The Panama Adventure

It’s Mango Season!

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Mangoes do very well in Panama, and many of the trees are huge and very old. Not only are they beautiful trees, they give wonderful fruit. I always look forward to mango season! There are many types, some earlier, some later, some bigger, smaller, different flavors and colors, but they are all so good. One side benefit of biking around is finding various spots good for picking up mangoes.

This is one tree right by the road that has been dropping lots of mangoes. They are yellow and small, but have a wonderful flavor and texture so I’ve picked up a lot of them.

Right in front of that mango tree is a cashew tree. You can see some of the red fruits. I also like these and take them home when I find them.

If you want more mangoes, look at what is going on just a few yards from the first mango tree.

This is a very large tree and it has tons of mangoes. They are also yellow, sweet, but a bit softer inside, maybe because of the distance they have to fall but they are also very good.

The Marañón or cashew apples are very interesting and I have written about them before. They are soft and delicate so they don’t travel well or make it to stores. You have to find a tree. To me, the smell and taste is very unusual but I have come to really like it. It’s hard to describe, maybe something like an exotic, musty pear?

But, we are supposed to be talking about mangoes, so on to my other favorite spot.

This is a huge and very beautiful tree! It lost a limb during the dry and windy season, but there is still plenty of it left to make mangoes.

I stopped by with Cedo one day to see if there were any good ones on the ground. This year they seems to be ripening more in the tree so if you don’t get them right away they are too soft and broken, and partly eaten because everything here loves mangoes.

Just look at these beauties in the tree! These are some of the biggest and most colorful mangoes I have found, and they also have a great flavor and texture.

Last year I ate a lot of the big colorful mangoes and tossed the pits in the compost pile. This year I have two small trees! Maybe in time they will start producing mangoes in this yard.

Mangoes here are kind of like citrus in Florida. When the fruit is in season it’s everywhere, almost to the point of becoming a nuisance if you have lots of fruit dropping in your yard. But it’s fun for me to find mangoes, and I always keep bags on my bike just for lucky finds like these. I already have two gallon size freezer bags full of frozen mangoes though, so I’d better not bring home more than I can eat!

Posted in food, fruit, gardening, Panama | Tagged cashew apples, Chiriqui, David, Fruit, Mangoes, marañón, Panama | 6 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Early Bird

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: Early Bird

I am not a morning person and it’s unlikely that you’ll find me out at dawn. Once in a while though something wakes me up and then I’m glad to enjoy the early morning light, the sun rising, the birds singing, and everything that happens at the beginning of the day.

The sun is just coming up behind the trees.

The sun behind the trees is making some intense rays in the morning haze.

The first light hits these surprise flowers. They die in the dry season, and then as soon as the rains return they put up these beautiful, interesting flowers. Leaves will come later.

I have a squash trying to take over the yard. This morning I found this big flower hiding from the morning light under the leaves.

The morning light hits the plantain leaves.

Posted in Panama, Photo Challenge, photography | Tagged Photograph, photography, postaday, Weekly Photo Challenge | 12 Comments

Sugar Cane

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

They grow lots of sugar cane in this area. When I ride my bike south and west of David I pass huge fields of it.

One day when I was out I came across workers harvesting the sugar cane. I have been told that they burn the field first, so when they harvest there are only sticks to cut and load. It is surprising how organized and fast the activity is. Full trucks were leaving every few minutes to be replaced by empty ones, and there was a constant stream of containers to be loaded on the trucks.

The first thing I saw were the machines in the distance. They were stirring up dust and many birds followed, probably hoping that insect treats were being uncovered.

These machines were picking the sugar cane.

The cane is loaded into these containers which are moved around with tractors.

The forklift puts the containers on wheel bases so they can be moved by the tractors.

A full container heads for the trucks, and an empty one come back to the field.

The containers are loaded on the trucks waiting by the street.

A dust devil blows across the field.

I was curious where they were taking all that cane so I asked around and learned that there is a big sugar processing plant in Alanje, a town south of Boqueron and west of David. I figured it only made sense to go check it out for this sugar cane story.

Around Alanje and near the sugar processing plant I found even more sugar cane, fields of it as far as the eye can see! It has been harvested recently so the fields have small plants just starting to regrow. I found the plant but wasn’t able to see much of it, and the guards didn’t seem inclined to let me in the gate.

The photos of the harvest were taken on March 21st. Here is the same field on April 14th and the cane is already growing back.

Central Azuczrero de Alanje

The actual plant is behind these trees. It sure looked pretty there with the carpet of yellow flowers from the trees above.

