A Jaguar?

Hello everyone.....I have been out of pocket for about 2 weeks but I am back. First thing I heard upon my return was that my neighbor across the street ran into a jaguar last week down the street from us.....WOW! Apparently it was a bit scary as he quickly returned home. I personally think it is exciting and wondered why he did not have his camera with him!!!

On another note, the rainy season has certain welcomed me. This is a good thing and a bad thing. It is basically bad because there are more cloudy days and it rains a lot! That will slow down our construction because there is no construction when it downpours, and it is just not as sunny. The good thing is that our lot will get lots of rain now and for my plants and the sod I am about to plant it is "life" so that thrills me completely. You can see from the photos below the kind of weather I woke up to upon my arrival.

Rainbow!

Fog....technical in the distance should be the blue of the Pacific Ocean....but not that day! It has been raining every single day since I arrived back and we have not seen the sun yet!

As I drive up and down these mountains I recall the peace and tranquility that brought me here. At night you see the millions of little lights atop and it looks like a gateway to heaven, during the day clouds look like you can almost reach out and touch them

Lots of crazy people!!!

When you get right down to it I realize that I am not the only crazy person that has decided to enjoy life! Last night we had a small dinner party to exchange ideas and information with a couple that is cruising with us on Sunday and with the other couple that are driving us to the port in Colon. It did not take long to realize that I am definitely not alone "out here" there are "others." I probably soundlike I am talking about aliens or something weird like that but it is great when you run across someone that enjoys life as much as you and loves to laugh, and enjoy some glasses of wine and is a total riot! It reminds me that I am on the right track.

We look forward to getting together again when we all get back and exchange ideas and information again!

If you follow my blog note that we will be out at sea from Sunday the 11th (we leave our house at 9am to be on ship at noon) till the 19th when we arrive in Ft.Lauderdale. My plan is to try and blog from the ship, but I might not be able. Depends on how slow internet connection, etc is. So be patient if I am not able to blog I will post a huge blog when I get to Atlanta and will post photos also. Stay tunned.......

MMMMM good, mmmmm good!

We tasted something different. It called "torrejitas" and they are definitely yummy. They are made from a batter, once fried they are served on a plate as you see here. If you want something can be put on top such as honey, or a syrup, butter, jelly! They are absolutely delicious.

Roy, a friend from Atlanta, will be moving to Altos del Maria soon to start building his house not far from us. He thought he would make a trip down to start getting things set up for his arrival. We miss them and we look forward to having them here.

Progress on our lot.....today I joined our gardener and went to the Labor Camp yet again to put some sweat equity in our lot. My gardener does one thing and I normally do another and at least in my mind I feel like we are moving faster. Today as you can see from this photo we actually took a giant step in sort of finishing this pathway. It is difficult for you to be able to really see and tell that what you are looking at is at the edge of a huge drop down one of the sides of our lot in the back. It is nice to know that anyone can take that path to the bottom of the back through a nice cannopy of trees with lots and lots of breeze. We are already putting on our thinking caps to figure out what kind of permanent path we will have. That is, we know cement will be expensive so maybe some kind of stone with some cement so that when the rainy season starts we dont kill outselves sliping and sliding in that wet dirt. Tomorrow I will be once again going to the labor camp to start working on the next series of paths....stay tuned. It is also difficult to tell how long this path is - it is quite a ways. Also note that I took a pick and dug out each and every one of those rocks and hauled them from different areas to the edge of this path.

Leys Magallon: a Panamanian artist

We have privileged in meeting and getting to know Leys Magallon. He is a weekend neighbor in Altos del Maria and always gets together with us and other local neighbors for coffee, lunch or a glass of wine! We are lucky to have received an invitation to attend his upcoming exhibit in the city at the end of April. Stay tuned for photos of that later.

We have learned that Leys is a very Christian person and is very involved not only in the community but also in his church. He has travelled all over the world and got the chance to meet his idol: Andrea Boccelli - in a recent trip to Germany, France and Italy. His favorite is "Ali" his little dog that is always with him.

I hope you like some of the paintings I am including for your viewing. This is just a very short sampling.

