Monday, March 31, 2014

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….
 

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