Two Minutes Du Jour

Friends on Fridays returns with a Guest Post by my sister, Katherine Johnson-Bravay. Each year, I enjoy visiting Katherine and her husband, Michel, at their home in Panama – it’s everything she describes below and more; I’ve also included a link to their Airbnb listing.

Ten years ago this month, my husband and I retired to the tropical mountains of Panama. Many of our friends and family in Canada, Europe and the United States asked us: Why Panama? What’s there? A canal and what else?

”Lions, tigers and bears, oh my?” No, Dorothy, but toucans, sloths and monkeys, oh yes!

Above all, my true love and I had had enough of the long, cold Canadian winters which we later traded for three equally brutal hot, dry Arizona summers. We sought a climate that offered perfect temperatures year round, a place where we would need neither an air conditioner nor a furnace. We found it in Altos del Maria, which is located about one and a half hours from the capital city of Panama City and its international airport. Like Goldilocks, we said goodbye to ”too hot” and ”too cold” and opted for what was ”just right.”

Add to the mix the most delicious tropical fruit we’d ever tasted along with roaring waterfalls, winding mountain river trails, hidden swim holes, fresh air, and so much space. We raise most of our own bananas, coconuts and papaya which we trade with neighbors who grow avocados and mangoes. New local foods such as pifa, otoe, marañon and mamey sapote frequently grace our table and fill our freezers. In summary, this country of 4million inhabitants is a bonanza of Nature with a capital N !

Panama is a Spanish speaking country in Central America. It uses the US dollar as its currency and offers an easy path to Permanent Residency through its Friendly Nations Visa. The United States and Panama have a strong and long lasting relationship, dating back to before the construction of the canal in the early 1900’s and the entire canal zone being a US territory. The transfer of control of the canal was granted to Panama in 1997 through the Carter Torrijos Treaties and the process was completed in 1999.

Panama is not for everyone. Yes, wondrous flora and fauna abound. However, for every blue morpho butterfly, Geoffroy’s Tamarin or exotic bird there are a variety of snakes, scorpions and biting insects. Although we generally have electricity and wi-fi, there are outages which warrant having a generator, a propane gas stove and a separate mobile phone provider for when the wifi provider is down.

Over the past decade, this couple has been deepening our spiritual journey. Understandably, the lush tropical mountain landscape lends itself to yoga, meditation and pranayama. We have never felt so balanced in mind, body and soul as we do here. Every day brings new discoveries as we attempt to live in the present moment and conscious awareness. We experience gratitude and awe as we explore our own essences as well as our adopted country. We like sharing our little corner of paradise and have two fully furnished vacation rental apartments right on the premises.

There you have it from a former Midwesterner: Panama is so much more than just a canal!

Links Du Jour:

Panama Friendly Nations Visa – Kraemer & Kraemer

Guide to Birding in Central America – White Hawk Tours

If you want to visit, check out Katherine’s Airbnb listing