EBTIECHI in El Valle

“Have you been to El Valle de Antón? I think you would love it.”

I can’t count the number of times I heard this as we traveled through Panamá.

Tom and I are pretty loosie-goosie about our planning, so after revisiting a few favorite towns we had space for new adventures in the beautiful county.

However, when I felt inspired to book a place in El Valle, I discovered there wasn’t much left!

We then learned that El Valle de Anton is an area filled with Panamanian summer homes, and a destination for escaping the city, especially during Carnaval and the last weeks of school vacation.

Here was an opportunity to watch the mind's judgy/fearful thoughts: “Why didn’t I look sooner- now there’s slim pickings for rentals! Should we even go? What if it is crazy busy?”

I realized the pull to explore the area was stronger than the fears, so I decided to EBTIECHI the adventure.

I booked the only place left with a kitchen and a porch, two of my “requirements”. I allowed that to be the extent of the research on the area, so that everything could be a surprise. With the evidence of EBTIECHI I’ve collected, I could trust that it would be a delightful surprise, not a “damn-it!” surprise.

We could tell we were entering a special place on the planet as we began climbing the mountain hills to reach El Valle. The steep inclines put our sweet little rental car, Carlita, to the test, but she persevered.

We found ourselves in a valley surrounded by mountains. The first EBTIECHI surprise to me was that the town was situated in a volcanic crater, which meant hiking trails galore.

It was absolutely stunning and the EBTIECHIs just kept expanding.

To begin: our casita!! It was brand new, with a patio that looked out onto a vibrantly lush garden, complete with a sloth that slept in the mango tree beside us as we enjoyed morning coffee.

The abundant plants and flowers, the rampant birds and butterflies, the rainbows that filled the valley, the perfectly manicured estates.

The “Rey” in this teensie town, our favorite grocery store in Panamá! We’d only ever found it in large cities.

The cooler temperatures, lack of biting insects, and produce markets galore.

The hikes, each one unique with waterfalls, swimming holes, cloud forests, conifer forests, petroglyphs, epic views, and expansive vistas.

A Mexican restaurant! A garden coffee shop with brownies and stickers! A hobbit house earth mound brewery!

The welcoming and kind people.

To address my mind’s initial fears…

“I waited too long to book a place”. - I didn’t have to spend any “time” considering which rental to choose, as the one that was left was absolutely perfect!

“Should we even go?” - A non-factor. Committing to an EBTIECHI experience releases the shoulds.

“What if it is crazy busy?” - There was so much nature to explore, both in the valley and in the surrounding mountains, that it felt wildly spacious. The restaurants were surprisingly wide open too!

This is the joy of EBTIECHI for me: feeling the pull to say yes, releasing the shoulds and fears, and experiencing the magic of life unfolding beyond my mind’s wildest dreams.

Planless in Panamá

For our first winter of retirement/snowbirding in warmer climates, I had a strong pull to flow versus plan. We had three months of space to enjoy and had booked just our first place to stay upon landing in Panamá City, and then a few days on a beach as we headed down to the Azuero Peninsula, a part of Panamá we’d never explored. After that, the idea was to follow inspiration, and perhaps stay in a community for a longer period of time if the energy felt aligned.

Now, my mind had a few fears about this. We were traveling in the high season! What if we had to stay somewhere guácala, because there was nothing left? What if we missed out on something due to lack of research?

But I could see those fears as imaginary predictions of the future, and the pull to create in flow outweighed any imaginary fears. I wanted to release control and practice allowing, creating from beyond my mind’s ideas of what was possible.

After we finished our initial week of planned reservations, we flowed into Pedasí, a town of about 2,000 people. We found a cool little earth house to stay in for a few days while we explored the area, which immediately felt perfect. Endless empty beaches, fishing opportunities galore, delicious restaurants, and a weekly Farmer’s Market. Absolutely EBTIECHI!

We decided that a month in this village would be exciting. However, when I started to explore the options via house rental apps, the prices for a month did not feel exciting or aligned AND we couldn’t find what we desired. My mind wanted to say, “Told you so!”, but I knew I could EBTIECHI this. I journaled with my Inner Being and received the song, “Wait for It”, from Hamilton. :)

Near the end of our earth house stay, I was walking on the beach and I saw a gringo approaching from the other direction. I had the nudge to talk to him, and he must have had the nudge to reciprocate, as we chatted for about twenty minutes. He was an avid fisherman, and shared that he and his wife had relocated from Texas and were having a home built in Pedasí.

He invited us to join them for a Thankgiving dinner at a local restaurant the next evening.

