Volcán Barú is our active volcano and at over 11,000 feet, the highest spot in Panama. When it isn’t hidden by clouds it can be seen from many places in the area. One good spot is a field just down the road from our neighborhood. I thought it was looking especially beautiful when I passed by there yesterday.
I never get tired of seeing this impressive mountain! We’re so lucky to live in such a beautiful area.
My friend Cedo has chickens. I wrote about them HERE when they came to her house. Remember these little chicks? The process of raising them from this to dinner has given me a whole new level of respect for where our food comes from and the work that goes into producing it.
Cedo keeping an eye on her new babies in the back of the car. Yes, there was a lot of cheeping going on!
As soon as they got home they starting eating and growing! At four weeks (August 18th) they looked like this.
They look much better with more feathers!
Time went on, they continued to grow
This seems to be the life of a chicken, especially a meat chicken – eating, looking forward to more food, eating again, looking for more food, messing up the chicken house, begging for more food etc. By now Cedo is pretty much over it! Their house has to be cleaned morning and night, and they have gone through a 50 pound sack of food in 8 days and still complain they are hungry. They have to be put in their house if she goes anywhere so they don’t get caught in the rain, because if they get wet they will get sick (unlike the egg laying chickens who don’t seem to mind). This is just the maintenance. More work comes at the end.
Today was chicken cleaning day. If you don’t want to go there, this would be a good time to click on out of here. (no yucky pictures, I promise, just the story)
The chickens were out and about this morning
This morning, a neighbor was going to come and dispatch some of the chickens but he said his arm hurt and he couldn’t. Thankfully Cedo knows what to do, and after a grab to the head and a hard fast spin, two of them were hanging head down on the fence so the blood could drain. Next they were taken to the outside sink and washed, and then dipped in boiling water. Then, we took off all the feathers which was fairly easy, except a chicken has a million feathers! Next, they were held over the gas stove flame to burn off any remaining feather bits, and were put in the kitchen sink for another washing with a careful checking for any remaining feathers and a scraping off of the outer layer of skin. (I soon learned that these are young tender chickens and it is very easy to break the skin. I even managed to break it with a sponge! There is a reason I was only allowed to clean my own).
Next, we opened the chickens which means cutting around the neck on one end, cleaning out any blood and whatever innards you can reach from there. Then, there is cutting around the vent and the rest of the innards are carefully removed, being very careful not to break the gall bladder which has liquid you don’t want in your meat. The feet are cut off, the chicken is washed and inspected again, and it is put in a plastic bag. Then the neck, heart, liver, and gizzard are carefully cleaned an put inside the chicken. Cedo also includes a small sweet pepper, a garlic clove, and a culantro leaf for a special touch. The chicken is weighed and labeled, and put in the fridge. We also cleaned the feet by slipping off the outer skin, cutting off the calloused parts where they walk, and trimming off the claws. (We had a request for the feet by someone who wants to make soup. )
So, that’s all there is to it! ha. We started around 9AM and by 2PM we had cleaned eight chickens. It’s probably a good thing the neighbor didn’t kill 16 as we had initially planned. With only us working we were able to work on two at a time and when they were finished, we went out and got two more. Cedo’s assistant (me!) didn’t know what she was doing and needed instruction on every step but still, it was both of us working all that time. After all that work, and all the chicken food, at $2.25/lb cleaned it will be interesting to see if she makes any money. She is saying now that this is not a business she is interested in doing any more. She would be willing to raise chickens for our own use but not for sale. And also, they have eaten every bit of anything green they find so the back yard is nothing but dirt, or mud when it rains.
There are 25 more chickens and she is going to wait a while before cleaning any more. These weighed around 4 – 4.5 pounds and she would like them bigger. Next time the assistant should be a bit more efficient, but still there is no getting around the process.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this whole chicken business. I have never eaten anything I have actually met and watched grow up. I found it surprisingly easy though. We knew from the start they were going to be dinner, and it seems like there is something very basic but satisfying in some way I can’t explain, knowing where your food came from and preparing it with your own hands. I also know these chickens were raised with respect, and healthy, chemical free food which I appreciate.
