"Attack of the Killer Bees" or " Muchos Bichos" (lots of bugs)

The Carousel at Albrook Mall

Well we weren't exactly attacked but it makes a great title. Finally, the exterminators arrived yesterday to take care of several problems with the "bichos" we and our neighbours were having. Africanized honey bees sometimes called "killer bees", are widely used here because of their superior honey production. We had a colony of bees take up residence under our roof and they were settled in nicely.Our neighbour,who is now looking after the property, got an exterminator to come and the bees are finally gone. They blasted the bees with smoke and then sprayed under the roof. People fear them but these bees didn't seem very aggressive. However we did avoid that area and I'm glad they have been sent on their way. Bob had a plan to dress up the monkey as a bee and get her to lead the bees away, Pied Piper style. Hm..... I think he sat in the sun too much.

Both houses also got sprayed for cucaratchas and ants and the bohio got sprayed for termites so I guess we will be relatively bug free for a while. Dealing with Los Bichos is one of the joys of tropical living. As a northerner I wasn't good at defending myself but I've become quite a bug squasher, much more able to dispatch a poor bug, bold enough to wander into my perimeter. I found a bite on Gracie and the vet confirmed that it was a tick so we have been treating that also. The vet is checking her several times to ensure it is gone. I just have to put cream on the area twice a day. It doesn't bother her but ticks can be dangerous, especially if they carry disease. An aquaintence lost her dog because a tick went undetected. You have to be really vigilant to make sure your pets stay healthy. Our Gracie

We went to the launch of PAL, Panama Animal League, which rescues unwanted dogs from the streets,spays and returns them to good health. They arrange foster care for the dogs until a permanent home can be found. There is a big need here as there is no formal program like SPCA in Panama. Three ladies founded the group and I think they are very worthy of support. You see so many unhealthy, suffering animals trying to survive on the street. The local vets have been very supportive of the efforts and give their help at spay clinics for free.

News on the house: We have a roof and in about three weeks the windows should be here from Costa Rica. There is finally a model house being finished, so we will be able to see what ours will look like inside. The first fifteen , which includes ours will not be finished until September, which doesn't surprise me as there is so much building going on here. Another apartment tower has also been started nearby. We can see a lot of progress on the Town Centre and we are told that almost all of the retail space there has been sold. There will be a pizzaria, a hair salon, a deli, a gelato outlet and a smoothie place. Also a gym, which we will need to use if we sample all the aforementioned goodies. I was very happy that a Canadian woman will own and operate the hair salon. It's hard to find good hair dressers for short hair here as the majority of Panamanian ladies wear their hair long.

In the meanwhile, we are looking into other places to rent and we went to Panama City on Monday to buy a car. Got a nice Hyundai i30 in white and will take delivery soon. After that we will go through the process to get our Panamanian drivers licence. We just read that the subway in Panama City has been started,it will be the first in Central America,and the "diablos rojos" days are numbered, as the new fleet of city buses is taking to the streets. The residents of la ciudad de Panama call the new buses "refrigerators".
A picture of the "diablos rojos" >>>>>>>

Hey folks, I bought a bunk bed for our guestroom today from a friend who is moving from a house to a condo. It's lovely and comes with all the sheets and comforters too. The bottom is a double bed and the top a single. Pretty funny, I have the guest bed, just not the guest room to put it in, Ha ha, ;)

Our neighbour Nappa having some yogourt for breakfast.

Legal Immigrants

Friday we traveled to Panama to visit The Republic of Panama Departmento de Migracion. We have been granted our declration of permanent residency status as "Pensionados". The very best part of that is that Friday was the last foreseen visit to the immigration office. We were hoping for better photos on the cards, at least ones by which someone could identify us but no such luck...they use the same weird little camera as for the temporary cards. The strange thing is that throughout the process we were asked to send multiple copies of passport type photos that weren't too bad, but these are not used for the cards. I just hope we don't have to show them too often. We look somewhat like zombies, no wait... I'm thinking of our Ontario drivers licence photos!

Recently, we went to a social evening at Coronado and met some nice people, from Canada, of course. Karl, his daughter and son in law are from Wasaga Beach, where we spent some very happy summer vacations with our son Jonathan. The resort town of Wasaga, Ontario is on Lake Huron and a really jumping place in summer. The permanent population is growing too as the town has become a retirement locale in recent years. Karl has a summer resort in Wasaga but plans to move at some point to his condo at Playa Blanca so and his wife will be neighbours here. His daughter Julia and son in law Matt are investigating opportunities for organic farming here in Panama. Vegetables here are less than ideal so it would be a boon for veggie lovers to have more fresh organically grown produce. I always try to buy from the little stands here and there because they either grow it themselves or buy from local growers and their produce is great. For the regular groceries we shop at El Rey and it's pretty good for carrying decent known brands of staples, even "Two Oceans" shiraz. I was never a great fan of pineapple but the ones here are wonderful and cost $1.00-$1.50 depending on the size. Roma tomates are the preferred type, plentiful and really good. The small round watermelons are juicy and low in seeds and now mangos are in season, my favorite.

A couple of funny things happened when we were in Panama this week. We were waiting at the Do It Centre in El Dorado to meet up with our lawyer to go to the immigration office. Standing outside we watched as peope parked and entered the store, which is like Home Depot. A bird was perched in the forecourt and swooped down on unsuspecting shoppers. The third victim screamed pretty loud and the avian avenger took off across the street. We don't know what he wanted, whether he was trying to get hair from them or just liked to upset people with vigorou pecks to the noggin. It was an ordinary looking bird and I would like to know what it is. If any of you have an idea I would be interested.

We had the garden hose out yesterday and the spray of water attracted a bunch of birds....some beautiful azure blue ones and some gold ones. I guess they miss the rains too. Right now we are experiencing "abril" in Panama, a very humid, hot month with scanty breeze. After dark the breeze comes up and it's nice to sit out on the bohio. We were doing just that and talking with Jon via Skype and he took a picture of Bob from the webcam, with only the flashlight for illumination. It's at the end. Almost as scary as those ID card photos. Our neighbour Justin is pressure washing the bohio right now or I would be sitting out there writing this.

We have written a bit about our experiences on public transit and on Friday we added a chapter to our "autobus" story. Just out of the city, I started to notice a burning rubber smell as did other passengers and the bus was creating interesting if not very healthy sounds. Gradually the bus slowed and finally ground to a halt. The driver got out and found that the axle had broken and one of the rear wheels was aslant. Another bus came along and took 6 passengers,which filled their bus to capacity. All I could envision was several hours, cooking at the side of the road, but the driver called headquarters and a bus was dispatched for us pretty quickly. What a relief. We had been up at 6 a.m. and were pooped after all the doings of the day, which included plodding around Albrook Mall, shopping for various items. It was good to see Fifi and his taxi waiting at the corner, when we got off the bus.

Bob's laptop is toast so I have no pictures from the camera,just the wonderful webshot of Bob. I will install the camera software on this computer soon so I can add some of our recent pics to this post. I'm thankful I got this netbook at Christmas time or we would be computerless right now, eeek!!!!!!!!!!!! We'll have a replacement soon and will also be going out to buy a car. More trips to Panama City. WooHoo.