This felt like an absolute yes, and Tom and I had such an enjoyable meal with our new couple friends. During dinner I asked how people went about long term rentals in the area, and they shared the What’s App group for the community of Pedasí and one just for rentals! Amazing! A whole world of possibilities opened up!

That night I sent a message to the rental What’s App group, stating exactly what we were looking for in a home and our price range. I immediately had an abundance of incredible responses, but I could feel the energy of one in particular, a housing manager named Serge. The pictures of the house he sent looked absolutely perfect: actually even beyond what we were looking for, at our exact price range!

Serge said he would take us to see the house the next day. We met him in the town square and as we hopped into his car it just felt so right, before even seeing the home.

Serge asked us where we were from and I said, “Alaska”.

He responded with amazement, saying the owners of the home were also from Alaska...” a town named Takutnta, or Takeeta, something like that.”

I believe I screamed, grabbed his arm and said, “TALKEETNA? That is where we are from!”

Here we were, in a tiny remote village in Panamá, going to see a home owned by folks from my even tinier and more remote village in Alaska. As my dear friend Sarah says, you can’t make this up!

Well, the house was beyond EBTIECHI, and the crazy thing it was only available for that particular month due to a glitch in the owners’ travel schedule.

We loved every minute in that perfect home. Our time in Pedasí was beyond magical (probably deserving of its own post) and this experience is what truly solidified my belief in releasing the need to plan and control, and instead following the energy and light in travel.

This is just one fun example, but the rest of our Panamá adventure unfolded in miraculous ways, (in my belief) by being open, receptive, and full of love, joy, appreciation and trust. A few EBTIECHI highlights:

*pennies waiting in a bowl at our Pedasí rental (and everywhere thereafter!)

*offers for housesitting epic homes

*tide pools, rainbows, incredible fishing, shooting stars, swimming in refreshing jungle rivers

*howler monkeys on isolated beaches

*a farmer’s market vendor who would save his special greens in a cooler for me, so they wouldn’t sell out before I arrived

*new friends baking us cookies and treating us to meals

*accidentally renting a home exactly between a MC Yogi retreat and a YouTube fisherman personality (celebrities to Tom and I)

*homemade dark cacao ice cream delivered to our home

*so much more!!

EBTIECHI at the Laundromat

We don’t have running water, which means trips to the laundromat. I tend to avoid this, as there are many other things I enjoy more, and we have hundreds of pairs of undies and socks to last us at least a month or two. :)

The laundry mountain formed, and I knew it was time to go, but I was feeling -meh- about it. One of the annoying thoughts was that it was way later in the day than I normally go, therefore all the washers would probably be full and I would have to wait.

As I was driving to the laundromat it hit me- how fun would it be to EBTIECHI this?! Of course! Immediately my energy opened to play and fun.

⋆｡°✩ Before I begin, I will share that pennies and the numbers 7 and 4 together are my most joyful signs from the Universe. ⋆｡°✩

Here’s how the EBTIECHI unfolded:

I stop by the attached auto shop to get quarters and there’s a shiny penny on the empty desk by the door. I know it’s Universal wink, but decide not to snatch it, even though I really want to! The 70+ year old proprietor tells me I am just as pretty as the fresh snow as he passes over the quarters. 😂

I open the door to the laundromat and there is NOBODY there! “My Favorite Things” has been playing in my head and I start singing, and notice that the acoustics are incredible. I joyfully sing my heart out with the entire Sound Of Music soundtrack, except for the lame songs, as I get all the laundry sorted.

I open the first washer, bend down to add the clothes, and there are NINE pennies waiting for me in the lip of the washer! As my friend Sarah says, “You can’t make this up!” I am giddy now.

During the washing cycle I walk over to a friend’s house. There is a 747 license plate in her yard, and as I head inside I get to meet her lovely mom. They tell me about the skinny black kitten who showed up on their porch on HALLOWEEN night. My friend adds that she had been talking about and missing her former black cat last week. While we are visiting, the kitty comes out from behind the couch to say hi and she is gorgeous. Apparently black female cats are rare! As I prepare to leave, my friend’s mom summons whale energy for our upcoming trip to Mexico. (I can’t wait to see how that EBTIECHIs out!)

During the drying cycle I walk through the fresh snow in the woods and the sun comes out! Everything is sparkling like a disco ball and I feel like I have never seen anything so beautiful. The timer I’ve set as a reminder to turn around goes off at 2:22.

I open a drier and find another penny. (To be fair, that one might have been mine, since I always collect them in my pockets, but still!)

I get home at 3:33 and Tom declares I am MVP for conquering the dirty laundry mountain.

