A New Beginning in Panama

What a long strange trip it’s been … I can hardly believe that it’s actually happening. Many thanks to our family for sharing in our excitement with us, you all helped make a stressful time a little easier.

After having spent the last 5 days in Florida visiting Craig’s brothers, we took off from Miami this morning and arrived in Panama City 3 hours later, along with 2 pieces of checked luggage each and our carry-ons. This week we’re finalizing our visa paperwork. Tomorrow we’re off to our attorney’s office and to immigration to get our permanent residency visas.

We also have another day planned to get our drivers licenses. You can only drive for 90 days with your US license. Apparently this is quite a process. First we have an appointment at the US Embassy to get our US licenses notarized. Then we take the notarized documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for certification. Followed by a trip to a lab to obtain proof of blood type, and then finally bring all these documents to a Sertracen Service Center to get our licenses.

On May 1st, the Panamanians celebrate Labor Day and businesses will be closed. We look forward to finding something fun and relaxing to do.

At the end of the week we’ll leave Panama City for the highlands of Boquete in western Panama, where we’ll look for a furnished rental and explore this lovely area.

View from our hotel

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