MY NIECE TIFFANY'S VISIT PART 1

Beautiful Isla Mame

Time just flies by doesn’t it. Sorry folks for letting you wait another month for our usually more often updates. Sorry! I tell you house life is just too darn busy LOL.

Sid just loves his new hobby of crab hunting. His last time in the corner of his eye he saw something move just about one foot away from his feet which scared the living you know what out of him. He saw a bundle of fur crawling away from him towards a tree. It was a two toed sloth that was probably just as startled as it tried to poop. Years back one of Binnie’s rescue sloth “Molasses” was introduced back into the wild and she seems to still live in Binnie’s garden. Sloth blend in so well in the trees they are hard to spot.

Thunderstorms are getting more intense as hurricane season goes forward. The first few tropical storms have started and the tropical waves bring us heavy rain and fierce thunderstorms. The last tropical wave brought us some nasty squalls with high winds ripping our sunshade cover on the boat and also moved our stern mooring at least 30 feet. The rain was so heavy our little pond in the back of the house turned into a whirlpool with eddies and it was almost a foot above normal level. The sound of the rain on the tree canopy and roof of our house is amazingly noisy but a pleasant sound. Two days after this tropical wave I was in Panama City with Debi when another nasty squall hit Panama City. There was so much wind the rain came in sidewise and the skyscraper only a few hundred feet away from us completely disappeared, all we saw was a wall of rain. Luckily we just arrived at the entrance of the garage of a store.

It amazes me what strength Mother Nature has. Cruisers in the San Blas report that this year is a bit more active with these type storms.

1^st. of August Birthday of Switzerland, my niece Tiffany and boyfriend Marco arrived from Switzerland for a two week vacation. It was so good to see her coming out of the customs area. I haven’t seen her for 6 years when she was a rebellious teen. I almost didn’t recognize her. She is a beautiful young woman. Oh and her boyfriend Marco is so cute, we (all the girls here) adopted him right away. Since they arrived after ten at night and the road to Puerto Lindo is rather hazardous to drive at night we spent the night in Chilibre at a Water Park Resort where a cold bottle of champagne waited.

They thoroughly enjoyed the drive to Puerto Lindo as it gets more tropical the closer you get to the Portobelo area. Tiffany couldn’t keep the camera from rolling. 

Panama Canal in background

Portobelo

Coming through the Summer Place gate Marco remarked: “Wow it’s just like entering Jurassic Park”!

When Tiffany saw her apartment she said: “Wow kind of luxurious”! Yep, you bet it’s luxurious here. The two can’t get over how beautiful it is here. 

For me it was Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, Birthday and everything else as they emptied their suite cases with little cloths for themselves but loads of goodies for me. Chocolate, seasonings, sauces, chocolate and my favorite sausages, chocolate and smoked meats and did I mention Chocolate? Wow they should come visit more often LOL.

For dinner we BBQ the traditional Bratwurst for our 1^st. of August celebration on the 2^nd and enjoyed a wonderful dinner under the Avocado tree surrounded by Swiss flags and lampions with a spectacular view over the bay by sunset. 

Olli found a new love

It’s been busy ever since they arrived, no dull moment at all. 

Both could not wait to see the boat as they have never been on a sailboat before. They loved it and were impressed even though the boat is a construction site. They were willing to help with anything on the boat so Sid started Marco with cleaning the water line. Marco had so much fun we could barely get him out of the water. The waterline of Paradise is sparkling.

On Saturday Jim and Heather invited us to their property which has an incredible view over the islands outside of Puerto Lindo where by sunset flocks of Toucans fly in and settle down in the tree tops for the night, he main reason Jim and Heather invited Tiffany and Marco for pizza night. Jim built a clay pizza oven on top of a big rock next to a stream and under the jungle’s canopy. 

 

A beautiful setting bringing many memories from my childhood back when my parents used to take us hiking through the forest building a campfire where we then cooked sausages on a stick over the flames.  Everybody who was there had fun. We all enjoyed watching Jim making pizzas, Heather chopping and dicing the ingredients, Jim rolling the pizza dough and both decorating it with sausage, olives, onions, bell pepper, cheese and fresh basil. Then the moment came when Jim placed the first Pizza in the oven. You will not believe that the pizza was done in just 40 seconds, I would not either but we did time it. Each of the at least 10 or more pizzas he made took only 40 seconds. They were yummy. We all had a great time and the party broke at dark and oh boy does it get dark out here just good the cars have headlights.

