Monday, April 28, 2014

April 1 to 30

Time for my update again....time flies!

Congratulations to my son for his new supervisor position with the Post Office! Very proud of you!!

Since we signed a year’s lease the owners agreed to paint the condo. It was spotty and some areas dirty. Plus, I got to get rid of the icky green wall! I actually liked the aqua wall in the bedroom, but it was hard to decorate around and they couldn’t match it to touch it up, so I just asked for the whole place to be painted in a neutral color…white…beige. I could go choose the color myself but it’s not my place and I just said any neutral color. They chose a beige color which is nice, but with a beige couch and beige wood it’s kind of boring. (not complaining…I could have picked out the color) So, I replaced the bedspread with a bright blue one with geometric bold sheets.
Since we are staying here for at least a year, I decided to “nest” a bit. We went to Westland Mall in search of finding a small curio cabinet to display my travel trinkets  and after no luck finding one the next week we went to Albrook Mall in the city to look one. No luck! We have a store here in Coronado called Novey and actually found a glass and metal corner unit that fits perfectly in the space, but only 4 shelves. They had one other one left and it has 3 shelves. Greg says we should get that and 2 of the shelves to make this one taller. (the bottom has 4 legs and won’t be usable) It’s perfect except I would have preferred one that was enclosed so it wouldn’t be a dusting nightmare. The 2 extra shelves made it perfect! The larger & heavier pieces fit nicely on the 2 shelves in the bedroom.
I already had the travel magnets from the World Cruise out on the fridge, but I had tons from previous travels, so I took out the shells in the coffee table which has one side that is a drawer with a glass top. Most all of them fit in there and I still have my bowl full of seashells on the table. I put their shells away and will return them there when we leave.
We had 3 small masks from Venice (from both our visits there) we put on a wall in the bedroom.
A very nice couple that has been here for several years are moving back to the States. They had already sold their house and bought a condo near Tampa. They are originally from California. I knew the wife hadn’t been “happy” here for a while and when someone asked why they were going back they said “We miss civilization”. Just tired of the potholes in the road and trash etc.
Another couple we just met has been living in Panama for about 5 years, but in Boquete area(near the Costa Rican border) and had just bought a condo here in Coronado. We chatted about the questions we get asked the most by newcomers and those thinking about moving. Usually it’s “how do you fill your days?” (which is way too easy to do for us)and the other is “what do you miss most?” from your home country. He said they thought about that last one for a while and said he could best sum it up with “choice”. I hadn’t thought about it, but I have to agree. While you can find almost anything, there may not be more than one kind of “whatever you’re looking for” to choose from.
Coronado opened a Community Center and had a grand opening with a social mixer. The wine tasting went long and most people just left before the official kickoff started. It’s a small space and we left and grabbed some dinner before heading back home.
The rainy season hasn’t started yet. We’re all about ready to do a rain dance.  There is a Thrush here that sings the same 4 notes loudly over and over. He starts in the middle of the night and goes all day. (desperately looking for a mate) Apparently they stop when the rain starts.
When we were walking the trail the wind was blowing smoke in our direction and on our way out a fire truck was coming down the path to check it out.  Another reason for the rains to start soon!
We have become obsessed with getting a nice picture of the Manakin. We have had lots of sightings, but they don’t sit still long enough to get a nice photo. Here are 2 more not so great photos:
 Lance Tailed Manakin
Lance Tailed Manakin 
Here is a video of their mating dance we found on you tube. If the link doesn't work, copy and paste into your web browser or Google search:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAwevkUaB2Q

I’ve included another one that is a Manakin, but not the ones we see here. It's hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI_quJRRGxk

We found a tree that had a couple of dozen Red-legged Honeycreepers.  We also saw a coyote on the trail ahead of us.
  male Red-legged Honeycreeper
 
 male Red-legged Honeycreeper
 male Red-legged Honeycreepers
female Red-legged Honeycreeper
On our other walks we got our best look at a Jesus Christ Lizard near the pond and a great sighting of an Eastern Meadowlark.




 
Here are some other "highlights" of our walks:


 where is the rest of me???
 Squirel Cuckoo
 Rufous-capped Warbler
 Female Crimson-backed Tanager
 she flew right at us

 caterpillar




interesting flower or seed pod or????

