Departure of the Coatis

 For those who may be concerned about leaving small children or inebriated adults with us, ignore those previous posts.  The gatos solos were actually quite friendly and gentle, except for ripping the kitchen door off its hings - we'll need to get that replaced.  And thus, their bellies filled with bread and cookies, their paws filled with the door keys they stole from us, along with the TV remote, they clambered over the fence and went back into the Canal Zone jungle.

Reflections Upon Feeding the Gatos Solos

 Who knew they had learned to open doors?  Who anticipated their surprising ability to learn to manipulate door knobs?  As the final photo shows, they can be rather insistent.  It was all darkness after that....

The Gato Solos Strike Back

 I was out of bread.  There were more than twenty of the gatos solos.  Then I remembered - we had a few cookies left over.  Everybody likes chocolate chip cookies, right?  Turns out they do.  Turns out they would much prefer, rather than having you toss them to the yard and they have to eat them out of the grass, to take them forcibly from your hand.  By the time I got the door closed, quite a few of the coatis had closed in.  But the door was closed.  We must be safe now. . . .

Revenge of the Gato Solo

 You can see their attack strategy revealed in this sequence of photos.  Sure, there are only eight or ten at this point, and they seem disinterested in the humans standing innocently on the patio.  They're keeping their distance and there is no sign of aggression.  Even at the time of the second photo, the only indication things might take a turn for the worse are that your esteemed photographer took a step forward without looking and startled the biggest freaking iguana I have seen outside a zoo, at least four feet long just in the torso, a tail stretching out at least another two feet, and looking like it weighed twenty or more pounds.  He went streaking across my foot, and by the time I recovered, for photo three, the coatis had launched the first wave of the attack.  Now there were close to two dozen already in the yard and at least ten more climbing the fence, and I was running out of bread.  It's rare that I recall any words of wisdom from my parents - a fact in startling contrast to what my own daughters must go through every day, remembering dozens of extraordinarily sage sayings and bons mots I offered throughout their childhood, oftentimes despite their best efforts to put those years far beyond the reach of conscious memory - and yet, for a moment, as I noticed that coatis have very sharp teeth and very sharp claws and were already within pouncing range, I vaguely recalled my parents saying something like, 'You shouldn't feed wild animals up close.  Remember what happened with the crocodile.' 

Return of the Gato Solo

 So there were a few gatos solos (coatis) outside the fence of our yard and we thought, what could be the harm of tossing them some pieces of bread?  And it seemed perfectly fine; a handful came through the hole at the bottom the fence and a few climbed over it, and they ate the bread. And that would be that, right?

Except this was the Day of Revenge of the Gato Solo.  Things weren't over, not by a long shot.

Animals Invade

 Sure, armadillos might seem cute at first.  And in fact this one was.  But he was a harbinger, a scout if you will, an agent of reconnaissance for what was to come later in the morning . . . .

Me and a Mermaid

Already we notice subtle differences from Afghanistan.

Here are photos of me and a mermaid.  I am the one wearing a shirt.

Lining Up for the Canal

Another view from the Amador Causeway.  On the horizon you can see ships lining up to enter the canal.  On the stern of the small boat in the foreground, you can see what appears to be one guy trying to drown another guy.

Jody in Panama

Walking along the Bahia de Panama.

View from the Causeway

We managed to make it to the Amador Causeway during rush hour, veering through lanes of traffic and fighting the buses, called "diablos rojos," to cross where we needed to go.  Still without GPS, we sort of navigated by instinct.  Coincidentally, we wound up at a Spanish wine bar.  The causeway is a road linking a series of artificial islands built to protect the entry way to the canal, overlooking Panama Bay.

Excursions

We're almost fully settled into the house, with nearly all the boxes unpacked and things put in a reasonably logical place.  So we drove around this afternoon.  We went to the neighborhoods where embassy families live and saw two of the schools.  We also went to the two Pacific-side locks of the Canal, Miraflores and San Pedro, and watched a couple of ships go through the locks.  Then we just drove around, because the GPS wasn't working and we didn't have any idea where we were headed.  We more or less made it back OK.  This evening we ate dinner outside and listened to the tree frogs, which I believe are scientifically called Space Invader Frogs, because the sound they make is exactly like some late 70s arcade game when you fire a missile at whatever is attacking you.  Interestingly, they go absolutely still if you stomp on the ground near them, then about five seconds later, they start up again.  We tried out the Mexican place near our house - so-so food, very nice margaritas.  I feel quite comfortable driving around the two barrios near our neighborhood, only somewhat less so as I go through the traffic roundabout I was told was nicknamed "Suicide Circle," but I get completely lost heading downtown.  I'm going to try again tomorrow, hopefully with a functioning GPS this time.