March 3 to 31

As March comes to a close it’s time for my recap of life here in paradise.

A couple of months a year we have Aguamala or Medusa. (Jellyfish) There are quite a lot of them and many washed up on shore. It’s best to avoid the water at this time and many stingrays are in the shallows as well. That said, many people are in the water and seem to be enjoying it. While we have seen lots of jellies we haven’t seen stingrays. Here are some beach pictures during low tide:

 Jellyfish

 cute crab

 another cute crab

 vultures & remains of stingray

 Laughing Gull eating a fish

 silly looking egret

 men harvesting oysters

 

I finally got my permanent residency visa and Greg got his cedula. My cedula should be ready in a few months. So, we had to make a trip to the city. I had a new girl processing my paperwork and it took over 2 hours there. Then we followed Pier to the Tribunal to get Greg’s cedula. That took another couple of hours. We had a late lunch at our fave Chinese place and then we shopped at PriceSmart and the Discovery Center. We really only need the permanent resident visas, but the cedulas are more respected by Panamanians. Cédulas issued to foreigners start with the letter "E" (for extranjero, or foreigner in Spanish.) Issued by the Electoral Tribunal, the "cédula" is basically the national identification card issued to all Panamanians.

We continue to take one on one Spanish lessons with Jasmine. She is so patient! Greg’s doing well, but I struggle with the grammar. Understanding is easy, but the speaking makes my mind go blank…..

Bahia’s new condo tower in Gorgona had an open house, but we skipped it. We had already seen the models (though they weren’t finished) and since we aren’t planning on moving there we didn’t see the need to go.

Jill & Don had a pool party at the Pink Towers. Everyone brought refreshments and finger foods & more and it was a great way to spend an afternoon. Lots of old and new faces.

The painting of our condo and the grouting of the master shower was done in a day and everything looks great! I don’t miss the pea green wall behind the red couch. I actually liked the pretty aqua wall behind the bed, but without the same paint to match we just went neutral with that too. It’s all kind of bland, but will be easier to buy a pretty spread to brighten up the room.

We hiked a new trail right here in Coronado. Our guide in El Valle said it was great, but it never looked that exciting from the road (we thought it might be overgrown). Another guy told us it’s great and that they maintain it and goes from scrub up into a dry forest. Eugene Eisenmann (19 February 1906 – 16 October 1981) was an American and Panamanian lawyer and amateur ornithologist of German-Jewish ancestry. He had a long association with the Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) as well as with the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). He was an expert on Neotropical birds.

Interesting (or not) that Roberto Eisenmann owns Coronado and the main street through here is named after him, but he doesn’t seem to be related to Eugene despite the same last name.

We saw a new bird that is really cool. A Lance-tailed Manakin. We didn’t get a good picture, but he’s quite different with a red “hat” and a light blue patch on his back. It has 3 different calls and one is “Wah” (think crying baby) and one is kind of a ping. We just kept following the Wah until we spotted him deep in the trees, so it was really hard to get a good photo.

 

 entrance to trail

 Lance Tailed Manakin

 skink

 

Red-legged Honeycreeper 

We went back to the Campana National Forest and heard lots of birds, but they were hard to find. We did find a few and also saw a bat. Greg nearly stepped on it before it flew up and hung upside down from a branch. We took a picnic and ate at one of the tables close to the beginning of the trail.  We thought we saw a new bird, but it was a female that looks very different from her male counterpart that we had already logged. Today we went back to the Dry forest here in search of the Manakin, but despite hearing several we didn’t see any! We did spot one new bird so that was a plus. The tide is low again in the mornings so we will be doing beach walks again.

 

 bat

 female Western Slaty-Antshrike

perfect picnic spot

We ate at 2 of the local “fondas” in the area. Fondas are where you can taste the most authentic Panamanian food costing next to nothing. The majority of locals eat at fondas and little to no English is spoken. Some are small stands and others are like a small house with an open dining area and an attached kitchen. The woman starts cooking early in the morning and they are open for breakfast and lunch and stay open until she runs out of food. There are generally choices of chicken, beef or pork, includes a salad and a mound of rice and beans for around $3.00 to $4.00 per person. Generally there is a homemade soup as well. Some have chorizo sausages, empanadas or tamals. We haven’t eaten there for breakfast, but the sign said eggs and toast were $2.00. It’s definitely “home cooking” with each one being unique with the different spices and choices each uses. Both were very good, but not exactly “diet food”.

 Don Saul Fonda

 

I'll add the photo of the other fonda next time.

