Road Warriors Day 3...

Seth woke up bright and early at 6am on Day 3 to run to the Chedauri to get a new battery. Wouldn't you know it didn't open for another hour so we ended up hanging out in our room, completely packed...just waiting and waiting and waiting. He finally got our battery, changed it

Road Warriors Day 2...

Seth and I woke up kinda leisurely Sunday morning, our second day of travel. We only had to get to Veracruz which was just an 8 hour drive from Villahermosa. With that, we put no rush on our travels and decided to be a little lazy. While we were driving, we realized that we were

Road Warriors...

Seth and I have been back in the US for two weeks now! It seems like just yesterday that we left. I wanted to give you all our travel logs and some pictures we took along the way. Most of the pictures are taken from the passenger seat unfortunately. Someday when we don't have a car full

Last Days...

We are now on our last couple of days in Mexico. I've taken Taelyn to the US to stay with my family. It was so odd traveling back to Mexico without her. I only had my backpack and one suitcase that was filled with scrapbook supplies I muled back for a friend. I watched The Hunger

Having a Baby in Panama...

I know its been forever since I first started the posts about living in Panama and some of the paperwork that is required. What can I say? Baby, husband, laundry, cooking, other blog posts...it all keeps me busy. So here I am finally going to continue on the information highway and give you more insight into how to have a baby in Panama. I know that when Seth and were looking into this topic, we found pretty much nothing out there. So hopefully, this post finds someone looking for the same information, and it is beneficial.

I've already raved on and on about the medical care in Panama. It is fantastic! You will be very hard pressed to find anyone who will tell you that they had a horrible experience at a Panama hospital. So even though the healthcare industry is fantastic! Getting all your paperwork together after you have that little love nugget can be quite daunting to say the

Mexican Cooking 101...

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I love to cook. I'm gradually trying to overcome my fear of baking, but cooking is where my heart will always be and stay. As an expat, I've tried to broaden my recipe repertoire and use the spices and local ingredients available in my food. Since I am absolutely in love with Mexican food (not Tex-mex which I love too), I knew I had to overcome my fear of chilis, peppers, and the stovetop grill. So when my friend, Maria, offered to come over and make chili rellenos with me,

A Carnival at Carnaval...

Carnaval wouldn't be complete in Playa without a carnival full of food, games, rides, and shows. That's the one thing I just love about where we live. They have traveling carnivals in the US, but no one really goes to them because honestly, they are kinda lame. But, not in Playa! They really know how to throw a party, and it seems like the entire population of Playa comes out for the 4-5 days that the carnival is set up.

Last Saturday I had one mission...to see the parade. On our way back from hanging out on 5th we walked through the carnival area a bit, and I kept thinking how dumb I was to eat bar food

Carnaval...

I have looked forward to Carnival in Mexico since the year before we moved and were still living in Panama. We had heard that Cozumel's carnival is something to experience but decided to stay right here in our lazy little fisherman's town and experience Carnival Playa de

Thanksgiving in Mexico...

As any Expat will tell you, the hardest part of choosing to live in another country is being away from your family during the holidays. This year, I wanted to make Thanksgiving dinner and share my holiday with my friends and neighbors because they have been so gracious and inviting towards Seth and me. It was my way of saying, "Thanks" to them.

As all little parties go, it started out with just a few friends of maybe about 6-8 people. Then somehow, it turned into a much larger party of 15 adults and 3 children. I can't tell you how much I just loved having all those people in our home chit chatting and yumming down on the food. This will probably be most memorable Thanksgiving ever!

I made all the traditional foods of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie. I decided since it was

Is It My Smell?...

Source

One thing I have found being an expat is how extremely hard it is to befriend other expats. Its like a secret society or something, and I just want to know the password to be allowed entry. Can someone, please, show me the secret handshake?

I've been asked by friends what other expats do for a living here. And my answer is always, "I can't really tell you much because honestly, we rarely have conversations with other expats and mostly just talk to Mexicans." Not that we mind talking to Mexicans because they are the most generous and welcoming group of people I've known. Its that sometimes, you don't want to be the only person standing out like a sore thumb.

Now, I am not one of those women who has ever needed a lot of friends. In fact, I've never really been very good at that whole "girlfriend" thing that other women do. I don't like to shop. I don't like to yip yap on the phone. I don't like

Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!...

When I walked into the grocery store and saw the huge pallet bins full of pumpkin (calabaza) I exclaimed with glee. I'm not kidding. I really did exclaim with glee. There was a Mexican woman staring at them, and all I could say was, "Calabaza! Calabaza! Yeah! Yeah!" The translation was not lost on her. I think she got the point. I was happy!

You see, its impossible to find pumpkin puree here in good 'ol Mexico. And I do mean absolutely impossible to find canned pumpkin. You'd think with this area having such a large expat community, I'd be able to find a stash in one of the four major grocery stores. Nope. Nada. Uh uh. Ain't no way. Not gonna happen. So when I saw all those pumpkins, I knew that my fall season in the tropics was not to be empty of wonderful pumpkin dishes after all. Nope, I was going to be able to make all my favorite recipes and find some new ones to add to the list! **This is when everyone cheers with joy like complete dorks**

Nicest Present Ever...

My property manager, Chris, just got back from a trip to his homeland, England. I had been complaining about how it was absolutely impossible to find malt vinegar in Mexico. Go figure, huh? You can find every other kind of vinegar under the sun; rice vinegar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, olive vinegar, wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, coconut vinegar...but alas, no malt vinegar. Crazy, I know! How's a person supposed to have some good fish and chips without malt vinegar. Of course, Seth thinks I'm dumb, and he believes that tartar sauce is the way to go. I ignore him and try not to be ashamed that I married someone who doesn't like malt vinegar. But, secretly, it is a little embarrassing. Shhhh!

Any who, I digress. So Mr. Wonderful Chris brought me back my very own bottle of malt vinegar! How nice is that? He said it was his favorite brand and was ridiculously cheap. I don't

We're Having a Baby...in Panama?...

Right when we were in the process of getting the house ready to put on the market we found out I was pregnant. We had already planned on having our first child abroad so when we looked into countries, the medical care was first priority. So how was it, you ask? Actually, I cannot explain enough how much the medical care system in Panama blows the US system out of the water! Not only was it cheaper, it was better. The doctors are focused on the patient and not on the insurance companies. I am in no way saying that doctors in the US are not concerned about their patients. I'm just saying that

What's Up with Panama?...

When we decided to move to Panama everyone would ask us, "Why Panama?" It was kinda random if you think about it. After doing all of our want list and research, it just seemed like the best place for us to plant our feet first. When we first moved to Panama, we lived in the old town in Panama City called Cosco Viejo. We actually lived right around the corner from the Presidential Palace. After about a month and a

How the Dream Began...

I remember when Seth and I were first talking about our dream to move to paradise about three years ago. We were walking on Seven Mile Beach in the Cayman Islands talking about how happy everyone seemed. Me, being the realist, thought this is a far, far, far off dream of ours that may happen someday when we retire. Seth, being the dreamer, thought why wait until we are 65 years old to live our life?

At the time, I was working in my established career, but I knew my heart wasn't in it anymore. However, I didn't know how to get out (this is kinda a predicament for a lot of retailers). The