Back in Panama with the Wildlife

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

I’ve been back almost a week now from my almost two month visit to the US, and it feels good to be back.

I’m glad I have’t forgotten all my Spanish! It’s easier in the US where I can talk with anyone and not hunt for words or miss some things, but I’m really happy with myself when I can communicate in my new language. I feel a bit rusty but I’ll bug my friends for conversation to help me get back up to speed.

I biked across town yesterday to visit various friends and I was greeted countless times by people in vehicles, people on the street, people everywhere. The smiles are genuine and they look you straight in the eyes, so you feel like they really “see” you. It’s good to be back.

(I’ll mix in some wildlife photos as we go along)

516birds

These Yellow Headed Caracaras are a common sight. I heard a lot of noise in my front yard and when I went to investigate, this one was sitting on the pillar with a lot to say. I managed to snap a photo before he saw me and flew off.

It’s messy here. There are weeds growing alongside the roads, there is minimal zoning, some roads are rough, and people park anywhere they want. But, what does this really mean? Where are the priorities? The US is very clean, manicured, orderly, and visually attractive but all that care and maintenance comes at a cost. Here the weeds will get cut eventually, and you may have to ask around to find the owner of the car blocking you in but he will be found with everyone’s help and a lot of smiles. No one cares if you dismantle your car in the street or have cows in your front yard. It’s a much more free and relaxed style of living and I have come to like it a lot.

It’s hot here. You get used to living with your skin always a bit moist, but you hardly ever need skin lotion or lip balm. You need more showers and laundry though! A lot of people go to higher elevations to be cooler but I like this warm weather. I was thankful for my kids in the US who put big comforters on the bed and did what they could to keep me warm, because it felt pretty chilly to me there. Here I’m fine in shorts and a t-shirt except on an occasional evening when rain has really cooled things down.

We have leaf cutter ants. They are quite interesting and fascinating, but occasionally they will demolish something you value. Yesterday I noticed flowers and bits of leaves from my ground cover making their way across the cement by the terrace.
The ants were taking leaves and flowers over by where I put that pitchfork. I have planted perennial peanut as a ground cover in the back yard because it’s pretty and needs minimal maintenance. Why they were interested in the plants out there rather than the ones close by I don’t know. This isn’t far for them though. I have found them going from one side of my yard to the other, then through the neighbor’s yard and the lot beyond that and farther to take leaves back to their nest!

My grandson would be in heaven here! There are mighty machines (heavy construction equipment) everywhere, for sale, for rent, and on countless job sites all over town. One of these days soon, I’ll have to go out with my camera and take photos of all the projects that have been underway while I was gone, and I’ll be sure to include a lot of construction equipment.

My grandson would love the bugs too. I was thinking about him last night as we sat in the living room watching a video. There was a june bug and a beetle on the floor, a couple spiders in the corner, an ant walking across the room, and a moth flying through the house and that was only one room. He got very good at capturing bugs under a glass and taking them outside, so he would be busy with that and then we could go hunt more bugs outside. His mom wouldn’t be nearly as happy though, since she isn’t a bug person.

I heard an odd sound coming from the woods behind the house and realized it was these birds. It wasn’t a song, but a rasping sound like a grasshopper makes by vibrating his wings. The bird book says they are Masked Tityras, and they are common all over Panama. I’ve never seen them before though. Here is a male and his partner on the lower branch.
There were actually two pairs of these birds. This isn’t a great photo but you can see four birds.
Here is a closer photo of the male so you can see his interesting markings and red face.

Oh yes, and my doggie friend. I stopped by to see her yesterday too and she looks fantastic. Her injured foot is totally healed with just a small scar visible, and she is running around on it like nothing ever happened. I think the fleas and bugs are gone, and there will be no more puppies. Best of all, she remembers me, and came to me and licked my hand to be petted. Sometimes good deeds are well rewarded (background info here – https://blog.thepanamaadventure.com/2016/03/04/my-new-friend/  Since that post, the guys at the business adopted all the puppies, I got her to the spay and neuter clinic before I left, and Joel was kind enough to continue antibiotics which she needed for tick fever and give her another dose of flea medicine)

So, life goes on in Panama, and we continue to wake up every morning and thank the universe for all of it!

