Sunday, March 1, 2015

February 1 to 28

It seemed to take some time to get back into the swing of things after our Amazon trip. We came home to a dead car battery which was pretty easy to take care of, just the hassle…… Luckily, someone pulled onto our level of the parking garage and gave our car a jump so we could drive to get the new battery. It is good to know that La Casa de Las Baterias will dispatch someone to help if needed.

We stocked up on groceries and things to “hibernate” during Carnival. It actually was pretty calm here around us, but traffic on the autopista was crazy. There is a yacht that spends time occasionally in our bay and it was here for Carnival and it was joined by a pretty sailboat for a day. We referred to them as “our” His and Hers toys. Mine is the sailboat. Ha!


 doing a headstand seems to make sense????


 
Yes, the ATV is pulling the "surfer"

Jim & Jennifer brought friends visiting from Maine to Picasso and it was very nice to meet them. We always enjoy their company.
Our friends Mary and Adam invited us to dinner at their place along with 2 other couples. She made chicken enchiladas and refried beans that were excellent. It was a fun night. Mary is a hoot!
We have been in hard core “booking things” mode for the Antarctica trip. We booked 3 sets of round trip airline tickets. The round trip from here to Buenos Aires (BA), the in country flight between BA and Ushuaia. (the one that takes us to where we catch the expedition cruise) and the round trip between BA and Iguazu for our side trip to Iguazu Falls. We booked the Sheraton at Iguazu since it’s the only hotel right in the park. We added an additional night in Ushuaia in the same hotel that Quark includes for one night before the cruise. We felt more comfortable adding an extra night “just in case”, plus there is plenty to see in Ushuaia. Plus, I’ve been doing research on different Tango shows, Estancias, restaurants, and a couple of other day tours for BA. I’ve finished the research for Iguazu Falls. We will spend 3 days and 2 nights there and will spend part of a day on the Brazilian side and the rest of the time on the Argentinian side.
The other time consuming thing is doing the research to find all the layers of clothing we will need as well as other things we will buy on our next trip to the States. (probably in May or early June)
We are also looking forward to a visit from a couple we met on the cruise we took to Alaska. We did a few tours together. We have kept in touch over the years and they are considering a move here and want to take a look around as well as playing tourist for a few days. They are coming over the long Easter weekend. (they both still work)
The trail we walk most mornings has started to pick up again bird-wise. It was kinda quite for a while as it didn’t seem like much was blooming for food. The Red-legged Honeycreepers are back. We have also found a couple of new birds. One is an Oven bird and the other Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  The Ovenbird is hard to get a decent picture of since he walks really fast and doesn’t hold still for a minute. We have never seen a sloth in there before, but we got a pretty good close up look at one a few days ago. He was actually climbing fairly quickly for a sloth and was gone went we walked back around. (we always walk the trail twice) The Blue-crowned Motmots are back as well. One tree had 4 different kinds of birds in it. Yeah!
 2-toed sloth


 pretty dragonfly
 insect eating a smaller insect on my sleeve
 Northern Scrub-Flycatcher
 female Red-legged Honeycreeper
 male Red-legged Honeycreeper



Streaked Flycatcher 
 Streaked Flycatcher
Rose-bellied Grosbeak - female 
 Ovenbird
 Ovenbird
 Ovenbird
 Tropical Kingbird
Boat-billed Flycatcher 
 Lapwings in flight
 Lapwing in flight
 Pelican
 Pelican
 Pelicans
 Pelican
 Pelican - kind of looks like a drawing, but a normal shot
 Frigate
 Turkey Vulture
 Roufus-capped Warbler
 Streaked Saltator

 Golden-fronted Greenlet
 White-tipped Dove
  White-tipped Dove
 White-tipped Dove
 Jesus Christ Lizard (Basilisk)

check out the ants on this cluster of flowers (better seen on Picasa)
 

The other day our washer quit working and of course it was when it was full of soapy water. So, finished those in the sink and a few days later we got that fixed so today I’m catching up on dirty laundry. Yeah fun stuff…..
Yesterday morning we went to a wonderful memorial on the beach to support Don in saying goodbye to his wonderful wife Phyllis who passed away way too soon from cancer. She loved the beach and she loved to garden and he had her ashes in a beautiful urn and her favorite trowel that she gardened with and used that to scatter her ashes on the beach and into the water.
 
 Cap filmed Don & his celebration of life of Phyllis
part of the group

We both had some issues and went to our doctor for some routine bloodwork and to get our issues fixed. Mine is just an ugly little toenail that has been oozing black stuff since we got back from the Amazon. Plus, a few of my other toenails have some nail fungus and one of the toenails is starting to lift. It’s 2 different things and will take different meds. We laughed when we got the bill for the office visit. ($12.75 each) We went back the next morning to have our fasting bloodwork done and go back Monday to get results (Greg needs one more test) and if the bloodwork is fine he will put me on some meds to get rid of my toe crud. We both got physicals basically. He did EKGs on us. It was the first time I ever had to remove jewelry to have one done. I think they were like $30 each.  I imagine our insurance will reimburse a good portion of the costs as well. The doctor is a nice young man who’s English is very good. Most of the office staff speak some English as well. He spends lots of time with you when you are in there. We tried to make appointments, but they had us just go right back. There have been times we just stopped in to ask a question and he has us come back and chats and doesn’t charge a thing. We have had no problems with the medical care here.
Summer vacation for the school kids comes to and end this weekend. So, it has been a bit more noisy with family parties and fireworks. Last night there were some really pretty ones.





Well, somehow it’s March already. The year is flying by already!
Until next time……

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