Nuestra Casa

On Tuesday February 17th we got the keys to our house. Ten months ago, we were sitting in our lawyers office in Panama ironing out the details with Luis Dutari. Three hours before we were to be at the airport with our cats to go back to Toronto, we signed on the dotted line and went back to Canada to wait for our home to be built in Hacienda Pacifica. This is what we have been waiting for and it is absolutely fabulous. Our official address is: Lote 20, Hacienda Pacifica, San Carlos, Panama.

Luis Dutari, the gentleman who is responsible for this development, and who in fact owned this huge Hacienda many years ago, was nothing short of a fabulous Project Manager and who has come to be like a brother to Allan and myself.
Of course there are certain things that Panamanians do differently in building a home as

compared to Canada. I would however have to say, that our experience in having a home built for us in a gated development was extremely positive. We are actually the first home completed here in Hacienda Pacifica. Phase 1 will have 56 homes in total, and we were numero uno. Our house is apparently built for any natural or human created disaster. It is made of concrete, with a very beautiful tile roof. All appliances, fixtures and ceiling fans were included in our contract and we took the upgraded granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
The Panamanians build a driveway and lay the grass and plant the flowers before the outside of

the house is finished. All the tile inside our home was done before the inside was painted. I think they ended up painting the inside of the house about 5 times, what with all the new holes and scratches and scrapes they created during the final stages of completion.

April 22nd.....

We have been in our new home for 2 months. Still the only dwellers in the development and slowly getting our house decorated and starting to think about flowers and more trees now that the rainy season is just around the corner.

Although we are technically living in a construction site, we do not hear much noise. The workers start at 7pm, but their is not much in the way of noisy machinery. Most of the time all I hear is a tap, and a scrape. The Panamanian construction worker can work miracles with a chisel and

hammer.

We still have some small stuff for Luis and Miguel to take care of. Our windows and screens need fine tuning and other small cosmetic items need tending to. This however was all layed out on our pre-inspection list and has been promised to us to be completed. We are in no real hurry. We work from home everyday so anytime they need to come by they can and they do and our list is getting smaller.

The wind has been something else. Gusting winds blow through our home through the backdoor, thus there is no need for airconditioning. It has only been as of recent that we have turned the air on at night in the bedroom for a few hours. The winds are incredible, and certainly take help to offset the heat in the middle of the day.

I could go on about some of the funny stories surrounding the building of our home, and the addition of some of the modern features that I am sure have Panamanians shaking their heads at. If you read this post ask me about the hood fan, the dishwasher and the screens. We have truly had a very very positive experience, but some things are worth telling. They are funny now and were funny then, so no harm in rehashing.

Our yellow house is truly home, and we have had 2 sets of guests. We are looking forward to more as nuestra casa es su casa.....anytime!

Karyn