Becoming an ex-patriot

After visiting Colombia three times over two years for about two months each, I decided that it was in my best interest to investigate becoming a full-time resident.

Since I am retired, I only had to document my income and while the Social Security is really small, I had other income to offset it and I was awarded a “pensioner visa” for a year.

This process sounds simple enough, but the U.S. Embassy failed to tell me at the outset that I needed to have proof of my Social Security and you cannot get that by going to SSA.gov as they have to mail you that sort of information and that can take weeks! However, an angel must have been watching over me and someone said, “Get a copy of your bank deposits and print that out,” and that was good enough for them. Whew.

If you are thinking about living abroad as a ‘resident,’ you will want to get all the details before you are in the country, as the U.S. agencies are not cooperative with the U.S. Embassy of that country. Not that the people at the embassy do not want to help, but they are restricted by various ridiculous policies.

This U.S.Embassy sign invites you to contact them 24/7, but read it closely. There is something missing - like a phone number?

I was able to find a small casa to rent for a year and when I returned to the U.S. to get a few more things, I found my house stripped by the renters who also skipped on the rent.

This was a shock and a betrayal of a supposed friendship which I have had a hard time letting go of. More the loss of the friendship than the loss of the goods.

Betrayal for money. Perfidy for things. I am glad to return to Colombia where, at least as far as I’ve seen, people are glad to share what they have, however little it might be. Where friendships are more important than things. Where strangers will stop to help you, like they used to do in the Old U.S.

This has been a year of betrayals and perfidy since my fiance lied about so much and then used my computer to look for someone new, where he wanted to take back the few gifts he had given me, and refused to repay me the debt he owed.

I don’t normally share these life-changing events on a public blog, but I think it is important for readers to start looking at the trends in behaviors which signify the breakdown of society as we have known it.

Strangers become friends and friends become strangers… it is a sign of the changing of the times, the blowing of the winds. If you think you are immune, you are not. Perhaps for now, but when society as a whole begins to disregard honor, begins to allow and even encourage theft and lies, then it will not be long before the society crumbles.

These lovely Red and Blue Macaws are part of the landscape of my new country. I am eager to leave behind the lawlessness of the U.S.

Two months into a new life

Barichara, State of Santander, in Colombia, South America

It has taken me all of these two months to build a new life for myself. In the past post “Life Changes” I didn’t go into the details about why I even needed to think about making any changes. But when your beloved is caught on-line looking for another ‘bird,’ then you know you have to take a look at the signposts and see where they are pointing.

And it is easy to place blame, but difficult to take a look at the ways we, each of us, contribute to a failure in a relationship. As well as recognizing that when we begin to soul-search and listen to our intuition, we perhaps find ourselves in uncharted lands but just where we need to be for our spiritual growth.

Anyhow, my little casa here in Colombia provides me with lovely morning views, fresh breezes, a resident dog belonging to the other renter in a smaller house on the property, and plenty of opportunity to walk, meditate, paint, draw, sing, or whatever suits my fancy.

Now I have a routine that suits me of getting up and doing Morning Pages from TAW. I discovered, when I started unpacking, that The Artist’s Way had been jammed into a box and forgotten for about 10 years. It’s about time I got around to doing the course! After about an hour, I have breakfast and do some artistic endeavor. Then my afternoons are free for friends, walks, shopping, etc.

State of Santander, near Barichara, Colombia, South America

Recently I was invited to the finca of a woman whose husband had been kidnapped by the guerillas in 2002. It seemed to me as if he was still around. As we sat around the table that night chatting, I told her I could feel his presence. She smiled and said it was not unusual. This is a sad reminder of the history of this country; and why some people think it is still too dangerous to visit.

But it is a country with remarkable people, creative energy, beautiful views, and I haven’t even seen half of it yet! I am working on getting a ‘pensioner’s visa’ so I can be here for more than six months in a year. I will report on that next time, hopefully.

Preparing for the journey

 

Florida Red-Tailed Hawks fly the nest.

The decision has been made and I begin my journey west in about 10 days. It’s been crazy to plan initially to leave for a month and then realize that it will probably be much longer than that. About a week and a half of the trip will be taken up by  just getting to my destination. So it hardly made sense to think about turning around after less than a week. Then, after many long hours and late night conversations, it seemed silly to think about heading home before the summer ended. There are reasons why we have chosen to keep it somewhat open-ended, and suffice it to say that now it looks like I need to bring more items than were required for a month.I decided to do for myself what I had done for my daughter’s move. We put blue carpenter’s tape on the floor of her garage and started loading the essentials into that space. We also had a maximum  height for the trailer, so we marked that on the wall. When the day came to load up the trailer, everything fit… we even had a little space left over.

