Retired Nomads: December 2014

‘Tis the Season to be busy. There was a “party” at Picasso for the people who took the Spanish classes. There were quite a few people there. It fell on 2 for 1 Pizza Fridays on the 5th.

CASA monthly social at Louise's Bohio:

On the 8^th we went to a “Kick Off Christmas toast” at Louise’s Bohio. (a CASA event) There were quite a few people there and she had a couple of different Sangrias and Iced Tea and punch. There are quite a few “snowbirds” back to escape the winter in various parts of Canada and some from the States.

Twelve of us got together for dinner at The Bluewater Grill on the 11^th. Food once again was phenomenal, but service even worse than last time. We got there a bit after 5:00 for their happy hour and hors d'oeuvres. We were treated to a lovely sunset and we hadn’t realized everyone at the table had their order taken but us. We got that taken care of and food started coming out 1 or 2 at a time. We were all finished eating (or so we thought) and even had a bit of dessert, when we heard the couple on the other end of the table still had not gotten their food. Eventually, one of them was served and about 10 minutes later the other got served. Meanwhile everyone at the table was having their bills done over because almost all of them were wrong. The couple that got served last was riding with us and felt bad they were holding us up. Everyone waited so no worries. It’s Panama!

On the 12^th we took the bus into the city to see an ophthalmologist. I normally see a regular eye doctor, but Greg needs a specialist for his eyes. We will get scripts for new glasses, but can get those filled locally here in Coronado. A friend wanted to try taking the bus to the city to shop at Albrook mall and asked if she could come with us to see how to do it. So, we chatted the whole way there. We left her at the mall and showed her where to buy her tickets to get back home. We took the subway to the eye doctor and after we found it we went to a bakery and had a cold soda and a pastry. The doctor’s office was really nice. The staff and the doctor were all very good as well. The doc had been trained in Canada. He spoke English and Spanish well. They took us back to be examined both at the same time. Greg went first and most was done in Spanish, they switched to English for me. I could read the Spanish, but it was the print was too small and she wasn’t sure if it was the Spanish or the print so she turned the card over to do it in English. Greg was told his blepharitis was well under control and tests were run to make sure his floaters were nothing serious. (they are not at this time) I, however was told my eye pressure was at the high end of normal so they did special x-rays to make sure I didn’t have glaucoma. I do not at this time, yeah!

My eye x-rays were only $260 compared to over $3,000 in the States. WOW! The opthalmologist’s fee was $60 for the office visit. Another interesting thing was that instead of trying to sell me expensive glasses, he said “why do you pay for prescription distance when one eye doesn’t need it and the other one is so minor it really doesn’t need it either?” As I’ve aged the distance vision has gotten better and of course the up close vision has gotten worse. Anyway, he said that there are “Fisherman” glasses that are polarized sunglasses with bifocals in them like my prescription glasses for a fraction of the cost. He did write us scripts in case we do want to get new ones sometime. Despite having a glasses shop right there they did not even ask us to take a look.

We grabbed the subway back to the mall and had a late lunch at Lenos y Carbon and a gelato at our favorite place. It was such a beautiful sunny morning, but it was pouring rain as we got the bus back home. It’s all covered, so not a problem until we get back to the bus stop in Coronado. By the time we got here it had cleared up.

Susan also had a December birthday and a few of us gathered at Picasso to celebrate.

Susan is to my left, I'm in brown on the right

We also attended a charity event at Picasso for an orphanage.

Bobby Henderson & John July performed

us at the event

Saturday the 13^th we went to Altos del Maria’s Art & Craft fair. There were many lovely things and some tasty looking food for sale, but since we got rid of most everything before moving here, it seemed silly to buy anything. It was especially hard to resist my hairdresser’s booth. She made these lovely lighted glass blocks that looked like lighted presents with pretty bows on them. I said that’s the kind of gifts we need for under the tree. (since we don’t “gift” anymore”) Our philosophy is to collect memories instead of things. While we were inside the gates of Altos we drove around and did some birding. Didn’t see a lot but got a few photos. We also tried this new fish restaurant “Christian’s” We had heard pretty mixed reviews, so decided to try it for ourselves. I had the garlic butter langostino’s and they were really disappointing. They were huge and beautifully served. They had no butter or garlic. So, pretty dry and boring. It did come with a tasty salad and patacones and while there are a few different ways to make the patacones (smashed fried green plantains) I prefer the ones that are crisper and saltier. Greg had a nice seafood & rice dish. The owner came over and asked how we liked the food. Greg said fine and I smiled. He was going to wait until I told him how I liked mine. I said the shrimp had no garlic or butter. Tasteless and dry. I thought he might find some garlic butter and bring it out for my remaining shrimp, but he seemed perturbed I didn’t like them and said “sorry” not in a sorry way and walked away. Scratched that place off the list. Lots of places here have very tasty garlic butter langostinos. (and for a lesser cost)