The Christ was painted to be donated to his church for a fund raiser. I love the eyes. But I just noticed he has a cross in his nose and forehead! Pretty cool!

A typical lunch in El Valle

On a recent trip to El Valle, we stopped to have lunch at Restaurante Massiel. That consisted of rice, lentils, stewed chicken, plantain strips, and macaroni salad (with cabbage and carrots in it). With a drink all for $2.00 and it was delicious.

After lunch we took a short trip to La Piedra Pintada, also in El Valle. If you google it you can read a lot more detail about it. As we walked up the trail this is the first "rock" you come across. You can see the petroglyphs that are on it. This site has been studied in the past by many. It's a prehistoric large stone where there are drawings of different types: spirals, stars, animals even a humanoid or alien or a kind of astronaut....... nobody is sure why or what were the reasons of this large stone with drawings there........ there is another petroglyph located in a higher part from this one named "El Sapo" (the toad) which is a small rock with a toad design carved on it . This is a testament to El Valle's pre-Columbian culture. These undeciphered petroglyphs lie below the crater formation La India Dormida, on the floor of the second largest inhabited volcano crater in the world. Once a crater lake, this quiet village became home to Indians from the surrounding mountains who have been here for thousands of years.

It was a very interesting place and I will probably go back to hike it all the way to the top. I did pass a small waterfall but I imagine that it would be a lot more beautiful and breathtaking during the rainy season as more water passes through there.

After visiting La Piedra Pintada (painted or drawn rock - literal translation) we decided to make a stop at the Zoo called El Nispero. Interesting animals and gorgeous orchids was the theme for the afternoon.

On left you can see the National Flower of Panama. This flower comes in several different colors. It becomes quite pretty and colorful if you have bushes of this plant planted in a row. Usually the most popular color is this golden one along with deep orange. As we continued to walk the paths we reached the beautiful orchids. So many different types, and all so beautiful, it would be hard for me to choose a favorite. I currently own 5 orchid plants which I bought just outside the supermarket all for $5.00. One of them is a very rare kind that is continuously blooming. They will be heading to a permanent house in one of the trees of our lot.

This is the outside wall of the "orchid house" where you can see many, many orchid plants growing.

This is the national bird of Panama - the Toucan.

This Toucan is the Aracari Toucan, and the photo was taken here in Altos del Maria, but you are probably used to the more colorful one. Am replacing the photo taken at the zoo because this one is clear vs. one taken through a bird cage.

Enjoy the photos and feel free to ask any questions anytime!

Ronnie's visit with the family

Ronnie headed to Atlanta for a week of doctor appointments, checking on our car that is still sitting there and our home that is currently rented to one of our daughters. It was madness but it gave him the opportunity to see family and our latest grandson that was only just under 2 months when we left to come to Panama City. How canyou resist such a creature!

While there he got the opportunity to see Kayden our 3 year old grandson. Of course Ronnie is more of a hands-on person and likes to sit on the floor to play andthis was a perfect opportunity. Here you see him with Seth and Kayden on the floor. But isn't the hard hat on the wrong person?

It is also a great opportunity for the adults to have a shot? From left is Andrea (mother of Seth), Danielle (still in college), Jeremy (father of Seth), Luke (father of Kayden) and Ronnie. Nothing like a good toast!

One last hug before getting on the airplane! I am sure when Abu gets back to Panama he will have lots of stories to tell about his visit and there will be lots for YaYa to look forward to when she comes up in April! Stay tunned for future photos of that adventure!

Belated St. Patty's

While Ronnie visited family and took care of medical appointments I enjoyed celebrating St. Patty's day up here in Altos del Maria! From left to right find: Pana Christopher (Greek/Panamanian) and Fred Middleton (Panamanian/american) and little ole me! Food included cabbage salad, rolls, Irish stew and cupcakes with green icing for the very end! Lots of wine available also and sodas too! Here you have Faith Middleton, Elaine and Pana who are always ready for a photo op!

We enjoyed the evening even if it meant enjoying the electric outage that held us captive in our social room for a couple of hours and caused the event to end earlier than expected. By the time I pulled into my driveway lights came on! Woohoo!