Here are a few photos from our daily walks:

 Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet

 male Barred Antshrike

 Brown-throated Parakeet

 Orange-chinned Parakeets

 Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet

 Red-crowned Woodpecker

 Wattled Jacana

 Crested Bobwhites

 Snowy Egret & Caiman

 Caiman

 street legal? (tarp and tape) on the road from our condo building.. Tryp Hotel in the background

 Crested Caracara

 Eastern Meadowlark

 "beware of dog" tile on gate of house

pretty red dragonfly 

 pair of Smooth-billed Ani

 Blue-crowned Motmot

 

orange moon over the ocean

 

We booked our Amazon River cruise for January 24 with Nature Expeditions International http://www.naturexp.com/destinations/desti_centralnsouthamerica.html

We are doing the 7 day Heart of Amazonia with 2 nights in a Manaus hotel prior to the cruise.

“Your 7 night expedition cruise aboard the M/Y Tucano will penetrate the deeply hidden areas of the Amazon, revealing its lush vegetation and fascinating wildlife. You’ll observe “caboclos” living in stilt houses along the river, see gold prospectors, and watch fresh water pink dolphins playing in the wake of the boat. Highlights will include alligator spotlighting in a canoe and piranha fishing in the surrealistic waters of the Rio Negro. You’ll also go on easy jungle treks where you’ll observe wildlife, flora and learn about jungle survival techniques. And you’ll cruise to the "Wedding of the Waters," where the coffee-brown Amazon and the inky-black Rio Negro meet and flow side by side for miles before intermingling.

The 18-passenger M/Y Tucano is a comfortable, informal cruise ship that enables travelers to experience the flora, fauna and people of the Amazon River up close. Unlike large cruising vessels, the M/Y Tucano is able to navigate narrow tributaries, stopping en route at villages and wildlife sites along the river. Each of the ship’s cabins is an “outside” cabin with a large window, private bathroom and air conditioning.”

COPA flies nonstop from here to Manaus, Brazil so that will be nice, except for the return flight which leaves somewhere around 2:30 in the morning. UGH! We’ll have a city tour on the last day so that will kill a little time and maybe the hotel won’t mind if we hang at the pool or we can hang at the airport. January is a long way off……

I've added another album to Picasa if the above weren't enough...LOL

Til next time….

 

February 22 to March 2

First of all, Congratulations to the Olympic Canadian Hockey Team for winning gold! If the U.S. couldn’t do it, we were glad it was Canada!

We had a fantastic 3 days & 2 nites at Los Mandarinos in El Valle. http://www.losmandarinos.com/ Just click on the British flag to read in English. It is located in a beautiful garden setting and the stone buildings look like something seen in Europe.

 Reception & apartments

 pool area

 outside our room

Casa de Lourdes

We arrived too early to have lunch so we went for a drive. We saw a large beautiful black & yellow bird fly across the road and land in a huge bunch of bamboo. We stopped to check it out and noticed these long hanging nests and tons of birds. More curious were the sounds they were making. Something like a high pitched bubbling, a bit like many stones being dropped into a well. We watched them for quite a long time and went back several times over our stay to watch them diving in and out of the nests and some appeared to be weaving theirs nests. There were some Grackles there as well and the Oropendola were fighting them off. We were told later by our hiking guide that the Grackles eat the eggs.

 Oropendola

 Oropendola in flight

 nests in the bamboo

  Oropendola

they were building a nest

We had lunch at Carlitos and talked to a couple from Ocala, Florida here on vacation and staying at the Golf here in Coronado. They are considering making a move and were curious how we watch TV etc. So, I gave her a couple of the sites that I use.

We hiked the short trail by the waterfall (the same area where we zip lined). We saw a few birds, but not much. We did see a beautiful dragonfly that I don’t think we ever got a decent picture of, but it had cool blue bulging eyes and very colorful.  Here is a photo of another one.

 natural pool

 

We stopped at the local panaderia for some orejas to tide us over until our dinner reservation at 7:00.



Panaderia Cano (bakery)

Then it was time to check in. After we got settled in we walked around the grounds and then stopped at O’Pedros Irish Pub at the hotel for our welcome drink which was interesting. Made with Seco and fruit juices. We had hoped to try it for lunch but it did not open until 3:00, while the “gourmet” restaurants on the grounds opened for lunch. The rooms are large and a bit caverness. They had room to have a second chair and perhaps a table would have been nice. The bathroom had heated towel racks. Rooms were clean and the bed comfy.

 

We had dinner reservations for Casa de Lourdes which is rated #2 on tripadvisor with Buon Appetito being #1. (the pizza place we often go to that is run by people who moved here from Italy) http://www.lacasadelourdes.info/  I had not given a thought to how cool the mornings and evenings could be in El Valle and did not bring a sweater, which would have felt good since the dining is outside beside the pool in their lovely garden setting. Greg had a nice fish crusted in cashews and I had an actual Black Angus ribeye. Good steak is heard to come by here and it was quite tasty. We heard a loud plop in the direction of the pool and I found a huge frog swimming around probably wondering what the heck kind of pond he jumped into. The food and setting are quite good here (with prices to match), but the 25% off we get with our Pensionado cards made it extra special. Lol The evening was topped off with an ice cream & brownie sundae named The Heart Attack.

