"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.

Customize your own free collage

Remember the Guayacan Tree.

Yesterday we went walking on Santa Clara beach. I love it down there. The breeze is cooling and the water feels like warm silk. It is so much nicer than trying to go into the ocean in Canada or even Ontario lakes in July. No goose bumps and blue lips! I really hate to leave the beach but it's important not to get burned and that would be easy to do, being so close to the equator. We limit our time to 60-90 minutes because of the intensity of the sun. Part of our routine is a walk along the ocean's edge to enjoy the sun and air.... our way to exercise. I go one direction and Bob goes the other.

In this edition of the blog, I'm including some beautiful pictures Bob took last week of the Guayacan trees near us. When we saw them, he said we had better get the pictures quickly so we didn't miss the blooms. The next day I was told this saying. I hope I am quoting correctly. "May your sorrows last as long as the blossoms of the Guayacan tree." We didn't know this saying when we took the pictures but glad we hurried.
Our friendly neighbour, a Gregory's Tamarind Monkey, continues to be entertaining, curious and persistent in her attentions. We are still constantly shooing her from the house where she sits on the top of the door and tries to wheedle her way into the room. We are pals anyway (if I have food) and she will jump to my shoulder to see what I have on offer. Her favs are pizza, bananas and K D, yes Kraft Dinner was a big hit. Lately her owners have been away, so we are letting her out and tucking her in at night. Actually she tucks herself in under the covers in her cage but we close the door so she is safe from predators during the night. One time, our neighbour Justin went to uncover Napa's cage in the morning (it's out on the bohio) and found a large possum in the cage with her, so now the cage is locked for her safety.

Last night we saw a dance troupe of children from Rio Hato who perform traditional dances. They performed to a packed house at the XS campground, restaurant and motel here in Santa Clara. The children were wonderful and so cute you could pinch their cheeks all night. After the performance they pass the hat for "propinas" that are used to sustain the group. The owners of the XS etablishment try to help them out as they come from very poor homes.The lady who is their teacher had a fire in her house and some of the costumes were burned along with their CD player. That is a huge loss for these people. The audience pitched in some extra dollars to help with repairs for their practice space and to buy material for new costumes. True to the performers creed, "the show must go on" and a wonderful, spirited and entertaining show was enjoyed by everyone. I even got to dance with two of the charming little boys. Their group name is Orgulla Rio Hato Dancers. I have included the pics I took. The bird pics are from the restaurant also.

Today we went to Playa Blanca and enjoyed that beach. The tide was out and you have to walk really far to get to the water. We haven't been there when the tide is in but will have to see what the difference is. We also went to the big pool and checked on our house (no apparent change from last time). I included some  pics of the beach there and Bob enjoying the big pool.

Recently a former colleague of mine from Canada, Lorraine and her husband Morris were in Panama and stayed at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Although we didn't manage to meet up, we spoke several times on the phone and she said that this resort and the area around it were very lovely with many interesting birds, flowers and other wildlife. We have been enjoying the pictures she has posted on Facebook. Gotta go and organize the picture for this edition and figure out what's for dinner.

Until next time, keep reading,
Chris and Bob

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Here Comes Carnival

A view of the Town Centre at Playa Blanca

Well here's a bit of this and that. To follow up from last week, we attended the lunch social at El Paraiso Restaurante on the road to El Valle and enjoyed it a lot. We spent the afternoon on the patio, yakking, eating and of course having a few frosty Panamas. We met two couples, whose company we enjoyed. One couple, Steve and Barb are from the US and Sherry and Ken are from Alberta. We have their numbers, so will give them a call one day soon. The mariachi band was good too, compliments of the restaurant. The organizer of the event, Louise, had 100 RSVPs and 140 showed up. The kitchen was slammed but put out an excellent lunch. Louise first contacted us through a comment on this blog. I followed up with email and found the Playa Community website where I found info on the Mah Jong group, the social functions, which we have started to attend and a lot more. This week we are also going to a business meeting of the social club in Coronado.