We tried to rescue this little guy and tossed him back in the ocean, but the tide just brought him back. I told him as we tossed him back we didn't want to see him on our return back, but there he was...

 
We did a day trip to El Valle and we finally found the Cerro Gaital Trail. We had always turned around too soon and never could find it. It is way past the Toledano chicken farms on a horrible road. It’s a great trail and we saw lots of birds, even a couple that were new ones for us.
We went back to see the Oropendola and they were still there and very active.
 
 Chestnut-headed Oropendola




This cute little guy came and sat right in front of us like he was offering us his berry.
 Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet


Orange-chinned Parakeet
Sendero Cerro Gaital






no hunting sign



 view from the top
 Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
 Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
 Violet-crowned Woodnymph
Broad-billed Motmot
We ran into some friends from Coronado that were going to lunch at Carlitos. We had just finished lunch there and were at the Cano Panaderia when we saw then pull in and turn around. We were still parked in front of Carlito’s and stopped to chat. Lovely Canadian couple. He still works on cranes and gets a week a month to come “home”.  She lives here full time and has the cutest little dog.
Here is a great video that shows the Coronado area by a guy who keeps a blog about living in Panama. We actually know a couple people in the video. (hope it works if not copy & paste into your browser)
Finally, the rain has started. We have only had a couple of showers, but we’ll take it!
Thought I would share a couple of weird things we have seen. Having lunch at Chollo’s (Mexican food), a family came in and the Dad had a parakeet in a cage. He fed it and talked to it while they ate. We were sitting in the outdoor patio. While seeing cats & dogs while eating on the patios of restaurants, the bird was a new one.  
One day while driving past Kentucky Fried Chicken we saw a woman with a bird in a cage opening the door to go in. Anyone else see the irony of taking a bird to KFC? All chuckles aside, since most don’t drive cars I imagine she was taking one of the local buses and had to carry it with her perhaps because she took it to the vet or something????
We went to a CASA event at Loco’s, a local restaurant here, to celebrate the birthday of the woman that runs the Playa Community  newspaper & website. There was a nice family style dinner and they had disco music (the theme of the night) for dancing.
I think I have narrowed down our choice for the company we will use for our East Africa Safari. It’s between 2 and I have fine-tuned our itinerary as well as choosing the lodges.
The first thing we had to decide was when to go. For the Amazon we chose the rainy season. There are only flooded and dry seasons. While it may seem the obvious choice would be the dry season, it rains a lot all year round and wildlife is great year round as well. Here is the “logic” I used to choose the flooded season.
“During the flooded season the average temperature is 86 degrees Fahrenheit, 12 degrees cooler than in the dry season.
Much of the increase in water levels during the 'wet' season is a result of rain in the Andean highlands running off into the tributaries of the Amazon River, rather than a large increase in rainfall in Amazonia. 
There are great benefits to traveling at this time of year. Perhaps most important, the rivers and streams are about 23 feet (7 meters) higher, meaning that every river, creek and lake is navigable. You will get to explore more of the waterways of Amazonia, and will have access to plant life and wildlife areas that you might miss during the dry season.
Also, that extra 23 feet puts travelers much closer to the jungle canopy, where monkeys play and our beautiful Amazon birds like to roost. In fact, you are very likely to see many more mammals, both monkeys and others, during the flooded season. During the high-water season many riverine plants fruit and flower, making observation of birds and monkeys along the rivers’ edge a bit easier as they feast upon the abundance of tropical fruits and blooms.
Fishing is more limited during these months too, but you still have close to a 50% chance to get out your rod and reel and make a catch. (for Piranha)”
For Africa the choice was again Wet or Dry season. While the Green Season may be prettier we chose the Dry Season. Wildlife is easier to see with less foliage and our desire to possibly witness the Great Migration and possible Mara River crossings had me choosing August when the migration should be in the far northern Serengeti near the Mara River. I'll post more as I finalize the details.

I added 2 more albums on Picasa if you are so inclined to see more critters.
We are off to the Gamboa Rain Forest Resort for a couple of days, so until next time…..

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