Congratulations to my son for his new supervisor position with the Post Office! Very proud of you!!
Since we signed a year’s
lease the owners agreed to paint the condo. It was spotty and some areas dirty.
Plus, I got to get rid of the icky green wall! I actually liked the aqua wall
in the bedroom, but it was hard to decorate around and they couldn’t match it
to touch it up, so I just asked for the whole place to be painted in a neutral
color…white…beige. I could go choose the color myself but it’s not my place and
I just said any neutral color. They chose a beige color which is nice, but with
a beige couch and beige wood it’s kind of boring. (not complaining…I could have
picked out the color) So, I replaced the bedspread with a bright blue one with
geometric bold sheets.
Since we are staying here
for at least a year, I decided to “nest” a bit. We went to Westland Mall in
search of finding a small curio cabinet to display my travel trinkets and after no luck finding one the next week
we went to Albrook Mall in the city to look one. No luck! We have a store here
in Coronado called Novey and actually found a glass and metal corner unit that
fits perfectly in the space, but only 4 shelves. They had one other one left
and it has 3 shelves. Greg says we should get that and 2 of the shelves to make
this one taller. (the bottom has 4 legs and won’t be usable) It’s perfect
except I would have preferred one that was enclosed so it wouldn’t be a dusting
nightmare. The 2 extra shelves made it perfect! The larger & heavier pieces
fit nicely on the 2 shelves in the bedroom.
I already had the travel
magnets from the World Cruise out on the fridge, but I had tons from previous
travels, so I took out the shells in the coffee table which has one side that
is a drawer with a glass top. Most all of them fit in there and I still have my
bowl full of seashells on the table. I put their shells away and will return
them there when we leave.
We had 3 small masks from
Venice (from both our visits there) we put on a wall in the bedroom.
A very nice couple that has
been here for several years are moving back to the States. They had already
sold their house and bought a condo near Tampa. They are originally from
California. I knew the wife hadn’t been “happy” here for a while and when
someone asked why they were going back they said “We miss civilization”. Just
tired of the potholes in the road and trash etc.
Another couple we just met
has been living in Panama for about 5 years, but in Boquete area(near the Costa
Rican border) and had just bought a condo here in Coronado. We chatted about
the questions we get asked the most by newcomers and those thinking about moving.
Usually it’s “how do you fill your days?” (which is way too easy to do for us)and
the other is “what do you miss most?” from your home country. He said they
thought about that last one for a while and said he could best sum it up with
“choice”. I hadn’t thought about it, but I have to agree. While you can find
almost anything, there may not be more than one kind of “whatever you’re
looking for” to choose from.
Coronado opened a Community
Center and had a grand opening with a social mixer. The wine tasting went long
and most people just left before the official kickoff started. It’s a small space
and we left and grabbed some dinner before heading back home.
The rainy season hasn’t
started yet. We’re all about ready to do a rain dance. There is a Thrush here that sings the same 4
notes loudly over and over. He starts in the middle of the night and goes all
day. (desperately looking for a mate) Apparently they stop when the rain
starts.
When we were walking the trail the wind was blowing smoke in our direction and on our way out a fire truck was coming down the path to check it out. Another reason for the rains to start soon!
We have become obsessed with getting a nice picture of the Manakin. We have had lots of sightings, but they don’t sit still long enough to get a nice photo. Here are 2 more not so great photos:
Lance Tailed Manakin
Lance Tailed Manakin
Here is a video of their mating dance we found on you tube. If the link doesn't work, copy and paste into your web browser or Google search:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAwevkUaB2Q
I’ve included another one
that is a Manakin, but not the ones we see here. It's hilarious.
We found a tree that had a
couple of dozen Red-legged Honeycreepers.
We also saw a coyote on the trail ahead of us.
male Red-legged Honeycreeper
male Red-legged Honeycreeper
male Red-legged Honeycreepers
On our other walks we got our
best look at a Jesus Christ Lizard near the pond and a great sighting of an
Eastern Meadowlark.
where is the rest of me???
Squirel Cuckoo
Rufous-capped Warbler
Female Crimson-backed Tanager
she flew right at us
caterpillar
interesting flower or seed pod or????