Now I know where they take all that sugar cane. I was told that they make molasses and white sugar there. There is another type of sugar that comes in solid cakes of brown sugar called raspadura or panela, but that is made elsewhere and sometimes in people’s homes.

An aside – I stopped under a tree in front of a field where some guys were following a tractor. One of them came over to talk with me. He said he had seen me on the bike before, and also on Sunday when I was out with the cyclists from Argentina who were staying with us. He decided the next time he saw me he would ask me where I lived! He said they were picking up rocks because rocks can get in the machines and cause problems. I’m always being reminded that I am noticed everywhere, and that farming anything is always more complicated than it looks.

Posted in food, Miscellaneous, Panama | Tagged azucar, Chiriqui, Panama, sugar, sugar cane | 2 Comments

A Toucan in the Yard

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

We were sitting on the patio yesterday talking, and suddenly Joel hollered TOUCAN! He spotted it as it flew through the yard and landed on our orange tree. I grabbed the camera and headed into the yard thinking it was in my neighbor’s orange tree until Joel made me realize it was in our tree, not 10 feet from where I was standing and I had better not move one more inch!

This is a Fiery-Billed Aracari, an unusual type of toucan only found in southwestern Panama and southern Costa Rica. We have only seen them a couple times before high in the trees behind our house. What a surprise to have one land right in our yard! I couldn’t believe I was that close to it.

In a few minutes it flew into my neighbor’s yard just over the fence, which made for a better photo.

After that it flew to the big tree behind our house and then into the woods beyond. The cyclist visiting us a few days ago said she saw them in the woods, so maybe they are hanging out in our area right now. We see a lot of cool stuff here, but a rare visit from this colorful and exotic bird is a real treat indeed!

Posted in bird watching, Panama, wildlife | Tagged bird watching, birds, Chiriqui, Fiery-billed Aracari, Panama, Toucan | 16 Comments

Little Spiders

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Since my “office” is on the patio I am often visited by various insects and spiders. I keep my camera and macro lens within grabbing distance in case I am inspired to point it at something. These are a few of the tiny spiders who have visited me recently.

Sometimes you can’t see how beautiful they are until you see the enlarged photo.

I wasn’t sure what this was at first, just some little thing waiving its legs around. This is the power cord to my computer, to give you a sense of scale.

Now he is on the table in front of my computer, still waving the front legs.

cute little thing, eh?

Now he is in front of my mouse pad, still waving a leg.

I didn’t know how cool this one was either until I downloaded and enlarged the photos.

He almost looks like he has four eyes!

Pretty little spider.

This is the last of the bug and spider photos, for now. With all the insect life around here I am sure there will be more.

Posted in photography, wildlife | Tagged Chiriqui, macro lens, Panama, Spiders | 12 Comments

Just a Few Miscellaneous Photos of This and That

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

I have various photos that don’t fit under any particular subject, just things I’ve come across as I go about my days.

There are a lot of black vultures and turkey vultures (with a red head) around here.

This one had found something interesting to eat.

We have a compost pile and sometimes we have iguanas, butterflies, and birds. One day Joel spotted five iguanas!

These beautiful motmots visit us quite often.

One day the horses were relaxing under the trees and looking picturesque.

Our bird bath also gets a lot of visitors. The one on the right just finished flapping around in the water and is all wet, and the other is ready to go in.

These beautiful doves also come to drink, but they don’t seem to enjoy baths.

Who is this Daddy Ray anyway?? He looks a bit scary.

We rescued this plant from someone’s yard trash and it has been growing well. It recently surprised us with a flower. It only lasted a day.

Last week I biked uphill and came to the pretty river.

The cows were getting a drink in the river.

One evening we were out when there was this great sunset.

More of the beautiful sunset.

Our neighbors have a mariñon tree (cashew nut) and the fruit is popular. This black squirrel was enjoying a bit in the crook of the tree,

It is really nice here now. The rainy season has returned. It isn’t raining most days but we have had a couple good downpours and more sprinkles. It’s generally cooler with no more strong winds, and the humidity is back. For me this works, and it is surprising how much greener everything is already.

We have been having fun with a couple great cyclists who are staying with us, and we have mostly just been chilling this weekend. This coming week? Who knows? The plan tomorrow is a trip to the fishermen, some tennis play, and there will be more bike rides later. I let the leaves cover the yard while it was so hot and dry so now it’s time to clean up the yard as well.

Life is good in Panama 🙂

Posted in bird watching, Miscellaneous, Panama | Tagged bird watching, Chiriqui, David, photography | 10 Comments

Finca (farm) Report

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

On our way back from Rio Sereno we stopped by Cedo’s farm. One of the calves had a tummy upset and diarrhea, and Cedo had bought some medicine for him in Rio Sereno. She wanted to deliver the medicine and check on him.