Posted in bird watching, Panama, wildlife | 13 Comments

The Homeless Traveler

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

A few thoughts from my bicycle tour before I get back to living and writing in Panama again. Now I am doubly happy to be living here!

Kris Cunningham's avatarThe Silver Wheels Blog

I’m back in Panama, reflecting on my bicycle tour, and sorting out thoughts that I’ve had for a while now. I knew I would see beautiful places, face physical challenges, and be alone but I never expected to feel such loneliness. I’ve been alone on the road in Costa Rica and Nicaragua and felt fine, so why was it so different in the US?

We know that vast majority of people in the US are good people – kind, helpful, and respectful. But I was ignored even when I was requesting help. Have things changed in the US, or have my perceptions changed? Or, is it people’s perceptions of me? If I sat outside a store drinking coffee it was rare that someone would notice me, let alone return my greeting. If I was walking my bike no one asked if I was ok. I felt invisible, like I didn’t exist. When…

View original post 610 more words

Posted in Panama | 14 Comments

Fell off the Face of the Earth

Posted on May 8, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

It seems like it, right? I haven’t posted anything in a long time. I’ve been in the US visiting family, traveling on my bicycle, and generally doing different things not related to Panama. I’m also in one of those spells when I just haven’t felt like taking photos or writing. I have a few thoughts knocking around in my head that may come out at some point, but probably not today.

But, even when I don’t write I notice people visit and read the blog, so I figured I’d at least pop in and let you all know that I am still alive.

I’ve been having a wonderful time but even though it’s been great, I still feel very fortunate to have my Panamanian life. When I return I’m sure I’ll find things that are new and different, and maybe I’ll even be inspired to write about some of them. Or, maybe I’ll just want to enjoy the balmy air and watch the birds for a while.

Posted in Panama | 16 Comments

Machines at Work

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

My grandson loves big machines, so when I ran across some in the last few days I thought of him.

The Feria (the big international fair that is held every March) is just starting today and will run for the next 10 days. There are people from many other countries, lots of merchandise for sale, animals, rides for kids, music and dancing, food, and some really big machines. Here are a couple, and I’m sure I’ll see more when I go.

Wouldn’t it be fun to play with those?!

A couple days ago, I was feeling bored with my usual bike routes so I wandered around for a bit. One of my wanderings took me north on Via Boquete past the site of the new bus terminal. They are still moving dirt around and preparing the site, but there were a lot of big machines and some of them were hard at work.

Looking south, there is a lot of open space getting ready
Looking west, there is a constant stream of trucks hauling dirt.
Looking north, there is a lot more space in that direction too. It looks like they have removed the huge rock and flattened out a lot of the area.

And then, for the kid in all of us, here is a noisy video of the machines at work 😀

The construction continues all over the area, but the terminal is one of the bigger projects. I’m sure I’ll see more machines at work so I can share some now and then with those of us who love them.

 

Posted in Miscellaneous, Panama | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

A Day Out and About, and Lots of Good Luck

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

It is easy to get in a rut of daily activities and forget to enjoy the beauty and opportunities that are close by. Yesterday, our friends asked us to go to Las Lajas beach with them. That is an absolutely gorgeous beach and we hadn’t been in a long time, so this sounded like an excellent idea.

We got ourselves together and headed down the highway until we weren’t far from the turnoff, and encountered traffic at a standstill. There is no way to get from one point to another in Panama without taking this highway, so when it isn’t working it’s a big problem. We waited for over an hour. A few cars would come the other way, we would inch up a ways, wait some more, and the cycle would repeat every 10-15 minutes. Thank goodness we really enjoy these friends and the time passed quickly, but by the time it was approaching noon we thought it would be better to turn around.

