Panamá Bound

"Alluring" view from our apartment-to-be

Our wonderful two weeks at Las Sirenas were bookended by stays in la cuidad de Panamá, first in Casco Viejo (the old sector) and last in Bella Vista, one of the central downtown neighborhoods. In both of our city sojourns, Kurt and Linda were fairly preoccupied with real estate excursions and decisions. On July 4, right before we left Panamá, we put down a deposit on an apartment, but not where we had originally envisioned buying our new home.

We had realized fairly quickly that Casco Viejo, despite its considerable charm (photos here), was not in our destiny, at least not in the foreseeable future. We enjoyed staying there, in a comfortable apartment with two bedrooms and very nice laundry facilities, and we certainly patronized as many of the area's outstanding restaurants as we could. But the absence of certain amenities - specifically a grocery store - was a hurdle we just could not get around given our vow to remain carless.

And the prices for renovated/reconstructed apartments seemed a bit high, especially since most of the places we looked at lacked some basic elements of architectural/engineering/interior design QA/QC.

• Example 1: Why is the washer/dryer unit in the middle of the kitchen and why is it white when the other appliances are stainless steel? 
• Example 2: Why are there 2 bathrooms on the ground floor but nowhere else in a 3-story apartment?
• Example 3: Why are the doors and shutters in this apartment dark wood in the colonial style and the built-in closets and kitchen and bathroom cabinets blonde pine in the Scandinavian style?

We could go on. . . .

We also reviewed a couple of listings in the "Zone," the former U.S. managed territory, and while the views in some cases were great, accessibility to basic services was again an issue. Finally, we decided to look at some of the new high-rises which have changed the face of the city. On a nice, cooler overcast day we made a long walk from the Casco up the new Cinta Costera that runs along the Bay of Panamá, all the way to Punta Paitilla, through that neighborhood and then back towards the center of town and Bella Vista.

Sunrise downtown

Then we went to the beach for two weeks and thought about things. And while we doing that, we received a very good offer on our apartment in Buenos Aires, so things started to jell.

Nightime downtown

 On our return to the city, we stayed downtown so we could get a better feel for that area. In between eating Lebanese and Greek food, we zoomed in on a building close to completion with a name we prefer to pronounce Argentine style: a-zhur-ee at the Park. (Where do they come up with these monikers?) It's right across Avenida Balboa and the Cinta Costera from the bay, overlooking a rare neighborhood park with a baseball diamond for Little Leaguers, a playground for little kids and a basketball court for big ones, plus lots of trees and grass for dog-walkers (a hobby we hope to resume in the near future).

Zooming in on the causeway and beyond

Our apartment is #33B . . . yep, on the 33rd floor (40 was just a bit too high), with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a laundry room, a small study, and a nice living/dining combo that spreads from the open kitchen to the 25 square-meter terraza that stretches the length of the apartment, offering great views of the Bay, the entrance to the Canal and the ships waiting there, Amador Causeway and the islands to which it leads, and Taboga Island in the distance.

Plus we get to share the amenities of the common areas: pool, gym, game room, raquetball court, social area, event hall, etc. And best of all, just 1 block away, an excellent grocery store complete with a nice wine cellar stocked with some fine Chilean and Argentine wines at prices well below those charged in Argentina (go figure). We're supposed to move in early 2012. Stay tuned.

Las Sirenas de Santa Clara

Paradise in Santa Clara, Panamá

Our long-planned home-exchange for a house on the beach in Panamá was a complete bust. Our erstwhile "partners" neglected to inform us until the day before our arrival that the beach cottage they had promised us for two weeks was having an entire second floor added and was thus incapable of housing anyone. Oops.

Such discourtesy, however, turned out to be a fortunate turn of events for us; destiny then took us past Gorgona, the site of the debacle, about 20 miles further west along the Pacific Coast to Santa Clara and a paradise called Las Sirenas.

Las Sirenas is a two-level compound of casitas for beach vacations: five up on the top of the hill overlooking the Pacific and six more in duplex style on the beach.

Casita 3 on the right

We - Kurt, Linda, and favorite daughter Belén - spent most of those two weeks in June in Casita #3, a palace on the hill with two bedrooms and two baths and two hammocks hanging from the porch columns. And a private parilla in front of that and a large bohio some meters more toward the edge of the hill which is a great place to lie back and marvel at the stars on those perfect clear nights. Also good for lounging on those perfect cloudy nights. More photos of the complex and our casita here.

Belén & Sirenacat

Every casita in Las Sirenas is patronized by a group of some four to five resident cats, all related and all usually ready to eat, although some are friendlier than others. During our stay at Las Sirenas, Belén finished the final edits of her new book and wrote an article for Al Jazeera. Among other things.

