There is no nest quite so empty as one too far away for the children and grandchildren to fly to. All of us experience the empty nest syndrome as our children leave home to make their own way in the world, but we expats have a special version of it. By removing ourselves to a remote part of the world, we make it impossible to experience the traditional family Christmas gatherings. Even if we have the means to bring all the children and grandchildren to us, we'd never be able to convince all of them to come. This is one of the things we don't talk about, one of the sacrifices we make when we decide to pull up roots and seek a new life adventure. Some find it more difficult than others. Some will find it just too much to bear and go back home after a few missed family holidays. Those of us who stick it out will find ways to cope. At holiday times, we look for other ways to celebrate. We gather with other expats or celebrate with our new Panamanian families. Some shower gifts on the less fortunate who are everywhere to be found. A few hardy souls make treks into primitive areas and spend vast amounts of time, energy, and money to bring Christmas to people who have never experienced it 'our way' before. For most of us, it is a bittersweet experience, filled with the new and exciting, tempered with the loss of the old ways.

My War with Cable and Wireless - Update

As of Friday, December 23, Cable and Wireless still has not corrected the port misconfiguration I reported in last week's Newsletter. They seem to be profoundly disinterested in your problems if you can access the internet.

I wrote about Panama's Canasta Basica in issue #16 and I also note that I made some promises which I have not yet followed through on. OK, after New Year's I'll try again with the translation of the Canasta Basica, and writeups on other basic living costs.

In the meantime, CLICAC (http://www.clicac.gob.pa/) issues monthly bulletins on the cost of basic food items. The lists contains a surprising number of different foods and equally surprising figures for just how little it can cost to feed a family of four. The monthly reports for the last year are here. (http://tinyurl.com/dvelu) Reports are in pdf format.

Live Webcam

Ralph and Carmen Dessau are constructing a beautiful home slightly down the slope from Boquete and have put up a webcam which features different views. Last week it showed the house under construction. When I looked a few minutes ago it had a beautiful view of Volcan Baru. Stop by and check it out. (http://www.brisaspanama.com)

We've added a new service which some of you who are coming to Panama to visit may find of interest. Arrange to have Nora pick you up at the airport and take advantage of our cell phone offer. We provide you a cell phone with a minimum prepaid amount of $10.00 and when you leave we buy the phone back. We sell you the phone for $50.00 and buy it back for $25.00. We think it's a better deal than renting, because if you lose it or want to give it away or keep it, there's no hassle. It saves you the task of finding a place to buy a phone and you always have the option of selling it to someone else if you get a better offer. This offer is valid only in conjunction with Nora's airport pickup/dropoff service, because our profit is just too small for her to drive all over town delivering and collecting cell phones. See the Services section for details.