Panama Life

I can hear Kathy saying, "you need to put more pictures in the blog." She likes pictures. So I thought I would give you some pictures and comments of several normal, everyday sights here in Panama City. Several are taken from our apartment view. Jack & Jean love to sit on the balcony and watch the daily activities and drink their coffee. It's very pleasant out there from morning to evening.

They love to watch these large Frigate birds swoop around the apartment - they are out there every day because they are ocean birds, common to Panama. These birds are really much larger than you can tell from the pictures so they are fun to watch as they come quite close. They don't swoop down to the water and pluck fish, but they swoop around stealing food from other birds. They let the other birds do the fishing then they just do the "shopping" - kind of like the big bully waiting outside the lunchroom.

Across from our balcony there is a crew working on the side of the building on this hanging scaffold. (I wish you could see them get the scaffold up on the wall each day - I don't think it would pass OSHA standards in USA) You can see them in the up-close shot then in the normal shot where they look rather small on the huge building. They have a sign down at the bottom about "Hiring" if you would like to get a job down here.

I gave you a picture of the street below us when there were several taxis on the street. We have become quite familiar with these taxis, and it's never hard to find one as you can tell from the picture.

Also from our building you can see this "twisting" building that is brand new - they were working on it last year, but it is finished now and is very impressive (better than the pic).

We went to the fish market yesterday, not to buy fish but to eat lunch. They have this cafe on the second floor of the market and it's very popular with the locals. (pics of the cafe then of the market down below) There's definitely not anyone speaking English there so be ready to guess and point. And there's something special about eating fish above the open fish market in everyday Panama (this isn't part of those big, fancy condos I have shown you in other pictures before) - those of you who say "I don't like that fishy smell or fishy taste when I eat fish", you don't need to come to the fish market for lunch - trust me.

This motorcycle is the normal delivery source in Panama. This one is a delivery for McDonald's and you see similar pizza delivery cycles all of the time. Even the Fed-Ex and DHL (I haven't seen UPS) guys are on these motorcycles. They zip around, open their trunk, deliver the package, and are off.

Hope you enjoy the pictures - I need to get some of Lou at the fitness center and of the Stem Cell clinic - they have a new, larger clinic and more people working at the clinic, so I need to "introduce" them to you.