Kurt with new hat from El Valle

Kurt and Linda were left to their own devices: besides the usual beach/sea activities, they made several visits to El Valle de Antón, a little mountain village about a 40-minute drive from Santa Clara. The town has a very pleasant central mercado with artesanias and fresh produce, where Kurt acquired his authentic Panamanian hat and where we had a chance to hear Marcelo playing his home-made violin.

Jesús Segundo

Marcelo & violin

El Valle also is the starting point for several hiking tours into the mountains.

One morning we ventured along the trail leading past the Piedra Pintada, the most important of whose pictographs were interpreted for us by Jesús Segundo, who miraculously appeared as soon as we stopped in front of the stone. His pointing palo was waiting for us all. After paying Jesús Segundo the modest $1 fee he required, we followed the trail on up the mountainside past several waterfalls and pools set within a lush tropical background (photos here).

Then we made our way carefully back down for lunch at a nice cafe just across the main street from the public library. As we did on all our other visits to the cafe, we watched the stready stream of bikes going up and down the street, most with one rider on the seat and another on the frame. When it rained, which was fairly common, most people steered with one hand while holding an umbrella with the other.

Don Tenorio

Our last day in Santa Clara featured a tour of nearby Farallón, a small beach village bombed by the U.S. in December 1989 as part of the invasion of Panamá. Don Tenorio, who has worked at Las Sirenas for the last 38 years and who survived the raid, showed us what remained of the beach house owned by Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, target of the invasion but absent during that bombing run.

Ready for the grill

Don T. also lead us to the local fish market, where we paid $22 USD for eight lobster tails and eight jumbo shrimp that Kurt grilled for the farewell feast that evening. Photos of the excursion here.

Early the next morning, before heading back to the city of Panamá,  we walked down our beach to watch the fishing nets being pulled in from the shore. Photos here. We left as the sea gulls and pelicans did battle for the spoils. Impressive, as is obvious from the photo below that Kurt took at great peril to himself and Linda's camera.

Feeding frenzy

If you're thinking of a Las Sirenas vacation - and who wouldn't be? - go soon. The complex has been sold to developers and the destruction unfortunately will start in 2013.

Click here for more photos of beautiful Playa Santa Clara and one of its sirenas.

Adventures in Colombia

¡Las chicas en Colombia!

In mid-April, Linda met up with Belén for 3 weeks of travel through Colombia. From Bucaramanga to San Gil to Barichara in the north central highlands of Santander, then further north to the Caribbean coast, to Cartagena and Taganga, we traveled up and down and through lots of mountains, some of them verdant, others more like deserts. We traveled via plane, bus, minivan, taxi, boat, and three-wheeled mototaxi (see photo to right), and on foot. We:

• saw all sorts of animals, birds and other flying things, reptiles, fish, and many canine Bounder look-alikes, all of them muy simpáticos;
• communed with nature in various forms, starting at San Gil's gorgeous Parque El Gallineral along the banks of the Rio Fonce (photos here);
• ate lots of good food, including vast helpings of arepas, patacones, and arroz con coco as well as fruits with names for which there is no English translation, various forms of beef, and lots of seafood;
• learned that neither hot water nor a bathroom ceiling are necessary for showering in a warm climate; and
• made the most amazing friends.

Here are some of our tales.

En route to Barichara

A few days into our trip, we decided to hike from San Gil to Barichara, appropriately called the "pueblo mas lindo del pais." (More photos of the forced march here; ) The countryside was gorgeous, changing from one microclimate to another over a distance of about 20 kilometers.

Cesare & Sonia in their open-air kitchen

Hours and hours later, we were getting pretty gorgeous ourselves, despite repeated applications of sunscreen.We were still 2 kms outside of Barichara, with plenty of sunshine left, when Belén suggested "autostop." No sooner had we stuck out our thumbs than a Jeep Cherokee screeched to a stop, and we were waved in the back seat. Our saviors were Cesare (originally from Italy) and Sonia (from Colombia), who not only drove us on a quick tour of Barichara but then invited us to the wonderful house they are building right outside the pueblito as a retreat from the urban life in Miami and Bogotá. (More photos of the house here.) At their kind invitation, we returned the next day as guests for paella, one of Cesare's specialties. Fortunately, Linda had some good wine from Argentina to bring to the feast.

We wound up staying three more nights beyond Cesare and Sonia's departure, exploring Barichara, which is indeed one of the most charming villages we have ever been in. Photos here. We also took another - mercifully shorter - hike to the nearby pueblo of Guane, "only" 9 kilometers away on the old Camino Real. Photos here. Linda kept thinking of Werner Herzog's 1972 classic Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

Señor, our little-while dog

While in Barichara, we also met more new friends. Certainly the most cuddly was Señor, our name for a friendly soul who followed us home from the cafe where we had shared our lunch with him on our last full day in Barichara. Alicia, the caretaker of Sonia's house, told us that Señor actually belonged to a nearby family who did not treat him well. We tried to make up for his prior bad experiences with humans. Señor stayed the night with us, guarding our bedroom from any potential intruders, and then went running with Belén the next morning. We tried to convince him to stay with Alicia when our moto-taxi came to deliver us and our luggage to the bus stand, but Señor insisted on accompanying us. He even waited with us til the bus was ready to leave, then kept up with it as long as he could. A good good dog and we were sad to leave him behind. More photos of him here.

