I have plans...

I will be playing catch-up on our Panamanian adventures. Watch this space for some more stories and photos from the remainder of our trip to Panama .... need to finish it before going to our new three pet sitting adventures ... OH! LA! LA! where could we be off to next?

The Squirrel Cuckoo

Rich and I were sitting out on the patio one afternoon and Richard saw some movement in a tree near by. I ran to get my camera and of course he had his back to me...but even then I knew he was a beauty.

He had his back to me at first

 Then he dropped down and disappeared fro sight and I thought that I had missed the chance to get a good close picture of the Squirrel Cuckoo. I had gotten one previously but not a very good one.

and suddenly there he was again...looking right at me!

He seemed curious about me too...

and there he was in all his glorious colour! The Squirrel Cuckoo!

I think the prettiest bird I have seem so far, what do you think?

I cannot believe the time has gone so fast! We are getting into the mindset of leaving the sweet cats behind and heading to Bocas Del Toro for some town time by the sea.

More fun to come!
Sue and her sidekick

Day Trip to Chitré Fair and Shopping

So David had mentioned that there was a big agricultural fair in Chitré and we had planned to go with him and meet his lovely girlfriend Joli, who lives there, but as things worked out on the day, David's car had problems and needed to be taken to the mechanic and a piece delivered from another town took longer than expected, then didn't work, the second delivery also did not work so then they had to wait until a new piece was sent out. "Panama Time" is never rushed! It's a bit like "Fulford Time" back on the island at home :-)

So Rich and I needed to go to town anyway for one last bigger grocery shop than we could do locally.  We headed in on a Friday. One thing we noticed was that since the rains had started in the region the mountain that had been brown all along were now starting to bust forth in beautiful shades of green. I can now see how this would turn everything so lush once the rains come full force.

Can you feel the rebirth in this image? Green overtaking the parched earth.

The trees will all fill out a lot more too.

Fresh growth everywhere.

So we stopped at Las Tablas along the way for lunch and upon David and Joli's recommendation we went to a little hamburger restaurant called La Maestra for lunch. It was so amazing!

So colourful outside, beautiful murals

Part of the outside mural detail. 

Looking from the first little room to the second one, colour everywhere!

Interior wall mural to the right of the doorway

Lots of cool artwork on the walls, not just from Panama.

I fell in love with this one, unfortunately it was not for sale. 

Richard had the La Maestra burger and I chose the veggie sandwich. Both came with crispy delicious fries and anyone who knows me knows that would be my very favourite thing in the world!

Rich loved this burger! 

My veggie sandwich and fries...DELISH!

My artsy food pic! 

After lunch we headed off to Chitré, heeding the caution that traffic might be crazy due to the market. Well, because of the rain that day it was actually very quiet and they were just starting to uncover the stalls etc by the time we got there. We didn't have too long to spend but I can imagine it was hopping later that evening. Here are a couple of pictures.

Amazing colours in the garden section.

It is an agricultural fair so lots of machines for farmers

Artisans from all over brought their wares

The main entrances in was paved, after that it for pretty muddy due to the rain.

It ran for quite a long time too!

So due to the time we were there it was not too exciting but I can guarantee in the evening and over the weekend it would be hopping with music, food, demonstrations and animals etc. As we headed home after our shopping they had already closed off the main road outside the fair grounds for vendors.


One more quick stop for a scenery picture...

We didn't stay late as we did  not want to be heading home in the dark through the mountains. Marcy and Ray had advised against driving at night for safety reasons. Panamanians are crazy drivers at the best of times! Glad we took their advice, as we headed home we came across this poor guy who had veered off the road with his fish delivery.

Thankfully he was not injured and his fish were largely intact for now.

We of course stopped to check  on him and offered him the use of our phone. Unfortunately it didn't work for him but other locals stopped and were helping him out. We were pretty sure he was a Búcaro local delivering fish so we were able to find out more when we stopped in to say hi to David on the way home.

He was fine, the truck was fine and the fish were for fertilizer or something and not for human consumption so he was not out any money. I was already planning a Go Fund Me account for him!! For the most part the villagers are hand to mouth substance living. He was safely home that evening apparently.

As we drove into the village a driver had flashed their lights at us so we drove slowly thinking there might be police on the road perhaps. The driver in front of us actually stopped his truck and parked on the side, so we were pretty sure he had had a few and didn't want to be stopped. 

Once we left David we met this fat guy on the road, rainy season has definitely started. I jumped out and shooed him off to the side and safety.

Got home, unloaded and were just relaxing when we heard a horn at the gate (the accepted signal that someone wanted to come in. Because of the house cats we keep the gates closed for their safety as there are coyotes and wild cats in the ares.

