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Carnival!

[Written on Monday, February 16…see, I told you they’d be out of order.  Sorry!]

As some of you may know, it is Carnival time! I’m sure both Katie and our NOLA friends, the Goulds, would prefer if I referred to it as Mardi Gras, but that’s just not what it is down here. I assumed the city would be packed with people going crazy in the streets, particularly on Avenida Balboa, right in front of our new place. Apparently, however, the Interior (pretty much the rest of the country besides Panama City) is where people go. The city is completely desolate right now. It’s the most bizarre thing. Eric and I rolled the last of our suitcases from our old place to the new one down the road without any worries about cars this morning. Yes, we got weird looks, but it was only 4-5 blocks, so getting a cab would’ve been silly. I took a picture of Avenida Balboa and the Cinta Costera this morning (two of the main roads in the city) because I’m sure I’ll never again see them so empty! I’ll have to take a photo when people get back to town and post the side-by-side comparison. It’s really bizarre.

Anyway, people are gathering in the streets not too far down from us to celebrate. Eric came inside from the balcony to get me earlier today saying “Grab your camera and come look at the boats!” I was confused because, well, we live: 1) in a building called the Yacht Club which is directly across the street from the actual Yacht Club, and 2) within 15 minutes of the Panamá Canal. Of course there are boats! Turns out he said “floats”! There were several parade floats driving down Avenida Balboa at a snail’s pace right below us. Here are a few photos:

What a fun holiday! Everyone is off work. Businesses and many restaurants are closed. I’m really hoping that tonight or tomorrow I’ll feel up to walking down to see what’s going on and to take some photos. When Eric was moving some of our stuff last night around 11 (again, I thank God for my sweet and long-suffering husband a million times a day), he said the party was just getting started. Tomorrow is the main celebration day, as you might imagine (Fat Tuesday), so I can’t wait to see what happens then. If we had wifi in our apartment already, I would be checking out what’s going on and where we should be. But, we couldn’t get internet access this weekend or for part of this week because of Carnival. No one is working. I get it! It’s a great concept! We should do that in the States…or rather in more states than just Louisiana! Everyone take a break and spend time outside with family and friends and strangers dressed in bright colors. Listen to live music, celebrate, get sprayed by a hose (this apparently happens, which is great b/c it’s hot as blazes…again, sorry), and just have fun!

Eric and I both have more stories to tell that we’ve been saving up, but I’ll end this post for now. More soon…maybe even a guest appearance by Eric!

The Yacht Club or I’m so fancy

Now for the reveal of the new apartment!  It’s absolutely incredible. I’m sure I will never again have the opportunity to live in such a beautiful apartment with such a spectacular view in a really vibrant and fun city. I’ll go ahead and say that this is going to sound like bragging…I guess that’s what I’m doing, but I also am trying to keep everyone updated on our whole trip…anyway, please forgive me. Or skip this post. Either way, you’re all welcome to come down and stay with us in this amazing place!

You may remember that our old building was called Bonanza. I couldn’t get over the name. It just cracked me up! This new place is called the Yacht Club. It is a fifty-something story building right on Avenida Balboa (as close to the water and walking paths as you can get). It is gorgeous. I admit that I lusted over it last year when we were here, but I never imagined we’d live here. The idea of the building is that it’s shaped like a boat (a yacht, I suppose, but gosh how pretentious does that sound?!) with the bow (I’ve been told not to call it the “front of the boat”) pointing towards the ocean. We are on the 44th floor in the apartment with the bow-shaped balcony.

The views from this place are indescribable in words, so I’ve taken a ton of pictures already. It’s a weird shaped apartment, since the sides and main dividing wall between living and sleeping areas are curved, so it might be hard to figure out where everything is, even with the pictures…but here you go anyway.

kitchen and front door. Pardon the mess.
Looking out at the point (the bow of the “yacht”) of our balcony towards the ocean.
Guest bedroom/Eric’s office. It needs visitors!!!
Master bath. Yes, there’s a balcony directly behind the tub.
Master bedroom with private balcony.
Looking back towards the living room/dining area/kitchen/front door from the front windows that face the ocean.
Can you tell that the walls are curved? The whole building is curved like a ship would be. So cool.
Guest bedroom! It’s calling your name!!!! It has its own balcony.
The living room, taken from nearish the dining room table, facing the balcony.
Everyone needs a giant gaudy gold mirror and some dead palm leaf type things.

