Adopting Bin Face

Niko was delivered to us like a pizza. It was January 2021 and we were stuck at home in Panama under some of the world’s madest pandemic regulations. He was a “tinacaro” which translates as “bin face”; a street dog in Panamanian slang. He’s come a long way; from starving on the streets of Panama to bounding around the Irish countryside…

Bringing Niko home

When we adopted Niko, we knew we’d eventually be bringing him home from Panama to Ireland. It was always going to be a complicated and expensive process. But, in the end, we checked him with Air France like a bag of golf clubs. This is how we did it…

Our Sparkling Sanctuary

When we moved to Panama in January 2020, we were lucky enough to rent a house that has a small pool in the backyard. We never imagined we would spend so much time in it. Between school shutdowns, lockdowns and quarantines, those few square metres of cool blue water have been the kids’ world, their playground, our Friday night bar and our sparkling sanctuary safe from the outside world. Until last week…

Our Stolen Summer. Part 2: Flying back to England.

Flying home from Panama to London was as normal as it could be, given we were on a humanitarian flight during a global pandemic. As months of confinement in a hot and humid, strange new city dropped away under the clouds, I felt giddy with relief to be going home for a bit, to visit my Mum and Dad. But also filled with gathering sense of foreboding…

Playing football with a REAL boy

In its ongoing battle to stave off Covid 19, Panama has imposed one of the strictest lock downs in the world. Since the middle of March, children have not been allowed out on the streets at all until last week, where they had 6 days of limited freedom. Today we are back to total quarantine. Here’s how we are faring!

Barking Mad

There is nothing like dogs barking at night to really get under your skin. It’s 5am in Jamaica, and I’ve given up on sleep once again, because of the racket outside. Our neighbours at the front of the house have five dogs in their yard, including two Labradors and an Alsation. Across the road at the back of the house, is a large empty property where two crazy, unkempt and toally bored dogs bark all night at anything, and occasionally get out. Once they are out, they chase cars roun the block barking their heads off, and setting off every dog in the neighbourhood – including the pack right next to us.