This was dinner last night. It was excellent! I don’t think I have ever had better chicken.
I’m in favor of working with Cedo to lighten her work load so we can continue to raise our own chickens.
Yes, it works! I just bought our first airline tickets using our pensionado visas. First, I went on line and chose the flights I wanted to buy. The good folks at the Copa office could help you with this, but I thought it was easier to walk in knowing what I wanted.
These are already very good prices compared to what I have paid in the past. And, Copa now has direct flights from Panama City to San Francisco, exactly what we need. There is a difference in price because of dates. Joel is staying only a week but I am staying longer (new grandbabies coming soon!).
I took my info and went to the Copa office in downtown David, and came back with tickets.
As you can see, the tickets were $422 and $414, a savings of $190! (only the ticket price is discounted, not the taxes and fees so it’s not -25% off the bottom line). This more than covered the additional tickets I will need to go Seattle during my US trip.
I am still researching which airlines honor the discount. Copa, a Panamanian company, will for sure and I have been told that their partner United will as well. I’m not sure about other airlines that fly into Panama or how one would go about arranging that. The good people at Copa told me though that they can’t help me with my flights on Alaska Airlines between California and Seattle, which made sense to me.
As retirees in Panama we also get discounts on hotels, restaurants, medicines, and a number of other things. There is an article HERE with details. I recently got about $1 discount on some cough medicine at the pharmacy. We don’t eat out much and I wouldn’t ask for a discount at a little local eatery (the restaurant has to eat the cost) but at a chain restaurant or more expensive place, I would use it. The only hotel stay we have had, they declined the discount because we had booked at an already discounted rate. I know friends have saved money on hotels though.
How do you get this wonderful visa? It is a process involving various documents and a lawyer. I wrote some posts about it HERE (the application) and HERE (the success). I think if you like life in Panama and plan to stay it’s worth getting residency, and this type of residency has some definite benefits along with your legal status.
Last Sunday in Volcan there was a Parada de Flores, or Flower Festival, so Cedo and I went to check it out. We picked up her friend Daisy along the way and headed up the mountain, arriving in Volcan about 10 AM. People were arriving in cars and buses, and lining the main street of Volcan to wait for a parade.
A policeman told us there should be a parade starting shortly since it was scheduled for 10AM. We found a place to sit on the steps in front of some nearby stores. This turned out to be a great spot because there was an overhang for the rain that was to come. We waited.. 10:30… waited some more … 11:00… by 11:20 or so my behind was getting sore and I was restless so I walked down the street to see if I could see the parade getting ready.
I walked quite a ways, almost to the other end of main street but I only saw more people waiting, and I eventually turned around. On the way back I asked a policeman about la parada de flores. He told me that was down another street, and the parade is another event that was coming ahorita (right now).
By the time I got back to my friends it was close to noon. I wasn’t back long when it started to rain, and soon it was raining hard! This is when the first of the parade arrived at our location.
It was a rather slow parade but there were a lot of pretty floats and flowers. One thing would come along and wait for a while, then move on. Sometimes it was a while before the next thing would arrive. A truck or float would stop so everyone could come close and take photos, and maybe the next would be close behind or maybe it would be a ways down the street. Thankfully the rain didn’t last long and though everything was still wet, one could put down the umbrellas and come out from under overhangs.
The band from Chitre marched in this parade, and I noticed something about the Rose Bowl Parade on their drums. I was told that they won the chance to go to the parade, a great honor, so I did some research. Check out this article and this other article. How exciting!! The band won out of 105 bands and is not only the first band from Panama to march in the Rose Bowl Parade, but it is the first from anywhere in Latin America!! There is also a video, a bit long but I really enjoyed watching it. You can see them marching, their half time performance on the field, and a few photos also.
