Happy New Year!

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December 31st 2008

Published: December 31st 2008

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Bec1923

Ferry ride to Taboga

Taboga Island

Blog 3

Happy New Year everyone!

We hope by now that ya’ll have thawed out and things are back to normal.
Yesterday we took a ferry ride (something new hu?) to a small island called Taboga. It has a sweet little town with about two tiers of homes over looking the bay. They had several restaurants, a few hotels and a super mini-mart! The locals will rent (much needed) umbrellas for $5.00 for the day on the beach, beautiful, I might add (see pix). We took our snorkel gear, but the waters were churning up the sandy bottom so the visibility was poor and the only fish that we could see were puffers.
We continue to scout out properties and to talk to everyone that can understand us. The English language is not spoken as much as the travel guides lead you to believe. Howard’s version of Spanish goes something like this…..el stoppo (stop) el fisho (fish) yeah, you get this picture…el thinko! Even the little translator doesn’t help much, so on our driving trips we listen to our Spanish 101 CD’s. We need lots of help!
There is an area near the downtown area of Panama City called

Taboga town

Mission Viejo which parts date back to the 1500’s which is remarkable that partial buildings still exist. (see pictures)
We spent all day at the “Mira Flores Locks” part of the Panama Canal. What an amazing, engineering feet and to see it in operation was spectacular. There is a wonderful museum that was built in 2002 and spills the spectators onto a balcony to view the ships going through the locks. A huge eight story cruise ship was in the process which took about an hour to squeeze thru the three locks. That trip cost the cruise line $289,000. one-way and will be back in three weeks going towards the Caribbean. There was a container ship (pix) at about the same cost, but if they took the long way around, the costs would have been 1.5 million…. And of course they pass on the savings to us, right?
Lots of you have been asking about the real estate here and the economy. Like anywhere it’s location, location, location. The closer to the city, the more expensive. There are the “gringo gated communities” which have inflated prices, as an example, one block off the beach w/ territorial views asking price of

town

Taking a stroll thru the town

a half million. Houses in this same area on a good size lot $200k and up and there seems to be numerous for sale. Sub divisions are popping up everywhere and then there are FSBO’s and fixers with prices all over place. I like this little sleepy, old fishing village that has a very nice beach, lots of locals and I get the feeling it’s a diamond in the rough. Larger condo units will be starting construction that will only drive the prices up and the locals out one by one, so now’s a good time to buy! Always the real estate sales person! And Howard can build it for you! (Keeping it in the family of course)
I have to go retrieve my laundry from the solar dryer clothes line and get the appeteasers ready for this evenings gathering. So we want to wish each and every one of you a very happy new years eve, a prosperous 09’ and thanks for your interest of our travels. Be safe!

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