female Yellow-faced Grassquit

male Yellow-faced Grassquit

female seedeater

Roadside Hawk

My birthday was the 19^th, but since the Christmas Party is on the 20^th we celebrated on the 16^th and 17^th at Los Mandarino’s in El Valle. (they were full on the 18^th).

reception at the hotel

grounds of the hotel

flowers on the grounds

pool area

Hotel

Greg "under the rainbow"

Casa de Lourdes Restaurant

We had the same type of room only 1 floor above where we stayed last time. A couple of times we almost tried to go into the one on the floor below. We had really good weather (it normally rains quite a bit or is cloudy, especially near Cerro Gaital) We had a bit of rain late in the afternoon and it produced a beautiful rainbow. We saw quite a few birds and even a few new ones. While on the Gaital trail I had to “go” and just as I was going to pick up the TP to put in a baggie to “trash it out” something bounced off my had and onto the TP. It was this adorable tree frog. Then, I went to grab the baggie and a Katydid landed on it. It seemed neither was leaving anytime soon so I coaxed the frog off and then the katydid. Put’s a whole new meaning to “when nature calls…”. Ha ha.

tree frog

Katydid

ants eating a Praying Mantis

Trail

sights on the drive to Cerro Gaital

house across the street from the trail head

hydrangea

Toledano chicken farms

local market

Toledano building

grain for chickens at the farms

We saw lots of Black-Chested Jays and Oropendolas. It’s hard to get a decent shot of the Jays. They hide well for a large bird and hop constantly. One spot we saw at least 30 Rufous Capped Tanagers fly across the road. There was a huge tree full of berries with a large quantity of different birds, though the tree was so thick it was impossible to get any decent bird photos. We saw Thrushes, Blue Dacnis, Bay-headed Tanagers, Plain Tanagers, Euphonias of several kinds and some we aren’t sure of what they were. There was a “cute” dog laying in the middle of the road on a bridge that was watching us and Greg whistled and it scared the dog, it jumped up growling and cowering as it kind of backed away. Poor little guy. We finally got a few glimpses of the Bay Wren. We hear it a lot (it makes a ton of different songs) and hides right in front of you in thick bushes or other cover. We saw quite a few Blue-headed parrots and one was kind of close high up in a tree. It was windy and he was really hanging on.

Blue-headed Parrot

Rufous-capped Tanager

Chestnut-headed Oropendola

Silver-throated Tanager

Rufous-capped Warbler

Bay-headed Tanager

Black-chested Jay

Chestnut-headed Oropendola

Squirrel Cuckoo

Long-tailed Tyrant

Plain Tanager

Green Hermit Hummingbird

Black-striped Sparrow

Variable Seedeater

Great Black Hawk

pretty caterpillar

dog watching us bird

Our stay included a dinner at la Tasca de Triana of a very nice paella for 2 with pollo, tocino & mariscos. (chicken, bacon and seafood) Then as a surprise they included free dessert and we had a tasty pear pie.

these dogs visited the restaurant

appetizer

Paella

We had dinner the next night at their Irish Pub O’Pedros. We had Fish & Chips and Shepherd’s Pie. Fish was good and the Shepherd’s pie was tasty, but the fries were nothing special.

They didn’t have dessert there so we went to La Casa de Lourdes for their Heart Attack sundae. We have eaten dinner there and had the sundae before and it’s a lovely setting and food is quite good.

Casa de Lourdes

patio of Casa de Lourdes

One day we had lunch at Carlito’s for empanadas and pizza, tried a fonda that was recommended (it was “ok”, but we wouldn’t go back) and the last day we stopped at a pretty new place with Peruvian food. It was pretty tasty, but was a lot to eat for lunch.