 We're pretty busy this week too. Yesterday we were at the dentist for cleanings, $36 each with our "Jubilado discuento" of 20% (Do you like that one Jon?). The dentist, Dr. Atencio, was very friendly and funny and his English was excellent. He lived in Toronto for 5 years and has been back in Panama for 18 months. His practice is in Santiago, about 2.5 hours from here, but he also works at the Clinica San Fernando on weekends. We expected a dental hygenist, so were surpised that in Panama, the dentist does your cleaning also.

The Clinica San Fernando is great because all the staff speak English, there are doctors for routine visits and an emergency room as well as a pharmacy. Normally the clinic is open 24 hours Friday night and Saturday but because of Carnival coming up Mar 4 to 8, they will be open 24 hours everyday until it is over. Those who know say it is a wild party. People stay up and party 24 hours( including the kids).We are advised to stay home and stay off the roads because of the drinking and driving. We have stocked up on groceries and I will forgo my Mah Jong group until it is over. There is no way I could get a bus during that time so we will hunker down. We were in Canada but our neighbour, Justin, said that on New Years Day, our neighbourhood was bumper to bumper traffic and fireworks all night long, so we think it will be the same except for 4 days straight. Can't wait!. A lady I heard of, had to tranquilize her dogs because they barked themselves sick every time fireworks went off.

Yesterday we went over to Playa Blanca in the afternoon to see our house. No body was around so we walked through and had a good look. It's far from being ready. Our sales agent, Farid, called today to say he checked with the contractor. He says best case 6 weeks, worst case 12 weeks, translated to the local dialect, I think that means "Not a hope it will be done before 12 weeks! Anyway, I felt excited to be standing in our house, none the less. We will be able to see a bit of the ocean from our living room window and backyard. After our tour of the building site, we went to the ocean club and enjoyed our membership there. We lounged in the shade and floated in the giant saltwater pool for a couple of hours. Ah bliss. Going back tomorrow. We need a car to get over to Playa Blanca so really want to start looking.

We took the girls for blood tests and grooming today.The bloodwork was fine and they start taking heartworm tablets every month now that they live in a hot climate. While we were in town, we saw that the kids are starting back to school today. Lots of parents with kids in their white shirts and navy skirts or pants. The high schoolers wear light blue shirts. Despite some changes to the education system, Panama still ranks among the world's worst education systems. Because of this problem with the public schools, it would be a terrific opportunity to open a private school. There is a new english language school opening in Coronado in August.That doesn't solve the problem for the average family though, who make very low wages. The country's economy is booming but won't be sustainable until  everyone can get a decent education and qualify for better paying jobs. There is expected to be a real shortage in trained workers for the booming tourist industry, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

Special treat: Pulled over in a radar trap today, didn't realize we were in a lower speed zone. He didn't come right out with a request for money but did everything but draw us a picture. He said something about how hot it was and how they needed cold drinks. No ticket if you give the cop some money for refreshments. We were pretty slow on the uptake but a guy we met the other day told us the same thing had happened to him. Bob gave him $10 and we avoided a $100 ticket. I guess we have been initiated. Yikes!  Hate to abet that sort of behaviour but the thoughts of going to Panama City, well they have you there. They should be ashamed, especially when their vehicles have the logo same as in Canada, "To Serve and Protect".

The Sea Club Pool at Playa Blanca 

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Hasta luego, mi amigos

Summertime and the Living is Easy

 Yes we are in the middle of the dry season here in Panama and it's hot, hot, hot. I'm sitting on the bohio where the breeze is beautiful and will stay here except for the time I have to be in the kitchen making dinner.
Though I refer to the dry season as summer in the title, it's quite different than in a temporate climate. The leaves have been falling off many trees for the last two months and the ground is littered with dead leaves. Many trees are also flowering and growing seed pods, while others like the cashew tree we just discovered on the property has set fruit. This tree is called a Maranon in Panama, according to Wikipedia. I 'm going to try to pick a few if we can reach them and taste the edible "false fruit", which looks somewhat like a pear. The cashew nut is attached to the bottom in a little green pod.
The tiny hibiscus bush in our yard has recently yielded three awesome blooms that Bob photographed. I'm going to see if I can root a cutting, as I would love one in my yard.

In the next week or so we'll be renting a car so will go check on the progress of the house and get the girls their haircuts. They're feeling the heat a lot today and are pretty hairy. I tried to trim Maggie but don't want to tackle Gracie. She has so much more hair than Maggie! Then Bob toyed with the idea of growing a beard too but it's gone now.

