Susan and John - sounds like you sold your place - is this true?  Are you headed to Bocas shortly?  I wasn’t sure which plan “Plan B” was  so didn’t know if I should be congratulating you on selling your place or  ???? Read the rest of this entry →

Well folks…things are starting to happen here in wet UK at last. “Plan B” is in place….and John and I are sitting here wondering what to do next.  Really!!! We are a little boggled by our good fortune and have decided to take a few days to sort out our thoughts and get over the excitment.  Be warned…you will see us soon. LOL   ps:   How are things going with you Colleen?

Hi all,

Have finished up with the job ( last day last Friday) and I’m now concentrating on getting my condo rented out.  Hope it will be soon.

Susan and John are you having any luck selling your place? 

Phillipe - how’s it all going?  Any time for an update of your progress?  Also, any advise regarding any items that can’t be purchased in the surrounding areas that you really wished you would have brought?

We had snow in Los Angeles!  It’s been unusually cold here.  I lost a lot of my plants due to ice.  Heater is running all the time - it is so dry here I find myself looking forward to the humidity.  I may end up eating my words…

Hope all is well with all of you.  Happy New year!

For Swanny…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRZP2gt8GZc

My friend Mike’s son Calvin (almost three) catches his first air off my back deck as I film. (We have very little snow - 35% of normal for this time of year, in fact…)

I was sitting at my computer one sunny day two years ago in the village of Ajijic Mexico, the sound of children playing outside drifting sporadically through the open window. Three months earlier I’d fled the frenetic pace of Tokyo Japan, where I’d spent the last two decades, and now found myself in this enclave of expats residing near the shores of Lake Chapala. I’d come to Mexico to recuperate from the pressure cooker existence of Tokyo, and to hopefully gain insight to a saner, more natural way to live. Although a pleasant enough place, Ajijic didn’t feel quite right, and the realization had been growing daily that I’d soon be moving on. 

Our lives seem to be directed by unseen forces at times, and for some inexplicable reason the thought of dolphins entered my mind that afternoon. I impulsively Googled the term, and after skimming a few articles on the incredible beings, I chanced upon the leisurevolution site. 
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well, another fresh and sunny christmas has come and gone here on the farm. Still feels weird for me to be having christmas during what to me seems likes mid summer. We had lights and there was one or two boxes with wrapping, but I need to be in winter to really be in christmas - maybe Luna, Zuul and by then JensenBlu, will get wisked off to Canada for a TV christmas next year.

Luna won’t mind, she looooves winter… Me? I’m ok with it - occassionally. After way too many obligatory winters, I’m starting to get nostalgic for it though. Never thought I would feel that way about it, but there it is. I was even watching a bad chritmas movie recently just to see the outdoor scenes of snow!

If you come for christmas next year we may not be here!

After finding a great deal on tropical fruit trees (.50 cents each!) outside David, Panama and gorging on 18 new tropical fruit varieties totalling 66 trees, I now find myself nearly running out of space in which to plant them all on our Bocas del Toro farm. The meadow is big, but part of it is for the horses and part is designated as lots for sale, so the area for tropical fruit trees and other garden activities is getting smaller and smaller. I may have to expand the maintained areas a little.

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 Hi!

Zuul has learned to say No when that is actually what he means and it is so funny - he makes a funny face when he does it and his tone is hilarious adding the movements of his arms, or running away when  is time to get dressed or mommy, for the zillion time in the day, is trying to hug him and kiss him.

Here is a pic that perfectly captures his ‘I am not pleased with this idea’ face.

It’s over two years now since I closed on an 8+ parcel of land that’s contiguous to the collective areas–on the Boca Toritos side of the spread. I own the meadow with the coconut palms over the water.

I am a pretty happy fella and I love my life, which entails working very hard building unusual businesses whose purpose is to serve the public good. The only thing I’m unhappy about is that my work-life is such that I’m not making it down to Panama to visit the land, Swanny/Luna/Zuul, and the various other friends I’ve made down Bocas way. Hopefully that time will come soon.

Meanwhile I’m delighted to see the Finca Buena Vida making such great progress. I was there at the very beginning–I was the first buyer. Swanny was the bearer of a big vision and the reality of the place made it look a long way away. Some people thought I was nuts to invest; I did too, sometimes. Now that dream is much, much closer to coming true. It is happening, plainly. I’m glad my belief in Swanny contributed to the dream’s coming true. I’m looking forward to sharing the dream, sooner rather than later.

Hello!

As they say there is a first for everything… For me everything means: owning a boat  and driving it , building in the Caribbean and on the water , having no other job and duty than enjoying life without the constrain of our western society and of course writing this blog.

We came down here almost two month ago, when I say ‘we’ I mean Nathalie my wife and our two children age 16 and 14. After 5 days in Panama city we moved to Bocas , now if I can tell you something Bocas is a town rapidly expending, a lot of people like me are coming down here to build , it means the rental market is quite saturated !!!  It took us close to 6 weeks to find a descent place where to live  and even so the place is rented empty - really empty  ( I had to buy the cooker, the beds, etc. right down to the light bulbs….)

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