It's a Date!

This weekend seemed to fly by. We had a yard sale in order to try to sell off some of the remaining items that we are not planning on brining to Panama. We also are one step closer to having an official date for moving to Panama, which also seems to make the days go by that much faster.

Friday was spent preparing for the yard sale. My five month old niece helped supervise. The picture below is not her, but this was pretty much what she did the entire time. She wanted to be talked to and seemed very curious as to what we were doing. I can honestly say that her patience and good mood helped get us prepared for Saturday.

And luckily, my niece was not in this kind of a mood...

But even if she was, she is only five months old and she was strapped in a stroller with two of her toys to entertain her when I was unable to talk to her. Who could blame her for wanting to roll around on the carpet over watching us?

On a more serious note, we felt like we had a lot of decent things for sale and most of it was larger house items. Included was a full length mirror, several bookshelves, two couches, end tables, a lawnmower and other items. My mother in law was very kind and made cookies and small loafs of banana bread to sell. As one might expect, there was no issue selling the baked goods!

Astonishingly enough, we were able to sell almost all of the items. I hope that everyone enjoys their new treasures as most of the items are less than 3 years old and are all in pretty good condition. This experience has helped show what things you really treasure.  Obviously this stuff was not valued as much as items that cannot be replaced as easily like my pictures. Big box furniture is a dime a dozen and very replaceable.

The next step in our process will to be to sell the cars. Unlike the house that is easy to sell from afar (thanks to the internet), the cars need to be sold soon, very soon. No word on the house being sold yet. There have been people looking at the house on a regular basis, which keeps our attitudes positive.

We are planning on bringing our two dogs and our box turtle down to Panama. The logistics of this all have to happen within certain deadlines which make it hard to really want to buy airline tickets unless we know for sure we can leave with the animals. As of right now, we are planning on being in Panama by next Thursday (February 5). 

It might seem kind of random, but for us it really is not. Bringing an animal down requires a very rigorous process, the first of which involved Robert taking both of the dogs to get a wellness check done by their veterinarian. The wellness check has to be done within 10 days of the dogs entering the country. This 10 day deadline makes getting a plane ticket brings a lot of anxiety. 

The dogs look healthy, right? 

I love this dog but she is not a fan of photos

It sounds simple enough to be able to get a plane ticket, but the reality is that there is more than that.  The dogs' vaccination records need to be sent to specific USDA offices around the country, the closest one being in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That office is temporarily closed so we sent the documents to Salt Lake City, Utah. Once we get those documents back, they have to be certified by the Panamanian Consulate in Washington D.C. and sent back to us. All of this has to be within the 10 days of the wellness check. What if the paperwork is not mailed back in time?

In order to expedite the process, we decided to overnight the documents to Salt Lake City and provide a pre-addressed envelope that will enable them to overnight it back to us. The total cost just for Salt Lake city for about 6 pages of paper was over $100. Yes, we love our pets and if this does not show it, I am not sure what will. 

Some may be wondering what happened in order to get such a sudden date. Wasn't Robert working on his hours for the powerchute? He was, but as the part was getting worked on for the powerchute, the part was ordered incorrectly. It would have been another three weeks to get the part shipped and then probably another two weeks after that to have it worked on and then about another month to finish his hours. 

It is prime season in Panama right now for our business and we thought it would be more economical to start working down there now and have Robert come stateside when the business starts to slow down a bit. Robert will complete his training when it is low season (or slow for tourism). I will likely stay in Panama and help with the business where I can and take care of the dogs. 

Robert and I are planning on having one more yard sale this weekend for some smaller items before we decide to donate everything we are not planning on taking. The time from now until next week will be cherished as I continue to say goodbye to many friends that I care about. 

Interestingly enough, Panama does not have a mailing system like we do in the United States. In fact, they really do not have a mail system. From my understanding, you go to a local supermarket in order to pay your utility bills. We got a P.O. Box down in Panama. All of the mail goes through Miami, Florida and then gets shipped to our mailbox. If you are reading this and wondering why your card says Miami, now you know. We are moving to Panama the country, not Panama City in Florida. 

