Retired Nomads: November 2014

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday to grandson, Anthony and daughter-in-law Sonya!

This has been a pretty busy month. Just lots of little details that had to get done, besides our usual daily walks and weekly day trips. Greg and I went in for our dental cleanings and my dentist called us both back to speak with her in her office. She & the surgeon decided to leave my bridge alone for now. She said it was in there so strong, they were worried that I may need an additional implant if something breaks. Plus, she has had trouble getting the materials for the temporary bridge and it actually broke. She also said that with November and December holidays that it would be best to wait. Many places just close down. Since the implants and new crowns would be purely cosmetic, there is no harm in waiting. (or ever having it done before it breaks) Doing it here is about 1/3 the cost of doing it in the States. They have charged us nothing for the attempt to remove my bridge or the materials for the temporary bridge. She cleaned both of our teeth and we were on our way.

I have been trying to locate a Travel Clinic in the city (I swore I found one on the internet a few months ago), but I can’t find one. I emailed our doctor here (yes, we have his email and he responds) and he said he didn’t think there was one. We need to get Malarone (a malaria prophylaxis) for our upcoming trip to the Amazon River and we will also need them again for our African Safari next August. We will check with the local pharmacy, but will make an appointment with Dr. Levy to see if he can get it for us, if not, we will need to go through our international Cigna rep to have it mailed here. We also went in and put our names on the list to get flu shots in January when they will do them all in one day.

We have been kind of alternating El Valle with Chica’ for birding. We stopped at the same fonda for lunch. There were a lot of people there this time. It’s fun that when someone enters the restaurant they greet everyone with a “Buenas” and everyone in the restaurant returns the “Buenas”. As we were driving away we saw a chicken in a hammock in their backyard. See, ya just never know what you are going to see here…..

the road to Chica'

man with horse & dog in street

fonda where we had lunch twice

$4.50 & includes soda

another fonda in town

This little guy wanted to play

take me home.....

Bay-headed Tanager

wasp nest

Roadside Hawk

Swainson's Thrush

road between Chica' & Altos

Blue-chested Jay

Broad-billed Motmot

Barn Swallow

Golden-hooded Tanagers

Golden-hooded Tanager

Blackburnian Warbler

Rufous-capped Warbler

Yellow-faced Grassquit

Tawny-capped Euphonia

Golden-hooded Tanager

fence made with corn plants

grasshopper on car

people on the road Altos del Maria

In the dry forest where we do most of our daily walks we saw 2 immature Lance-tailed Manakin males practicing the mating dance. One was all green with only red on the crown and the other was older with most of the male colors, black, blue and red top. Our bird count continues to grow!

Dickcissel

Squirrel Cuckoo

Eastern Kingbird

wild orchids along trail

little green heron on beach

low tide exposes these rocks

Speckled Racer

Yellow-faced Grassquit

2 hawks in midair

A new restaurant opened in the Bahia Condo complex. It’s called Bluewater Bistro and some of the best food we have found here! 16 of us went and it was a great night. We had a fresh caught Corvina crusted in cashew nuts with a chutney sauce on top, mashed potatoes and curried peas. Yum!

We drove to the city to visit the Embassy of Brazil to apply for our visas. It is good for 10 years which is nice so we won’t need to get new ones for our return trips. We filled out the forms online and then printed them and brought lots of copies of anything they could possible ask for. (photos, 3 months’ worth of bank statements, copies of passports, driver’s licenses, pensionado visas, cedulas etc.)

We found the embassy with no problem. Signed in and were seen right away. The lady took our documents and then asked us to pay for the visas at a bank a few blocks away. So we walked there and paid the $320 fee and brought the receipt back to the embassy. We were hoping our passports could be stamped that day, but we have to go back this Friday to pick up our passports. (all conducted in Spanish) Our next stop took us to the Albrook Mall in search of new hiking shoes for me. Most of you are aware of my foot issues and I need a wide toe box and either anatomically correct shoes or really good arch support. I have orthotics so the toe box is the main thing I look for. I bought new hiking shoes a couple of years ago and it seems my foot has spread, because they no longer are comfortable. I’m wearing my oldest ones which work as long as I don’t lace the area nearest the toes very tight. They are wearing out, so I went in search of KEENS as I have a couple pair of their water shoes and the toe box is great! After wandering the huge mall we finally found the store we were looking for. They had all of the styles and I was able to find a pair that I am hoping will work. There seems to be debate on customer reviews on how waterproof the particular model I got is, but I guess I’ll find out!

Our next stop was to go to the airport to see if we could buy our tickets directly from KLM for our Africa trip, (and get our 25% pensionado discount) but they seem to only have 1 flight a day and it’s later in the evening. They ticket counter didn’t open until much later in the day. We killed some time by going to the PriceSmart on that side of town and just didn’t buy any frozen items. By the time we got back, the counter was open but we were told they couldn’t book any flights unless it was for this year and even then they would charge a $60 per person fee to do that. She said that our best bet was to call the call center again and they should be able to apply the discount. Greg tried it twice and both times was told he wasn’t old enough. Our pensionado visa is based on retirement income, not age, but they just hung up on him. The girl at the airport said the call center was located in Chile. After contacting KLM directly and them saying they will only respond to Facebook, Greg complained on Facebook. He called the call center to give it another try and found someone who would do it. We just had to copy our passports and visas and email it to them and they completed the transaction. It saved a bit less than $900 so it was worth the hassle. The lady at the airport also gave us the name of two travel agents that should be able to book it for us next time.