The month old little guy with the tummy upset.

The two month old girl was hanging out with the newborn.

The newest addition as of yesterday, another little girl.

I enjoyed seeing the calves. They were in their building to keep them out of the hot afternoon sun, and they also spend nights in there with a light on. There are vampire bats here who will bite calves and make them sick, and the lights keep them away. I watched as the caretaker gave the sick calf his medicine, and listened as Cedo talked with him about teaching the calves to eat. Like any newborn they are fed mother’s milk (with a bottle though), and must learn to eat and drink without the bottle. They are separated from their mothers in a few days or the mothers don’t want to accept the milking machine and of course, being dairy cows, they need to be milked. Every time I visit I learn a little more about taking care of cows.

Someone else is going to have a calf one of these days

The cows were hanging around in the milking area with the radio on. Cedo told me that the radio is for the cows. They are calmer and give more milk if they have music in the afternoon before they are milked! I wonder if they would rather have Mozart than pop rock, or if they don’t care either way.

Since we were there, of course we had to visit the pigs.

The piglets are growing! (and apparently too busy to sit still for a clear photo)

Two of the gals were playing outside

This one looks like she got into the makeup. I’ll have to ask what this was about, maybe some skin or eye medicine?

This farm visit was Tuesday. On Wednesday Cedo went back to the farm to meet the veterinarian who was doing an inspection of all the animals. She sells Grade A milk to Nevada, one of the bigger dairies in the area and there are strict requirements, one of which is this yearly vet report on the health of the animals. She came back frustrated because she also needs to go back to the farm every day this week to document exactly what each cow is consuming, how much and what kind of food, and how much water. She also needs to take the water to be tested for bacteria or other contamination which will cost $50. She thinks this is a bit over the top for a small, cleanly run farm. But, I guess you can’t fault the dairy for having strict standards for the milk they sell under their label.

Farming is WORK. I have a whole lot more appreciation every time we buy milk from the store because I know more about all the effort that goes in to producing it.

Some beautiful flowers blooming near the milking building.

Posted in food, Miscellaneous, Panama | Tagged Agriculture, Chiriqui, dairy, dairy cows, farm, finca, milk production, Nevada milk | 11 Comments

A Day Trip to Rio Sereno

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Rio Sereno is a town on the Costa Rica border. Drive up to Volcan and keep going as the road turns west, and it will take you through hills and mountains and some gorgeous scenery to the town. We (Cedo, Lauren, Joel, and I) had no particular reason to go except to see the area and have a day out.

The town itself is small, and there are a lot of little markets lining the main street.

There were people relaxing in the town park, and that looks like a school across the street.

We stopped for a very good lunch – beef, pork, or chicken with rice, beans, a chayote salsa, and salad. $4/apiece.

Were were actually in Costa Rica when we ate lunch. The other side of the street was Panama. There was a duty free store just down the street with some excellent prices on liquor, but we were told it isn’t to be taken back into Panama. There was a border agent from each country in the street so we decided saving a few dollars wasn’t worth any possible trouble. The immigration office was just above where we ate lunch but we didn’t go there since we weren’t planning to cross the border.

Cedo has a lot of siblings, and it happens that one of her brothers lives in Rio Sereno so we stopped by for a visit.

He has a really nice house and lovely yard.

This man definitely likes to garden! He had so many things growing and I had a good time being shown all around the garden.

He also has a great view from the front yard.

Cedo with her brother on her right, and a brother-in-law on the left who was visiting that day.

The best thing about driving through this area is the scenery! The road is very windy with lots of ups and downs, but there are some really beautiful views. There are a lot of plantains and coffee grown there, often planted together. It is also cool and moist enough to grow a lot of vegetables, but most of what we saw was coffee, plantains, and cows.

Water buffalo!

We were also very surprised to see a couple cyclists making their way up the hills! They weren’t young folks either, but looked to be retirement age and quite loaded down. What a difficult ride that must be!

It’s a cool, cloudy day in David after a nice rainstorm, a good day to catch up on blog posts. I have a few other things waiting so stand by.

Posted in Exploring the Area, Panama | Tagged Chiriqui, Chiriqui Province, Costa Rica border, photography, Rio Sereno, Travel and Tourism | 6 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Afloat

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: Afloat

I love planes! It is amazing to me that this huge, heavy machine can float in the air. A few days ago I was biking by the airport just as one of the Air Panama flights took off for Panama City.

I think when you think of the word “afloat”, water usually comes to mind. As I was working on this post we got hit with a downpour, so I got some water photos too.