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Thanksgiving in Panama: A Tale of Two Cultures

11/26/2017

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PictureA Modified Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, perhaps because I love the ritual of cooking as much as I love sharing food with friends and family. There is something soothing about chopping, mixing and creating a meal. As early as September, I start dreaming about roasted turkey, homemade pie, and my grandmother’s china.

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to change the menu and swap out a few of the heavy carb-laden foods for lighter, fresher options. I was going to be the only American at my Thanksgiving feast, and the others might not realize the difference. After all, the turkey is the star of the meal. I chose to keep my favorite carb — the stuffing — but cancelled the mashed potatoes, gravy and sweet potatoes. Then I swapped the caloric green bean casserole for roasted carrots, yellow peppers and green beans. My rationale? I wanted to save calories for a new recipe I’d discovered for amaretto chocolate pie.

I bought a big Butterball turkey four days prior to Thanksgiving, and asked my husband, Kleriston, to put it in a friend’s refrigerator, as mine was full. The day before Thanksgiving, I went to get my turkey so I could brine it… and it was missing! No turkey in the refrigerator. With a heavy heart and shaking hands, I opened the freezer. There it was, 24 hours before T-day, and my bird was frozen solid.

When I met my Brazilian husband five years ago, he only spoke Portuguese. Being a typical American, I only spoke English, and neither one of us spoke Spanish. Over the past several years, he’s learned both English and Spanish, which is a Godsend because I still don’t know Portuguese ...and I speak Spanish like a five-year-old. Although Kleriston seems almost fluent when you talk to him, we often have Whose-on-First type of conversations. Sadly for my Thanksgiving meal planning, he thought I wanted the turkey to stay frozen.

When I discovered the star of my Thanksgiving dinner was a twenty-pound ice cube, I went to my Brazilian BFF’s house and knocked on her door. Through alligator tears, I told Rosane that our Thanksgiving dinner was ruined. Being a non-American, she didn’t understand my distress, but she calmed me down with a compassionate shoulder and a glass of wine. (Really, I don’t understand why men think we’re complicated. All women ever need is a full glass of wine and a listening ear.)

Rosane and I discussed options. My Thanksgiving feast was halfway prepped, so I didn’t want to put it off four days while the turkey thawed out in the fridge. I also didn’t want to chuck my favorite tradition and go to a restaurant. We decided the only solution would be to roast a chicken. I sent my husband back to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving (which was chaotic because the American holiday is celebrated by many in Panama) to buy the biggest chicken he could find. He came back at nine at night with two of the puniest chickens I’ve ever seen. It was Thanksgiving after all, and the stores shelves had been depleted.

Thanksgiving morning, I went to the beach with a light heart for our morning swim. I didn’t have a turkey, but I had two chickens, a lot of fresh vegetables, an amazing pie… and a plan. After my swim, I went straight to the hardware store. One of the benefits of celebrating a U.S. holiday in Panama is that all of the stores are open for last minute necessities. I wanted to buy a rotisserie attachment for my grill. My husband, bless his Brazilian heart, never learned how to grill. I would love to send him to BBQ Bootcamp for a week, but since every other man on the planet knows how to barbecue, this cooking school for men doesn’t exist yet. (If you start one, email me right away. I have your first attendee.)

At the hardware store, I found an add-on rotisserie kit. I opened the box and read the instructions. There were half a dozen diagrams and a few words of gibberish, but on a day when every minute counted, I couldn’t imagine that two non-handy people could figure out how to put the made-in-China product together, and then successfully roast a chicken. To solve problem number two, I opted for the $35 stainless steel hang-the-chicken-upside-down-over-beer-thingy-ma-jig. No assembly required. Just what I needed.

I marinated the chicken, and exactly one hour before dinner, I lit the grill. Problem number three came when the cavity of the barely-an-adolescent chicken wasn’t large enough to go over the stainless steel cup filled with beer. With marinade-messy hands, I got my sharpest poultry knife and performed surgery on the poor bird. Problem number four came when I tried to close the lid on the grill. Since I’m a barbecue newbie myself, I’d put the chicken at the front of the grill, where the chicken was too tall to close the lid. I tried to take off the warming grill at the back but forgot the grill was hot! (Perhaps I need to send myself to BBQ Bootcamp.) Yes, burning my hand was problem number five.

