Hello friends (old and new)! I have thought about my blog a lot in the past few years, but I wasn't sure where to start writing again! I was glad to find @crocheille on Discord yesterday and she told me to join up on Hive, so here I am!
For those of you who don't know, I joined Steemit about 5 years ago and published regularly. Then life got (what I thought was) too busy, so I stopped blogging. Little did I know...
I am originally from Texas, but five years ago, we moved to the mountains of Panama. We have 6 kids - four boys and two girls. Our youngest daughter was born here in Panama almost 3 years ago. She is the blondest Panamanian I know!
We are a Christian family who homeschools and have a small farm here. We are constantly adding new animals and projects around here. We own a neighborhood, and my architect husband has many plans for it. I will save all these details for other blog posts. Life is never boring!
When Covid hit Panama, things changed so much. People became paranoid and hid in their homes and behind masks. It was so sad to see our normally friendly country become reclusive. The regulations were very strict at the beginning - allowing each of us out for 2 hours total once a week - based on gender and passport/ID number. Masks are still mandated in stores here, and they took away the mask mandates last month for outdoors. We still see very few people outside without masks! We were so thankful to have friends in our neighborhood since kids were not allowed out in public - at least ours could still go play with friends!
About two years ago, my husband and I were interviewed by Panama Relocation Tours. We were asked to talk about our town and why we moved here. We love life here, and we can't imagine being anywhere else. If you get a chance, check it out here:
I look forward to being able to blog here more regularly and getting to know more of you on here. Blessings to you!
Hola!!! I completely forgot that I had Gina on Discord set to let me know if you post haha. Until you popped up there! WOW, it's been such a long time! So great to see you here!
I think the last time was just before we had Steemfest in Thailand...or maybe longer.
Oh, and we're much closer now :)
Living in Mexico since 4 months now. LOVE IT HERE!!!
Very cool that you're in Mexico. Which part? I used to live in Toluca - near Mexico City. I still have a special place in my heart for Mexico! It's a great place!
So glad Gina let you know I was back on! Ha!
I can’t express how excited I am that you are here on Hive and blogging again! I’m so glad you reached out to me!
I really enjoyed the video. You have such a beautiful home and what a nice community you all are building out there. I would SERIOUSLY love if our family could one day live in your community and build our home out there by you. I guess first we still need to plan that visit we’ve been talking about for a few years now lol. 😄
The cost of living there…wow! It’s unbelievable! I’ll have to show this video to my husband to let him hear the costs. You all are building something beautiful out there for your family and that’s very inspiring.
My kids and I loved your library. I told them that was one of my dreams…to build up a home library for our family. It’s so beautiful out there and through this video I got to know you and your family even better.
I am a witness how homeschool co-op can be such a blessing for a family. I am so glad we joined a community as it has been helpful for all of us.
I’ll see you around ~ 😘
Yea! So glad that I figured out how to get on Discord! Ha! Glad you enjoyed the video - we really do love it here. The library is great, but it is usually a mess!! The kids take books out and conveniently leave them on the floor on a regular basis. 😆 The views here are amazing. That video was two years old. We've done a lot of projects since then, including a 70 foot tower. I'll post a video of it soon! Like I said, life is never dull. You guys do need to come visit us! Yes please!
I'll be looking out for that video! Would love to keep up with the projects you all are doing.
We really need to. Now that our youngest is almost 4 (😫 our baby is not a baby anymore) I’d be more willing to travel that far with her. I’ve always been nervous to travel with a baby.
We went back to the states two and a half years ago with our kids - right before the pandemic hit. It was not fun to travel with so many, but doable! It is amazing how quickly kids adjust!
The pandemic really changed a lot of things. I never want to experience that again.
Your family is really beautiful. I want to have six girls too. I have one girl now. 5 more to go.
I like that the cost of living is less over there. With the economic situation now, I think its fair for everyone there.
Welcome to hive. I hope to see lots of your contents soon.
Thanks for the message! Six girls would be a lot of fun!
It's so nice to see you join us here on Hive!
I look forward to hearing what you have been up to.
It's too bad that the people there have been so scared by Covid. We have had mask mandates here, which have come and gone a few times already, but at least there has never been an Outdoor Mask Mandates! How ridiculous! I'm glad that you have a small community of people who have allowed you to still socialize and feel a bit of normality.
We have thought many times about fleeing our Totalitarian country for somewhere with more freedom, like Nicaragua, where lockdowns were never enforced and no mandates exist. Or El Salvador where the restrictions were terrible in the beginning like Panama, but now have all been removed. Yet I see the majority of people in all the videos from down there still walking around outdoors wearing masks!! There are no mandates, and the countries are tropical (which would make catching a cold/coronavirus a lot less likely) and yet the people seem very scared still.
Canada is horrible and has created an Apartheid System -- but you don't see too many people outdoors in masks, and at least where I am, once we have a break in the rules (for summertime usually) most people take off their masks indoors too.
Anyways ... welcome back!
When it first started, people in Panama City were not even allowed to leave their apartments - even to talk the dog! It was insanity. They added the male/female days after we had the strict lockdowns to start based on numbers. Thankfully we live in an area with a lot of farms and the farmers could get a "transit pass" that allowed them to be out working if necessary. There was even a curfew for a long time. It was so draining to have to deal with everything they kept throwing our way...and unnecessarily. They were doing counts of deaths, positive test results, hospitalized, etc. every day on the news.
You wouldn't believe the number of Canadians and Germans who have moved here over the past few months. I'm sure they have moved many places in the world. It is crazy what the governments are capable of doing. The people in these Latin American countries are very compliant with government regulations - at least here they are. Not many protests about masks, vax (not mandated), etc. I bet some of the others are similar, and that is why we think people still wear them outside. They are also PARANOID, probably since they went so long doing the death count on the news... It is a crazy time for sure.
Thanks for the comment! I could go on more and more about all the craziness, but you get the idea. 😉
Welcome back!!! Hive has just become a better place with you posting again. We missed your posts, updates, comment.. SO HAPPY YOU'RE BACK!
Thanks! I am still trying to figure out some aspects of Hive, but I'm liking it so far! I have missed staying in touch with everyone as well! Yea for blogging again!
Glad to see you're back! Wlecome to Hive! I hope all is well down there!
We are doing well and still enjoying Panama! Life is good, crazy as usual! I hope you are also well. I should have looked into this years ago... 😄
I saw a familiar name popping by. Welcome back!
Thanks! I snuck back in here and am finding all kinds of familiar names in my feed. It has been fun catching up!!