OK, back to Volcan. Here’s some video of the parade we saw on Sunday.
I am very glad that we went in the morning. We headed down the hill after the parade and the road was full of cars coming up to Volcan, bumper to bumper traffic almost all the way to Cuesta de Piedra! Every stopping point and restaurant along the way was overflowing. My friend Hydeé said a coworker went in the afternoon. It took them 3 hours to get there, and when they arrived there wasn’t much to see and do. This is the first year of the event and I’m sure they didn’t expect such a huge turnout. Next year they can be better prepared, but if we go we will definitely go in the morning again. For us, it was a day well spent.
I’ve seen bats in the evening for as long as I’ve lived here but I never had a chance to get a good look at them, until recently.
One night the power went out. Maybe we left the doors open at some point? I don’t know, but the next morning one of the bananas in the kitchen had been nibbled. Joel put it outside. We have a terrace that goes the length of the house. The front part is the carport, the middle, enclosed part is the laundry and storage room, and the back part is my outdoor office, dining room, social space, or whatever use we need at the moment. We have a couple pails on the washing machine where we put vegetable and fruit scraps waiting to be taken to the compost pile. The nibbled banana was put next to the pails and we didn’t think anything more about it.
That evening we happened to have some cyclists staying here. We were eating dinner on the terrace and this bat started flying over the table, through the laundry room, and around and around. Finally we realized what it was doing when it landed on the banana. It kept coming back to the banana to grab another bite until it had made the hole considerably bigger than before.
I saved the rest of the banana and put it out again the next night. Sure enough, the bat and a buddy came to visit. The next night it was three or four. They fly so fast sometimes it’s hard to tell how many their are unless they all happen to be in the laundry room at the same time, but we seem to have between two and four visitors every night.
Of course, out comes the camera. It is surprisingly difficult to get a decent photo of these little guys. they are in almost constant motion!
I must have snapped sixty pictures, and my efforts were rewarded with a couple almost decent ones. It’s interesting that I tried standing in the laundry room not 5-6 feet from the banana and they paid no attention to me.
Of course, nothing can give the feel for our bat experience like a video!
You just never know what is going to go on around here. It is now 10PM and the bats are back, flying around and around. It looks like only two of them but they have managed to eat half of an entire banana while we were watching TV. There is also a huge waved sphinx moth who came flying in here making a heck of a racket, bumping into everything in sight. It’s as big as a humming bird and just as noisy! It finally settled down on the floor next to me where it’s been for a couple hours.
And, even more fun, the toucans have been visiting my neighbors’ papaya tree! They say the birds have been there pretty much every morning and sometimes at other times. I saw one fly in front of our house yesterday afternoon but it went into the tree where I couldn’t see it any more. I will, of course, keep my camera handy at all times just in case I get a chance for a lucky shot.
I have been cautioned by many of my Facebook friends about the bats. There are vampire bats in Panama but these are not them. Vampire bats hunt only in darkness (which is why Cedo’s calves and pigs on the farm sleep under lights to protect them). I had a hard time finding good statistics on line, but one I found said there were only 4 incidences of rabies between 1993 and 2002. Rabies vaccinations are not recommended in Panama unless you are working with wildlife in the wilderness. My neighbors are very concerned about various things here – snakes, fuzzy caterpillars, various insects, some plants, etc but I have never heard rabies mentioned, nor do they seem concerned about the bats.
As for moving in to the house and making a mess, there is a whole neighborhood of houses at their disposal but I have never heard of anyone saying they had bats in the house. We are right next to a large wooded area and I’m sure they have been living there for years, and I’m not too worried about them moving in here. Besides, what bat in its right mind would want to listen to Joel’s guitar all day when it is trying to sleep?
If you really want to freak yourself out, google “megabat” 😀
I went biking on one of my favorite routes yesterday. It was a pretty day, lots of cows were hanging out near fences, and I just felt like photographing them. Maybe it was because they seemed to be in such mellow moods. Usually they will move away from me if I stop but yesterday they mostly just stood and looked at me.