After a hearty breakfast the following morning I drove Marco and Tiffany to Nombre de Dios where a beautiful long beach awaited us. From there the road got worse with pot holes and we almost decided to turn around when a cross road popped up, we followed it and it took us to a little Pueblo called Viento Frio, Cold Winds. What a charming village.

Nombre de Dios

Viento Frio

Later in the afternoon ping pong was on. Now I know why Marco was so excited to play ping pong, he kicked every bodies butt, man he’s good. Even Reed who is practically unbeatable was surprised. He had no chance, barely scored a point. We all had fun watching Marco except for those whose ping pong ego was crushed.

Tiffany and Marco fell in love with the Diablo Rojos the local painted busses. Sid and I had to go to Panama City very early to get our multi entry visa but it was too early to drop them off at the mall since nothing opens before 10 am. Since Debi was going into town as well she took them for a Diablo Rojo adventure. We drove all three to Portobelo where they almost missed the bus. About 10 minutes later a Diablo Rojo was riding my butt, he was so close it was intimidating. Although many locals flagged the coming bus down, he just kept going and never slowed down to pick up passengers even though the bus had empty seats. The driver was a maniac and after riding my bumper for a while he finally passed us at my speed of 80 kmph on a windy road . I looked at Sid and said: “my gosh what did we do to the kids”, realizing that I just had talked to Marco’s parents the prior day assuring them that we would not put the kids in any danger, yikes!!! When we reunited hours later all three were telling us it was the ride from hell. Not just that the express bus from Colon to Panama, they started smelling rubber inside the bus while on the freeway, then “bamm”  a tire exploded. The driver kept going. At the toll booth a passenger climbed out and looked at the damage and told the driver the tired was gone. That did not do anything the bus driver kept going and told everybody to sit on the opposite side, that’s smart! Somewhere on a major road in Panama City he let all the passenger off and Debi and kids took a cab to the mall. Hey, the kids wanted to drive the bus for an adventure and that’s what they got. I don’t think they want to climb on a Diablo Rojo any time soon.

The Albrook mall is the biggest mal I have ever seen it takes you several days to visit all the stores. Tiffany and Marco were in hog heaven, they were little kids in a candy store. Unfortunately time was ticking and it was time to return home. Marco was a bit disappointed as he had not found anything to buy yet, Tiffany was happy she had already presents for her siblings at home. I promised both to take them on a longer shopping trip to the Albrook mall.

Pig Roast for the 4th

A bird told me to update my Blog then pooped on me!

So here's the update:

Summer is here and rainy season had already prematurely started. Mildew patrol is in full swing and boat work is controlled by the many rain showers and thunderstorms.

We are often asked what we use for weather, so here are few kewl Internet sites:

Panama Canal: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/eie/radar/radar.html

24 hr NOAA fax: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/eie/radar/radar.html

48 hr NOAA fax: http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/fax/PWEI88.gif

72 hr NOAA fax: http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/fax/PJEK88.gif

Accu Weather Satellite, this one is really good to watch how the weather moves:

http://m.accuweather.com/en/pa/national/satellite?play=1

also

http://www.accuweather.com/en/pa/national/satellite

This one is great to follow hurricane, also if you scroll down there is a good weather map for the whole Atlantic including the coast of Africa where the hurricanes come from:

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/

Caribbean Satellite:

http://www.weather.com/maps/geography/oceans/caribbeansatellite_large_animated.html

World Radar:

http://weather.org/radar.htm#Africa

Buoy Weather:

http://www.buoyweather.com/index.jsp

Wind Finder: http://www.windfinder.com/

Wave Finder: http://magicseaweed.com/

And last the worlds earthquake monitor http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

The most valuable weather forecast we get is from Chris Parker. We can get his daily weather either via Single Side Band Radio or online 

 http://mwxc.com/chris_parker.php

With the rain comes long power outages; ranging from just a few minutes to almost a whole day. At times we have them on a daily basis then nothing for a while. Just good we have a generator so nothing gets lost in the fridge or freezer and the fan can keep us cool. The interesting thing about these power outages is that each is cause by either a car crashing into a power pole or a tree hitting the lines due to thunderstorms and heavy rain. Well, that’s what we are told each time. 

