Tag Archives: Photos

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.

Looking out at the point (the bow of the “yacht”) of our balcony towards the ocean.
Looking back towards the living room/dining area/kitchen/front door from the front windows that face the ocean.
kitchen and front door. Pardon the mess.
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.
Everyone needs a giant gaudy gold mirror and some dead palm leaf type things.
The living room, taken from nearish the dining room table, facing the balcony.
Guest bedroom/Eric’s office. It needs visitors!!!
Master bath. Yes, there’s a balcony directly behind the tub.
Master bedroom with private balcony.

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.

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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)

Agua y las Adventuras de Katie!

I promised a little rant on water. I have no idea if this is a universal thing. Eric thinks I’m picky and crazy, but I know the truth. Water tastes different everywhere. I was raised in Asheville, which is known for its pure water. Microbreweries are all over the city because the water tastes so good. One of the founders of Asheville Brewing Company said here “We get first crack at some absolutely pristine water coming down from Black Mountain. The water is not too hard, not too soft and has low levels of minerals. It’s perfect water for beer.”

So  when my family would vacation each year to Hilton Head Island or visit family in Savannah, I HATED the “beach water.”  I didn’t even like to brush my teeth with it.  It just tasted dirty.  I couldn’t stand to drink it and would go the whole week drinking just juice and soda in order to avoid it.  “Julie, do you want some ice in your drink?”  NO, thank you!

The water in Panama City is perfectly safe to drink.  SAFE to drink, meaning that you can drink it without getting ill.  Whether you want to drink it, being an Asheville water snob like me, however, is an entirely different story.  I’ve been driving Eric crazy since I got sick last week and started getting dehydrated because I simply could not bring myself to drink this stuff all day long.  The aftertaste was like sanddollar flavored gatorade.  You can’t live with that all day!  It’s awful.  I admit that I’m no outdoorsy, do-whatever-it-takes kinda girl, so I found giant bottles of Dasani downstairs, and everyone’s a lot happier now.

Am I the only person like this?  Ashevillians?  Help me out.  Were we not spoiled growing up there?  Is it like that anywhere else?  Does anyone from a beach recognize that they grew up with crappy water?  My dad’s from Savannah and fully admits that their water is terrible.

Now for the exciting part of the post:  Katie’s adventures around the city!  My dear friend and former roommate Katie arrived last Sunday night.  I had asked that the caretaker of our apartment, Oscar, pick her up since he speaks English and is a careful driver, and he agreed.  I called him a few hours before she got in to confirm, and he assured us that he was tracking her flight.  Turns out, he sent a friend of his who spoke no English to pick her up and didn’t think to tell me this.  It would’ve been fine, except had I known that Oscar wasn’t going to go, I would’ve asked our friend and cab driver from last year’s trip, Jorge, to pick her up!  He doesn’t speak English, but I know and trust him and would’ve loved to see him.  Oh well.  She got here.

Sadly, I’ve been sick all week still, so I haven’t been able to join her on any of her adventures.  I’m okay, I just have some…ahem…reasons that prevent me from being able to leave the house for long.  Still.  Ugh.  But Katie is an adventurer and has found her way around.  She took a bus tour of the city, a ferry to a nearby island to relax on the beach, explored the old city, took Eric to the Canal yesterday, and went on a tour of a lake along the Canal today.  She’s had a great time, judging from her stories and photos, and a great sport about me not being any fun.

We have been getting takeout from the little restaurant downstairs a lot this week and have made friends with the owner, a lady named Neli.  Two nights ago, Katie and I went in while Eric went to the grocery store, and Neli introduced us to a Canadian twenty-something who was eating there.  He was heading out to some of the islands, then off to do some surfing, and Neli wanted to set him up with her daughter.  She said he was cute and she wanted beautiful grandchildren!  So I found myself in the position of translator between the two as this guy and I tried to negotiate a photo of the daughter out of Neli.  Oddly, Neli’s phone “was out of battery,” even though she had it plugged in, and for all her searching, she just couldn’t find a picture of her.  We’re still not sure what happened there, but surfer guy went off without a date, and Katie and I left pretty amused.  Eric showed up in the middle with groceries and locked out of the apartment wondering what was taking so long.  Anyway, I’ve enjoyed talking with Neli, eating her amazing cooking, and having a bit of a friend.

I’ll post pictures of the food and of Katie’s adventures when I can get them from her.

For now, a few random tidbits.  I finally caught a photo of the guy who I said sounded like he was doing a Call to Worship.  Here he is in his pickup truck:

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Next, in case I didn’t mention this earlier, the mystery bugs in our bedroom turned out to be termites.  Lovely.  We move out next week and I can’t wait.  I’m not going to announce our next apartment until we’re in because I don’t want it to go all Panama on us and fall through.

CB is not doing well at all.  He’s not eating.  I’ll spare you the details, but if you can spare a prayer that he isn’t/doesn’t suffer, we’d appreciate it.  It really sucks not being with him.  We skyped with him/Eric’s parents this morning, so at least we got to see him.  He definitely does not look like he feels good.  I’m feeling really guilty that we’re not there with him.  The timing is horrible.  The two unrelated cancers are just ridiculous.  We are so grateful to Susan and Ed for caring for him so well.  He’s a lucky dog.

As for Addie, she is being tortured at my parents’ house, as you can see:

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Too bad she’s not allowed on the couch, huh?

Lastly, I found a map comparing the size of Panama to the size of North Carolina.  Cool, huh?

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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.
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!
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.

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?