More reflections

We can't find a whisk any where, we have tried every store. Weird in this country,I think.


Corned beef was hard to find too. We finally asked at the Mortons' bakery(where we get our beautiful Jewish rye) and she told us she gets it from Cristos' deli. (just down the street from our gym and the bakery), so I bought a pound and I'm on his mailing list.

Sauerkraut too is almost impossible. We got a can at Deli Baru. We tried the international market(Tuesdays,but it was not good). I just love Reuben sandwiches.

Smoked oysters..anything smoked...forget it. We tried mussels in a marinade and ..well.. it's just not the same.

But...we did have fresh tuna steak(cleaned and filleted) the other day from the local fish monger. Enough for two dinners and some left over for lunch. $5 bucks.

Bajareke. That's Panamanian for "it rains just about every day, a little misty rain that only happens in Boquete. LOL..anyway, Bajareke is what meteorologists call debris moisture. It is a mist that blows in from another weather system. In our case it is moisture that blows over the mountain range from the Caribbean. During the dry season, the northern winds can carry some moisture over the mountain range from the Caribbean Sea into the northern part of the Boquete District. This is especially the case at the higher elevations and into the Subdistricts of Los Naranjos, Jaramillo and Bajo Boquete. Since the Boquete District is on the leeward side of the mountains relative to the Caribbean cloud systems, the moisture that gets pushed over from the Caribbean side usually comes in the form of a mist or light rain that is locally called the “bajareque.” It is a fine but very wet mist. Because of this dry season moisture, the northern part of the Boquete.

This is the picture you get. A rainbow just about every day.

It isn't really a full rain coming from high clouds but rather a blown-in mist from somewhere. It depends on where you are in the District of Boquete as to how much you get. The northern part of the District gets the most.

Down here it is rare to have a lawn mower. The gardener(usually) is cutting the lawn with a "Stihl weed eater".

I know gas is cheap back home now but how about .64 a litre?

I was on my way to Potrorillo( i was looking for Jansen's coffee plantation) and I saw this fire.

It was unsupervised,uncontrolled and there wasn't a fire fighter in sight. Nor was there one 30 minutes later on my way home.

This is Whisper,the owners dog. She is a rescue dog. It's only$10 for neutering and $5 for spaying at the local shelter and the vets come in once a week.

week 7

We went to one of the local the pool halls, before dinner. $1.50 for a beer and $2 an hour to rent the table. The quality of the tables was very acceptable. The balls did need cleaning, but it is Panama. We had a great time.

On the way....

There are no cats here. very, very rare. They don't like them. That's all I can say. There may be PETA people out there.

Posada Restaurante..again. We met Tom and Nancy aquaintances of John. We had the mixed Argentina, with sea food, but it did include all the regular meat lovers food groups too. It was big enough for 4 people.The "doggie bag" was lunch the next day too.

I drove up to Elto salto with Aprille. 9.8 km from Los Narranhos all uphill. A beautiful drive. We took the drive just in time too. I think in a day or 2 all the trumpet flowers would be dead.

On Sunday,the 25th Jan we drove to La Pianista resaurante. We had the  calzone grande and we split it. It was a wonderful  picture opportunity.

It reminds me of the Old Mill in Ancaster with it;s beautiful vistas but the live stock was an added bonus and a good conversation

Boquete is beautiful from the west too.

On Monday, we went to Nevis restaurante on a recommendation.  "Le mejor comida en la nacione" the best food in the nation,but "en el pais" I think is better. LOL Any way I digress. It was great. $10 for a full hot lunch.

On Monday,yesterday, we went to the gym.".Eso(it should be que) es no musica que es ruido. Cambiar la musica por favor". This in response to bad language rap music playing. My Spanish is coming along nicely.

The saga continues

The Panamanians just love to have time off. A holiday. A fiesta. For anything.They have a holiday just about every month. The whole month of Nov. is independence month.
First it's independence from Columbia. Then it's independence from Spain then it's their own independence.

Dec. of course we have Christmas.

Jan. they celebrate martyrs day. That's when the Americans shot a Panamanian(I believe for flying a flag). Then it's flower festival and on it goes.Thank goodness I know the shortcuts around the main drag in Boquete. The flower festival lasts a week. Sat and Sun. were crazy....

Feb. is Carnival(Marte Gras for a week starting the 13th) so that will be fun too.

