Sunday, October 20, 2013

October 10 to 20

Well, we picked up my Background check which had the proper verification stamp on it this last Friday. Excitedly, I emailed our attorney. Then, I get an email back saying that I can’t be added to Greg’s Pensionado Visa until he gets the permanent one. We thought mine could be started and just would take longer than Greg’s to finalize since it was started later. So, unless his comes back in record time (normally takes approx. 6 months) I have to leave the country and get my passport stamped to restart my tourist visa. Mayra (our attorney) says she told us, but even though I could have missed that fact, Greg doesn’t miss a trick. Anyway, the attorney said the fine for being here on an expired tourist visa is only $50 per month if caught. She said you may choose to pay the fine instead of paying to make a trip over the border. Hmmmm. She did say that she is trying to push his through as fast as possible and since she knows our situation she will see if there is any way to expedite it.  ARGH! Ah well, just a bump in the road. Since Greg has his temporary one he is good for a year. If we do need to make a border run then I will be good for another 6 months. (I can’t drive here as my license from the States is only good here for 3 months) 

There still aren’t any deposito units available with A/C so we are trying our best to get everything to fit into this condo. We got a couple of wardrobe size cabinets for the bedroom and a skinnier one for the dining area. Greg has 2 bikes & quite a bit of cycling gear. He has his trainer bike set up out on the balcony and the other one will go behind the couch in the dining area. Not ideal, but it works.  

I’m missing the beach walks, hopefully this groin pain will work itself out.  

Wednesday at Picasso was typical. Lots of regulars with 2 couples down checking out the country for possible retirement or investment. The couple from California were interesting to talk to. Not retirement age and he was all “type A” personality. Much of his conversation was how he could improve this or change that if he lived here. While we are pretty “type A” people ourselves, we knew moving here would be accepting the culture and not trying to change it. (no matter how much sense it would make for a small change to make a difference.) I had read chat boards for years on Panama and that was a common theme. Things don’t always make sense, but TIP. (This is Panama) Love it or leave it! It’s way more laid back here which is a nice change of pace, but of course many things leave you scratching your head and thinking “Seriously?” The other couple were Canadians (which there are a lot of here) and they seemed pretty serious about moving. Another couple we met early on and are always a joy to talk with sat with us as well. Plus, our realtor and her mother were there. We all sit at the same table each week and whoever gets there first saves the table. Last week was Claire’s birthday (the owner) so there was a DJ and disco lights and “fog”. When they released the fog we all joked that we were lucky the Brigada de Bomberos (fire station) was right across the street.  

Greg was craving Mexican food so we went to Cholos on Friday. It poured rain ALL day. Saturday was very nice out so we drove to El Valle in search of birds. We have looked twice now for this trail and can’t find it. Since I can’t really do any serious walking right now, we just wanted to find it and just drive around and watch for birds. We had lunch at Buon Apetito (yes, we finally found it open!) We did see about 5 different birds to add to our sighting list. The best sighting of the day was the Keel-billed Toucan  (fruit loop bird) in a Norfolk Pine that flew to a Palm tree and started eating the berries. Then it flew to a tree without a lot of foliage and Greg was able to get some great shots. What a beautiful bird! We stopped at the panaderia (bakery) for orejas (elephant ear pastries) for the drive home. 
 






 
At Picasso this week we met a nice couple (Terry & Clyde) that has a blog we have been following for quite a while. (Along The Gringo Trail) Very interesting couple and it’s nice to get different perspectives on life here. They asked if were knew about CASA (Coronado Area Social Assoc.) that meets about once a month. We’ll email them to get more info on that. As Clyde put it “you can’t have too many Gringo friends here”.  They also told us about a store that they really like called the Discovery Center. We checked it out on our way back from PriceSmart and wished we’d had more time to look at everything there. They seemed to have everything. 

Sharon asked if we liked board games because she enjoys them and we do. In fact of the few things we shipped down, we brought a bunch we never had time to play when we were working. She also said they play mahjong twice a week. I’ve never played, but she said they would teach me. Sharon also lives at the Bay.  

Thursday we drove to Panama City (the locals just call it Panama…never “The city”, but I think it’s confusing to call the city and the country by the same name to people that don’t live here…or even if you do….lol)   

We got off to a later start for our trip into the city since it had rained really hard the night before and the parking garage leaked some weird stuff (like paint) and Greg worked for 45 minutes trying to get it off the windshield so he could drive. Finally, he tried a razor blade and that scraped it off. He emailed our rental agent and she assigned us another parking space.  

We found Metropolitan National Park and checked in with the visitor’s center and paid the small $1.00 fee to use the park. (it was lower cost since we are residents and not visitors)They spoke English well and showed us where some of the trails started. The Metropolitan Nature Park, or Parque Natural Metropolitano, is located within 15 minutes of downtown Panama City. 

The park consists of approximately 573 acres of pacific dry forest, which is home to many species of butterflies, birds, reptiles and mammals. The park has three or four trails that are well maintained and easy to access. We did the Sendero Cienequita to the lookout and then took the Sendero Mono Titi back. The trails had several look out points that provided beautiful panoramic views of Panama City. We saw lots of birds and an Agouti. There were a lot of turtles at the pond and Jesus Christ Lizards. The agouti is a rodent from Central and South America rain forests that looks a bit like a really large guinea pig. Jesus Christ Lizards are lizards that when moving quickly, can cross a surface of water before sinking. Next time we will explore the other 2 trails. 

 sunrise from our balcony





 immature Black-crowned Night Heron
 Slaty-tailed Trogan
 views from the lookout






 Red-crowned Ant Tanager?
 Blue-crowned Motmot



 

We grabbed a late lunch at Pizza Hut before shopping at PriceSmart. Then we stopped to check out the Discovery Center which is huge and has tons of things there. I had been trying to find a good digital cooking timer and they had several to choose from. They had everything there. Household, beauty, tools, grills, safety equipment, clothes, Christmas stuff and well, just about anything you could think of. We will definitely go back when we have more time to just look around.  

I’ve resumed the beach walks (just walking slower than usual). I did ok on the trails at the National Park so will slowly try to get back to “normal”.  

I posted our used moving boxes on the chat boards to see if anyone could use them. Hated to just throw them out if someone could use them. Interesting that the first person to respond had a very familiar name, but I doubted it was our attorney since they live in the city, not in our area. Last night Greg met them to give them the boxes and it was our attorney and her husband. Too funny! They must have bought a place in Playa Blanca as they were traveling back to the city from there and picked them up on the way. She had emailed me a couple of days ago letting us know that Greg’s visa is about to come out and she will let us know as soon as it does.  

Well, that is about all of the “excitement” going on with us. We are headed to La Runia tonight for dinner. They have killer garlic shrimp there. It’s located in Gorgona (about 10 minutes from here) and they have been closed for their 2 month vacation so this will be our first time there since they got back.  

I have posted a couple more albums of Panama on my Picasa Web albums site. Mostly birds and such, but I think I also added some of the Coronado area too.

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