TheExpatJournals.com

Beginning with coming over to sign the lease on the new apartment last week, life has been completely different. That day, I kept running into people I knew. Seems I can’t walk a block without interacting with folks. Everyone knows me, says hello and smiles. I didn’t realize how comforting that interaction on the street was until it was gone. It does remind me of the neighborhood feel of an NYC of yore, a time when perhaps you didn’t know the shopkeeper’s name for the first few years of going in there on pretty much a daily basis, but you knew each other anyway. You shared those few moments each day or every few days that said "We are neighbors. We share this and that is special because that’s just about us and not the rest of the world. We have mutual respect for one another. The day is a little bit brighter now that we’ve shared a smile."
(more…)

It seems that in life, everything is a trade off. I sit here on my terraza in La Cresta and am soothed by the up close view of a hummingbird while listening to a gecko sound off nearby. It’s light enough to see the hummingbird and that means the birds are beginning to chirp. This little guy is primarily green. There is another I’ve seen in the afternoon that is the most brilliant red and green in the light. And the quiet. It is so very quiet. (more…)

I’m writing this on my last night living in Casco Viejo…for now. I’m taking a rather Zen approach about ‘accidentally’ taking the apartment in La Cresta. I said goodbye to Manuela today. I recently looked at the photo of her from last summer and boy has that girl aged. She went grey and now she’s white around her eyes. I told her that I had seen two Springer Spaniels being walked in LaCresta. Bet no one knows their names the way EVERYONE knows Manuela’s name around here. Springers seem very rare down here. From afar and as a result of Manuela, Susan GG up in Bocas provides me with a vicarious thrill of watching a Springer puppy grow up. (more…)