July 22 to July 28

Another week flew by here in paradise…..

This week we enjoyed a few nights of the full moon over the ocean. Just beautiful with the reflection over the water!



On our morning beach walks we saw the head of an eel (with really sharp teeth), but the body was missing. We also saw a puffer fish (all puffed up) dead on the beach. To be fair we also see lots of birds and shells as well. Pelicans in huge groups, Willets, Whimbrels, Sandpipers and we have been watching a family of Caracara. We see them often in the trees along the shore and sometimes sitting right on the beach. We used to see Crested Caracara on our Wetlands walks in Florida. They have Crested Caracara and Yellow Headed Caracara here. The ones we see on the beach are Yellow Headed. When we used to walk near the golf course in the neighborhood we saw the Crested ones. One day we saw a couple of iguanas on the beach. They ran up onto the grass, but we watched them for a long time.

One day we had an “attack of Mothra” on the balcony. Just a gorgeous huge moth about 5 or 6 inches across. (about the size of a small bat)



Continuing on with the critter report this week, the white bird was back on the balcony as well. We are pretty sure he is a domestic bird since there aren’t any of his kind that is native here, plus he seems to go onto the balcony below us and off to the side. So, I guess he happens into our balcony by mistake. We see him flying free a lot.

Practical matters this week included making our dental cleaning appointments. They could get us in next Tuesday. With our dentists in Florida, getting appointments took about 3 or 4 months. While we were out we were going to grab lunch, but 3 of the places we wanted to try were closed. Many restaurants here are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and others are only open Thursday to Sunday, since there are so many people that come from the city to the area to use their weekend homes, which sit empty the rest of the week. Most have a family that lives in the caretaker’s house and enjoys the grounds and take care of the main house and grounds. So, we ended up at Leonardo’s and had Greek salads & garlic bread. (always good, just wanted to try some place different.)

Wednesday we went to the happy hour at Picassos and met a few more interesting people. (plus ones we have met prior) Tried pizza this week and it was quite good.

Thursday we tried Mexican food at Orale Tacos y Tequilas. Wow, the salsas and sauces were amazing with flavor. We had an appetizer of queso and beef with chips with 2 tasty salsas. The red was smoky and the green was tasty and hot! For those that know our favorite Mexican place in Mesa is Loss Dos Molinos and these salsas were quite similar. (in heat not flavor) We ordered carne enchiladas in a salsa verde. The plate was huge! We took half of everything home and ate it the next day for lunch. So, we have found 2 Mexican places that we like. Chollos is great too!

Friday we drove to El Valle de Anton for lunch and ziplining. (aka Canopy Tour) From the web: “The Canopy Tour and the “Chorro El Macho” waterfall share the same entrance. Here, from platforms 100 feet in the air, you are given a spectacular insight and view of the cloud forest´s fauna and flora. The Canopy Adventure is an installation affiliated with the Canopy Tower Ecolodge in Parque Nacional Soberanía. It takes you—you're strapped in with a very secure harness—flying through the forest canopy and over a 115-foot waterfall via zip-line cables strung between four platforms high in trees. The tour is in the Refugio Ecológico del Chorro Macho, a private reserve a few kilometers northwest of El Valle. This is more adrenaline rush than nature tour, though you do pass through some gorgeous rain forest scenery. The tour takes about 90 minutes and begins with a 30-minute hike to the first platform.”

 toucan in the distance



We have ziplined in Roatan (Island off Honduras), but this one was more “fun”. Higher zip lines and the one past the waterfall was a steep one. They stop you in front of the waterfall so you can enjoy it and then release you and you finish the zip. That’s the only one they brake for you, the other ones you use your gloved hand. Really a fun time! We did see one pretty toucan on the walk up. The guide took photos with my camera and also took a short video of both of us. Once I finish the world cruise photos I will put together one of Panama. I’m just finishing Kotor and then will start Venice & day trips from there.

We had gone to Buon Appetito since it was closed last time and found it closed again. We drove by after ziplining and it was open, so perhaps they don’t open until 1:00. We’ll try that next time. So we ate lunch at Carlitos Pizzas & Empanadas. Had spicy beef empanadas and chicken curry empanadas with dipping sauces and a pizza with ham, garlic and provolone. All were quite good.

After our Canopy Tour we stopped at the local Panaderia (bakery) and picked up some pastries. All were good!

Hasta Luego!