Our replacement plan was to go to Boca Chica and get lunch at the Seagullcove lodge. I love that place so I definitely did not feel deprived. I have written about it in the past so click on the linked words, or search for “Boca Chica” in my blog to bring up a number of past posts about this area.

We had a wonderful lunch enjoying the view, the breeze, the good food, and the tranquility. Afterward we decided to go to Playa Hermosa. It’s just a small beach in the area but beautiful and calm, and the water felt warm and absolutely heavenly.

The sun is intense here so we didn’t stay long, but long enough to spend some time in the water and walk along the beach a bit. For me, going to the water or the beach is like a whole vacation for my head. I find it very calming and beautiful.

So, the bad luck of the highway shutdown turned into the good luck of a really nice day. I wasn’t smart enough about the tide coming in through, and left my little Canon camera in my shoes too close to the water line. By the time my husband rescued them they were covered with wet sand. I waited until the camera was thoroughly dry that evening, cleaned it carefully of any sand bits, and turned it back on. It seems to be absolutely fine. Whew! This is why there are very few photos of today, but I thought it better to totally dry out the camera that I use so much.

As I have mentioned before, I am planning a big bike trip and I need a few things. REI had a great sale going on and I found a handlebar bag and a rain jacket that looked like they would work well, but they were both sold out in the short time I took to think about it. I don’t know why I decided to log back on to the site, but that night there they were, restocked, and now they are on their way to my daughter’s house in Seattle!

We got home quite late and I was supposed to meet my Spanish teacher on line, but she was flexible and rescheduled for later and we had a great time talking about family, life in general, and various past tenses of verbs.

I also found out from one of the neighbors that the highway was shut down for a protest. People were upset that their school is in serious need of being fixed up. That’s very good that people are allowed to protest and speak out, but when they shut down the highway they cause a big problem for a lot of people who really have to get somewhere, or get their products somewhere. It’s too bad they don’t feel they can be heard another way but this sort of thing seems to go one quite a bit in Panama.

But, for us, it was a very good day – catching up with friends, a beautiful drive to some nice places, oh and can’t forget the delicious gelato from the new shop down the road on the way home, a camera that survived a soaking, things I needed for my trip bought at a good price, a nice time with my teacher, a visit to the injured dog who is doing really well, and it seems like I am forgetting something else but maybe one can only absorb so much goodness in one day.

It continues today. I took the bike to the shop and the guy understood right away what I wanted, and quoted me a good price for a whole list of replacement parts and work. I survived driving around downtown (though never found a parking place so I will return later on my bike), and while writing this I have been visited by the big boy iguana with the pink face, a cute green baby iguana, and a considerable variety of birds. Life is pretty darn good in the tropics 🙂

Posted in Exploring the Area, Panama | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

My New Friend

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

It’s a bit of a long story…  There is a business called Feduro on my bike route just a short way from my house. When I ride by I always greet the security guard and occasionally stop for a short chat.

Last Sunday, he either pointed out or I noticed a dog with an badly injured foot. There are two stray dogs that the guys at the business kind of take care of, but this dog had been hit by a car the day before. I highly doubt any of the guys would have the resources to take the dog to the vet, and she needed help.  This is behind the business where large trucks are always coming and going, and the street is bumpy and in poor condition so I sure don’t know why anyone would be speeding through here, but according to the guard this is what happened. And, to make things even more complicated, this dog had five puppies that were born on the 19th, so at this point only nine days old.

The vet was closed, so I planned to take the dog to the vet on Monday morning. When I went to get her, she snapped at me and even the guard wasn’t sure if he could get close to her. I went to the vet for advice, and they sold me tranquilizer drops and a muzzle. She loves food though, of course, so she snarfed down the medicated food and while she was eating, the guard managed to grab her by the scruff of the neck and put a rope around her neck, and the muzzle on her face.

We were supposed to wait 30 min for the medication to take effect but she seemed to be doing OK and not fighting us, so I put her in the back seat of the car. I also collected the puppies in a basket in case she needed to stay at the vet for a while.

