Amazing Connections

It's been exactly 1 month since I wrote the last Blog! Thanks for hanging with me in spite of long transgressions away from Mr. Computer. My iTouch iPod got me by (it still amazes me that I can drive up to a Winlock, WA gift shop, park outside & check/respond to my email). This trip seemed to be all about connections. Highlights were reconnecting with my Lady of the Lake dancing friends (since I was last there in 2004 right before Alaska's worst fire season); seeing Carlette and Larry in their beautiful new house near Rose Lake, Idaho (we worked together in Fairbanks); celebrating July 4 in Kelseyville, CA with my cousins (like Debbie Murphy who I hadn't seen since the 1960's). Yes, that's my official family picture with brother Michael, me, brother Neal & Mom. I'm the one without a beer. By far the weirdest connection occurred when I got Mom on the Horizon flight bound from PDX to Sacramento. As I boarded I belatedly remembered that I forgot Mom's medications. To complicate matters, the woman in the seat just in front of Mom looked deep into my eyes and said, "Elaine... Is that you? What are you doing here?" I recognized her but couldn't figure out the connection. Luckily, she started talking about Panama and I remembered (rather quickly for my age) that it was Amie Zawacki who shares a condo with her dad Ken in my condo development. I last saw Amie in March in Panama. And since Amie and her dad are both doctors (Amie in Portland & Ken in CA), they helped with the proper steps for getting Mom a 2 day supply of meds. My parting connection was a 2-hour cell phone call (this was the first time I had a sore ear from talking on a cell phone) with author Frank Romano who was on tour promoting his book "Storm Over Morocco" (a very good read by the way). Frank & I went to Santa Rosa HS together 40 years ago & will see each other "in the flesh" at the SRHS 40 year reunion on September 26.

Now I'm back to my "normal" fantasy retirement life... leading a bird walk for 10 birders (behind my condo) tomorrow, booking a few kayak adventures for next week, preparing to move into my beach house in a week and sharing Panama in all of her glory with friends from Hawaii starting June 20.

Rio Chiriqui Nuevo

Wow! I had another wonderful adventure today when I joined forces with 3 new couple friends and fellow retires Phil and Susan, Joyce and Nick, Tammy and Mitch. We spent several hours floating the Rio Esti and Rio Chiriqui Nuevo near David. It was a lovely trip full of 1 spill (Joyce and Nick got sideways in their inflatable kayak & went for a swim), great weather (overcast with no rain), and green Panama scenery (I love the rainy season). When I opened Google Earth in search of where we had floated, I was surprised to see these pictures of the Rio Chiriqui Nuevo bridge when it failed in 1984. I couldn't find anything else about the catastrophe. I also had to include a picture of the beach house I am buying. Plans are to move in once I return to Panama July 8.

Dancing with Turtle Tracks

Wow! I just missed Ms. Tortuga’s journey from the ocean to the Playa La Barqueta sands to lay her baby olive ridley turtles this morning. She timed it just right, emerging from the ocean around 4:30 a.m., pregnant with her 100+ eggs, swiftly digging a hole and laying the sexless eggs. Smartly returning to the ocean just before the tide changed, she hid her tracks with the incoming sea. According to the literature, Ms. Tortuga will return in 14 days to lay a second clutch. Besides sharing the beach with her, we have something else in common. We both dance. I love this quote from the book Sea Turtles by James R. Spotila: “The Olive Ridley is a beautiful dancer. On certain cloudy, moonless nights you can hear the female’s dance as she covers her nest of eggs. Long before you see her a series of thumping sounds can be heard in the night air. Then you spot a little (by leatherback standards) turtle bouncing on the sand, pounding it flat and hard with her plastron. Propped up on her front flippers and hind legs, she alternatively bounces her plastron side to side in a little dance that seals the site where she has just deposited her offspring. It strikes one as unusual and unexpected: Look at the silly turtle dancing on the sand.” Thanks, Leslie, for giving me this great book!

Speaking of dancing, I’m excited about returning to the US in two weeks so I can see family and dance at the weeklong Lady of the Lake Dance Camp in Idaho. I’ve had the pleasure of dancing there twice before and always enjoy the new steps, beautiful setting, music and new friendships.

Last week I accompanied my friends Sherri Ann and Ken to Panama City where we discovered the Granclement Gourmet Ice Cream & Sorbets shop in Casco Viejo (best gelato I’ve ever tasted made by a French couple who moved to Panama 4 years ago), a $5.00 dinner show (more dancing) at the Pencas Show Tipico on the Amador Causeway (see the video below), and the largest produce market I’ve ever encountered. I’ll be back…especially for the gelato!

For Sale: My Beloved Condo

Where else in the world could you own a titled oceanfront condo on 16 miles of Pacific Ocean beach? As you know from reading my previous blogs, I fell in love with this breezy part of Panama's coastline several years ago. I feel privileged to live here and love sharing Playa La Barqueta with friends (known and yet to be known). Since I plan on spending the rest of my life here, I took the "plunge" last week and bought a beach house one mile west of the condo. By owning a bit of property around the house, I'll be able to landscape, plant a small garden, start a compost pile (to feed the garden) and gaze at stars from an enclosed porch. It sure seems like a good time to invest before Playa La Barqueta properties sky-rocket in price. I am offering the following two properties for sale:

1. Las Brisas Del Mar #101: It's a downstairs corner unit that is right next to the Las Olas Resort. Because it's so close to the Resort, it feels like I'm on vacation every day. It's totally furnished, monthly condo fees are $215 (includes high speed Internet, water, garbage, pool maintenance, maintaining condo grounds, etc.). The porch/side windows face the Resort gardens rather than another condo. My electric bill is around $60 (I don't use much AC). If someone bought this unit, they could literally rent it out or move in the next day. Two websites: http://www.lasolasresort.com/ and http://www.labarqueta.com/ will give you an idea of what the Las Brisas Del Mar condos are selling for.

2. La Estrella Del Mar #3-7A with a pre-construction price of $250,000. I bought unit number 3-7A. It's in the middle building on the 7th floor (the middle building is 9 stories, side buildings are 8 and 7 stories). I have included a conceptual drawing above. Pre-construction prices on the 7th floor were $374,000 last year. With the drop in the economy, a 7th floor condo was offered to me for $250,000 in November, 2008. If you wanted to buy that same pre-construction condo 7th floor condo today, the price would be $300,000. I need to sell my interest ($37,500 down payment) ASAP in order to buy the beach house. Once they "break ground" in a few months, another payment of $37,500 would be due. After the building is complete (roughly 2 years), a third payment of $37,500 would be due along with securing a mortgage or paying it off with cash. My plan was to "flip" it at that point (for $350,000), and make around $237,500 (to pay off my Las Brisas Del Mar condo).

So my plans have changed.... perhaps to your advantage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8lQav0Q2mc&feature

Sherri Ann Feeds the Happy Monkeys

I just had to include this joyful video of Sherri Ann Bennett (of Juice Plus fame) feeding the red-backed squirrel monkeys at Mono Feliz. Tomorrow we head for Volcan, Cerro Punta and Sitio Barriles.

Punta Burica Adventure or Where is that Happy Monkey?

