Let’s Go Buy Fish!

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

OK, so that’s not the happiest fish since it’s sitting on my kitchen counter, but the people of the household are very happy.

This was our second trip to Pedregal, a town on the water about 20 minutes south of us. We went with friends before, but this time we were on our own finding the place. We couldn’t find it at first, so we stopped at another house on the main street that had a sign out front “Vende Pescado”. They had pargo and robalo both for $2.50 a pound. We bought two pargos and one robalo, and another pargo for my neighbor who came along for the ride – 10 pounds of fish altogether. Oh, I also bought a pound of shrimp for $4.

(I have written more about what kinds of fish these are and what we thought about them HERE.)

Before we headed home, we decided to try one more time to find the first fish seller we visited before, and discovered we just hadn’t gone far enough down main street. Once we found the correct turn off the rest was easy. This seller has a larger selection, and there was also a bunch of very fun and friendly people around which I enjoyed.

I could not resist getting more fish. They had sierra which we had before and really liked, so I bought a couple good size ones, and then 2 pounds of lisa, just to try and see if we like it. So, another 10 pounds of fish went in the cooler. I figure altogether we bought 20 pounds of fish and a pound of shrimp and spent $40. And, this fish is obviously very fresh, caught just today!fishPrices

This is the price list of the various fish for sale at the second fish seller, in dollars per pound. They may not have everything on hand at all times, and last time they had durado which wasn’t listed. But they have had a very good selection both times we visited and we were happy.

I have written more about the various kinds of fish and what we think of the ones we have tried so far, so rather than make this post a mile long I put this in another post HERE.

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Posted in culture, Exploring Panama, Exploring the Area, food, Getting Things Done, Panama | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Awards!

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

Thank you KZ of The Eclectic Eccentric Shopaholic  for the great Shine On award! Before you do anything else, please go check out her great blog! She has photos, writing, challenges, haiku, and interesting glimpses into her life and interests.

shineon

Thanks KZ. It’s so pretty, and I really appreciate your support of my blog.

And, as if this wasn’t enough, there are two more waiting for me from Lou, another wonderful blogger! Go over and visit her at Taking a Deep Breath  You’ll find great photos, travel stories, stories from her life, a recipe or two, and did I mention photos?

She gave me TWO!  The Beautiful Blogger Award, and One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you so much. I am honored and appreciate your support.

beautiful-blogger-award2             one-lovely-blog-number-21

As part of these awards I’m supposed to post 7 interesting things about myself. Hmmm… I suppose it’s supposed to be something I haven’t already said, and who is to say what is interesting.

1. I never told my kids that Santa is real. We “played” Santa to honor the spirit of Christmas and giving.  I think we had just as much fun.
2. I was supposed to be a concert pianist, according to my mother. Much to her horror, I rebelled and went to nursing school immediately after getting my degree.
3. I like math and science. I’m not good at history, languages, or sports. (so what am I learning now? Spanish and tennis!)
4. I was a beekeeper in Florida. The hives were in the middle of my front yard but I had so many plants and trees, the neighbors didn’t even realize it until they saw me outside in my bee suit.

English: Sunshine Skyway. Tampa Bay, Florida. ...

English: Sunshine Skyway. Tampa Bay, Florida. Photo © 2004 Thomas Parker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

5. I was afraid of high bridges. I had reoccurring nightmares about bridges all my life. When I moved to Florida I forced myself to drive over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge enough to become comfortable with it. I no longer have bridge nightmares.

6. I also have a degree in computer programming. I eventually decided that being alone in an office solving computer puzzles wasn’t for me, and I went back to nursing.

7. I’ve painted cars, and did a very interesting custom paint job on a 75 Cadillac that I owned in the past.

Now for 10 awards to other bloggers I admire and appreciate….

http://indacampo.wordpress.com/ a fellow Panamanian expat and really cool person
http://s3city.com/  a great photographer in Moscow
http://rarasaur.wordpress.com/  as she says “frightfully wonderous things happen here”
http://windagainstcurrent.com/ kayak around NY harbor with him
http://hellboy2503.wordpress.com/  incredible photos of animals and birds
http://travel-monkey.me/  this monkey sure travels!
http://adogwithfleas.wordpress.com/  a wise and thoughtful woman
http://clotildajamcracker.wordpress.com/  another wise woman who will make you laugh
http://mycruisestories.com/  adventures on cruise ship voyages, with great photos
http://onemoregoodadventure.com/  a local friend and expat, who knows a lot of interesting stuff and has a great book

I know I nominated many of these for another award recently, but my favorite bloggers then are still favorite bloggers now.  I have other favorites too but couldn’t put everyone on my list in this list, as much as I wish I could.

So, if you want to send an award or two, or all three along to some of your favorite bloggers, here are the rules: (and if you just want to enjoy the pat on the back, that’s perfectly fine too!)