She was good as gold at the vet, standing patiently while he carefully examined her and her injured foot, which had to have been painful. It turns out she didn’t break any bones, thank goodness. All she did was lose a considerable amount of skin from the top of her foot. Of course this is a significant injury but with his advice and my nursing experience, we could handle this. He gave me vitamins for her (she was anemic, probably from blood loss with the injury), and also a course of antibiotics that shouldn’t be a problem for the puppies. I also had instructions to clean, apply cream, and bandage the wound daily.

It is now Friday. Monday and Tuesday it took the security guard to catch her while she was eating so I could dress her foot. Wednesday he wasn’t working, and she wouldn’t come close even with the food in my hand, but Wednesday evening I did manage to catch her. (I also got her a collar and leash to make things easier). Once you get a leash on her, she is very good and hasn’t snapped at me at all. I think she understands I am trying to help her and after I finished on Wednesday she let me pet her, and she licked my face. I just about melted on the spot!

Thursday and Friday evening I have also managed to catch her with a bit less difficulty each time. I think she is coming to trust me and not see me as a threat, even though I work on her foot which I’m sure is still plenty sore. It is getting better though. The wounds looks clean, and she is starting to grow skin in the mid portion of the wound though the top, and especially the bottom over the foot are large and will take some time. She is also getting to know Joel which is very helpful because he can help me with the dressings while I do the work.

I learned the guys named her Avenita. Here she is with Joel after this evening's care. (pulling off the gauze causes the wound to bleed again, which is why I'm going to hunt for alternatives tomorrow)

I learned the guys named her Avenita. Here she is with Joel after this evening’s care. (pulling off the gauze causes the wound to bleed again, even when I soak it before, which is one reason I’m going to hunt for alternatives tomorrow)

The problems now are –

  • I am leaving on the 22nd. I am going shopping for a different wound product tomorrow, hopefully something more gentle than pulling gauze off every day, and maybe something easier for other people to do and something that doesn’t need to be changed as often. I can’t imagine she will be healed when I leave though, so I’ll have to figure out what to do.
  • She needs to be spayed but we must wait another month. I have enlisted Joel to take her to the vet for this.
  • Those puppies need homes! There are two white, a male and a female, two brown, also a male and a female, and a male mostly black one. Who knows who the father is. The mother seems to have a very good temperament, especially for a street dog not used to being handled. She weighs 11 kilos, so not a very large dog.
Here are the puppies who live under the tractor trailer.

Here are the puppies who live under the tractor trailer. They aren’t big enough to do anything but eat and sleep at this point.

I know, you just never know what I’ll end up getting involved in around here. I just can’t walk on by a suffering animal though, especially when I have the ability to help. And, if we hadn’t gone out to tend to her this evening, we wouldn’t have seen this gorgeous sunset.

Baru, looking beautiful and mysterious through the evening colors

Baru, looking beautiful and mysterious through the evening colors

316sunset2

Posted in Miscellaneous, Panama | Tagged , , , , | 26 Comments

New Adventures, and a New Blog

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

Kris Cunningham's avatarThe Silver Wheels Blog

I am planning a bike tour! This is going to change things for the next few months. I won’t be in Panama, so the Panama blog (https://blog.thepanamaadventure.com/) is probably going to mostly sleep for a while. But, I have started this other blog for my biking adventure and I will be posting updates here.

Since this is the probably first post most of you will see, I thought I would explain what is going on. I plan to fly to Seattle on the 23rd of March (with my bike in a box), spend some time with my daughter and family, get myself and my stuff organized, and then leave on my bike tour on April 1st (fitting, don’t you think?)

I’ll bike down the Pacific coast of Washington, Oregon, and California stopping for a while in Santa Rosa to see my other daughter and family. Then, I will…

View original post 280 more words

Posted in Panama | 8 Comments

Fire, it Cleans your Yard

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

Well my goodness, did we have an exciting day today. It’s the dry season here and brush fires are very common. Our house is beside a wooded area and my neighbors swore that there never has been a fire there. But, there have been fires across the street, up the hill, and so many other areas close by that I became concerned. In the past I have left the many fallen leaves on the ground thinking they would offer the grass some protection from the scorching sun. When the rains returned, then I would clean up the yard. About a week ago though, I began cleaning the yard. Thank goodness I did or it could have been worse.