So my car (an SUV sort of thing) needed to be measured and I’ve marked out my space on the floor. My fall-back plan is to send a few items by UPS if it looks like I’m going to run out of space. And I’m hoping that isn’t necessary.

Meanwhile, the hawks have pushed their fledglings out of the local nest and I heard lots of screaming the other day as they were practicing their swoops and landings. I rushed outside to get the shots and got this one when it took a breather on the branch. I will miss my outdoor aviary. The squirrels will undoubtably miss me – or more correctly – my doling out of the left-over bird seed from my companion birds.

All the rain we’ve had and all the melting snow from the North has caused the rivers in this part of Florida to reach flood stage, so many of the folks who are on the river banks are keeping a close watch for the next few days. It’s always a scary time while waiting to see just how high the water will get.

The Santa Fe River on the rise...

Thinking about ‘yellow’

I stumbled upon a blog where the ‘theme’ for the month is the color yellow. It got me to thinking about how many versions of that color there are… ranging from the intense school bus color to the subtle variants found in the desert in springtime.

Since I don't know what the real name of this tree is, I am calling it the "pom pom" tree.

And, along the walkway near where I am staying, I found this lovely tree all in bloom today. Now I wish I’d taken a picture yesterday so I could compare the difference.

But the sky was muddy and disagreeable then and I left my camera inside when I walked. As a long-term photographer, I know very well that every day has something of value to see, so I think I was being more sulky than the weather was. In any event, while out really looking, I saw a little desert rabbit who waited for me to notice him or her and then quietly lopp-lopped away. But the pictures below show another ‘find.’ An unknown bird has created a unique nest here in the middle of the cactus, protecting the brood 

Some desert bird has made a home here.

from the sun and from predators flying overhead. I wanted to investigate further by looking inside or waiting for someone to return home, but my walking companion was tired and wanted to head home.

And this is the entrance to that nest.

January Kayaking Trip in ‘print’

The story I wrote about Alligator Lake is now online at the Lake City Journal, published by Karl Burkhardt. This on-line community newspaper carries a lot of essential news and features about the city and Columbia County.

Alligator Lake in Lake City, Florida - January 09

You can read the story of my January kayaking trip by clicking here. The first picture on this blog was taken on that day (called “Serenity”) and my favorite shot is the last one on my slide show of that day, shown here, of the white egret against the red buds of the trees just about to begin their ‘spring fling.’

White Egret on Alligator Lake, Columbia County, FL

Kayaking to Silver Springs (FL)

 

A beautiful morning on the Silver River near Ocala, FL

The water on the Silver River really is this beautiful. The Sidetrackers only numbered 8 for this journey, but it was a glorious day with temperatures moderating around 76 degrees, slight breeze from the SW, clear skies  and the water temperature is ALWAYS 72 degrees in this river. Click on the link about Silver River State Park and you can see a map with links to more information. Here is also a link to another kayaking website with lots of details about this river and the Oklawaha River which flows on down to Palatka, if you have the arms for it!

You can see more of my shots and some from other people on the Sidetrackers site. Unfortunately my camera ran out of juice before we got to the wild Rhesus monkey section of the river! Others on our trip were able to capture a variety of bi-pods…

As a relatively novice kayaker, I was unprepared for the strength of the current of the river  (avg. 3 knots) which we paddled up, and then coming back down with the rental kayaks, mine was unable to simply track in a straight line downstream, so I had to paddle some more. My arms were already sore and by the time I had to get in my car to drive home, it was an effort to lift my hands onto the steering wheel! However, a couple of Advil did the trick and I’m as close to normal as I ever get today.

This Great Blue Heron never asked me for posing fees...

Along the way we saw cormorants, sparrows, this one lovely Great Blue Heron, several small greyish blue herons I don’t know the names of, large white Egrets and the delicate white Ibis with a rosey beak. We didn’t go far enough up the river to actually SEE the alligators, but as we were re-embarking on our kayaks to head back down the river, I backed up into the marsh to make room for someone and I heard a large “bark” from one in the area behind me. It’s OK with me if that’s all the contact I have with those creatures. I once went to the  St. Augustine Alligator Farm (when I first arrived here) and when I saw how fast they could move and how quickly their jaws could snap shut, I lost all desire to see them in the wild.

Much laughter, pleasant company, lovely scenery and plenty of sunshine made for a great day in Florida.

Wild birds

 

Juvenile wild raptor

Surprise! They are all around us and they are watching us just like we are watching them! This juvenile raptor is perched just outside the window in my home office. I’d like to think it’s a female, but am not sure. If anyone reading this blog knows, I hope you will enlighten me. It hung around long enough for me to get a bunch of pictures as it preened its feathers which means it felt safe. That made me feel very happy.