Hola!
 
Over 12 years ago if someone would have told me I would be living in a 2100 square foot home across the street from the Pacific Ocean, with mango trees in my yard, and a surf board in my garage in Panama, I would have told them to go stick their head in the sand, pardon the pun.
 
Twelve years ago, I was in the midst of a crucial life change.  Let's just say, if I had not made the decision to get up and start participating in life, I most likely would not be hear today.  The journey of self discovery, challenges and triumphs but always looking ahead, and being eternally optimistic which at times was a downfall; lead me to some pretty lovely places in my life.
 
My career took off.  I quickly reached the top of our sales team of over 200 Account Managers for the Employment Firm I was at that time working for.  I was invited to the President Club trips and had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii, Mexico, Belize and Grand Cayman to name a few, all on the companies bill.
 
I met my partner and without sounding corny my soul mate and fellow Taurus in 2005 on-line.  As a workaholic Sales Rep, on-line dating for me fit my schedule just fine.  It was I believe on date 2 or 3 that Allan and I began to discuss finding a "better way".  We both fought the traffic to and from Toronto.  We had come to despise the rat race and the concrete jungle and the mentality of keeping up with the Jones' that our friends had fallen into.  Allan took to the internet by storm, and began his research.  We looked at every destination from Cape Breton Island to Thailand and anything in between.  We did not travel to all the destinations but certainly touched on quite a few through the US and Canada.  It was on a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2006 that he stumbled upon Panama.  Panama?  Who goes to Panama? Where is Panama again?
 
October 29th 2006 we were on a plane for a 3 week vacation to Panama.  We traveled by car from the Costa Rican border to the furthest city on the Caribbean coast that we could travel to by car.  We fell in love in Panama and with Panama.
 
Two years later on the anniversary date of our first date, we moved to San Carlos, Panama.  In that time we took 2 more trips back to this fabulous Central American country.  In the winter of 2007 we spent 4 months doing our Real Estate and cultural research in the coffee mountains of Boquete and on the Pacific coast about 1 hour from Panama City.  Three hours before we were to hop on a plane and head back to Toronto with our 3 cats, we signed on our house.  We bought in a new gated development, and our home was to be finished by December 18th, 2008.  On February 18, 2009 we moved into our new home.
 
Our mantra was this: "Be ready to give up the life you planned, in order to live the life that is waiting for you".  We moved to Panama with no expectations but an open mind, open heart and to seek adventure. I sold my condo, my car all my wares and I resigned from 9 year $100K+ career with AppleOne to start a new chapter of my life.  
 
Allan sold his Mississauga suburban home privately in July of 2008, and proceeded to buy into a partnership of a 6 seater plane.  He is a recreational pilot and found an American who lives 4 minutes from us in Panama who wanted to share his plane.  Who would have ever thought that I would be climbing aboard a 6 seater plane on Toronto Island on December 15th with our 2 cats and heading for Panama.  It took 3 days.  It should have taken 1 to reach Miami.  I hopped off in Miami and continued my journey to Panama on American Airlines with our cats.   Allan and John arrived a day later.  What an experience.
 
My life today consists of:  6 cent bananas, working in my bathing suit as an International IT recruiter, weekend trips in our plane to The Pearl Islands to dive on weekends and paying $10/day for a cleaning lady.  Life is never without challenges.  The quality of our challenges however pale in comparison to our life in Toronto.  Learning how to speak Spanish, finding a can opener or a salad spinner and looking for a good gardener at $10/day is what we have on our plate today.
 
Twelve years ago I had collectors calling me daily, I owed a ton in University loans and bad money management.  I was 50 lbs overweight, I had no desire to wake up in the morning, other than to feed my cat.  Today I pinch myself every morning.  My friends still think I am mad, my family shake their smiling heads, while Allan and I eat our free mangoes, our 6 cent bananas and look to tomorrow for our next adventure.