Casa de Lourdes

We spent the rest of the evening going through pictures and went to bed early since we had to get up early to meet our hiking guide (the included tour with the room). There was a small tour group staying there which made the omelet station at breakfast really back up. I don’t think any of them even tried any of the traditional Panamanian dishes that were served. (yucca and chorizo etc.) There was fresh fruit and other things to choose as well. Our hike was nice and our guide was interesting. We walked from the hotel to one of the entrances to Cerro Gaital which is the highest mountain in El Valle, but we didn’t climb to the top. We did see a hawk and a few other birds.

 our guide

 

 Broad-winged Hawk

 Plant that looks like metal

dragonfly

Since the Pub didn’t open until 3:00 we decided to try Ty’s Sports Bar that many people have told us is really good and they have a pet monkey there after 1:00. It was not open, so we tried to find another restaurant that also was not open. So, we decided to try the Chinese restaurant and it was good, but not wow. After lunch we visited the Orchid Center which dedicates itself to the task of cultivating and conserving endangered local and regional orchids. At the moment 147 different kinds of orchids can be seen. While the orchids are the highlight, the local birds steal the show. The owners put out bananas and coconut and they flock in to eat. Many different types of Tanagers and even the huge Chachalacas barged in. A small woodpecker (who received great respect from the other birds) stopped by to see what the fuss was all about, but left as fruit is not his diet. We saw a couple of new birds there. We sat & watched them for quite a while. We went back to the hotel and went for a short hike on the same trail we did that morning.

 Orchid Center

 Crimson-backed Tanager

 Blue & Gray Tanager & Crimson-backed Tanager

 immature Tanager

 male Yellow-faced Grassquit

Rufous-tailed hummingbird

 Male White-shouldered Tanager

 Clay-colored Thrush

Blue-gray Tanager & Streaked Saltator

 Buff-throated Saltator

Gray-headed Chachalaca

We had a 7:00 dinner reservation at Triana, the Spanish restaurant at the hotel (and also where breakfast was served). The menu descriptions did not do their food justice. WOW. Very tasty food. Greg had chicken rolled around a spiced cream cheese mixture with a balsamic reduction and I had a stack of 2 smoked pork chops with cheese & a tasty sauce. Grilled veggies on the side. A lackluster flourless brownie was dessert.

 

Next morning we went walked the grounds and took a walk in another direction from the hotel before breakfast.

 Red-legged Honeycreeper

 Why yes, this is my best side....

  Red-legged Honeycreeper

 Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

 Rufous-breasted Wren

 female Yellow-faced Grassquit

 vegetable garden

female Tawney-crested Tanager

 bananas

 

Then we packed up and checked out of the hotel. A Butterfly Haven recently opened so we checked that out before lunch. They did a very nice job and had quite a few types of butterflies. They also have a small outdoor refreshment area that was very nice. We have been to butterfly displays at Cypress Gardens in Florida and a huge Butterfly Farm in Penang, Malaysia, but this small one was very well done and the young Panamanian guy that showed us around was very knowledgeable and proud to show off the butterflies and the special plants selected for each type of butterfly.

 Butterfly Haven

 café at the Butterfly Haven

 Passion Flower

 Blue Morpho

 

One last try to see if Ty’s Sports Bar was open for lunch and it was not, so we drove back towards Coronado and stopped at Taverna Firenze where we ordered garlic bread & pizza. Complimentary Limoncello that was quite good! We got back home with about 2 hours to get ready to go to Picasso’s.

 

It’s been low tide since we got back from El Valle and March is Jellyfish season here. Huge ones…..that have washed up on shore. They started appearing the end of Feb and shouldn’t last too much longer. Lots of people in the water, so I guess they aren’t concerned. We have watched very carefully where we walk. I found another starfish, this one is orange and this time I am trying the recommended rubbing alcohol to preserve it since the bleach solution I used on the last one disintegrated it. So far so good, tomorrow it is ready to be taken out to dry. I'll add the pictures of the Jellyfish in my next entry.

Well, we finally committed to spending the next year in this very condo we are in now. We were never able to get in to see the one at Bahia in Gorgona that the couple there now extended for 2 more weeks and another option became available, but they only will lease for 6 months. So, it must be a sign we were meant to stay here. The property manager is checking with the owner to see if they will paint and re-grout the showers.

Well, I am really behind in keeping up this blog, it took forever to go through all the bird pictures. For those with way too much time on their hands there are more birds & butterflies and other photos in the El Valle album on Picasa.

Until next time……