Turns out it was the guy who handles the local WiFi service, the signal of which is locked on the property...poor guy had the wrong key and couldn't get in to change a battery or something. It was he who has flashed his lights at us on the road. We stopped at David's not knowing he wanted to get to the house. Fortunately we didn't stay long as the cats were waiting for us too.

So he and the team came in and fixed up the issue and we gave them each a Coke as they had been waiting around the whole afternoon. Marcy mentioned that he never phones ahead so it was his issue. Felt bad that the one day we took off he chose to come. Anyway, all was fixed and the WiFi was working great after that!

Poor Colby is missing his dad. They have a little routine that he likes and neither Richard nor I have managed to get it right! Ray usually sits in this chair and Colby will jump up and and head butt him and then circle around his neck and have cuddles...we tried but it never seemed as seamless as when Ray did it :-) 

Where is my Daddy? (I did go right over and cuddle and he seemed content 💗

So the day at the fair was not as exciting as we hoped but we did have another eventful day and everything and everyone was safe in the end.

Thanks for dropping by, 

Sue and her Sidekick

Its not always snakes and monkeys!

So we are lucky enough to be here during butterfly season apparently, each day there are at least five different ones hopping around the humming bird shrubs ...the hummers even try to chase them off! LOL

Here are some of the ones I was able to catch..they are very flighty and move so fast, unlike me, so this was the best I could get. I was however thrilled with the one I got yesterday... that will be the last butterfly picture below.

These were the first ones to make an appearance, beautiful burnt orange colours

This light yellow was very dainty. Could not get a good picture of the more vibrant yellow ones. Still trying!

Honestly, this looks like a moth to me? what do you think?

This was a smaller brown coloured one with swallow tail wings, another speedy one

A very pretty dark black one with yellow trim

This is my pride and joy ... slower moving and HUGE! I took loads of pictures and this was my favourite one!

 I spend the rest of the afternoon  keeping Killer Mocha away from it.! CATS!!

Had to add this beautiful guy .. another one that Mocha fancied!

Hope you enjoy the bug section!

Bugs are hard to take photos of, especially flittering butterflies, especially the ones that food their wings when they stop to feed...sigh

Sue and Her Sidekick

Playa Venao

Playa Venao was one of the places we wanted to visit while we are in this area. We had read about how it was discovered by the surfing community and was growing into quite a big destination with a lot of development happening. It's about 22km from Búcaro.

We set out nice and early as we had also heard the road was not great so who knew how long a 22km drive would be. Stops at construction points can take a long time here in Panama!

We drove through Tonosí which is about 12km away and our local go to shopping area. You can buy most of your basics but no dairy or nice bread. A case of Panama beer is only $13 so we go there a lot 😛!

We continued on and took the turn off for Venao. The road was definitely under repair. At one point we waited about 20 minutes for the oncoming traffic to be allowed through. The interesting thing was, they were black topping the road...but if there was an intersection or a bridge they skipped those parts. We still have not figured out the reason for that LOL. So we drove this patchwork of beautiful new road and gravel road all the way to Venao.

Didn't see too many birds along the way until this guy was ahead of us. We stopped and I got out and happily he did not fly away but jumped in the trees and then back on the road.

Yellow Headed Caracara 

I had not seen this bird before this so was happy to get a semi-decent shot. Of course I have seen them since lots of times. My "lifer" list of birds is growing!

So we arriver at the beach. Another endless sandy beach with great surfing waves. We tried to find the restaurant that was listed as #1 on Trip Advisor for lunch but it was closed. So we went for the #2 restaurant, Coleos Cafe.

A little tiny shack kind of place which unfortunately didn't have a view but the food was amazing.

I love that  a lot of places here paint the walls in vibrant bright colours.

Can you tell it's a surfers paradise?

So I chose the Falafel and Richard had a chicken Shawarma. Both were delicious and I almost forgot to take a picture..but here was mine...just in time. Couple of cold beers and we were happy.

SOOOOOO GOOOD!!!

We started a conversation with another man who was eating there and learned that he is a retired man from California, comes down here to surf for a few months and is looking at starting mountain biking tours here. I cannot imagine biking mountains in this heat but to each his own. So we learned from him that apparently this whole beach is being developed by Israeli's (hence the amazing middle eastern food) and they have huge plans. We saw the start of many hotels under construction and I presume thats why the road is being worked on too.

Here you can see the loads of gravel brought in, and in the distance one of the many new hotels.

Personally it has already lost the appeal of Panama for me. There are other beautiful unspoiled areas to go that have small hotels and engage the local culture.

