Panama Week 12

Another week of dentist appointments for Bill, first on Monday with a positive report and then on Saturday when it was confirmed by the specialist that his implants were secure, so impressions for caps were made and after 2 hours in the chair, the dentist advised we would be able to return to Canada as scheduled on March 31, all work successfully completed.  A 3 month procedure, finished in 2-1/2!  A big thank-you goes out to Dr. Enzo Cano, his beautiful wife Dr. Julia DeLeon Cano and their professional staff at Coronado Dental Clinic.

Me trying to get a "leg up" on Bill at the dentist office.

Following the dental news, we decided to splurge on a $5 taxi ride instead of the 2x$.75 bus back to the condo. The cab driver we hailed didn't speak English, but he indicated to us that glass block tiles were on one of the back seats, the trunk was loaded with boxes of glass tiles and so we didn't have a lot of room for our groceries. But, we and all the bags fit in ok with Bill riding in the front seat. The driver chatted away in Spanish with Bill understanding every tenth word and politely answering "si". It turned out that the cabbie was making a delivery in the gated area where we were staying and needed our help. He had a hand drawn map but had no idea where he was going. Only the main streets have signs here, the homes have no numbers. So with map in hand, and the only clue of the destination was "casa verde", we went on the search for a green house. We finally found it, the English speaking owner was delighted to have her delivery. Bill helped unload the taxi and after 45 minutes we arrived at the condo. Bill asked "cuanto cuesta?" and after all our help finding the house, helping him unload the boxes, knowing he had already been compensated for the delivery by the hardware store, and taking far too much time to bring us home, he requested the normal fee of $5.Lol Oh well, it was a fun experience and reminded us to always negotiate the price first.

Bill guarding the glass block tiles

All week we enjoyed joining friends for dinner, Wednesday at Picasso's for pizza, Thursday for "Happy Hour" at the Blue Water just a 5 minute walk down the beach, and Friday at Cholo's for the best Mexican food in the area.

Our local fruit vendor...lovingly known as Senior Fruto, has been teaching us of new fruits coming into season. So far we have tried Cherimoya or custard apple which looks like an artichoke and has a pineapple-banana taste. Mamet Sapote (mahMAY saPOtay) which has an outside appearance of a brown avocado with 2 shiny walnut coloured pits and tastes like sweet potato pie.

Cashew Apple shaped like a pear with the nut on the bottom which is poisonous if eaten raw, but we all know how good cashew nuts are roasted. The apple part can be eaten raw. They grow on the side of the road so we can pick them off the tree on our morning walk.

Pistachios are coming into season, but we haven't experimented with them yet.

A lot of the fruits grown here have thin skins and are not suitable for transport so it's fun to try them in Panama while we can. 

We are going into our last full week and already looking forward coming home to family and friends.