Bob has been "tearing his hair out", well you know what I mean. His email on phone was cut off and he couldn't figure it out but finally has things straightened out.  He made numerous trips to the "Movistar" outlet where he wasn't treated like one.  Sometimes you feel that someone is jerking you around but then maybe they really don't have a clue and don't want to say so. It's really hard when you are dealing with technical stuff and have a language barrier too.That seems to be the most frustrating thing about living here. I have found that Panamanians also like to butt in line, so I'm getting pretty assertive out there, and then I will get on the bus and a young man will offer his seat. You never know.

Yesterday, Bob met me at Xoko Restaurant when I came back from my Mahjong game in Coronado and we had a really good dinner. Next week we will sally forth to the expat monthly event, which is being held at a restaurant about half way to Coronado. I hope we will meet more Canadians to put on our list of acquaintances. The ladies I have met at Mahjong are very nice. There were two women visiting their sister from western Canada and one from Kansas, visiting her friend, Alice. One of the other members brought her mother in law from Panama City. Deanna, an avid player, picks me up and delivers me back to the main corner where I can catch the bus back to Santa Clara. She's so kind. They have all been so welcoming, which means a lot when you are far from home. The game of Mahjong is very complicated and is a real challenge to learn, which I like. It's not the same as those matching games on the internet that say they are Mahjong. The only thing that is the same are the pictures of the tiles. Well it's time to make dinner so I'm going to the kitchen. I'll take a picture of the cashew fruit if I can, to include with this edition of our blog.

                                          A couple of the leaves that have fallen. Kinda big, si?

The cashew fruit or maranon. Both parts are edible but the cashew is inside a hard shell.

"The Big Ditch" ......Sight Seeing at the canal

                            Catching the Bus for Panama

Sunday, Jan 30 was a special day for us . We planned to meet our son Jon and his wife, Joanne, as well as her parents, Maureen and Bob at the Mira Flores Locks. We were up bright and early, 6 a.m., to catch the bus for the city. I had no idea how cool it is at that time of day. It almost makes me want to get up every day at 6, ha ha!
We made excellent time as the bus made fewer stops early in the day and Sunday traffic was much less too. The trip took 1 hr. 20 min. compared to the previous Wednesday, when the journey took 1 hr 50 min.

Unfortunately, those we were meeting signed up for a tour they were told would bring them directly to the locks but instead drove them around Panama City for a while. Because of the delay in their arrival, we only got to visit for 1 hour over lunch, so we were sorely disappointed in the outcome of our plan. The restaurant is perfectly situated to observe the ships in transit,(the food was very good) but beware that there are no ships passing at noon. A book I read said the best time was early afternoon. Luckily, we arrived in time so that our party could to see the last one of the morning.

 Bob and I visited the museum, which was very interesting and spread over three floors. We also saw several monster cargo ships pass through the locks, quite an amazing sight. Bob found it very similar to the Welland Canal and Locks he has visited in Canada. The real stories for me are the engineering feats and the incredible ingenuity and sacrifice that made these locks possible. Thousands fell ill and died of fever in the course of construction, which we can not imagine happening today. Panama's modern population mix is the result of the diverse cultures of those who came to work on the canal, survived, stayed and intermarried with the indigenous peoples and earlier immigrants. The people we have met are very friendly and kind and will go out of their way to help you. Well, there was one exception I can think of and she is a real piece of work...but I'm not bitter, ha ha.

We didn't get in to see the film presentation but I'm sure that we will go back with future visitors to Panama. This was the first time we used our "jubilado" visa card to get a discount on admission, which was only $1.50 ea.  rather than the normal $8.00, and I can live with that. We have to get into the habit of using it to save money.

Jon and Joanne had a goodie bag for us with Montreal steak spice and other Victorian epicure items I had ordered that can't be shipped directly here. Should make my cooking a little tastier. The same day, Sunday, J. and J. sailed off to Costa Rica and Grand Caymen with Joanne's parents to finish their cruise, then back to the swirling snow we hear is blowing all over North America. We don't miss the snow.......but do miss them.

Hasta luego,