I will keep everyone updated on how the move goes. We will have internet down there so we will be able to keep up the blog and stay connected with loved ones. For now, I will enjoy each moment I can with them before most communication will be electronic. The next nine days will go by very fast. I will try to do at least one more post prior to leaving. This experience has taught me so much already about myself and about my family. I've laughed, I've cried, and have taken time for reflection. I cannot wait to see the lessons that the future has yet to hold. 

It's Our Business

Many people have been asking about what Robert and I are going to be doing while living in Panama. Our plans have evolved numerous times since our announcement about moving to Panama. This is partially why a post on this topic has been delayed. I thought I would touch bases on what we plan on doing in Panama at this current time. Due to the fact that some of these ideas are very new, information regarding this post will likely be minimal.

As I previously shared, Robert is working on flying powerchutes (powered parachutes). Part of the idea of the business is that Robert will provide tours, and possibly provide lessons to anyone interested. More about this business may be posted in future posts.

Another venture that we are pursuing is taking part in a rental car business. This business is already operating in Panama. As I mentioned in the last post, we have pages on both Twitter and Facebook that can be followed or liked. In addition to renting cars, this business also rents out and sells sand buggies.

The great thing about Panama are the opportunities that are there to do almost anything. The economy is doing great. Even though a lot of the world has been in this recession with slow economies, Panama's GDP growth (how a country's economy has grown from the previous year) has been in the top 15 countries in the world since 2011, and has even been outperforming China. Just to give you a perspective, in 2013 (last data recorded so far by the World Bank) the USA was ranked 100+ in GDP growth. 

I will be taking a small break from social work in order to focus on our business. I hope take advantage of this break to begin to understand the Panamanian culture in order be an effective social worker for the future. In the mean time, we are utilizing social marketing techniques in order promote our business ventures. This is an exciting time for us and we are looking forward to moving to Panama to be able to be front and center of our new adventures and the business. And of course, any new updates will be posted on the blog.

Post Panama/Oregon Trip

Holy smokes! Has it really been over two weeks since the last blog post? Time seems to have gone by very fast, especially after all of the big adventures we had last month. Things this month have seemed to slow down quite a bit. We are still in Arizona with no definitive date of when we will be moving to Panama. Despite this, Robert and I have both been busy.

Robert has been waiting for some parts to come in for a powered parachute (I refer to it as a powerchute) that he will be flying while in Panama. The parts originally came in back in November, however they were the wrong ones and the correct ones had to be reordered. The correct parts came in while we were in Panama. The soonest that the mechanic could assemble the parts was the middle of this month. The powerchute  should be ready for Robert to fly by the end of the week. He will need to accumulate solo flight time with the powerchute and will have to get some certifications in order to prepare for Panama. Once this is done, then we will be ready to move.

What is a powerchute? A powerchute is basically a go-cart with a propeller and a parachute. Powerchutes can be flown with varied altitudes, depending on what the pilot wants. Altitude can range from just a few feet off the ground to above 18,000 feet (5,486 meters). I believe Robert typically flies his around 2,000-3,000 feet (609-915 meters). The world record elevation for one of these is 20,287 feet (6,183 meters). They fly about 25 miles per hour (40 kph). Below are some pictures of Robert flying a powerchute.

In the mean time, we have been going through a lot of our boxes and have tried to only take what we need to in Panama. I've continued to watch one of my nieces who recently turned 5 months old (keeping in mind I have two nieces). Right now her interests include laughing when the dogs play, looking in the mirror, and rolling over.

Not my niece, but this is not far from the truth right now

In addition to watching my niece, I have taken up starting a blog with our company as well as being engaged with trying to promote the business. I have also been busy with social media marketing for the business on Facebook and Twitter. For anyone interested, feel free to like or follow our business.

I wish I could give more "exciting" updates other than to say that life for the most part is back to normal in Arizona. The house is still up for sale with no reasonable offers coming our way and as I have mentioned before, we are still in Arizona. Life is good right now and it will only get better as we continue to get closer to follow our dream.