Our hasty trip to the US to be with Pete’s mother, was expected to last for 1-2 weeks. After her passing, we spent the month of December thinking we’d stay stateside for the immediate future and attempt to update her home (in order to sell it and settle her estate). In late December, we drove from TX back to TN with the intent to get as many tools as possible in order to start working on her home in January. All went to plan until demo started. We soon discovered the “mud ant trails” were actually a huge termite infestation.
We sought the help of professionals and were told by multiple companies that our infestation was one of the worst they’d seen. (yeah for us…. said very sarcastically). After much discussion, we decided selling the house “as is” was our best plan of action. We just didn’t know how much damage we were going to find or how it would affect the sale price. February was spent tying up loose ends, meeting with the real estate broker, cleaning out the house and spending time with Pete’s siblings. By March, we were looking forward to finally getting “home” to Panama.
Our arrival in Panama was low key: no protests, no gas shortages and no food shortages. It was lovely! Back at our rental, we were finally able to get our car (purchased back in September), which had been stuck in Panama City during the protests. Within a week of our arrival, we also both had our Panamanian driver’s license, and life was getting back to normal.