Detail of master bath in
Gabriel's house

Sonia had arranged for our accommodations in Cartagena. While "bed and breakfast" would be the technically correct descriptor for our lodging, the phrase can't begin to convey the atmosphere of Calle de las Palmas 31. Photos of the house here. For example, the 10 bathrooms in the house we stayed for two nights are artistic installations that also happen to be extremely serviceable. All were designed by our host Gabriel, the uncle of an old school chum of Sonia, who some 20 years ago had begun the long process of rebuilding and combining two colonial mansions in Getsemaní, one of oldest parts of the city. He had certainly done an exquisite job.

A fruit lover's paradise

Despite the brevity of our stay in Cartagena, we managed to see a lot of the old town and, thanks to a mid-afternoon downpour that kept us from leaving, all of the old headquarters of the Inquisition in Cartagena. The museum to those 200+ years there is complete with examples of mechanisms of torture (many of which, such as waterboarding, unfortunately are still in use today in too many places) along with the wording of various spells and incantations. (Linda is considering naming her next dog "Fulano de Tal.") Photos here. We also had some of the best seafood ever at Donde Socorro, a small restaurant recommended by Gabriel.

Joanna & her tarot cards

Next stop: Taganga, a small beach pueblo a few hours via bus east of Cartagena, where the seafood feasts continued and swimming became a top priority for Belén, the quintessential pisces mermaid. Photos here. We also had the good fortune (and we mean that literally) to meet Joanna, a traveling artisan and seer originally from the north of Chile. Sadly, her mother had been killed by Pinochet's forces when Joanna was an infant; she was raised by her grandmother, a woman well respected for her psychic abilities. On the grandmother's death, Joanna said, birds of all types surrounded the house during the wake. We soon learned first-hand that Joanna has a similar connection with nature at various different levels. That's all we can say. . . .

Cartagena iguana

Ñoquis del 29

Good luck ñoquis

On our way home after running this morning, we came across Mónica (our neighbor two floors up), who announced she was headed out to get ñoquis for Sunday dinner, since today is the 29th of the month. Kurt was immediately energized to also head over to Mas Pastas for 300 grams of newly made ñoquis and a small container of "turco" (meat sauce) for our own dinner on this cool and cloudy autumn day.

Ñoquis - the flavorful pasta version of potato dumplings - was brought to Argentina by Italian immigrants and the original name - gnocchi - transformed into something more castellano. And over time the 29th somehow became ñoqui day.

There are several explanations as to why. In one version, farmers in a poor area of Italy experienced a bumper harvest because of the intercessions of San Pantaleon, whose feast day is the 29th of some undefined month. Another version says the custom arose from the gathering of Italians to celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, on June 29th. Yet another, more common explanation, is that the end of the month is a time of short supplies, and cooks made due with whatever was available.

In any event, the custom is to place a peso coin or other money under each plate for good luck and prosperity. We, of course, think it is good luck to have a bowl of freshly made ñoquis regardless of what's under it.

Revolutionary Changes

Along with the rest of Argentina today, we celebrated the anniversary of the "May Revolution" of 1810 that led to the country's independence from Spain. Last year's bicentennial celebration was extravagent and lengthy. This year, commemorations were low-key and traditional, centering on food and family.

Los Pinos, home of the world's best locro 

We hung our Argentine flag from the living room balcony last night, despite the steady rain that has signalled the beginning of fall. The rain continued overnight and throughout the morning. But at noon, the skies cleared and the sun came out, just in time for our four-block walk to Los Pinos, one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants. We went there expressly for locro, a stew that is the traditional dish on May 25, much like hot dogs in the U.S. on the 4th of July. Los Pinos serves the best locro we've ever had. You have to get there early, or you'll be disappointed.

Locro for two

We have special reason to celebrate this May 25.

After three years of living in Argentina, we've gained permanent residency status, meaning we no longer have to do the annual paperwork shuffle to extend our temporary residency nor the monthly money transfer from the U.S. to demonstrate financial stability (in itself another paperwork shuffle). We also now are eligible to apply for Argentine passports, a goal we intend to achieve in the next few months.

At the same time, we've decided to sell our beautiful apartment here and move to Panama. Why? Many reasons. We love Argentina and have enjoyed living here, making new friends and learning more about a different culture and ways of doing things. Yet at the same time, we are both itching for a new adventure - before we get too old to enjoy one - and realize we need to be a bit closer to our little nuclear family.