I finally got the bird arranged in the barbecue and the lid closed. I needed champagne — for medicinal purposes, mind you — to take my mind off of my scorched hand and my crazy day of problematic cooking. I set the timer for one hour and got ready for my company.
My friends arrived on time, and we had more champagne. When the timer went off, I sent Kleriston outside with a meat thermometer and told him the bird should be 160 degrees.
He yelled from outside, “It’s 200 degrees. Is it done?”
Problem number six… I killed the chicken. Thankfully, we had a backup bird that had been bathing in marinade. We put the second chicken on the grill and set the timer for 45 minutes. My champagne-soaked brain thought that shaving 15 minutes off the cooking time should take off 40 degrees. More champagne and more chitchat, and the time zoomed by. When my husband went out to check the chicken with the meat thermometer at the allotted time, it was 180 degrees.

My face fell. How could I have overcooked not one, but two chickens? I really am a good cook. Well, I am when I’m not drinking champagne.

We pulled the second chicken off the grill and literally ran to the dinner table with everything else that had been warming in the oven. The stuffing was sublime, the mushrooms were marvelous, and the wine was divine. And the chicken? Well, it was overcooked, but we ate it. And at the end of the evening, all the food was gone.

My Thanksgiving disaster had been saved. Not by a chicken or a new barbecue accessory, but by the friends I’ve made in Panama. Oh, and the champagne didn’t hurt either.
​
If you’re intrigued about life in Panama, request a copy of my tell-all book. It’s my gift to you. Click here and I will send you a FREE copy of Panama Uncorked: Everything You Need to Know to Visit, Live and Invest in Panama.

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Oceanfront Real Estate in Panama for Under $200,000

11/21/2017

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The average budget for a foreigner investing in Panama is about $300,000, but there are many great options that are great buys for $200,000 or less.

Panama Riviera
The French Riviera is famous for gorgeous yachts, tanned bodies … and startling price tags. If you want to avoid spending your children’s inheritance, hop a flight to Panama and take a look at the Panama Riviera, a section of Panama’s Pacific Ocean coastline with mile after mile of pristine beaches. It takes about one hour by car to drive from one end of the Panama Riviera to the other. Located just 90 minutes from Panama City, Panama’s capital and largest city, it is a self-contained community with restaurants, shopping, salons, and everything else you need to live a normal life.

You can get an an absolute-oceanfront apartment in Nuevo Gorgona for less than $200,000. Nuevo Gorgona, often referred to as simply Gorgona, is located right next door to Coronado, the heart of the Panama Riviera.
​
Here are a few great real estate options in beach communities in the Panama Riviera that cost less than $200,000 for fully titled apartments.

Royal Palm, Nuevo Gorgona, Panama

Picture
Royal Palm is an absolute oceanfront project in Panama that will be completed in early 2018
Royal Palm is a brand new project by the developer Empresas Bern, the largest real estate developer in Panama. The average apartment is about 750 square feet (70 m2), with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Prices start at $185,000. The project has every amenity you can imagine, including swimming pools, a lap pool, a gym, saunas, relaxation areas, a restaurant, and plenty of different social areas. The apartments have a property tax exemption until the end of 2027.

Bahia Resort, Nuevo Gorgona, Panama

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The infinity pool with views of the Pacific Ocean at Bahia Resort in Gorgona, Panama
Royal Palm is a brand new project by the developer Empresas Bern, the largest real estate developer in Panama. The average apartment is about 750 square feet (70 m2), with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Prices start at $185,000. The project has every amenity you can imagine, including swimming pools, a lap pool, a gym, saunas, relaxation areas, a restaurant, and plenty of different social areas. The apartments have a property tax exemption until the end of 2027.