The day I originally wrote this post – Monday, Jan. 16, I believe – I was resting a lot in bed.  But every time I get up and walk out to the “Grand Room,” as I silently called it that day – the kitchen/dining room/living room/balcony area with all the windows – I felt absolutely overwhelmed at the beauty of these views. I still do.  I want to say that I feel so blessed, but I can’t decide if that word bothers me in this instance because it sounds cliche, especially for a southern girl, or because I feel guilty for living in such luxury…even just on this first day. This is so much more than we need, and a huge change from where we were living just last night.

A few little details are fun for me: First, I am in love with the elephant painting! I really want to blow up a print of this photo of it when we get back to NC and put it on a wall.

IMG_8826

Secondly, I love the accent wall color. This one is for my Tar Heels…Becca, listen up. 🙂 When we met with the owner of the apartment to sign papers, she asked what color would be good for the wall. Eric immediately suggested Carolina Blue! As it turns out, the owner’s father-in-law is a UNC alumnus! Amazing! Anyway, she did paint the wall an almost Carolina Blue, but it turned out to be too bright and tacky, so she changed it to this. I’m okay with that – it looks beautiful. If I want my fave shade of blue, all I have to do is turn my head the other way and look out the wall of windows at the Carolina Blue sky!

Now for the best part…the views!  Our building is one of the taller ones on Avenida Balboa, and we are maybe 10 floors from the top.  You can see in the photo below that the balconies at the top are split – they don’t have the pointed part in the front.  Ours is the highest balcony that has the pointed part, if that makes sense.

We are the top balcony out of the ones that have the point in the front.

We are the top balcony out of the ones that have the point in the front.

So maybe you can tell a little from the photo above…our balcony starts at the front of our living room at the point (bow of the ship facing the ocean) and extends down the right side (in the photo) past the living room, the guest room, the master bedroom, and the master bath.  On the other side of the living room, the whole wall is windows, most of which we keep open all day and night for the breeze.  We haven’t used air conditioning at all except for the very first day we moved in when I wasn’t feeling well.

From here we can see nearly the whole coastline of the city, from Trump Tower in the northeast down to the old city, the long causeway that leads to three islands (Amador Causeway), and the entrance to the Canal.  There are always tons of ships lined up and waiting their turn to go through the Canal.  It’s incredible.

The giant windows that we leave open all the time.
Facing southwest towards the Canal, the Amador Causeway, and the old city (Casco Viejo)
The Islands at the end of Amador Causeway, a bit of the Cinta Costera (Coastal Beltway – the round road on the right), and maybe you can see some of the boats lined up waiting to go into the Canal.
Eric at the helm!
The front of the balcony looking down on the real Yacht Club.
The other side of the balcony, looking towards Punta Pacífica, Punta Paitilla, Trump Tower, etc.
Yacht Club and Punta Paitilla (fancy apartment buildings)
Looking behind us towards our old building
Looking west towards Ancon Hill and back towards the big mall (Albrook)

1991 called…

First thing’s first.  Fanny packs are HUGE here.  And not for tourists.  For runners!  I’m not talking about the small pouches that hold a house key and maybe a dollar or two.  I’m talking about what you and your mom wore at Disney World at 1991.  Eric and I took a walk along the Cinta Costera (by the water) towards the Fish Market and Casco Viejo (the old city) one night earlier this week.  Eric had run down that way one morning – actually around 11 am when it was SUPER hot…not smart – and I wanted to see what was there.  Turns out there is a whole park with a clock made out of shrubs, a playground, paths everywhere, grassy areas, gazebo/tent things…it’s really pretty and modern looking.  Kinda Alice in Wonderland-y.  You can’t really tell much from these pictures, but here you go anyway…plus a few of the view looking back towards the rest of Avenida Balboa.