The route to Aguacatal is very pretty with many green cow pastures and mountains behind. It looks like scenery that should be in a travel magazine.
On the return ride I decided to take an alternate route down a side road that eventually ends up in Nuevo San Carlit0s, and then to San Vicente back in town.
On the way home I took a small detour behind our neighborhood. There is a lemon tree back there that is just starting to produce, and some calves that have been moved to the larger field on the corner.
One reason I headed home was the gray clouds gathering in the distance. I wasn’t home for two minutes when it started to rain, and it quickly turned in to quite a downpour. I wasn’t expecting it to come quite that fast or early in the day so I was really lucky to get home when I did!
Once in a while I do a cost of living report so we can see how we are doing. Also, many others want to know what it costs to live here and are very interested in our numbers. Of course, this is just us. Others may live in different places, have different lifestyles, and their spending could look quite different.
Basic/monthly expenses –
Rent $385
Electricity $41.46 (this is a pretty typical monthly bill. We have AC but rarely use it)
Cable (TV/internet) $63.29
Internet plan for two iPads – $22
Insurance for two cars (one full coverage, other liability only) $61.35
Gas for the cars $44
Phone $10.70 (I have a pay as you go phone. This should last around a month, and Joel talks less and rarely needs to buy time)
Skype $12 (we both have plans that allow unlimited calls to the USA)
Food $284.72
Total $924.53
If we had needed to refill a gas tank for the kitchen it would have been $5.12, but it usually lasts more than a month so we didn’t have to refill it this month.
Water and trash is included in our rent, but if we had to pay it would be $5.25/month for water, and $4.80 for trash pickup (twice a week).
Then, there are always a few extra things, many of them optional. I think the list this month was a bit higher than usual –
Beer and liquor $37.97
Printer cartridges $37
Bike repairs $17 (new axle, new stem – I think it’s called, for the handlebars, and new brake cables, parts and labor)
Painting class $50/month
Painting supplies $47 (should last me 3 months or so)
We took a quick trip to Panama City to pick up our cedulas. That cost us $129.76 ($42.40 for 2 round trip bus tickets, $56.67 for hotel, $11 for taxis, and $19.69 for the lunch stops – 4 meals)
Joel also spent around $130 for guitar parts – tuners and other things to rehab a guitar.
All of these extras added up to $318.73
Grand total $1243.26
Other cost of living reports can be found HERE.
Considering it cost us about $3000/month to live in Sarasota, Florida when we left in 2012, just the house, electricity, food, phones, etc, just the basics, I think we are doing much better here. We have seen some costs rise as they have everywhere, but we are still able to live well within our means. And, the bonus we didn’t expect, it is such a good life. If money was no consideration whatsoever, I would still want to live here. We came for economic reasons but the benefits have exceeded our expectations in many other ways.
I had no idea how bananas grew before I moved to more tropical areas. I knew what a banana plant looked like, but had never seen the flowers and fruit. There are some huge banana trees in the woods near our house, and a couple years ago we took some pups and transplanted them in our yard. We now have the second bunch of bananas in our own yard.
These bananas are really tall!
Here’s Joel, a full size man, to give you some perspective
The bananas are always making new leaves, long slim green buds that unfurl into beautiful leaves.
A new banana leaf emerges – look for that long slim green part coming straight up from the plant
Then, one day I noticed this
This bud does not look like a regular leaf (Monday, 8/10)
So, I decided to watch what this bud does and take a picture every morning.
Once the bananas started to appear they grew very rapidly!
Now, the bananas are starting to look fairly full size, and I don’t think the buds are going to result in any more bananas. From here it can take quite a while before they are actually ripe and ready to eat. I am not good at judging when to harvest time. I was just told they are ready when they are fat. I think we harvested the last bunch a bit early because they sat on the back terrace for quite some time but they eventually ripened just fine and were very yummy.
