A Gym with a View

After 5 months out of the country, I signed up for a year membership at the Miramar Hotel gym, paying almost double what I was paying at the Key Biscayne Community Center. It seemed worth it if I could incorporate it into a steady routine and my Panama lifestyle.

After signing up and going only a handful of times in January, a college friend who had lost 120 pounds since our gin rummy playing days wrote to me from Berlin that the secret to motivating people like us was not too be too hard on ourselves. I couldn't reasonably stand to lose 120 lbs. so I assumed he was talking about people that could be hard on themselves. I'd just paid a bunch of money that could quickly become demotivating if it was not exercised. So, with those simple words, I started going to the gym.

The Miramar is a 7-minute walk from my apartment, down Har Sinai street, lined with palms and men in black suits, passed the synagogue, around the Spanish colonial building, across Parque Urraca, and a skip through the congestion of Avenida Balboa traffic.

When the semi-appropriately named 25-story Miramar (translated as Seaview) was erected in 1996, it very effectively blocked the ocean view from Frederick Boyd, an avenue reminiscent of a well-planned boulevard - tree-lined, relatively pedestrian, and with what was once a spectacular ocean view for cars flowing down to Avenida Balboa.

Now, this high-rise, sheltered yacht, ocean, busy Cinta Costera bulldozer-view is enjoyed by me from the second-floor gym.

Also motivating, are all those things that I do not have at home: CNN International, air-conditioning, rich people, massages, jacuzzi, sauna, steam bath, and hot-water showers.

Halifax, The Parakeet Escape Artist

Yesterday, coming back from Lung Fung dim sum, we chanced upon a neighborhood parakeet wandering apparently aimlessly, following the rim of the sidewalk, foot-bathing in dirty curb water and covered in large black ants.  It seemed lost, discombobulated, its clipped feathers a bit ruffled, and in need of rescue, or so we thought.    We pushed it into a recently emptied bag of purchases from the new two-story Arrocha 'pharmacy' in Albrook Mall, but not before it nabbed a finger and drew blood.

Upstairs, a large old ampliance box was quickly set up in the laundry room, outfitted with a thin blue towel to give it that parakeet homey feel - water in a plastic Estrella Azul ice cream tub cover and two day old papaya retrieved from the trash, sprinkled with Special K.  It was a pretty nice set up but Halifax was already itching to get out.

He waddled and rolled in moments of frenzy.  It was pretty much clear from the outset that Halifax was a bit crazy or a Parakeet genius.  After the initial moments of agitation, he nestled his beak into his green coat, and napped deviously.  To be continued...

Lazy Panama Afternoon

A breezy Panama Saturday is usually a good day for lunch, gym, pool and movie plans.  After a slow start to the day which included cleaning up the wine stains of last night's dinner party and streaming several Cold Case episodes, it seemed wiser to pour a chilled glass of red wine and start a blog than to venture out.  So, welcome to the Asia in Panama blog.