Well, we don’t sit around in a rocking chair . . . much. This was actually the biggest question we had before we moved to Boquete. We’d email people we’d met here and ask, “What is it that you do?” It was also the question that I asked friends of mine who had decided to retire early. On the surface it sounded good, but . . . “What do you do?”
The short answer is that we pretty much do what we want to do. And we keep as busy as we want to be busy. We’re not trying to please a whole bunch of other people. We’ve learned that it is OK to say, “No.”
And we’ve developed new interests . . . things that we’d never dreamed of before. Whenever I gave my wife, Nikki, a plant for her birthday or as a gift I’d say, “Here, dear, it’s yours, but don’t touch it.” I can’t tell you how many jade plants she managed to kill. Now she has become the great agriculturalist who looks at a coffee tree on our farm and asks me, “Now what is this tree saying to us?” And we both take great joy when our neighbors who’ve lived with coffee farming all their lives, oooo and ahhhh over our spectacular coffee. (And this year looks like it will be a great harvest!) Nikki also became active in our local little community theater group and has directed a couple of plays. This is something that she never had any interest in previously, not that she would have had any time.
The whole cruise lecturing thing was a totally new venture for me and has become something I love doing - when I want to! - and enables me to meet fascinating people and travel the world on luxury cruise ships. The blogging thing, although somewhat an extension of my Internet interests, is a whole new thing for me.
So, typical day in a typical week (if there is such a thing) . . .
5AM or so I’m up and either have a Diet Coke or coffee and go online to get my news fix, read over various blogs and Web sites I follow, check this site and make sure the scheduled article published as planned, see what the early AM site traffic was like, and usually work on posts. I generally have two or three posts that I’m working on, and like to be a day or two ahead, with posts scheduled to publish automatically.
6AM The dogs are up and I take each one out to take care of their business. This is more fun than it sounds because there is an unbelievable cacophony of birds singing! We like to keep them in the house until 7AM when the construction workers enter Valle Escondido and the construction noise starts. [One of the BIG advantages of buying a development that's almost built out is that you don't have to live with construction noise, which we've put up with for almost four years. Now that it's almost done, we're moving . . . such is life!]
7AM the dogs eat and Nikki and I have breakfast. I usually finish up what I’m working on, often it’s a cruise lecture or emails, we’ll both read, Nikki usually at the patio table and me often in the spa.
8AM our day starts. Often one of our neighbors will drop by for a couple of cups of coffee and we’ll talk about our various projects and frustrations. Now it’s frequently going up to the farm to start plants (now that the rains are here), check on construction progress, meet with the builder, Nikki to review and inspect the work of our farm worker. About once a week we’ll head into David for shopping or dentist/doctor appointments. My brother is also living in Boquete and is partially disabled so takes a lot of extra work helping him shop, get to the doctor, or get medication. And as long as the construction is going on there is always some piece of hardware or finish we need to buy or order. Tuesday Nikki often goes to the “Tuesday Morning Meeting” of expats and often goes out for lunch. If I’m not working on a hand on farm project, I’ll often use this time to work on lectures.
12N-2PM We’ll usually get some lunch. Nikki will read or go online. I will frequently read in the hammock, sometimes taking a nap as well.
2PM Often there is some other project that demands time. Occasionally we just chill. We are, after all, retired. The day tends to start early in Boquete because mornings are fantastic!!! In the rainy season the clouds start building around noon . . . and if we’re lucky, about 2:30PM or so it starts to rain which is a wonderful excuse to curl up and read . . . or work on lecture PowerPoint slides. (It is work folks!)
If the weather is nice I’ll take the dogs for a walk usually right here in Valle Escondido. Now with the building going on, often I try to be up at the house about 3:30PM when the builder stops in to check on progress. Although he speaks only Spanish, and I mostly English, there are always a ton of questions. Our architect was short on detail . . .
4PM OK, I AM retired . . . the sun is over the yardarm or whatever . . . so frequently I’ll have rum and Diet Coke or rum and orange juice and sit in the spa and read.
Evenings we may sit and watch videos or read. Sometimes we’ll have dinner with friends, occasionally at a restaurant, but more likely at someones home. [If you spend a lot of time eating on cruise ships, going out to sit in a restaurant, well . . . it's just not that "special".] Thankfully we have friends that we can just get together with on an impromptu basis. “Hey, we have fresh ahi grade tuna - at $3 a pound, eat your heart out California shoppers! - why don’t you throw together a salad and come over?” We have great wines - from Chile, Argentina and South Africa - usually for under $5 a bottle, so we like to sit, and chat, and talk. Remember talking?
We do occasionally have “events” - plays, concerts, etc. Actually there is a whole lot more of this than we would have imagined. We’ve had art shows, now have a jazz festival, have various groups from Panama City and other parts of the world coming through, and have even had the Philadelphia Boys Choir. Although we had “everything” in LA, we never went to take advantage of it because of the 2-3 hour Freeway hassle to take advantage of it!
9PM Normally I’m heading for bed and so are the dogs who all sleep inside. My Rottweiler usually on the floor next to me, so if you’re thinking of coming in and walking around while we sleep, be prepared to loose a few chunks of your bod! The dogs all have to go out to take care of their business, and again, this is a lot more fun than it sounds because . . . if there is no moon, and usually the rain is gone . . . STARS like you wouldn’t believe! Stars like God created them! Stars so clear that you almost feel you can reach out and touch them. And, particularly if it has rained, that wet, fresh, clean smell . . . there is a reason why they call this “Paradise!”
10PM - And this is the best part about where we live now in Valle Escondido, and what we will miss most at our new house up on the farm - going to sleep with the sound of the stream running below our house.
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Boquete has a great new weather site provided by Lloyd Cripe whose weather station is actually located in Palmira, not far from our farm and new house. There is a great summary of monthly weather in our “Paradise” as well as some great links for information on earthquakes and the volcano.















