Similarities & Differences: Life in Boquete, Panama

Larada Horner-Miller

6 months ago

This week I’ve mused over the similarities and differences in my life today in Boquete, Panama, 5083 kilometers away from Tijeras, New Mexico. That’s what they use here. It’s 3158.43 miles. So, let’s take a look!

Similarities

My cell phone and computer and the internet seem to be the link in my life that makes living here similar to the USA.

Talking to my brother—Because AT&T has an agreement with twenty Latin American countries, I can use my phone like I did in the states. So, I have kept up the schedule of calling him every couple days and that has eased my transition here.
Church—At this point, I continue to attend Hope in the Desert Episcopal Church on Facebook Livestream, like I had because of the pandemic, first of all, and then because of my year-long recovery from the dog attack and no driving.
Recovery meetings–So far, it’s all been online. I haven’t gone to a face-to-face meeting since we’ve been here, because of not having a car. I will venture out this week though. There’s a thriving recovery community here I got acquainted with in May, so I look forward to making new friends there. Recovery around the world feels the same!
Lin and my TV watching—After figuring out the TV services here and NordVPN, we have access to our favorite streaming services like Prime, YouTube TV, and Britbox. Also, today we didn’t have to struggle with getting our favorite NFL games because I subscribed to an international service, Dazn.com, and it has worked perfectly.
Friends to share life with—We have so many wonderful friends in the USA due to our square dancing, my teaching life and my recovery. But we have made a wonderful circle of friends here who have made the transition seamless in so many ways. Yes, we miss our friends in the USA, but because of AT&T, I talk to people easily from here. Also, I will connect with many when I return on my trips for ranch business.
Working on my next book–I continue to layout book #2 in my poetry series, Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry. I am so glad I brought my iMac desktop with me in one of my three suitcases because I have to have two programs opened at the same time to do the layout. The large display makes it so easy!

Differences & How We Adapt

No Episcopal Church—There is not an Episcopal church in Boquete, but there is one in David, 30 minutes away. In our town, there are Catholic churches and the Boquete Bible Fellowship. I plan on trying all of them out and deciding where I will land on a Sunday morning. For most of my adult life, I’ve attended the Episcopal church, so I look at this as a time of stretching me and my faith.
No dishwasher in our rental—So, we wash the dishes by hand. Lin and I have shared this new chore, but in so many ways, it’s not a chore. Here’s the view out our window over the sink:

No disherwasher continued—Fr. Tom Weston, one of my recovery mentors, introduced me to the Buddhist mindset of being present in daily tasks—chop wood and carry water. As I wash the dishes, I concentrate on being there, present, standing in front of this window, enjoying the view, the birds, the warm water, my homemade dishcloth in my hands. That’s always been a hard task for me. I’ve either wandered around the past or anticipated the future. But this so-called chore has slowed me down to appreciate this task I have taken for granted for years—because the dishwasher did it!
Spanish is the language—I was a Spanish teacher for fourteen years at the middle school level, but that was years ago. So, I’ve worked on renewing my knowledge of the language, using Duolingo daily for 216 days today! I also have the Babbel app and plan to use that too. When I have the opportunity, I speak as much Spanish as possible. Interestingly, the greeting here is “Buenos,” a shortening of “Buenos días!” That has been a major adjustment.
No dancing yet—We knew there would not be any square or round dancing here, but Latin people love to dance, so we hope to get into salsa and whatever is the dance of Panama.
My next book launch—It will be harder to get a paperback here. Amazon delivers but I haven’t ordered anything yet. I’m apprehensive.
Getting my medicine from OptumRx—Again, it’s a shipping issue! I messed up on the first orders and hope two orders arrive this week. Now I know how to order it, so the next one will sail through easily, I hope!
The weather—We’re in the rainy season, so it rains every afternoon. It usually stops for the evening, but yesterday we had a downpour that lasted into the evening. Also, we don’t have the heat we did in New Mexico because we are in the mountains with our temperature averaging 75 year around.
Getting around—We rented a car this week and have enjoyed the freedom of going when we want without bothering our neighbors; however, they were always so ready to help. The streets of Boquete are narrow, so we drive more slowly.
No Starbucks—But Boquete is known for its coffee production. So we have coffee readily available. I drink decaf though, but Lin found some the other day at one of our favorite coffee shops, Kotowa.
Variety of Restaurants—We live 5-10 minutes away from about 125 restaurants, so variety is readily available.
Economy—We have found it to be less expensive here. A doctor’s visit without insurance cost us about $20 for both of us. I don’t dread a trip to the grocery store because the bill is much less. Our rental includes all the utilities, so we feel it’s a bargain.
Fresh Food—We love fresh papaya, mangoes, bananas and passion fruit and have them regularly. At the Thursday market last week, we bought fresh tuna caught that morning. Lin grilled a couple pieces and we added the largest avocado I’ve ever seen for our meal! We both love fish, so we look forward to many more fish meals with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Fresh Tuna & Avocado

Papaya & Mangoes

Finally,

Yes, there are similarities that I have kept alive in my life in our move to Panama, but I wanted to share the differences because I hadn’t talked about them yet. Life here seems less stressful, less frantic and much more relaxed!