We tried to rescue this little guy and tossed him back in the ocean, but the tide just brought him back. I told him as we tossed him back we didn't want to see him on our return back, but there he was...
We did a day trip to El
Valle and we finally found the Cerro Gaital Trail. We had always turned around
too soon and never could find it. It is way past the Toledano chicken farms on
a horrible road. It’s a great trail and we saw lots of birds, even a couple that
were new ones for us.
We went back to see the Oropendola and they were still there and very active.
Chestnut-headed Oropendola
This cute little guy came and sat right in front of us like he was offering us his berry.
Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Orange-chinned Parakeet
Sendero Cerro Gaital
no hunting sign
view from the top
Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
Violet-crowned Woodnymph
Broad-billed Motmot
We ran into some friends
from Coronado that were going to lunch at Carlitos. We had just finished lunch there
and were at the Cano Panaderia when we saw then pull in and turn around. We
were still parked in front of Carlito’s and stopped to chat. Lovely Canadian
couple. He still works on cranes and gets a week a month to come “home”. She lives here full time and has the cutest
little dog.
Here is a great video that
shows the Coronado area by a guy who keeps a blog about living in Panama. We
actually know a couple people in the video. (hope it works if not copy & paste into your browser)
Finally,
the rain has started. We have only had a couple of showers, but we’ll take it!
Thought I would share a couple
of weird things we have seen. Having lunch at Chollo’s (Mexican food), a family
came in and the Dad had a parakeet in a cage. He fed it and talked to it while
they ate. We were sitting in the outdoor patio. While seeing cats & dogs while
eating on the patios of restaurants, the bird was a new one.
One day while driving past
Kentucky Fried Chicken we saw a woman with a bird in a cage opening the door to
go in. Anyone else see the irony of taking a bird to KFC? All chuckles aside,
since most don’t drive cars I imagine she was taking one of the local buses and
had to carry it with her perhaps because she took it to the vet or
something????
We went to a CASA event at
Loco’s, a local restaurant here, to celebrate the birthday of the woman that
runs the Playa Community newspaper &
website. There was a nice family style dinner and they had disco music (the
theme of the night) for dancing.
I think I have narrowed down
our choice for the company we will use for our East Africa Safari. It’s between
2 and I have fine-tuned our itinerary as well as choosing the lodges.
The first thing we had to
decide was when to go. For the Amazon we chose the rainy season. There are only
flooded and dry seasons. While it may seem the obvious choice would be the dry
season, it rains a lot all year round and wildlife is great year round as well.
Here is the “logic” I used to choose the flooded season.
“During the flooded season the average temperature is 86 degrees
Fahrenheit, 12 degrees cooler than in the dry season.
Much of the increase in water levels during the 'wet' season is a result of
rain in the Andean highlands running off into the tributaries of the Amazon River,
rather than a large increase in rainfall in Amazonia.
There are great benefits to traveling at this time of year. Perhaps most
important, the rivers and streams are about 23 feet (7 meters) higher, meaning
that every river, creek and lake is navigable. You will get to explore more of
the waterways of Amazonia, and
will have access to plant life and wildlife areas that you might miss during
the dry season.
Also, that extra 23 feet puts travelers much closer to the jungle canopy,
where monkeys play and our beautiful Amazon birds like to roost. In fact, you
are very likely to see many more mammals, both monkeys and others, during the
flooded season. During the high-water season many riverine plants fruit and
flower, making observation of birds and monkeys along the rivers’ edge a bit
easier as they feast upon the abundance of tropical fruits and blooms.
Fishing is more limited during these months too, but you still have close
to a 50% chance to get out your rod and reel and make a catch. (for Piranha)”
For Africa the choice was again Wet or Dry season. While the Green Season
may be prettier we chose the Dry Season. Wildlife is easier to see with less
foliage and our desire to possibly witness the Great Migration and possible
Mara River crossings had me choosing August when the migration should be in the
far northern Serengeti near the Mara River. I'll post more as I finalize the details.
I added 2 more albums on Picasa if you are so inclined to see more critters.
I added 2 more albums on Picasa if you are so inclined to see more critters.
We are off to the Gamboa
Rain Forest Resort for a couple of days, so until next time…..