Here's to the future!

Panama seems like an excellent choice. Kurt went to high school in the old Canal Zone and his parents were restationed there while we lived in Mexico City, so Linda also became familiar with the area during the mid 1970s. And earlier this month, she got the chance to stay in Panama City for a few days with daughter Belén following a three-week trip through Colombia (more on that later!). Now we're looking at apartments in Casco Viejo, the old colonial part of town. Like San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico, where we had a house several years ago, the casco has been designated by UNESCO as a "World Heritage Site." Obviously these old colonial towns appeal to us! Developments as they happen.

At the Movies . . . with Rodrigo

Rodrigo, our cinema expert

When we first came to Argentina three years ago we fell into the bad habit of watching telenovelas. There was always the excuse that it's a good way to practice Spanish and get better tuned in to the alluring but odd Argentine accent.

But quitting telenovelas - nightly soap operas watched religiously in Latin America from the U.S.-Mexico border to Tierra del Fuego - is like kicking the cigarette habit: good for you but extremely difficult.

Our definitive break with Latin soaps came around the time we saw El secreto de sus ojos, which won the 2009 Academy Award for best foreign picture. Starring Ricardo Darín and Soledad Villamil, it had everything that telenovelas lack: a great plot, thoughtful social commentary, superb acting, and a riveting, Hitchcockian quality. While many of the parts were improbable, director José Campanella stitched them together in such a way as to make them completely believable.

We decided to explore further. We joined a video club, Film City, a couple of blocks from our apartment. But our success in picking films was mixed. Luís Puenzo's Historia oficial about the horrors of the Dirty War - Argentina's only other Academy Award-winning film - was terrific. La próxima estación, Pino Solanas' story about the death of the Argentine railway system, was educational. Hombre mirando al sudeste was quickly forgettable, falling short of expectations and downright sleepy. By accident, we discovered El hombre de al lado, a little gem by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat in which an architectural dispute between two neighbors turns into an obsessive power play.

Then we met Rodrigo, Film City's gregarious store manager with an infectious passion for his country's movies. When asked if he could help guide us, he threw himself into the project of entering a must-see list of films under our account number in his computer.

Rodrigo lured us in with a couple of light, pleasing films by Daniel Burman - Derecho de familia and El abrazo partido. The lovable Daniel Hendler is the male lead in both.

Bombón, played by Gregorio, and
Juan Villegas, played by Juan Villegas

Next up: the work of Carlos Sorin, who uses real people instead of actors in his endearing, feel-good stories. In El perro, an old man who has lost his job as a mechanic is given a Dogo show dog ("Bombón Le Chien") that changes his fortunes. In Sorin's Historias mínimas, an old man searches for his lost dog in the other-worldly expanse known as Patagonia.

Then Rodrigo hit us with the powerful team of Pablo Trapero and his wife Martina Gusman and their films Carancho and Leonera. Reminiscent of the stand-out Argentine film Nueve reinas, these gritty films convincingly expose the underbelly of society. The "protagonists" in the first movie are an ambulance chaser (played by Ricardo Darín) and his physician/heroin addict girlfriend (Gusman); in the second, the lead (again Gusman) is a university student convicted of murdering her roommate, the father of her unborn child whom she subsequently delivers in prison.

Recently Rodrigo insisted we watch Esperando la carroza. Rodrigo was firm: "Con ésta pelicula vas a saber que es ser argentino." We can only respond: "Claro, che, dále! Y gracias! Por suerte sos amigo."

Boicot Productos Israelis

Today, March 30, is Palestine Land Day. The day commemorates the events of 35 years ago, when Israeli security forces shot and killed six young Palestinian citizens of Israel and injured many. The youth were among thousands protesting Israel’s expropriation of Palestinian land to build new Jewish colonies and expand existing Jewish cities. Today, Land Day symbolizes Palestinian resistance to Israel’s ongoing land expropriation, apartheid, colonization and occupation.

In solidarity with the Palestinian people’s right to self determination on their ancestral land, today also has been designated as Global BDS Day of Action. BDS stands for "Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions" - nonviolent actions also used successfully to break up apartheid in South Africa. The need for such action is as critical in Israel. More details here.

Last weekend, in advance of Global BDS Day of Action, we helped hand out leaflets urging shoppers at the Alto Palermo mall not to patronize Maim, a store that sells Israeli cosmetics produced from Dead Sea minerals, resources stolen from Palestinians. Israel exports millions of dollars worth of cosmetics to Argentina every year. The message to shoppers: "No seas complice del apartheid Isreali en Palestina."

A short video about the activities here.


Boicot a maim PRODUCTOS DEL MAR MUERTO-Buenos Aires from julieta on Vimeo.