There is a big cliff right outside our fence. The land goes down to a flat area below and then to the river. Last night I could hear fire popping and see some fire down below, but the neighbors assured me that it was far and wouldn’t do anything up here. By the time I went to bed it looked like the fire was moving west, away from our house. When my husband returned about 3AM from the music festival, he said there were flames at the end of the street but not next to our yard. I learned later that my neighbor across was up at 4AM dousing the flames outside our fence with water. When I got up this morning everything was fairly quiet. The area at the end of the street was smoldering but I didn’t see anything else going on.

The winds were calm until a bit after noon when they started to blow a bit, not hard, but enough to get the fire going again. It seemed like no time at all and the woods were popping and crackling down below and I became concerned. I ran a quick errand and when I returned it looked like there was a volcano of smoke coming from our yard! The fire had advanced to the other side of our fence, and it wasn’t long before it jumped to the leaf pile (now I know whey people here don’t make leaf piles!!) and it also started burning any other leaves and dried plant material it could find. It jumped into the neighbors yard and burned up to beside her house, and it also advanced across the street to the woods behind those neighbor’s houses. There was a big fire there not long ago so I’m not sure what more could be burned but there must have been enough to do it again.

Of course we were busy with the water hose and buckets of water (there is more than one reason to have a swimming pool, even a little one!). But, I did manage to get a couple photos during it, and then more later.

Joel mans the hose beside the leaf pile, trying to stay out of the smoke as much as he can.
fire burns right on the other side of our fence
the firemen arrived, 30 minutes after they were first called and by then things were pretty much under control.
The plants near the fence don’t look so good any more.
The leaf pile isn’t nearly as high as it used to be
In the woods beyond and below, the fire continues and the air is still full of smoke
I don’t know why the lemon tree in the side yard looks so bad. The fire was near, but not under or in it. My neighbor says now we can enjoy smoked lemons. ha! I cleaned out tons of leaves from under this tree last week though, thank goodness or they would have burned for sure.
There is a layer of ash on everything
The woods across the street are full of smoke too
The smoke is really bad, but it makes an interesting photo
Fire continues to smolder outside our fence. This area inside the fence was very full of leaves but look now, the fire didn’t even come here.
Looking down the cliff to the woods below, it looks pretty burned.

The bomberos (firemen) took a while to arrive. Even when they come they aren’t able to do very much. They strap water containers on their back and squirt perimeters of property or in our case, hot spots where they found them. They did come in our yard and our neighbor’s yard though, to squirt anything they found still smoldering or burning.

I suppose this is one way to clean up the place. There was a small area of our yard that I hadn’t finished cleaning but it’s done now. I can see into the woods better than I ever have before, and the corner outside our fence that needed to be cleaned up is also done. All the yard trash the everyone dumps at the end of the street is also gone. But, I don’t think I would recommend doing this on purpose!

Thankfully the houses are made of block and metal roofs so the houses aren’t going to burn. I’m not too happy about the yard though. I know most, if not all the plants will recover and regrow but they sure look pitiful at the moment. We have a ton of lemons too, so we’ll see if smoked lemons work as well as the usual ones. I have also learned more words related to fires including limones ahumados (smoked lemons).

Tonight all is quiet except for a couple instances of something crashing in the woods. My neighbor thinks the fire has weakened some trees and they are now falling down. I can’t see anything from here, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings. I am going to continue to keep the yard cleaned up as much as I can, just in case. I wonder if this will change the amount of dry leaves that seem to rain down on us from the woods every time the wind kicks up.

Posted in Miscellaneous, Panama | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Cashews

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

The Cashew trees are starting to fruit now. Before coming to Panama I never knew how cashews grew (called mariñon in Spanish). Now, I have a lot more respect for where they come from and understand why they are more expensive than a lot of other nuts.