Beaches for miles however and if you are a surfer this is the place to be apparently.

It would be interesting to come back in a few years and see what it looks like. A kind balance of development and restraint would be good to see.

We headed home after a walk on the beach. It was HOT HOT HOT that day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sue and her Sidekick

Early Bird Catches the ... Mouse ...

Waking up to another day of carnage on the patio recently I tried to throw the little mouse (RIP) over the edge of the property thinking something down there would enjoy it. Well when I went to throw it off the thing I carried it on it sort of fell right on the edge of the garden. Close enough..I knew it would be eaten by something.

The cats then thought they might .. or might not ... eat it so they played with it for a bit ... then as we were sitting inside later on Richard pointed outside and there, right in front of us, was a Turkey Vulture, he quickly ate the mouse... and then there was another and then a black vulture dropped in. Marcy had just that morning told me that Turkey Vultures have the keenest scent of any creature on earth ... and when they find something ... the lazy back vultures will follow. So these pics were through the window but they are not too bad.

Early Bird Catches the ... mouse

Notice his see through nose? They really are odd creatures!

Los 3 Amigos!

Quite spectacular in a weird kind of way isn't he?

So thats where the carnage will go in the future!

The weather has changed a bit here recently. The wind is not as cooling and there is more cloud coverage and so it is getting hotter etc. We are still having a wonderful time, it's quite relaxing. More posts coming soon. Just been lazy about writing them LOL

Oh and the mangos are ripening! YIPPEE!

Sue and the Sidekick

Living Fences

I almost forgot to share this post about the living fences here. I mentioned them in an earlier post.

So when we first arrived at Chitré airport and Ray picked us up we did some shopping and then headed here to Búcaro. Along the mountain route I noticed some men chopping branches off the trees along the road. I asked Ray about it since it looked like they were cutting them down completely starting with the branches and then I presumed the tree would be dead and they use it for firewood or something.
Ray explained the concept of the living fences here in Panama.

They take a certain type of tree and cut branchs off it, these branches are them stuck in the ground surrounding the fields and they quickly take root. These then become the "posts" for holding the wire and then the cattle cannot get out. This area here in Azuero Peninsula  had long been a cattle ranching area. The ranchers have taken a lot of the trees down in what used to be a dry jungle.

These are established fences that have been recently trimmed

 

In this one you see the new growth and some new "posts" ready to be inserted to replace old ones

These ones have not been trimmed this year (maybe longer) but they still look like young ones.

This one is new growth this year on a well established and maintained fence. 

Are they not beautiful? They also can provide shade to the cattle in the heat when they het longer. I honestly don't know what they survive on in this heat...everything looks so brown. The ranchers do bring hay out to them and water is brought out too if they don't have access.

Such beautiful animals.They didn't let me get too close.

The country side here is very brown right now. Rains are coming slowly. We had a little shower last night again. Of course that means more bugs! LOL

Today there was a very strange smell around the front of the house... like skunk. I asked Mita, who is here cleaning the house for us, what it was and if they have skunks here. (Funny trying to explain a skunk in another language). While this was going on I grabbed Colby who was outside just in case. Mita came to investigate the smell too and she thinks it was one of the wild mountain cats that are here. Marcy had told us about them...so now I am worried about all the cats in case there is one around. I also think if might have been a cockroach because after finding one the other day I read some info and they send out smells when threatened and Colby seemed very intent in the area I grabbed him from and was NOT A HAPPY CAT when I made him come inside LOL.

This was the cucaracha I found the other night. We were out on the patio and Diabilito started to chase something around the flower beds..I thought it was a lizard or gecko so I chased him off only to discover I had saved the life of the biggest cockroach EVAH!! LOL

I would say it was about 3 inches long. Quite beautiful!

These Giant Brazilian Cockroaches live in the undergrowth and eat decaying leaves etc. Quite harmless and do not come inside...which is just as well because who would look after the cats as we evacuated to Canada? LOL (Just kidding Marcy and Ray...we would take the cats with us lol)

More adventures coming soon...there is an Agricultural fair in Chitré and we are going with David and his lovely girlfriend Joli tomorrow.
We had a lovely lunch with them last on Sunday at Casa Iguana and this is a pic of them. I could listen to his stories all day. He certainly has led the life of an adventurer.

David and Joli ... such a lovely couple.

His Iguana babies are starting to hatch so I will hopefully get some photos of them soon..he has about 400 eggs!

Thanks for dropping by, sorry I have not posted in a few days. Lots more to share! Stay tuned!

Sue and her Sidekick