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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