VIVIR EN LA PLAYA COSTA PEDASI COMMUNITY NEWS Issue #29 March 2018 If anyone would care to contribute we would be very glad to receive submittals relevant to our new lifestyles here in Panama. Please feel free to share your experiences, tips, sightings, and announcements of interest. If you would like to be removed from our mailing list just Email us to let us know your preference. If you have photos of events or happenings in the area that you would like to share, please email them to: mckenyon@shaw.ca HOA Hello to all of you and welcome to Issue #29 of the Costa Pedasi Newsletter. As always, we hope you enjoy reading about our beautiful neighbourhood and what we are up to. And, as always, we are looking for your journalistic contributions, pictures, comments and suggestions. Things are looking good in Costa Pedasi and the Board would like to thank all the residents for continuing to make Costa Pedasi the beautiful development we all live in. The dry season flowers are still just gorgeous! Lots of vibrant colour! As you drive around the area you notice the trees and buses that appear so very different during the dry season. Come on down and visit! Jeff Jansen is doing an outstanding job maintaining the water system. Thank you Jeff. And again, thank you Melinda Kenyon for putting this newsletter together for all of us. Also thank you for the photo contributors. Happy St. Patrick s Day, Saturday, 17 March. May the luck of the Irish be with you. WEATHER REPORT Can you believe we are already mid-way into the dry season? Thought I would check with some long term residents and locals about the challenges we face in maintaining our gardening, during this time. According to the local experts in landscaping, the best possible time to water your gardens is in the evening. A good soaking for about 15 to 20 minutes once a week, and you are good to go. This method is an excellent system for the plants, as well as water conservation.
PEDASI NEWS Ahh, yes Carnival. Here in Costa Pedasi we all survived another year of Carnival. Did you know, that Carnival in Panama is the second biggest festival in the world after Brazil? The most famous of all Carnival celebrations in Panama is held in Las Tablas, although the folks here in Pedasi do it up right as well. Traditionally beginning on Friday and ending on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, Los Carnavales is celebrated in almost the whole country. Carnival Week in Panama is especially popular because of the luxury and sheer magnitude of the Las Tablas Carnival. Carnival is also popular because of the great number of concerts by national and international artists held on different stages in the most visited areas of the country. Always lots of interesting events happening down in the square. I am always amazed at the creativity, and work that go into these floats. They are really amazing pieces of art. This year saw the expats who were involved in the Cart Parade join in on the final night of the Los Carnavales Parade. Dee Jansen and Cathy Aleman from Costa Pedasi joined in the fun, dressed in the beautiful and flashy traditional Polleras. Photos Courtesy of Real Pedasi Whatsapp
Photos Courtesy of Lynda Tarras & Naomi Kaskie Getting Ready for Semana Santa - or in English Holy Week is the week leading up to Easter. Semana Santa 2018 in Panama, and around the world, will begin on March 25 (Palm Sunday) and last until Sunday April 1st (Easter Sunday). The Pacific Beaches are a popular place to visit during Easter weekend in Panama. So expect heavy traffic and empty shelves at the grocery stores! Expect some businesses to be closed either Wednesday or Thursday. Good Friday will fall on March 30 th. Expect sales of alcoholic beverages to be restricted during this time. If you need to get something official done this month start early, most public offices will be closed during Holy Week. Most people head to the beach before Good Friday, despite the popular myth in Panama that if you go to the beach on Good Friday, you might be turned into a sardine! There is a myth in Panama that say, If you go to the beach on Good Friday, you will turn into a sardine. In colonial times, Myths like these were created to warn against indulging in worldly pleasures during Semana Santa. Children were told, If you climb a tree, you will turn into a monkey. Or, if you swim in the river, you will become a fish. In the Roman Catholic faith Semana Santa is a time for remembering the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. While many hold true to this Spanish tradition and their Roman Catholic roots, others head to the beach to spend this week long vacation with family and friends.