It has been windy all week..not just a breeze..I'm talking moving a ball on the green,trees falling n the road,power outages.

We explore Palmeri today..and it's still windy.. really windy,the cactus here is 40 feet tall,I left the car in the picture to give you a  perspective.

Aprille found a new hair dresser in Boquete and she got a cut and color for $38. Unreal. It was a great job too.


So...I thought .75 was cheap for a pineapple. How's .42???? Today we paid that at the local super market just below our gym.

We decided to go to Panama City in Feb or March so we can do justice to the environs. A whirl wind tour the last day is not going to cut it. Right now we are looking at a two day excursion.

Today is Jan 18th. Aprille is  a little under the weather but she is a trooper an went to the German brunch at the San Fransisco plaza. It was marvelous. It was extremely plentiful and as good as any home cooked meal. The meatballs were as good as my mom's,so you know how good they were.

I went exploring after dropping Aprille off at home. Thank goodness. The " short cut" to Caldera was an adventure. Wow! I have never been on a road that bad in my life. To call it a road is being generous. An all terrain vehicle would have been my choice of transportation. Imagine in a Nissan March? 8 inch ground clearance.It was more like a wide path.No way!!! "manege con cuidado"

This is the good part ..really this is like a highway.
I now know how to get to the hot springs(we go the long way) in Caldera. That will be a treat.

I then took a ride to Vulcancito ,El Salto and Vulcan Baru.
Beautiful. That's coffee country. That took all afternoon. The pictures don't do the trip justice.
The picture of the hillside house makes you so glad we live in Canada. There is no phone no pool no pets. The white tube to the left is a water line across a canyon.

Talk about walking. This picture of the Panamanian native is of her pushing her two children in a wheel barrow,uphill.

Golf is much better too. I used the same ball for (only nine) and I lipped out three times and still shot "bogie" golf.

This afternoon is football day. Wow, what an ending for the Green Bay Packers!! Next year?
So how about those Patriots? There was another team.....no really there was.....
So how does the pro line work? My money is on the Patriots. It should be awesome. Last time the patriots lost by one....1....point.

Just a parting thought. Have you ever seen a rainbow this short? Just lovely.

Feliz ano nuevo Happy new year

We celebrated New years eve at the MacDonald's with Mike and Katie. What a hoot. Wonderful food too. They left early,around 1030 and we stayed till about 1230. The hydro went out around 9 o'clock and finally came on about 15 minutes before midnight, So we had a wonderful candle light evening.

My gout is gone. I have doubled the allopurinal ( a suggestion from the Panamanian doctor and a neighbour and friend who has been on this medicine for 15 years) and it is working.

I golf at least once  a week..it is a spectacular course.. and we thankfully have a car and we are far afield.

We joined a local, well equipped gym...Por Favor poner las pesas en su lugar...please put the weights back when your finished... and that is 4 times a week. We are glad to get back to our work outs.

But your right(of course) I could not do this for the rest of my life.

Costa Rica is our next big voyage and it could be a challenge. We may have to book a tour as the paper work to get our Panamanian car into Costa Rica is apparently a nightmare. But then again we may never be here again.

We are now into weekly card..games night..Bridge,Canasta,Go(I never played that before.It's a Chinese board game like Othello but more complicated.Check it out on YouTube). I won 5 games the first time into it and we played the kids version ..5 in a row wins..and Dan kicked my ass for the rest of the games and I think we played 20. As we were sitting on the couch, I noticed a carving by their fireplace and I was struck by the figure. It looks like me,I think,you be the judge(Frank and mini Frank)

Ulla finally got her gmail video working and we spent an hour gabbing. Yea!!!!

Skype is now installed and working at the Gaulin's in Toronto and we got to talk to Paul, Rena and Amelia.

We had Vincent down for drinks and dinner last night and we got a whole new insight into the Panamanian wages.
The workers,his employees are entitled to one month paid vacation each year, and,they get a bonus each 4 months which is equivalent to 1/3 of their annual salary and he pays for their health care too. Not bad.
We got some good ideas about Bocas(the Caribbean side) and Costa Rica. I think we might take a bus trip. That will be more relaxing. Oh..we can take a cooler too....Yea!!!

Oh yea,not all things here are cheap. You don't buy cashews. $9.05 Not at the local store anyway.Wait for Price Mart.

But,how about REAL ice cream,made every day,with 12 different flavors (mix and match) in a sugar cone for $1.50??