Another interesting thing I didn’t know – when a banana tree has fruit it will die. But, by that time it has probably grown a least a couple pups. This particular tree is a pup of the last one that produced fruit. It now has a very large pup, a medium size pup, and a very little one that is just emerging from the ground. You can see the two larger ones in the photo with Joel at the top of the post, to his left (your right).
You will notice that these bananas are red. They are a different variety which my neighbors call “manzana” (apple). I cannot find any information on the internet using this name, but a search for “red banana” brings up bananas that look like these. They have a slightly different flavor and texture but they are really good, maybe even better than the yellow ones, in my opinion. Maybe we just like them better because something you grow yourself is always special.
There are so many wonderful things about this country, but once in a while there is a hiccup. Add my less that stellar Spanish on the phone and it can get very… umm … interesting.
My California daughter sells Herbalife. She tried it and was thrilled with the results. She met a lot of other people who were also having outstanding success at losing weight, or just being healthy and feeling good. I eat healthy and bike many miles but every ounce is attached to my body with superglue and won’t leave, so I figured why not? I’ll give it a try and see what happens.
But, I am in Panama. Herbalife is sold here but how do you access it? There is a website but beyond some very general information it refers you to your associate. My daughter called the main office in California and they said to call on the phone to sign up. So, I call on the phone. In two minutes I am frustrated with the gal’s rapid fire Spanish and hand the phone to Cedo, who later explains she was told I need to use the website to sign up. *sigh*
Then, I noticed the little link where associates can sign in. I call my daughter and get her log in information and voila! She is logged in to the Panama site with access to all the products, literature, and anything else you would want. So, I get to thinking…. I can sign up on line using the USA site. Once I get my number and password, I can then go shopping at the Panama site.
It works! Everything goes as planned. I buy only a couple things just in case they fall into a black hole, and then it goes to the payment instructions. No, you cannot use your credit card. You can either go to Banco General and pay, and then scan and email that receipt. Or, you can transfer money from your bank to their account.
I put in my order and pay by money transfer, and wait. Nothing happens. A few days go by and I email. Nothing. I email again, and then I finally email with stronger wording that my USA associate cannot help me and they must tell me what I need to do for the next step! The reply comes – send us the receipt (why didn’t it say this in the instructions for money transfers??). So I email the scanned receipt and am told it will take three days because money is going from one bank to another. But, I did this last Friday and it is now the following Thursday. The next email says – your products have been released.
OK, now what?? I email again, and again and again. How do the products get to David? How do I get them? Again, finally, when I am about to give up and enlist someone’s help on the phone, a strongly worded email gets a reply – your products have been at Servientrega since the 6th, and here is your tracking number (it is now the 14th). *sigh* OK, fine. I bike down to the office the next morning and pick up my box without a problem.
Now I am ready to order what I will need for the month, and I know I had better not wait until the last week or two! I place my order. I print out the transfer receipt, scan it and email it on Friday morning. Three business days should land on Tuesday. I email on Wednesday… nothing. I email and resend the receipt on Thursday. Your products have been released.
I should have gone to pick them up yesterday but I have a really rotten cold and anything that can wait is being put on hold. Then, in the afternoon, my phone rang. It was the Servientrega guys looking for my house. In a few minutes a white van pulled up with two nice guys who handed me my box, had me sign the receipt, checked my ID (oh how I love pulling out the cedula!), and went on their way.
What a great surprise! especially when I didn’t feel like doing anything, especially driving all the way to the other side of town, and these nice guys bring my box to my front gate. Thank you Servientrega guys! (no, I don’t know why this one got delivered and the first order did not.)
Just in case you think getting anything done here is a nightmare, I can tell you about getting new plates for my car. I went to the insurance company to pay for another year. She had the paper waiting on the desk (did they just figure since it expires at the end of the month I would be coming by?). I wrote them a check, they printed out new paperwork, and I was done.