Coronado Golf Tower, Coronado, Panama

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A 2-bedroom, 2 bath apartment in Coronado Golf Tower in Panama for sale at $200,000
Coronado Golf Tower is a golfer’s dream. Although not absolute beachfront, Coronado Golf Tower has stunning ocean views and is an easy walk to the beach. When you buy an apartment, you can also get a country club membership to Coronado Country Club, the social hub of the Panama Riviera. For a nominal monthly membership fee of $285 for half-time residents, you get free green fees as well as access to all of their amenities including tennis, restaurants, a beach club, and even an equestrian club. You can buy a fully furnished one-bedroom apartment that is approximately 1100 square feet (105 m2) for $185,000 (click here to see photos) or a two-bedroom apartment for $200,000 (click here to see photos).

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Learn More...

If you’re intrigued, request a copy of my tell-all book about Panama. It’s my gift to you. Click here and I will send you a FREE copy of Panama Uncorked: Everything You Need to Know to Visit, Live and Invest in Panama.
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California Versus Panama

11/7/2017

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PictureMy husband, Kleriston, sitting in my favorite chair.
I was reading an article this morning about a man’s daily life in Silicon Valley. Growing up in California, I was intrigued.  

​In his daily life, he pays $24 per hour for a non-English speaking nanny, he commutes several hours each way to a job at a start-up whose future is uncertain, and he can only dream of one day owning a condo because real estate prices are ridiculous. He’s too busy working and commuting to go to the grocery store, he never has enough time for the gym, and he can only dream of true relaxation. He ends the article by saying it was a beautiful drive home in paradise. 

I had to laugh ... not a polite chuckle but a holding-my-belly-until-tears-roll-down-my-face type of laugh. Yes, it was that funny.
 
California is beautiful but the intensity of life in the Bay Area is insane. Paradise is more than just a pretty sunset; it’s a way of life. 
 
I should know. As a former Californian, I moved to Panama because I wanted to live in Paradise. Notice I didn’t say I wanted to be in Paradise. Living is about quality of life, not just longitude and latitude. 
 
Let me give you an example. As I write this, I am currently sitting in 75-degree weather on the balcony of my luxury condo, watching a container ship as it glides into the mouth of the Panama Canal. My husband is in the hammock next to me, swinging lazily in the breeze. When I look up from my laptop, the vivid greens of the jungle contrast with the sparkling blues of the ocean. I can hear hundreds of birds singing in the jungle canopy, and I can now distinguish the difference between parrots and toucans.   
 
I have a sense of urgency as I type because I have an important appointment—a rendezvous with the ocean before the tide goes out. 
 
After my daily swim, I’ll pay $35—per day, not per hour—for my maid to cook, clean and wash. Later, rather than going to the grocery store, I’ll get in my Mercedes E350 that I paid $14,000 for (and another $200 per year in car insurance), and I’ll drive to the local market where I’ll buy fresh fruit, veggies and fish for nothing more than pocket change. At some point today, I’ll walk to one of two gyms where I live and catch up on my Netflix as I tone my muscles and clear my mind. Then this evening, we’ll meet friends for a drink. We've been invited for cocktails by our French friends. Yesterday was our Brazilian friends, and tomorrow will be our Belgium friends. 
 
Yesterday, I met with an investor client who is younger than I am. He made a comment about how young I am to be doing the job that I do. I kept a straight face while inside I was rolling on the floor laughing. My age is a closely guarded secret, but many people think I’m a decade or more younger than my birth certificate says. It hasn’t always been this way. My youthful face is a gift from Panama. After all, why should I turn fifty when I can stay thirty-five?
 
Am I spoiled? You bet. But let's be clear. I didn't inherit my life or win it in a lottery. Living in Paradise was a conscious decision. I wanted a better quality of life, and I chose Panama. 
 
The Silicon Valley blogger and I might both live in Paradise, but I’m the only one whose life is idyllic. 

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    Melissa Darnay is a marketer, a serial entrepreneur, and a relocation concierge in Panama. Learn more... 

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