Thursday, January 1, 2015

December 20 to December 31

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a fun New Year’s Eve.

Some kids from the neighborhood church came to the lobby of our building and performed Christmas carols. It was really nice and it was a shame only about 6 people showed up to see them. They were adorable. A lady from Venezuela, Lucilia invited us or we wouldn’t have known about it. We see her on the beach sometimes and she invited us. There were refreshments for the kids after they finished.




 
tree in our lobby
On the 20th we attended the CASA Christmas Party held at Coronado Golf. There were 203 people there and the food was good and the company of friends at our table really made the night. It was a different vibe from last year. Last year there was better music and lots of people danced. This year, most of us were asking each other what kind of music is THAT? So, there wasn’t a lot of dancing and people seemed to leave early. We had good company at our table so we stayed and talked for a long time. Jim and Jennifer’s daughter Holly was visiting as was Adam and Mary’s daughter Jennifer. The other couple at our table does a lot of community things.
 Holly, Jim & Jennifer
 Adam, Mary & Jennifer
 Brian, Barbara & Adam
 group photos





 
The “highlight” was Jim and Jennifer had just returned from the States and brought me a replacement thermos for the one I have dropped a few too many times. Since ice melts instantly in my sodas at Picasso’s, I bring the thermos with ice and it keeps everything cold and not melted. They liked mine and bought 1 for each of them and all 3 of us take them. I hadn’t been able to find one here so it was a wonderful and thoughtful surprise. The bag also came with home-made amaretto. Yum!
 
The day after the party I got some weird 24 hour type bug. It’s been a long time since I have been that sick. Luckily, it only lasted 24 hours and a day of just being wiped out and I was back to normal. Phew! (no photos of that....and you're welcome!)
We were invited to Jill & Don’s for Christmas breakfast at 10:00. I cooked our Christmas dinner on the 24th since the breakfast was on the 25th and then we just reheated leftovers later in the day. I made my usual Bananas Foster French Toast. Yum! It’s probably the “last” holiday dinner I will ever prepare so the work was worth it. (we figure we won’t do that much work in an RV)
 Banana's Foster French Toast

 it was a pretty tasty bird
our tree
Here are a few shots from the Christmas breakfast at Jill & Don’s. They have a lovely apartment and the food was very good and lots of it. Lots of drinks. Did I mention it was 10:00 in the morning? LOL We had a few mimosas. The couple that we met at last year’s Christmas party was there and we spent most of the time talking with them. They are also pretty addicted to travel so we talked about where we have been and where we are going next. They are headed to the Greek Isles next. She has had a tough year as her daughter committed suicide recently and she said this was the first time she had been “social” since. They also have been taking care of their 14 year old granddaughter. It was nice to see them again.
 potatoes, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy

 Trish & John brought Crème Brule French Toast

 Greg & I in line
 Mack, Cat & Jill
 Bruce & Judy





 Jill being silly
 Jill being Jill
Sharon finally relaxing
Christmas Eve night we were treated to fireworks set off about 2 houses down on the beach. We could see them right outside our balcony window.
Muñecas are life-size dolls that people make and put in front of their houses and alongside the highways. There is often a theme, such as political figures, entertainment figures, ex-husbands or wives or themselves as a symbol of out with the old and in with the new.
Muñeca Burning is a New Year’s Tradition in Panama. Panamanians begin to papier-mâché their muñecas in early December. The muñecas are stuffed with paper and firecrackers, and they are lit ablaze on New Year’s Eve usually in a bonfire or tied to a stake and burned, ultimately burned in effigy on New Year’s Eve at midnight. Other traditions include eating 12 grapes and making 12 wishes at each stroke of midnight for prosperity. Here are some we saw driving around our area:








Yard work here is either done with a weedwhacker or a machete, this is a clever ad for a guy that is offering his services. His name and phone number is on his pocket. 
 
Many paper lanterns were released over the ocean as well. They are basically a small hot air balloon made of paper with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended. It was windier this year and a few had some issues until they found the right breeze to lift it out to sea.
 lanterns

 bonfire on the beach
 
New Year’s Eve on the rooftop was quite different this year. Last year it was packed from around 5:30 on with lots of music and people. This year it was very quiet up there until 10:30 or 11:00. There was a church service at 8:30 in the enclosed room, but most didn’t stay after it was over. The condo association (new management this year) didn’t do anything downstairs like last year. They had a party with food and music and fireworks that made it extra amazing since on the 24th floor they went off right in our faces. However, the fireworks did not disappoint this year all up and down the coastline and all over the residential areas. Fireworks here are legal and they are of the quality you would normally see at a 4th of July celebration in the States. You could hear people all around us remarking they had never seen such display. A few go off early in the evening (6:00 on) and of course ramp up as midnight approaches. They finally died down around 1:30 and we came back downstairs and went to bed. 
 moon on New Year's Eve
 the beach as it got dark















 

Hard to believe we will be in Antarctica this time next year. Not sure how penguins celebrate…ha ha.ied to the stop sign
 
The hikes in “our woods” have been pretty quiet. However, we did catch a glimpse of a Hooded Warbler. Not of interest to anyone except fellow birders. They aren’t supposed to live here and we got a “bad” shot, but good enough to identify it. Greg reported it to ebirds and they questioned it, but after he sent the photo to them, they published it and on the daily “rare bird alert” it was sited with location and his name. So, 2 days in a row we spotted a new bird. The other one was a Greenish Elaenia. Not rare, but it was the first we saw it well enough to determine without a doubt what it was.
Hooded Warbler
 Greenish Elaenia
 sunrise

butterfly on the trail

We are 3 weeks away from our Amazon River Cruise. Time to start pulling together our packing strategy. I’m still waiting for the malaria meds to arrive from Canada. Hopefully, it gets here in time. 

I’ll have more on our itinerary in my next post before we go. We probably won't have internet access on the riverboat, so will update and post photos when we get back.and the muñeco. Everyone else was also getting their pictures taken with it both before and after it was tied to the stop sign.

Until next time......
 

The sign above the mañeco thanking it for taking all the bad things

 

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