Thunderstorms here are fierce and unnerving. When they come through it’s one bolt after another. One day driving back from Colon, Binnie and I watched a transformer mounted on top of a power pole which was the 3rd pole away from us getting hit. Wow, what a spectacle, I have never seen anything like it, it looked like a shot of firework that kept going and going, sparks flew out from all directions, the bold kept flickering on and off for several seconds then smoke rose from the sparks and thickened and the bolt was gone while during the whole ordeal our car was shook by the enormous roaring thunder. I had goose bumps for a while. A few days after that a heavy thunder cloud rolled over Puerto Lindo, Sid was sitting at the computer when a bolt hit the telephone line at the main house knocking line 1 out and sending sparks out of the wifi computer socket on our computer. Luckily it did no harm to the computer.

On another drive back, Heather was driving there was so much rain that there were waterfall where they should not be and a thunderbolt with a diameter of a giant Sequoia or Redwood trunk hit just a few yards from us.  The Caribbean part of Panama has also the claim of fame of boats getting hit by lightning strikes the most.

When I go on my shopping trips Debbie on Runner usually keeps me company and we always have a fun time. One run into Panama City we had so much to do for one day, we decided to spend the night in town. Yeah, a fun girls out! We took a room at the Mar Paraiso Hotel on Via España with somewhat a view of the harbor. A small room but with the strongest shower, we both agreed that this is the best shower we’ve ever had in any hotel. Casca Viejo, the new old town of Panama,  is fairly close from here and so I took Debbie to my favorite Restaurant Casa Blanca.

We enjoyed it so much that a couple of weeks later when her sister in law Glori visited we took her there. This time we decided to stay in the Casco Viejo area and found a room in the oldest hotel continuously running in Panama “Hotel Casco Antigua”. It was built in 1915 and still shows its historical charm with a Moorish tiled lobby and tall ceilings. A beautiful fountain was built into the wall and the ceilings in that area was all 3 stories tall, the ceilings all are high as it is. The fountain can be viewed from all the floors. 

A long stairway up to the first floor opened up into a big room with tables. Breakfast is served here. What caught our eye was this weird looking 3 sided wood wall that seemed to be out of place. We thought it was a room for private parties but could not find a door to enter. Weird?!

But the following morning for breakfast our nosy question was answered.

This hotel was built by the Spaniards for entertainment and this room was the restaurant. When festive Balls were held uninvited guests could enjoy dinner at the restaurant while watching the lavish Ball. The weird wood wall is just that with windows that were opened for the festivities and has a spectacular view of  the Ball room where the Spanish tiled ballroom floor was right under the windows. Seeing this Glori, Debbie and I could just imagine the lavish ball.

From this floor we walked to yet another stairway and this one lead us to all the other floors to the guest rooms. When you come to this point you go wow what kind of dump is this. Then when she opened our room we all went "wow". Our room was probably 35 feet long 15 wide with modern Japanese style decor. Two queen size beds and a reading bed, Japanese divider, several dressers and a big mirrored closet. No windows except next to the door to the inside of the hallway, can't open the windows though, but AC was pretty darn fast.

On the top floor we found a big terrace, with a 320 few overlooking the sky scrapers of Panama City, the bay and islands, the entrance of the Panama Canal including the Bridge of the Americas and the roof tops of charming Casco Viejo.

 

A fun afternoon stroll revealed beautiful Casco Viejo to us. It definitely reminds us of beautiful, except that it has more buildings in shambles then not, but they are slowly bringing them back to what it once was. There are construction sites everywhere. A few fun tourist stores can be explored and the many wonderful restaurants could give you a hard time to decide where to eat. 

Casa Blanca Restaurant

Incredible ice cream parlor, we had lime and mint sherbert yumm

One of the prettiest houses

Land Cruisers, finding exotic places to fix the van!

We didn’t have that problem as our mouth was watering already for more steamed clams and Salmon/Tuna Tartar at Casa Blanca. The service, food and décor are first class the only complaint we have is for such a fine place they should not use paper napkins LOL.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed being spoiled. Amazingly the bill does not match the excellent service and food; we are hooked on this restaurant. And next time - I know there will be a next time - we will bring our own napkins.

Wie endet the evening with another bottle of champagne on the roof top of our hotel.

Needed a flashlight to pop the cork

And on our way back to Puerto Lindo we filled the car with groceries, poor Glori was sandwidged.

She even managed to sleep

Back at Summer Place, Binnie’s maids Teresa and Maribel saw something crawl on the ground then saw it crawl into a tree. It was an injured Night Monkey. What a cute little critter.