Shoe update….They were a bit tight (especially if I need thicker socks for some trips), so when we went back Friday I exchanged them for the half size bigger. (fingers crossed they will work for me)

My other quest was to find a seamstress to have my new hiking pants hemmed. I emailed everyone I knew and nobody knew one. I had a number for one, but she moved to the city and didn’t speak any English. I had another number, but couldn’t reach her. So, I emailed a friend who has helped me find hairdressers to see if she knew if the seamstress was still at that phone number. She contacted her for me and told her I was going to call and we connected. She took the bus from Rio Hato to here and we picked her up at the corner in town and I tried on the pants and she said she would have them ready in a week. We paid her back for her bus fare and drove her back to town. She called and said she would deliver them back here, but we wanted to try a new restaurant in Rio Hato and visit their fish market, so she agreed to meet us at a bus stop near there. She only charged $4.00 per pair and one pair had zippers in each leg which she removed, shortened and put back in. (in the States hemming is around $15 per pair and way more to remove zippers and put back in) We drove around to some local birding spots, but not seeing much. It was kind of a rainy gloomy day. Then met her to pick up the pants I gave her $20.00. She did a very nice job. The Rio Hato fish market and shopping market appeared to not be open. There were some plant shops that were open. We stopped at La Batea Restaurant and found out it had permanently closed already. Nothing else in the market was open. Hmmmmm.

school kids practicing for the Independence Day holidays in Rio Hato

So, we had spotted a place called Route 1 Diner and drove to it. They were out of most everything on the menu. Finally, Greg ended up with a chicken breast sandwich and I ordered Pollo Asado. I received Pollo Guisado and I left hungry since the rice and beans were both undercooked and there was about 3 bites of chicken on the bone. Needless to say, we won’t return there. Since it was pouring rain at this point, we scrapped the birding and drove home.

water spots on picture of the diner

Next morning we got up to take the bus to the city instead of driving. We quickly got a bus that was roomy and was playing a movie. It was a loud action movie with lots of booms and crashes…and we were right by the speakers. The bus cost a whopping $2.50 each. We got off the bus at the Albrook terminal (at the Albrook Mall). From there we got passes to take the new subway. Each ride is $.35. It was a short ride to get to our stop for the Brazil Embassy. It had started to rain so we waited a short while for it to stop and we walked the couple of blocks to get to the embassy. Visas were ready and we made the short walk back to the subway. We stopped to have a snack bar before going inside and a couple from Michigan walked up and asked if we spoke English and wanted to know if we could help them get to the Albrook Mall. They followed us and we chatted until we went our separate ways at the mall. Age has its perks here in Panama. Two younger people immediately got up so we could have their seats. We exchanged my shoes and debated just having a Cinnabon for lunch or eating at Crepes and Waffles (a Colombian chain). We ate at one when we were in Quito, but only went for dessert which was really good there. We decided to have Crepes, but we were not impressed. I ordered an Asian one and if it had more sauce it would have been really good, but it was dry and didn’t have much flavor except where the sauce was. Greg ordered a Serrano Ham one, but they delivered a Stroganoff one. It was OK, but not what we were expecting. We grabbed two Cinnabons to have for dessert later that night.

inside of bus

bus terminal at Albrook Mall

Brazilian Embassy sign in Portuguese & Spanish

subway station

We got our tickets for the bus ride back to Coronado and we were on a smaller van (called Coasters here). It had blue feathers framing the front windows and the rearview mirror. Most people that got on the van greeted everyone with a “Buenas” with the whole van responding. No movie, but Panamanian music. (lots of base and accordions) This one was freezing cold. However it is a stress-free way to get into and around the city.

Coaster van

Greg had an appointment with a dermatologist that came from the city last Saturday. The doctor’s office takes your name and when he has a full schedule they call and let you know the time and date. They called late on Friday and the appointment was for 11:00 the next day. Yep, on a Saturday! Greg emailed that the place was a zoo. There was also a gynecologist there as well that day and he said EVERYONE had an 11:00 appointment and over half of Coronado was there in the waiting room. LOL He had quite a few cancerous and pre-cancerous skin cancers burned off.

It’s been a rough month for unpleasant news. First our Spanish tutor told us someone died in our building. She knew it was a single male from Canada. We were pretty sure we knew who it was. In fact a couple of weeks ago we were discussing that we had not seen him in a long time. He was about my sons’ age and while we don’t know for sure, he probably committed suicide, but it could have been accidental since it appeared he slipped and hit his head. Apparently, the neighbors complained of the smell and our poor property managers had to go in and deal with it. He was a veteran and definitely had PTST/depression. Then, we got news that a wonderful couple we often visited with at Picasso’s was back in the States because the wife’s cancer was back. The last we saw them she was in remission and thrilled to be back home in Panama. Last night she lost the battle with her cancer. Then, I got an email from a delightful couple from the UK that we met on the World Cruise and the husband has been diagnosed with cancer and given 6 months to a year to live. I’m guessing he’s around our age. In his usual zest for life they are leaving in a couple of days to go on an Asian cruise. A good childhood friend just lost her brother to cancer. I guess none of us ever know what is around the corner for us and we need to live every day to the fullest!

Nice memorial for Gary at Picasso

A local band named Poco Loco disbanded, but reunited for a benefit concert/Halloween party November 1 at Picasso. Louise at CASA was raising money to put together the annual Christmas baskets for about 80 families with disabled children. It was a good turn out so hopefully they got enough donations. CASA supplies food baskets to these families, makes paper crowns, takes pictures and distributes balloons and candies, making it an event to remember! The baskets are filled with dry goods such as flour, sugar, pastas, beans, tins of tomato sauces, tuna, ham, sardines, vegetables, soaps, and other non-perishable goods at an estimated cost of $25 per basket. There weren’t a lot of costumes, but here are a few who dressed for the event.