Then, I go to a shop for the car inspection. There are three people ahead of us so we check email and hang out for a while until it is our turn. The guy has me park the car in the special space out front. He checks the tires for tread, takes photos from the front, side, and back, collects $11, prints out the inspection form, and I am done. (heck of an inspection, eh? Every light on the car could be broken and the brakes not working LOL)
I know better than to try to do anything at lunch hour so I go home for lunch, and make copies of everything (one can never have too many copies so before going anywhere, make at least a couple copies of everything!). Then, I head downtown where I have to wait about 3 minutes. I hand in my inspection report, the original and a copy, pay my $36, and take my receipt to the other window. The lady has me write my name and phone number in a book, hands me my new plate and inspection sticker with my paperwork, and I am done. The whole process was done in a day and was very easy.
I also went to the bank. My updated credit card arrived (thanks to my California daughter who manages my US mail). I figured after all that Herbalife shopping I should replenish the bank account, and also get some cash. I present my credit card to the teller…. noo…. lo siento… you have to use the ATM machine. OK, no problem. I’ll use the one right over there. But she says wait? See this phone number on the back? You need to call them and tell them you are in another country. Have you ever done this before? (I have been using my Schwab card for three years to access my funds). So, I go to the ATM, it spits out cash, I go back to the teller and put some in checking and some in savings, and the rest in my wallet. Done! There was also no waiting in the bank, and they have always been extremely pleasant and polite to me.
Most things aren’t crazy here. Maybe that’s why something like this is frustrating. But, I am getting better with the Herbalife ordering process and even had two nice guys bring it to my door! That’s not all bad for sure.
TIP = this is Panama. Sometimes that’s all you can say.
One of the nice things about retirement is having time to do some interesting things that you couldn’t fit in while you were working. My friend Hydeé visited one day and mentioned an art school close by. It sounded interesting so we decided to check it out.
Then, she got busy. She works full time and also takes university classes, and then the car needed some expensive repairs. But, by now the idea had been rolling around in my head and I really wanted to go, so I decided to start by myself.
I really like the teacher Prof. Víctor Aguirre Chirú, but unfortunately he seems a bit elusive on line so I haven’t been able to find examples of his work. There is one of his paintings about half way down this page. There is also a Facebook page for the school, the Centro de Arte José Cáceres O. here.
The teacher did show me some of his paintings in his smart phone, and I love what he does with light and shadow. What I saw looked vibrant and alive. But, I have a ways to go and a lot to learn before I can do anything close to that. The first month of class was drawing in a sketch pad with charcoal pencils.
Little by little I could feel it getting slightly easier. The teacher says it takes a while to develop the communication between the eye and the hand. He also worked with me a lot on brightness and shadow. For a drawing to look right it has to have more contrast, more light and shadow than in a photo. Everything of mine looked pretty flat until he prodded me in the right direction.
Then, I was off on the bike trip. He promised we would start painting when I returned!
Next, I think I’m going to tackle colored glass bottles on a windowsill. I want to start creating my own ideas instead of copying photos, though I will need photos of various bottles to get me started. That should be quite challenging and give me a lot of opportunity to work with light. I like photography a lot but this has been a very interesting new medium. I like using the colors and mixing them, and I also like the ability to add some texture. Drawing is OK but painting, yes, that is doing it for me.
I also enjoy the classes. Most of the students are kids, some as young as four. There is one little girl who is so adorable I just want to squeeze her and take her home. The little ones are usually given pencil drawings to color in, hopefully staying more or less in the lines. They have some sort of soft crayons and the little girl usually has a much paint on herself as on the paper.
There is another lovely eight year old who loves practicing her English with me. She and some of the older kids do some really remarkable work. Many of them are working on very large paintings with a considerable amount of skill! Maybe when parents pick them up I’ll have to ask if I can take some photos of them and their work.
I like retirement!
The Panama Adventure 