"Stranded" in Mexico

Tom and I were walking on the Malecón in Mexico, enjoying the last ounces of Christmas vacation morning sun as we were headed back to the frozen north that night. I remember clearly how my energy shifted from bliss to fear when I received a text that our flight home had been cancelled. The text advised me to call an agent for rebooking, and upon doing so I learned that the next available flight out would be in three days.

Immediately my mind went into a panic, spinning with fearful thoughts. I was due back at school the morning after we had planned to be home! I didn’t have any more personal days, which meant I would have to apply for leave without pay. I would have to figure out lesson plans for all of my classes. And, more pressing, where we going to stay that night?

I could see my mind jumping into future fear mode, but the facts were the facts: our flight had been cancelled. How could I stop the anxious spinning?

I had the clarity that I could ground in the present moment and find a tiny little positive in the Now situation. We could have one last visit to our favorite taco restaurant! While there I could contact our current Airbnb host about extending our stay.

As we sat down at our table my ears tuned into the restaurant music. Normally we would be listening to mariachi over the speakers, but now I was hearing one of my favorite Spotify playlist songs. I know that Source speaks to me through music, and as we settled into tacos the playlist continued to match my own. How on earth was this possible? I was startled right into awe and wonder. I know the power of acceptance and allowing and releasing fear. The magic was already here.

“Tom, can we EBTIECHI this?”

We made a decision right then that we were open to seeing how this could unfold even better than we ever could have imagined. We let go of control and opened to possibility. The unfolding of what happened next still blows my little human mind.

• The Airbnb host replied promptly that it was no problem to extend our stay, at a discount!

• That evening we heard from friends back home that a giant winter storm had settled in our area and school was cancelled for the next day. The storm continued and school was cancelled for the entire three days that we were “stranded” in Mexico! Because of the power outages, there wasn’t an option for remote, online learning. I did not have to take leave without pay or prepare sub plans from afar. We also missed a horrible storm (sorry, Talkeetna friends!).

• We were upgraded to first class!

• The airline reimbursed us for our Airbnb and even provided us with a per-diem! This meant that we had an extended Mexican vacation for FREE!

• We strengthened our trust muscles and the belief in the power of releasing fear and opening to EBTIECHI. I know that it Only Gets Better (one of my Spotify playlist songs from that Mexico trip).

Gary's ⋆｡°✩Magic⋆｡°✩

My husband, Tom, and I purchased three acres of raw, untouched land in rural Alaska about seventeen years ago. We built and moved into a tiny dry (no running water) cabin on the property, clearing enough trees and foliage for a driveway, cabin pad, and a view. The idea of landscaping was so over our heads that we just avoided it and let the land grow wild around us. In the fall and spring seasons we couldn’t even use our driveway because the ruts of mud would suck a car right in.

This summer we decided it was time to get a well. This required an abundance of dirt work to create a pad for the huge well rigs to do their business. Figuring this all out and making a plan with a contractor felt overwhelming, so we decided to EBTIECHI it.

One morning, Tom had a spark of inspiration to reach out to our snow plow guy, Gary, as he was a retired heavy equipment operator.

Gary came over the next day and as we walked around the property he was bubbling over with excitement about what he could create on our land. He could feel the potential and we could feel his juicy flow. We talked briefly about prices and timelines, and when we felt the prick of scarcity regarding a hefty price tag we released it and EBTIECHI’ed it.

Gary spent a week working on our property, transforming it from top to bottom. We were consistently in awe of his heavy equipment skills. Gary uncovered beautiful rocks and constructed a retaining wall following the curve of our new driveway. He created a sunset viewing bench with giant boulders for seats, surrounding an ampitheater…EBTIECHI! These were all things we never would have imagined.

At one point Gary said to us, “I love working with you two because you allow me to feel the land and create in the flow, instead of from a predetermined plan.” EBTIECHI!!

The weather was glorious. We ate lunch together every day and Gary would share unbelievable stories about growing up seventy years ago in bush Alaska. Gary became a dear friend. My mind never could have imagined this.

At the end of the project, he quoted our price, which was HALF of what we had been prepared to pay. I will never forget this moment: I told Gary that every night he was one of our gratitudes. how he had created the most special landscape for us, and how much we had enjoyed our time together. He started crying, I started crying, and then we shared an incredible heart-to-heart hug in which I felt pure love energy flowing in abundance.

That joyful moment of connection was so far beyond anything my mind ever could have imagined. Not to mention our beautiful new property created in the flow of a visionary.

This is the power of EBTIECHI.