HAPPENINGS IN THE HOOD All great neighbourhoods have one thing in common good neighbours. Good neighbours are people we always want to have in our neighbourhood, they ll always be there when we need them most. Good neighbours have a lot of qualities that make us love them. Three of these qualities are: Caring, Respect and Friendliness. Pride in ownership is obvious, when the residents, whether renters or owners, maintain their homes and care about their neighbourhood. Neighbours participate to connect and create local groups that bring the residents together for the betterment of the area. Such as our full moon beach parties. This month of March sees us with two full moons. One March 1 st and the other March 31 st. What better way to spend this time, then having a full moon party on the beach. Which is what we did. Thank you to Cyril, Larry, Shane and all the gang who chipped in and hauled the wood down the beach. This was a fun evening of good company and lots of good humor. There are plans in the works to make this a monthly event when there is a full moon. Photos courtesy Cyril Gillis The construction of Kerry and James Foster house is really coming together. It is also great to see that Ray Munroe s house is also coming to completion. The neighbourhood is really starting to take shape. We look forward to having the Foster s and Ray here full time. Kerry & James Foster s
Ray Munroe s Committee Updates Costa Pedasi Outreach Committee: As mentioned in last month s newsletter, the CP Outreach Committee was organizing a meeting with the local police and the residents of CP to become a Block Watch Community. Thank you to everyone who attended the Block Watch (Vecinos Vigilante) presentation at the Kenyon s this month. As everyone knows this is a program of neighbours helping neighbours. This is a free community-based crime prevention program administered by the local police. They make a commitment to watch out for each other s homes and report suspicious activities to the police and to each other. They also keep each other informed about neighbourhood occurrences, burglary, thefts, and other crimes or problems occurring on their street. Captain Garcia from the Pedasi local police was very impressed with the turnout of neighbours we received here in Costa Pedasi. We are the only gated community who have taken this step. It was posted on Facebook, under the Pedasi Post tab, and it has generated interest from other communities in the town, as to how they too become a Vecinos Vigilante Community. One of the benefits of becoming a Vecinos Vililante Community is a direct line to the police. We will be given a special Whatsapp number to be able to get help from the right department sooner, than if we had to go through the usual means. This number will be for emergency purposes, and would cover things like burglaries up to heart attacks. Special thanks to Naomie Kaskie and Paul Froehlich who have volunteered to be our head co-ordinator and co-head co-ordinator. Also special thanks to Ruben and Kathia Cordoba who came as translators for the presentation. The HOA board has approved the purchase of 4 large signs to be placed in the neighbourhood. These will be placed at strategic places throughout the hood. Additionally, 13 homes have requested small Vecinos Vigilantes signs (these include the casa number) for their yard or to be placed on the casa. These
signs not only let people know that you are involved but most importantly, provide fast identification of your casa for emergency vehicles. Photos courtesy Ruben Cordoba Out and About in Panama The Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival was held February 22-25. The Kenyon s and Kaskie s had a fun filled few days of the great music, including Spyro Gyra, and many internationally known musicians. Great food and cool weather! (Freezing for some of us.) Worth looking into next year, if you are down here. In the City, Panama the Musical, in English, finished up its run and a few folks from Costa Pedasi enjoyed that. The show will now go to Toronto. Panama City offers many entertainment options, including a large number of live theater options. You can check these out on panatickets.com. Tickets can
be purchased on line and picked up at the will call or you can purchase them at Novey in Chitre. Air China is travelling to Panama. It has been reported that China and Panama are negotiating a new trade agreement. This new trade agreement could provide a big boost to Panama s economy and real estate market. China is currently the second most important user of the Panama Canal, after the United States, and the first supplier of the Colon Free Zone, located in the Panamanian Caribbean. In particular, our Panamanian President, Juan Carlos Varela is hoping that China will help finance more energy and infrastructure projects. Among other deals, China will be working with Panama on new hydroelectric projects in the future. This relationship with China should have far-ranging implications for both Panama s economy and real estate market. Now that Air China has direct flights from China, this should have a direct impact on both tourism and the property market. Wealthy Chinese have been active investors in real estate around the world. The Panamanian government expects that Panama will become the main air point for China in Latin America. Tocumen receives around 5,900 weekly flights and has connections with 85 cities and over thirty countries in America and Europe. Air China would presumably intend to use Panama as a gateway to Central America and Northern South America. GOOGLE EARTH HAS UPDATED This screen shot of the development is new on Google Earth
FOOD FOR THOUGHT "The difference between stupidity & genius is that genius has its limits." ~ Richard Painter One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him. ~ Lao Tzu The difference between involvement and commitment is like an eggs and ham breakfast: the chicken was involved the pig was committed. ~ Unknown