There were some boys skateboarding here.
There are always TONS of people out at night. The paths are really crowded because it’s the only time it’s really possible to work out or take a walk with the family.
A few folks had shaved ice carts…with legit shaved ice. Like a huge block of ice and…I guess a big blade or something. Pretty cool. I wonder how long it lasts in this heat!

So back to the important stuff.  As we began walking home, I commented that I had seen more than a few fanny packs.  So we started keeping track.  I made rules – the tiny runner ones for just keys and whatever didn’t count, if you weren’t positive you saw it, it didn’t count – we were strict.  In the space of about 20 minutes, we saw a total of 17 fanny packs.  ALL on runners!  What do they keep in there?  Not water.  Not big enough or oddly shaped enough for a bottle.  How does that not bother them when they run?  I don’t even like it when my shorts don’t fit right.  I’m going to have to investigate further.  If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know.  I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

After that bit of fun news, I have to report the frustration of the week.  The next door neighbors got a puppy.  And I think they’re trying to crate train it.  The stupid thing has yipped ALL night long for the past five nights.  And everyone here keeps their windows open all the time because of the heat, so guess who hasn’t slept well in five nights?  It’s awful.  We’re getting used to the traffic noise, the car alarms, the sirens…but oh my gosh, the puppy.  They keep it in their kitchen, and those windows are right next to our bedroom windows.  Super fun.  I’ve composed neighborly letters in Spanish in my head all week long, but I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what good a letter would do.  Surely they’re aware that their dog is annoying.  Surely they’re aware that we can hear it.  What are they going to do?  I think we’ll just have to find earplugs and tough it out until we move out of here.

Meanwhile, I’m also composing my review of this apartment for AirBnb.com.  It helps me to deal with any imperfections I find.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine place.  There are a lot of great things about it.  Eric thinks it’s great.  I admit that I’m spoiled in a lot of areas and that I’m having a hard time adjusting to certain things.  My internal review composition is a good coping mechanism for now.

Oh, and speaking of noises, there’s this odd one that we can’t figure out.  Nearly every day, we hear what sounds almost like a Muslim call to prayer. It only happens once a day though, and I imagine that if it were a call to prayer, it would happen five times a day.  Anyway, when it happens, we run to the window to try to see where it’s coming from.  I’ve only seen the source once, and it appears to be a guy in the back of a pickup truck with a big speaker.  He speaks quickly though and his voice is muddled, so I can’t even tell if he’s speaking Spanish or another language.  And…that’s the whole story.  I’ll let you know if that develops further.

Our Spanish teacher delayed the beginning of our lessons until Monday, so nothing to report there.  I finished reading the Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman that I had started before we left.  It’s good.  Worth a read, I think, if you like Narnia and Harry Potter, but a grown-up version.  Not as epic, and no one will remember the name Grossman, but it’s entertaining.  Anyway, all that to say that I decided I should be reading a book in Spanish.  So I chose El León, La Bruja y El Ropero – The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  I don’t think I ever finished the series when I was younger, and they’re easy enough reading that I can do pretty well in Spanish.  So far it’s challenging enough that I’m learning, but easy enough that I don’t hate picking it up.  I just feel like I’m reading any other book, only with a few more tricky words.

And one confession before I go…Eric asked me to play a nerdy Playstation game with him today.  One of those where there’s a whole story and half of it is almost like a movie, then you fight a few guys, then chose what the character says.  Anyway, for some reason, he wanted me to try to play, and it was raining, so I agreed.  I picked this magical Maleficent-type character and he showed me how you can customize how she looks.  I mean EVERY detail.  I spent 30 minutes changing her face and picking how far apart I wanted her eyes to be and whether she should have a double chin (seriously, you can’t make this stuff up), gave her horns, then named her Pearl.  What does this have to do with Panama?  Nothing.  I just thought y’all would get a kick out of it.  Happy husband, happy life?  Isn’t that how it goes?