July 15 – 21

Monday we called a guy that had been recommended to us by our realtor and insurance agent to get our hair cut. He scheduled us for early afternoon that day. He is located just outside of the Coronado gates in a development called the Equestrian Club. Wayne met us at his gate and took us to his Bohio. (outdoor patio that is covered) right next to his beautiful pool. This is where his salon is! So, sitting outside we got our hair cut and I got color as well. His washing sink was on the outside of the bohio and only had cold water. Total for both of us was $50. While my hair processed Wayne and his wife Lise chatted with us.



They invited us to a Neighbors Helping Neighbors meeting at a restaurant & Bar named Paraiso that evening. It’s an effort to get a “911” type service that we can call if there is an emergency of any kind where a bilingual person takes the call and then calls the appropriate agency and relays the message in Spanish. He will have all of our information ahead of time such as where we are located, medications we may be taking, allergies etc. There was a band that was playing and several speakers got up and talked about the service and also someone had video camera set ups he was selling for safety. We met an interesting lady there that we chatted with. It had gotten late and we hadn’t had dinner yet so we stopped for a pizza at Gourmet Pizza near home. YUM! We had planned on eating at Paraiso, but no one ever brought menus.

Tuesday, we drove into the city and are no longer PriceSmart virgins. After filling out a ton of paperwork (I swear there was less to buy the car…) we got our pictures taken and cards were issued. My last name is Karies, but they got Greg’s right. We bought a ton of stuff. We had bought a desk next door at Office Depot (yep, same one as in the States) and we got a desk chair at PriceSmart. We bought a bunch of meat since finding good ribeyes in the local stores is impossible. Also picked up some pork and chicken…though chicken and smoked pork chops are good in our local stores. We got a later start than planned, so we stopped at whatever was in the parking lot of PriceSmart which turned out to be Pizza Hut. The menu is at least twice as big as in the States, besides the regular pizza selections they also offer sandwiches, chicken etc. to appeal to the locals. Pizza was quite good! No, we aren’t on a pizza diet…..

Wednesday we grabbed lunch at Coronado Café, a place we hadn’t tried before, but had been told it was quite good. We had yummy burgers and fries! We bought a Weber propane grill for the balcony and picked up a few other things we needed. We skipped Picasso happy hour since we were out Monday night.

Friday we drove to El Valle to have lunch and shop at the farmer’s market. The place we ate at last time was closed, so we tried Bruschetta Restaurant, but it wasn’t that great. We had a Mixto Platter (steak, pork and chicken) and plantains. The salad and the plantains were very good, but the meats were nothing special and the steak was so tough I couldn’t cut it with the knife or chew it if I did get a bit cut off. (crossed that one off our list…) We picked up a couple of pineapples, some red & green peppers and a couple cucumbers and some orejos. (small elephant ear pastries) After that we went to the local “zoo”. The Zoo El Nispero is actually a rescue center. It’s a lovely setting on about 7 acres with lots of different birds and animals. Many people go expecting a major zoo and I’m sure they are disappointed. This couple is doing a lot of good for these animals and we were impressed with what they have accomplished. They get support for researching the fungus that is killing the golden tree frogs. They have a nice frog & toad exhibit there.



Saturday we were invited to a fish fry upstairs at the social center, but we would need to bring a dish and with only an hour notice that wasn’t working for me. Picasso was having a band and we were going to go, but forgot…… ARGH!

Today we saw some powered paragliders over the beach. 2 went right past our balcony.



More misc. things about Panama:

It’s illegal to wear sunglasses inside a bank

Don’t assume foil or plastic wrap will have that metal thingy that helps you tear it off the roll….

There are no street addresses here. There are no zip codes. There is no postal delivery. When anyone asks what your address is, just Coronado will do. Some people kind of make one up from their lot number or apt. number and the street they live on.

We can pick up mail at the MBE here in Coronado and can mail things from there. It cost over $50 to mail the 3^rd set of fingerprints to the FBI using DHL. We do most everything online, but if we do need to receive something we use a mail forwarding service that also acts as our domicile in Florida. We request it to be sent along with anything we may have ordered from Amazon or wherever and it gets delivered to MBE. (so we pay double shipping charges, plus MBE charges their fees.) So, it’s not something we will do often, but if we really want or need something….we can do it! For any regular mail they just scan it and we read it online.

I just finished the Petra and Egypt albums on Picasa and now I am working on Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. I’ll be glad when I am finished! I need to get back to my Spanish lessons. Til next week…….