• Display the award certificate on your website.
• Announce your win with a thank you and a link to the blogger who presented your award.
• Present 10 awards
• Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post.
• Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

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Flowers in the Forest

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

We hadn’t been walking in the forest for a while so we wanted to go back. It’s summer now, drier and windier. I was surprised at the number of flowers we saw! There seemed to be a lot more than before.

The last photo of the banana flower is unusual. Most banana flowers are huge. These plants were big but the flowers were tiny, only a few inches long.

This is my first time using a slide show gallery and I think I like it. You don’t have to scroll around to see all the photos. If you click on the gallery, controls will come up which allow you to click through at your own pace.

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Fabulous Skies Today!

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

It’s summer here now. We’re not getting nearly as much rain, the humidity is down, it’s more breezy, and the temperature is absolutely perfect. The skies also look different and the clouds are fabulous. Those of you who have known me for a while (especially my facebook friends) know I love clouds because I’m always posting photos of great clouds and sunsets.

Since I have a blog now, I figured this is a good place to post my pictures from today. We were out doing errands and I couldn’t resist a few photos of the afternoon sky. I thought sunset might be beautiful so I headed out later on my bicycle. I was not disappointed!

December Skies 1

December Skies 2

December Skies 3

December Skies 4

December Skies 5

December Skies 6

.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

Surprise!  The world didn’t end. OK, that’s just a joke because I didn’t figure it would. But, I did have a couple real surprises today.

There are wonderful papayas in Panama. I was told that if you toss the seeds in the garden they will sprout and you’ll have lots of papaya plants. Of course I had to give it a try! I tossed some along the wall in the back yard and nothing happened. Later, I tossed some more among some other plants in the front yard. Again, no signs of life.

So, I figured why not clear out a bit more garden space and plant some other things I had growing from seed, and SURPRISE! Under the ginger plant was a bunch of baby papaya sprouts.

surprise papaya sprouts

I checked the front yard and again, SURPRISE, more baby papaya sprouts, these so newly sprouted they had only one set of real leaves.surprise papaya sprouts 2

Apparently I just hadn’t waited long enough – over a month. I’m just going to leave them alone for now but if they continue to grow, when they are bigger, I’ll transplant them to a more permanent home. Then, maybe I’ll have papayas!

If that wasn’t enough surprise for one day, we went to play tennis later in the morning. I glanced up to see a truck pulling out from the back area heading to the road, and who would be walking in the grass to get out of the way but Mr Iguana! I shouldn’t be totally surprised because we saw him once before, but I wasn’t sure if we’d ever see him again so I was happy about this surprise.surprise iguana

The day isn’t over yet. I wonder if there are any other surprises coming up!

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Posted on December 21, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

I just had to share this one! totally amazing gingerbread houses

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Why would anyone want to live in Panama??? Because we want to live with the happy people!

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

When we were preparing to move we got this question quite a bit. It’s a third world country after all, and look at everything we would be giving up. Our lives would certainly be much more difficult.

It has not turned out to be so. I have written a number of times about how it feels different here, how the people are so lovely, how they are kind and gentle and happy. It’s hard to put into words but you can sure feel it when you are here.

Then, today, I saw THIS ARTICLE from CBS news about a Gallup poll that was done to determine who are the happiest people in the world. Who was at the top of the list? Yep, that’s right, PANAMA!  Panama and Paraguay (in central South America between Brazil and Argentina).

Wealth, prosperity, all the usual things we are taught to strive for actually had little to do with the happiness level. In fact, some of the most developed and prosperous countries were low on the list. The happy people have a culture of focusing on the positive, strong families, good friends, and a lot of community involvement.

The US was #33.  I don’t feel like we are giving up anything, and we are gaining a lot.

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Una Fiesta!

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

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Do not go anywhere without a camera, ever. You will regret it! I will just have to paint a picture with words today.

If you get an invitation to a party in Panama, you must GO!  The tennis club had a party last night at the leader’s house and we had such fun.

The party started with social time, drinks, and appetizers. I chose the sangria, and what a good choice that was. It was the best sangria I ever had! It was popular so another batch had to be made and I was lucky enough to observe and find out their secret – two bottles of red wine, a quart of pineapple juice, 1/2 – 1 quart orange juice (not sure on amount), some grenadine, and some chopped apples and grapes. Serve with ice.
Later, there was dinner – lasagna, salad, and garlic bread, very yummy.

Then, to our surprise, a mariachi band arrived! It was five guys dressed in the traditional outfits complete with big ornate sombreros, three guitars and two trumpets. A trumpet at close range is loud! This is probably a good thing because the party folks were just as loud. Everyone knew all the songs and sang along in full voice, often while dancing and/or clapping also. Imagine an outdoor back patio on a perfect warm evening, furniture shoved out of the way, happy people, fun music, dancing, singing, clapping, laughing and having a wonderful time. What an experience!