The trees themselves are very pretty. I have been told they grow fairly fast (we shall see since I have a few seedlings in my yard now). They don’t get very big though, maybe 10-15 feet and they tend to spread a bit providing some nice shade.

Look at the picture below and you will see some of the fruit, or cashew apples. They are very delicate and don’t ship well at all, which is why you don’t see them for sale, not even here where they grow. If you want some you have to find a tree (or find a cyclists who knows the best trees around town 😀 )

216marinon1

You can see the cashew nut hanging off the bottom of the fruit. Each fruit has only one nut which must be removed from the fruit, and then roasted. There is a toxic substance in the nut which is neutralized by heating or roasting. Then the nut must be broken open and the meat, the edible part, removed. I have had cashews that were roasted in a wood fire and they are wonderful! They have a bit of the flavor of the wood smoke which I really like. If you have the opportunity to buy someone from a street vendor, try them.

216marinon2

The fruit comes in red and yellow but they all taste the same. This must be a red tree because fruit is just starting to turn red, and there were others on the ground that were totally red. You almost need a bucket to take them home. I’ve taken them home in plastic bags but the juice leaks out, so the bag better not have a hole in it. The fruit has a somewhat odd, pungent smell and taste, in my opinion, but I like it. I put the fruit in the blender with enough water to blend, and then put it in the strainer to get the juice separated from the pulp. Then, I add some vanilla and sweetener and pour it over ice, or add it to smoothies with other fruit. The fruit can also just be chopped up and cooked with some sugar (or sweetener of choice) and it’s wonderful. I’ve only tried it once this way so this year I’m going to try and cook some of my own.

216marinon3

The photo above is interesting because it has the ripe, red fruit in the middle. To the left of the fruit is a nut with a fruit just barely starting to develop above it. To the right you can see another green fruit that is starting to plump out a bit.

These guys are in Trinidad roasting cashews but the process is the same. I hear you don’t want to be downwind because the smoke has the irritating substances in it as well. They sure are good when they are done though!

 

Posted in food, fruit, Panama | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Boquete Birthday Party

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Kris Cunningham

A good friend from Boquete had a birthday party a few days ago, so of course we wanted to go. It was a fun gathering at a local restaurant with conversation, music, good food, cake, and a piñata. Did you think those were only for kids? According to Panamanians, apparently not! 😀

First the participant is blindfolded, turned around a few times, handed a stick, and pointed in generally the right direction.
Then, the plan is to whack at the piñata with much enthusiasm! That is the birthday girl on the left. She is with Gary, the guy in the doorway with the white shirt, who is the bass player in one of Joel’s bands so this is how we all met.
The gal in the doorway pulls on the string to raise and lower the piñata to make hitting it more challenging
This piñata was a paper doll with yellow hair and a frilly white skirt
It wasn’t long before the head was off and only holding on by a string, and something had unraveled. I couldn’t tell if it was the skirt or one of the legs
Like all piñatas, eventually it totally succumbed and the party goers got to pick up the contents.

Boquete is a bit nuts at the moment because the Boquete Jazz & Blues Festival is in progress, and there are a lot of people attending. I thought about going but it’s expensive, and it’s hard for me to navigate around the small town and hunt for parking, etc when it’s crowded with an event. Joel has been having a great time though. Both of his bands were asked to participate, and the rest of the time he has been helping with equipment in the various venues and participating in the evening jam sessions. Maybe when the dust settles and he regroups, we can get him to share a bit about his experience.

I hope they aren’t getting blown away up there though. It was windy here yesterday and today the winds are really howling. It’s usually windier in the mountains so they all must be hanging on to their hats and anything else that can blow away. I don’t love high winds, but it was very quiet a couple days ago and so hot without any cooling breezes. That was enough to make me welcome the wind since it does keep you much more comfortable.

Another bonus of our evening in Boquete was a gorgeous sunset. I usually try to dodge the power lines but this time I just let them be part of the photo.

216fiesta7

Posted in culture, Panama | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments