Actually, I don’t have much that is all that “blog worthy”
since we got back from Canopy Tower & San Blas Islands. Greg finished a
compilation of Go Pro videos from that trip with mostly toucans and monkeys. https://youtu.be/0r-yXJXX5H0
We scrapped our trip to Medellin, Colombia. We just felt that we
were running out of time to get things organized for our move back to the
States to prepare for the 2017 World Cruise and the RVing after that.
My son and my dad have September birthdays. We had a nice 3-way chat.
We had a group lunch at Fosters Panama. The place was LOUD, but
good. It’s too bad, but it was so noisy (constant blenders going and no
acoustics so just people talking was just too noisy).
Mary heard of a new place Las Bovedas at Ensada. (new neighborhood
close by) So, we went there for the new group lunch. Atmosphere was better and
the food was good. I ordered poorly and didn’t like mine. It was really salty.
Greg was a sweetheart and traded me half of his club sandwich.
Our next group lunch was at Hotel Cocle in Penonome. Food was good
and atmosphere was great. This one was to say goodbye to friends Steve &
Sally as they are moving back to the States. Such a nice couple and they will
be missed. (a reminder to myself that soon it will be us leaving)
Friends Rick & Francine had a party for birthdays and
anniversaries. They had a nice spread of food and that was topped only by the
good company.
On another note, we made our final payment on the World Cruise!
Whoo hoo! We also booked a shorter cruise for 2018. It’s a 60 day cruise of
South America on the Island Princess. We have been on the sister ship the Coral
Princess a couple of times, but not the Island.
We wanted a shorter cruise since we plan to spend as much of the
“good weather” in Alaska that we can fit in and this will give us time to make
our way across North America (some States and some Canada) to get there.
Here is the itinerary for that one:
24-Jan
|
Wednesday
|
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
|
25-Jan
|
Thursday
|
At Sea
|
26-Jan
|
Friday
|
At Sea
|
27-Jan
|
Saturday
|
St. Maarten
|
28-Jan
|
Sunday
|
Martinique
|
29-Jan
|
Monday
|
St. Vincent & Grenadines
|
30-Jan
|
Tuesday
|
Grenada
|
31-Jan
|
Wednesday
|
Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago
|
1-Feb
|
Thursday
|
At Sea
|
2-Feb
|
Friday
|
Devil's Island, French Guiana
|
3-Feb
|
Saturday
|
At Sea
|
4-Feb
|
Sunday
|
At Sea
|
5-Feb
|
Monday
|
Fortaleza, Brazil
|
6-Feb
|
Tuesday
|
At Sea
|
7-Feb
|
Wednesday
|
At Sea
|
8-Feb
|
Thursday
|
At Sea
|
9-Feb
|
Friday
|
Ilhabela, Brazil
|
10-Feb
|
Saturday
|
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
|
11-Feb
|
Sunday
|
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
|
12-Feb
|
Monday
|
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
|
13-Feb
|
Tuesday
|
At Sea
|
14-Feb
|
Wednesday
|
At Sea
|
15-Feb
|
Thursday
|
Montevideo, Uruguay
|
16-Feb
|
Friday
|
Buenos Aires, Argentina
|
17-Feb
|
Saturday
|
Buenos Aires, Argentina
|
18-Feb
|
Sunday
|
At Sea
|
19-Feb
|
Monday
|
At Sea
|
20-Feb
|
Tuesday
|
Puerto Madryn, Argentina
|
21-Feb
|
Wednesday
|
At Sea
|
22-Feb
|
Thursday
|
Falkland Islands (Stanley)
|
23-Feb
|
Friday
|
Cape Horn (Scenic Cruising)
|
24-Feb
|
Saturday
|
Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego), Argentina
|
25-Feb
|
Sunday
|
Punta Arenas, Chile
|
26-Feb
|
Monday
|
Amalia Glacier, Chile (Scenic Cruising)
|
27-Feb
|
Tuesday
|
At Sea
|
28-Feb
|
Wednesday
|
Puerto Montt, Chile
|
1-Mar
|
Thursday
|
Chacabuco, Chile
|
2-Mar
|
Friday
|
At Sea
|
3-Mar
|
Saturday
|
At Sea
|
4-Mar
|
Sunday
|
Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile
|
5-Mar
|
Monday
|
La Serena (Coquimbo), Chile
|
6-Mar
|
Tuesday
|
At Sea
|
7-Mar
|
Wednesday
|
At Sea
|
8-Mar
|
Thursday
|
Pisco (San Martin), Peru
|
9-Mar
|
Friday
|
Lima (Callao), Peru
|
10-Mar
|
Saturday
|
Lima (Callao), Peru
|
11-Mar
|
Sunday
|
At Sea
|
12-Mar
|
Monday
|
Salaverry, Peru
|
13-Mar
|
Tuesday
|
At Sea
|
14-Mar
|
Wednesday
|
Guayaquil, Ecuador
|
15-Mar
|
Thursday
|
Manta, Ecuador
|
16-Mar
|
Friday
|
At Sea
|
17-Mar
|
Saturday
|
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
|
18-Mar
|
Sunday
|
At Sea
|
19-Mar
|
Monday
|
Panama Canal (Scenic Cruising) Panama
|
20-Mar
|
Tuesday
|
Cartagena, Colombia
|
21-Mar
|
Wednesday
|
At Sea
|
22-Mar
|
Thursday
|
Aruba
|
23-Mar
|
Friday
|
At Sea
|
24-Mar
|
Saturday
|
At Sea
|
25-Mar
|
Sunday
|
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
|
We have started the sorting and packing process. The movers will
come out in early October to assess the amount of our stuff and give us a more
accurate quote, then come and pack it and pick it up for shipping towards the
end of October. Since the apartment was furnished, it came with a lot of things
we didn’t care to use (old pots & pans, pillows, extra blenders, bedding
& towels that would be better rags etc.) and there was nowhere to store the
items, so we stashed stuff anywhere we could here to make room for our stuff.
So, our first task was to gather it all together and make sure we found it all.
I started with travel trinkets and Christmas ornaments which I
wanted to pack myself. Then, it was going through all the clothing to see what
will be given to families in need here. The rest was sorted into staying here
to wear now and then brought back in suitcases. We booked business class on
Copa so we each get two 70 lb. bags plus our carry-ons. The rest was divided
into shipping and staying in storage until we RV and the rest will go into
shipping to be taken on the world cruise. (I’ve kept a few key items for the
cruise just in case the shipment doesn’t make it in time) We leave on Dec 5 for
Florida.
The decision to leave Panama has nothing to do with Panama. We
have enjoyed it here and there is a LOT we will miss about it. Mostly we will
miss the great friends we have made here. We had planned to stay 3 to 5 years
and since we “aren’t getting any younger” we wanted to start our next adventure
before health or age slows us down too much. When we leave in December we will
have been here 3 and a half years.
I had a pretty funny doctor story. About a month ago I woke up in
the morning feeling like I had a broken neck….just slept goofy I guess. Anyway,
it wasn’t getting any better so I went to see the doctor for what seemed like a
pinched nerve. I went in and it was Dr. Levy’s day off so I had to see another
doctor. Dr. Levy speaks fluent English and the one I saw spoke none. He relied
on Google Translate which we both spoke into on his phone and he also used a
phone ap to diagnose me. Google Translate gets creative with translation so
that was interesting. His ap said my cure was to sleep without a pillow for a
week. Uh, REALLY?
Then, he was going to prescribe an anti-inflammatory, but I’m
already on one for my feet. Finally, I asked if muscle relaxers would work
(speaking into his phone and it translated) and he wrote a script no problem. I
know some Spanish, but explaining medical stuff can be difficult. Too funny!
(good thing it wasn’t brain surgery...lol) He wants me to get an x-ray which I
will if these muscle relaxers don’t do the trick. I think he was a cardiac
doctor and was filling in seeing routine patients as well. So, Spanglish, an ap
for diagnosis and Google translate got the job done!
The muscle relaxer did the trick and I am feeling much better.
The next thing on the medical list was to see the dermatologist. I
had a skin tag burned off and he gave me some cream for a
“pre-cancerous” thing on my face. Greg had a punch biopsy which was negative.
The cream for my face did not help. He said if it didn’t then he would give me
a more hardcore cream that is harsher but should take care of it. He said these
things could or couldn’t turn into anything, but it’s best to treat it. He said
to wait a month and then come back.
Our next adventure was our annual eye exams to get new glasses. They
should be finished soon. Next week we go in to make our appointment for our
final dental cleaning here.
We should then be caught up with routine medical stuff before the world
cruise.
The only thing we have planned right now other than some
birding day trips is in November for our anniversary we are going to our
favorite place in El Valle to spend a couple of nights. Los Madarino’s is where
we always stay so it will be our last time staying there.
We already made our last visit to Pricesmart. Our cards were
going to expire so we made one last visit to stock up on a few things.
I must have some virus or something as I have been under the
weather for several days now. Hopefully, it will leave me soon.
We still do our morning walks either on the beach, the local
trail here or even just walking the ramps in the parking garage when the
weather isn’t good enough to walk in.
Here are few of the photos from our walks:
young Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
young Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
with the rainy season comes fungi
Neotropical Slender Blindsnake
close-up of the head of Neotropical Slender Blindsnake
Golden Ceiba Borer
Golden Ceiba Borer
Thoas Swallowtail
Dorantes Longtail
Iphiclus Sister
Malachite
Malachite
Dirce Beauty
Long-tailed Metalmark (Rhetus arcius)
Long-tailed Metalmark (this one was taken over a year ago, but is a better photo than the ones we got this time we sited it
Sky-Blue Hairstreak
Black Witch moth was on our balcony
Thamyra Satyr
Pale Owl-Butterfly
Pale Owl-Butterfly
Golden White
Erato Longwing
Albinus Metalmark
Orange-patched Crescent
Opossum on the walkway to the beach
Opossum crossed over into the grass
Orange-chinned Parakeet
Crested Caracara on top of a house - there was a family of 3
young Great Black-Hawk
young Great Black-Hawk
young Great Black-Hawk
One chick being fed
immature Yellow-faced Grassquit
male Thick-billed Seed-Finch
female Thick-billed Seed-Finch
Blue-crowned Motmot (Whooping)
Roadside Hawk
We had a really heavy wind and rain storm a while back and the day after we found a young bird in the parking garage. It looked dazed and I guess it had been blown in. It wasn’t flying well and when it tried it kept hitting the partial roof. When we came back from our morning walk we went to check on it and it seemed to be in a puddle of water in the parking garage. Greg commented that at least it was getting something to drink. We got closer and it became clear that it had knocked itself out trying to get out of the parking garage. It was lying in a pool of blood. UGH. Not the kind of “birding” we like to do. Here is a “before” photo of the little guy.
young Dickcissel
Mourning Dove
Gray-headed Chachalaca
Gray-headed Chachalaca
whoever bought this corner lot started the landscaping outside of their fence
probably the nicest looking corner in the neighborhood
"peeps" on the beach
The hawk migration has started. This was just a small portion of them.
A big thank you to Jenn at Canopy Tower for helping me
identify all of the butterflies and the beetle. There has been an explosion of
butterflies and young birds on our morning walks.
We enjoyed the Harvest Moon a couple of weeks ago. Greg had
the Go Pro out, but I don’t have the video yet.
We had 2 of the A/C units go out in our apartment and they
have been here a couple of days on and off fixing them. Both are done now. It
delayed my “practice packing” to make sure it all fits or if I need to add more
to the “ship back to the States” pile.
Next week the movers come to see what we have so when they
come to pack it up they will be prepared. We will also start our Visa for India
since there is an Embassy in Panama City. Hopefully, things will quiet down
after that.
Princess finally opened up the shore excursions for the world cruise. We booked the 2 we are doing through the ship. The rest are all private tours and I had those booked already.
Hopefully, I will have more “blog worthy” stuff in my next
update.
Until next time…..
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