By the time the band wrapped up it was midnight, and they were being served dinner.  We figured it was about time to call it a night.

What a great bunch of people! I think there were 30-40 people there, and such an interesting group. There were a variety of professions, experiences, some locals, some international people, many who spoke excellent English, so  it was very easy to mingle and have a great time.

Who would have thought – I stopped by a sporting goods store to ask if they knew of any tennis courts. They sent us to Fertica, an agricultural business who happens to have a tennis court on the property. The Fertica secretary gave us the contact information for the group leader and as they say, the rest is history.  Now we have a place to play, an excellent tennis coach, a wonderful group of people, and a bunch of new friends.

I do not know why my “featured image” won’t work today, so I just stuck it at the top of the post. Here’s another for good measure.

Wherever you go, take a camera!!

Fiesta!

Fiesta!

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Super Sweet!

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

Thank you my friend at Playamart – Zeebra Designs for the Super Sweet Blogger award! Before you do anything else, go check out her great blog for pictures, stories, art, discussions,  and all sorts of interesting happenings.

The rules of this award are as follows:

1. The nominees have to thank the person that nominated them.

2.Nominate a bakers dozen of other Super Sweet Bloggers and let them know. (see below)

3. Answer these easy questions:
Cookies or cake: Cookies
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate
What is your favourite sweet treat? Ice Cream
When do you crave sweet things the most? after dinner
If you had a sweet nickname what would it be? Kris is my nickname! (short for Kristin)

Thanks, and have fun passing this along!

So, here is a list of my nominees

http://indacampo.wordpress.com/ because she’s my Panamanian neighbor, I love her blog, and she always makes me smile.

http://randomizer144.wordpress.com/ because he’s a wonderful photographer, and I get to see a lot of Moscow through his eyes.

http://rarasaur.wordpress.com/ because there is always something interesting there. It could be anything, but it will be worth the visit.

http://windagainstcurrent.com/ because a guy who kayaks around New York City and posts wonderful photos, that’s an interesting  and gutsy guy

http://hellboy2503.wordpress.com/ because he takes photos of birds and animals that are amazing. You really must visit and take a look!

http://travel-monkey.me/ because I like the monkey. But, this is no ordinary monkey. He goes everywhere and posts great pictures of his adventures.

http://adogwithfleas.wordpress.com/ The blog name first caught my attention, but the content has kept me coming back. She’s a fellow human navigating this bumpy road of life and telling us stories we can all relate to and enjoy.

http://clotildajamcracker.wordpress.com/ because she is crazy and funny, but often about serious things that are well worth thinking about.

http://johnandmarylivingitupinecuador.wordpress.com/ expat neighbors on a similar path with a great blog full of fun stories. They take really good pictures of bugs (among other things)

http://nanlevin.wordpress.com/ other expats neighbors sharing their interesting life and experiences, and you’ve got to love someone with a pink bike!

http://retirenicaragua.wordpress.com/ more interesting expat stories about living in this part of the world, and a lady who wants to share her love for books with everyone.

http://keiththegreen.wordpress.com/ a fellow Buddhist who’s blog I enjoy a lot

http://retireediary.wordpress.com/ a talented guy from Hong Kong who has learned English very well, who has become a good writer, and who takes really beautiful photos.

I would be happy to nominate everyone on my list of blogs. I follow each one because I enjoy them and find them well worth the time to visit. But, the rules say a bakers dozen so here they are. Go visit these interesting people and see what they see through their cameras, see what they create, and hear what they think about.

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this is only a test about pingbacks

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Kris Cunningham

Nothing to see here….   I’m just trying to understand a function.

I don’t totally understand the pingbacks. What happens if I put a link here to another post, and then don’t approve the pingback? Does the link still work? does it still exist? Does anything happen?  Inquiring minds want to know, so I’m fiddling around with this.

How about a LINK to another post about lizards. I will approve this one.

Then, we will make a LINK to another post – this one about Panamanian lawn mowers. I will not approve this one.

Results – apparently it only affects the comments. Both links still work even though I spam/trashed one. But, below the lizard post there is a comment/notice about the pingback, and below the lawn mowers post there is not.

It hardly seems worth the bother to moderate pingbacks because it doesn’t stop anyone from linking to your post. It only stops the pingback notice from showing up below your own post in the comments.

Sometimes people object to pingbacks because it looks like the blogger who included the link has a long list of links just to make all of those bloggers come to their blog and run up their numbers, a spam type activity.  It seems approving or not approving pingbacks will have no effect on this whatsoever.

Myself, I don’t mind links out there. I know blogging is a public activity, so if more of the public visits my blog that is kind of the point, right? I cannot control how people find their way here, only what I post on my blog.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 12 Comments