to tell us that our car won’t make it. He talked to someone on his cell phone for a while, maybe the owner? I went on foot to check out the road. It was pretty bad and our van would have got stuck for sure. When I came back, Frank was talking to some guys. They only spoke Spanish, Frank drew a picture for them. We think they wanted to take us in a truck and drop us off and pick us up 3 days later…we didn’t like that. We wouldn’t have a car and we had no food, and what if we had an emergency! We left and cancelled that air bnb. We then spent about n hour an half trying to find a new one. We found one in Panama City. We had dinner, fried chicken, and got to the condo building around 11pm. We were exhausted. The condo is pretty nice though.
March 22: Rainforest Day! The new condo is pretty nice sleep, very clean and comfortable. The a/c is nice. The babies get up too early though! Frank tried to let me sleep in, but, the condo is small and I could hear all noises, it was pretty hard. We hung out a bit made an early lunch. We drove to Gamboa-then a bit up into Sambora National Park. It’s a rainforest! We walked out onto a dirt road for a little bit, not too far because the mosquitoes were pretty bad. When we got out of the car, we saw monkeys right away! So cool. We also saw some weird ant eater things, lots of butterflies too. It was pretty hot. We then drove back and hung out by the condo pool, the kids loved it! The pool was nice. Adam stood up by himself for the first time. I went for a run in the condo gym. The view from the top, was really nice, Panama City skyline.
March 23: Long Day. We got up decided to go East of Panama City. We really only saw the West, and with one day left, what are we missing on seeing…it’s about half of the country. The closer to the Columbia boarder, the more dangerous. We first spent about an hour trying to find Franks wallet. It turned out that I forgot it in the mini Mart, the day before. Nobody took it, they gave it to me as soon as ai asked if they had it. No ID required. Very trusting and honest people. We then went to pay Franks speeding ticket at A.T.T.T we thought it would take along time, but, it was done after only 15 min of waiting. We drove about two hours East. Lots of police checkpoints, looking at our passports. We ended at a beautiful huge lake. The huts were made of straw, really poor, but super nice. We felt a bit unsafe, so we drove a bit further down and went for a short walk up a road. We didn’t make it to the town, but it was nice to stretch our legs. We drove to Panama City and got dinner. I thought I was ordering for chicken dinners…I bought four poutine like things. There were hot dogs on top! Nobody really ate it. At night the kids went swimming and we started packing for our journey home.
March 24-26: Going back home! The journey back home was long and a learning experience! Things we thought would run smoothly always turned out to take so long. Here are the highlights. We checked out of our air bnb round 11:30, we were forced! 11:00 was check out time and at 11:30 the maid came. We went to the pool for a bit. We went to the new air bnb by the airport. Took a while to find, and definitely not fancy like the ad said. Definitely dirty and gross, but it’s only one night and then we fly home. Went to return the car rental. Was suppose to take 20 min in our mind, took 2.5 hours. It was dirty and they said we had to pay $50 to get it clean or we could go to the car wash and do it ourselves. That cost us $15 and some one did it for us. We just had to wait. It was sad to no longer have a car. Got our COVID tests done at the National Hospital. It took an hour for us to get swabbed. We didn’t pay, no one asked us to. We left and waited for four hours for the results to be emailed to us. I went back to the hospital and told them we didn’t get them, we needed them to fly. When I walked into emergency all the doctors were watching the soccer game, they looked at me, saw I was okay, and continued watching the game. They eventually sent it to us. We took the train home. It cost us under $4 to go home. A cab would have cost $40. Peter loved it! We took showers and went to bed. I saw cockroaches! I was scared, I could barely sleep. We woke up for 6, and went to the airport. It was slow with kids and in Panama we noticed that there was no priorities given to large families and line ups. We just got on the flight, it was full! The flight went well, we sat in the very back. In Houston we rechecked in to the next day flight, so we didn’t have to get a secondary COVID test and we went to our hotel. We swam and hung out outside for a bit. The next day it was super easy to get to the gate to board the flight to Toronto, as we already checked in. The flight went well again. It was weird to be back in Canada! Was cold. We got our car, customs was suspicious of us, we were gone for so long. We had to do a secondary screening. We had Pho for lunch, it was awesome. We got home home around 8 pm. The kids were so happy. They played so well until bed time. They missed there toys. The babies are so much more mobile now then before we left! We definitely have to put up the baby gates now.
March 27: We started settling into arriving home. We unpacked and slowly started enjoying the comforts of our home, we definitely missed it!
March 28: The day started with the girls going back to school! They were pretty excited. Even though most kids don’t wear masks anymore, they had too. You have to for two weeks when you travel outside the country. The boys and me went to Kingston. A and B had a doctors check up. B weighs 21lbs and A 17lbs. We went to get my phone fixed and restock up supplies at Costco and Walmart. What a culture shock. Coming from these small mini marts and markets to Costco... Easy and Convenient... the North American way. I enjoy it sometimes, but definitely makes me lazy.
March 29: Girls went to school. Marie got pretty sick. I thought it was COVID, I did a home test and it was negative, must only be a flu. The hospital from Panama wants us to pay for the COVID tests, but the method to pay is an app and it is all in Spanish….Frank went to work outside and made a window.
March 30: I was pretty sick today. Frank worked on the window and helped me take care of the boys, while Sophia and Alice went to school. The chickens and ducks were returned this morning! Sophia was so happy. Babies didn’t sleep much.
March 31: I was feeling pretty exhausted and sick. We went to Kingston, I sat in the car most of the time. It was pretty relaxing. We finished up some errands. B got his first tooth (bottom front left). Probably why he’s been so fussy lately. I also got my birthday present from Frank, since my old phone was damaged, I got a new one. Here is a picture and a weird video…
