2 Retire In Panama? NEWSLETTER
Volume 14 December 28, 2020
With Christmas behind us...
...and the worst of winter in most of our futures, now is when most of the snowbirds start showing up in Panama. I remain comitted to providing the latest COVID-19 update for Panama. This is the update as of December 22nd from Karyn Saunders.Thank you so much Karyn for continuing to keep ex-pats aware of the statistics:
Panama has 217,202 total cases + 3164 new, 3632 total deaths + 35 new, 168 in ICU, 1615 are hospitalized, 37,412 active, 176,428 have recovered + 1477 new, resulting in a death rate of 1.7%.
1,190,500 total tests, 16,341 new, 19.3% positive rate. The rate of transmission is 1.08 nationwide, and 1.06 in Panama Oeste (the beach area).
If you have been comparing this report week over week you are noticing a significant increase in the spread of the virus. The government has imposed the following measures to keep the COVID spread to a minimum during the upcoming holidays:
1) Curfew has been implemented from 7pm through 5am daily from December 18th through January 4th.
2) Access to and from the beaches and the interior will be restricted from December 23rd through January 4th.
3) Sanitary fences (checkpoints) at locations of Chorrera, Divisa, LaVilla, Chagres, and Vigui, will be implemented from December 23rd through January 4th to monitor travel between provinces.
4) Total lockdown from 7pm December 24th to 5am on December 28th.
5) Total lockdown from 7pm December 31st to 5am on January 4th.
6) Only one person from a family will be allowed into a supermarket, with the exception that a minor or a person with a disability may enter with that person.
7) There is a prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages during the hours of 7pm to 5am from December 18 through January 4.
8) As of 7pm December 22 bus service was suspended between Panama City and the interior, presumably until after the holidays.
My special offer this week is...
...a little different. When "2 Retire In Panama?" was awarded the Distinguished Favorite award by Independant Press, I got a big box of bookmarks. I would like to share these bookmarks with you, my readers. I will autograph and send one to each of you who goes to my 2 retire In Panama Facebook page and Instant Message me with an address to where I can send it. No strings attached...this is just my way to say thank-you.
Our bathroom remodel is...
...done. Panama Windows was in our home before we left to travel. The mirors have been installed. They were on time, professional, and did a beautiful job. What a difference mirrors make!
I attempt to share...
...a different sunset photo every week. On occasion I get a photo from a reader of a beautiful sunrise. From our condo we do not have a sunrise view so I really appreciate these sunrise shots. This one is from a few weeks ago. It was taken by Lyn Gilbert. In Panama we have beautiful sunrises over the Pacific. This is one of the few places on earth where we have sunrise and sunset over the Pacific. This is just a bit of Panama trivia that readers will find in my book.
With New Year's Eve...
...just a couple of days away, I thought it would be appropriate to share our experience with our own muneco snowman from last year. As you will recall from recent newsletters, Coronado and the surrounding beach communities have been among the top destinations for bringing in the New Year in Panama. We celebrated last year with a little muneco snowman that I personally thought looked a little creepy in a clown kind of way. When we saw him along the road, I almost crashed the car stopping to see if we could buy him. He was available, but if we wanted him loaded with firecrackers, we would need to purchase the firecrackers and bring them back for the guy to put inside.
We drove up the highway and went into a pyrotecnics store. I explained to the clerk in my limited Spanish what we needed. She wanted to sell me a brick of 1000 firecrackers. I said no, no, muneco snowman es pequino. She said yes, yes, you need. So, I bought the entire brick. Certainly if that was too many the guy would not put them all inside.
When we returned to purchase the snowman, and have him loaded, the guy selling him was delighted to put the entire brick in the little snowman. He even loaded firecrackers in the snowmans little santa hat.
On New Years Eve, Jen and I took our little snowman, who we had named Snowy, loaded him on the back of the dunebuggy and ventured off to stake out our position on the beach. Snowy was quick to get an audience. People came by to be pictured with him and we had a great time torching him at midnight.
My book has a lot of great information about Panamanian traditions. If this interests you, pick up a copy to read more detail of the events taking place in a normal year. You can get a copy of my book by clicking the link here, or the link on the blog. It is exclusively available on Amazon or Kindle. Kindle Unlimited subscribers read it free.
Thank you Matt Casey for being one of the most recent people to provide me with a picture. He is enjoying "2 Retire In Panama?" in his hammock. I am getting quite a collection of these pictures. Please feel free to send me one of yourself so that I can share it on a future newsletter.
Blessings from paradise,
Greg 