The night monkey also known as owl monkey or douroucoulis are in the primitive monkey family, Aotidae). They are widely distributed in the forests of Central and South America, from Panama south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. “Douroucoulis” means “earless”; they have ears but the external ears are tiny and hard to see. Night monkeys have huge brown eyes and for increased ability to be active at night. They are called night monkey because they are the only nocturnal monkeys. Both male and female weigh almost the same about 2.75 lbs.

They make a variety of vocal sounds, with up to eight categories of distinct calls: gruff grunts, resonant grunts, screams, low trills, moans, gulps, sneeze grunts and hoots. A frequency range of 190-1,959 Hz.  They  have no color vision, presumably because it is not of an advantage being nocturnal. They live in family groups of the mated pair with their immature offspring. Families defend their territory by vocal calls and scent marking. Only one infant is born each year. Their biggest enemy is the human using them for experimental malaria research.

This little feller was badly injured. His bones on one leg were exposed. Both hind legs were severely injured and it now sat in the crevasse of a tree. I laid a banana close to him but of course it is was not interested in it. It was in a lot of pain that was for sure as it kept licking the wounds. It let me hold its tail as I gently talked to it. Binnie called her neighbor Jaco who owns a huge property in Puerto Lindo, a  home of many exotic animals. He has veterinarians on staff and two of his boys came and rescued the cute little monkey. Unfortunately his injury was too sever and it died a couple of days later.

 

A couple of week later Jaco invited us to visit his animal farm. OMG was that enormous and incredible. The entrance leads you straight to his orchid farm the size of a tennis court. An open football field size field separates the orchid house into 3 bird aviaries also each the size of a tennis court. 

Between the aviary, and along the property wall were lots of little guinea pigs mingled with turtles. But what caught our eye were two kangaroos male, one an albino wow. They were pretty shy and sprung away from us. I tell you though when you see them jump away I had to laugh, you'll see why.

now I call this "Freeballing"

What would you call it?!!

The first aviary had all the little exotic birds of all colors. I have never seen so many birds at once. Every tree had a different colored bird. The second aviary a female quetzal sat just 3 feet away from me, studying me. Not moving, I stood there for minutes before taking photos, it never moved. 

Some red cock-of-the-rock (national bird of Peru), flew around my ears. This aviary had the bigger birds so I was really curious what the third aviary had. Binnie and entourage was still in the first aviary while I venture into the thirds one.  

 

Cock-of-de-rock

Female Cock-of-the Rock

The birds in here were definitely of the bigger kind and lots and lots of male and female cock-of-the rocks. The females seemed very interested in me and 4 of them circled me constantly by jumping from tree limb to the next. All of a sudden something landed on top of my head, it startled me and I let out a short scream. I guess these birds liked it and another one landed on my head just sitting there and sliding back and forth in the slippery hair and moving my bangs up and down, not to mention my sunglasses. It was funny, not even my hand reaching for my sunglasses spooked the birds off my head. Since nobody was around, I was alone with these funny birds I had to take my own pictures. The 4 females took turns on my head. Everybody else finally caught up with me. The birds seemed not interested in anybody else but one landed on my head again while I followed the others. It did not mind being walked around.

After the Aviaries, Jaco escorted us to the monkey cage with several species, from there up a short hill alongside a fenced we saw several deer, giant turtles I think you only see in the Galapagos, a tapir, emus and a whole bunch of others not native to here animals. Up on the hill two cages with two big eagles, another one with a tame royal vulture we could pet and a big cage next to it two big jaguars. We did not get to see his camel; that was enjoying a stroll down by the beach area. It was amazing and I hope I will be able to visit again.

Sid Monkey

Albino Parrot

Baby parrots

 

This one is hatching

incubating eggs

 

I have to add that most of the animals are rescue animals and if possible they will be released into the wild again.

Eatable decoration my Manuela

Happy 4^th of July

Sorry we’re a bit late for that so Happy belated. We had a blast. I organized a pig roast and all 40 guests showed up. Sid did an awesome job in marinating the 60 lbs pig and cooking it in a Chinese BBQ box or also called a Cajun Microwave. It was cooked to perfection and we had an incredible feast with all the wonderful foods everybody brought. It was a day with good food, fun games and very happy people. We all can’t wait do use the BBQ for Turkey Day!!!

I think photos will tell a better story than I will!

The tampon game is always fun

The left over pork was cooked up by Master Chef Sidley as Eastern North Carolina Pig Pickin’ style with corn bread and whatever everybody else brought for the Sunday Ping-Pong. It was yummy!