What I love about my “retired” life in Panama is that I can have wild and joyful adventures every day. That is exactly what happened the last two days on my second trip to Mono Feliz. If you want to follow along on Google Earth, go to Puerto Armuelles, Panama and follow the Burica Peninsula (go south) to Punta Burica. Fasten your seatbelts!
We (my guests Sherri Ann & Ken Bennett & I) left Playa La Barqueta at 8:00 a.m. in order to catch low tide at noon. To reach Punta Burica where Mono Feliz is located, you need three things: a high clearance 4WD vehicle with good suspension and a powerful engine, a lead vehicle (in this case provided by my great neighbor Ken Sample), and lots of adrenaline. Mono Feliz (happy monkey) is roughly 3 hours from my front door. This was my second trip to Punta Burica (my first trip was in January with friends Pauline & Bridget – see the January 3, 2009 Blog).
Timing and driving was perfect (only getting lost once in Puerto Armuelles), and we made it to Mono Feliz by 11:30 a.m. We didn’t see any monkeys right away, so we went for a beach walk. The Samples (lead truck) and their friends (in the third vehicle) had to return on the same low tide, so they stayed close to Mono Feliz and left by 1:30 p.m. Our beach walk was lovely. It was overcast and windy so we stayed nice and cool. We found many treasures (including one rare piece of blue sea glass). After two miles of walking toward Costa Rica, we reached Dave’s eco-hotel (http://www.tigresalvaje.com/about-us.htm). This was my second visit with Dave. Had we walked 20 more minutes, we would have reached Costa Rica. By-the-way, Dave is getting frustrated with the Panamanian Government and is willing sell the hotel, all buildings and 5 hectares of untitled land to an interested buyer for $1,000,000 negotiable. I’m sure he would take $500,000 or less if you have that kind of change lying around. Dave showed us his boarders: a very cute baby white-nosed coati, the older and more cantankerous margay (Sherri Ann was somewhat freaked out when she entered its cage to get pictures), and incubating black sea turtle eggs (a subspecies of the green sea turtle with the scientific name Chelonia mydas agassizii). On the return walk, we almost ran into the jaws of a baby Alston’s mouse opossum (don’t ask me how he ended up on the beach hissing at us). We returned to Juancho’s Mono Feliz by late afternoon and discovered that both the red-backed squirrel monkeys and white-faced capuchins had visited in our absence. They put on quite a performance for the Samples and their friends before they had to leave. Within the hour, thirtyish squirrel monkeys returned and put on a delightful show (see the video below). In the course of the afternoon, we met another group of adventurers: Costa Rican Mr. Rafael, surfers Amy and Emma (on vacation from Florida and California), and the Limones Police Chief Mr. Lopez. Amy and Emma finished up surfing after high tide rolled back in so it was too late for them to return to Limones. We got to know them as they waited for the tide to recede. Unbelievably, they made it back to Limones in the dark after a few cocktails!
We stayed in the same cabanas used by my group the last time I was here (perched above the crashing surf) and enjoyed a peaceful night. My 6:00 a.m. walk gave me several treasures including land crab pictures (above) and three species of feeding monkeys on the hillside trail. After breakfast, we did one last beach walk. As we were saying our good-byes, Rafael reappeared (minus the surfer-girls who had moved on or Chief Lopez who was back to his police work). He was there to take Juancho and his wife on a road-trip to his house located in Costa Rica (west over the Burica Peninsula from Limones). Lucky for us, we were invited to follow along… hence another adventure! First we drove along the ocean to Limones where we stopped at Rafael’s house (he has several). He loaded his truck with supplies for the Costa Rica house and we were off. Within 30 minutes, we were in a new country (at least for Sherri Ann and Ken, pictured above on Rafael's porch). We were treated to several views of playful chestnut-mandibled toucans before we had to leave ahead of the climbing tide. Once we left, heavy rains followed us home. We stopped briefly at the Frontera for some duty-free shopping and were home by 5:00 p.m. Sherri Ann and Ken summed up the adventure as a combination of Robinson Crusoe, Gilligan’s Island, Survivor and Lost!

I Am Real... Just Like the Velveteen Rabbit!

It happened yesterday, April 27, 2009. I received my Pensionado Visa! Now can live in Panama indefinitely (or at least until politics get weird and I have to move to another country like Ecuador). Normally a Pensionado Visa only takes 4 to 6 months...but immigration laws were changed in late August, throwing a wrench into the works. Lea (my highly paid lawyer) said if I didn't get my Visa before the upcoming elections (May 3) I risked never getting it. So, I had the interesting experience of flying to Panama City where I met Jorge (taxi driver arranged by Lea to take me to the Migrations Office). It only took 2 hours (a record) of standing in circular lines to get my photo taken & placed on the card. I'm in deep dudu if I ever loose the Visa because it will take the Migrations Office 6 months to a year to replace it...better to just leave the country!

If you are wondering about these pictures (and the video) they were taken at the Las Garzas Jazz Night (April 25) that I helped organize. We even made $300 which will go to the lifeguard fund (to build a lifeguard station and hire lifeguards since many people get caught in the rip current along my beach). The first picture is of Dr. Jennifer Daniels & yours truly in front of the huge bonfire (taken by my new artist friend Patricia). The second picture is the Fantasy Jazz Band.

I had some interesting bird experiences today. Maybe it's because we are going from the dry to the wet season (no rain in 5 months) & the birds are getting anxious. Anyway, I was walking along the beach at low tide (heading east) when I spotted a low flying Brown Booby heading directly for me. I had to duck to avoid being hit (at least it "looked" like he might hit me). Weird! As the bird books say, "Brown Boobies rarely come very close to shore". Last year at this time I nearly ran into a Brown Booby sitting on the beach, looking like he was about to die. My evening walk took me to the farm behind the condo. I saw record numbers of birds (Yellow-Crowned and Red-Lored Amazon Parrots, a Lineated Woodpecker, loads of Red-Crowned Woodpeckers) and a new hawk... the Savanna Hawk. Very cool! They are "distinctly scarce in Western Chiriqui" (where I am) so I consider myself extremely lucky.

I'm headed to David tomorrow to get my Panama Driver's License so I can legally drive my truck & pick up my next company, Sherri Ann and Ken (Juice Plus friends).

Enjoy the music!