Pancho is being held for ransom!

Chocoyo with no name

You may recall that in a crazy twist of events we found our lost chocoyo, Pancho, enjoying life beachfront in Awas, Nicaragua (read about it: We found Pancho).

Originally, the plan was that we would find another chocoyo and make a trade, but we weren't able to find one for sale. We mentioned to Pancho's new family that we would be willing to pay some money for him in exchange - so we found out what the going price was to buy chocoyos. Generally, a baby bird would cost about 150-200 cordobas ($8.00 US) which we felt was a fair price to pay to get Pancho back. Well, in discussion with the family that is looking after him we were told that the man that found Pancho wants $20.00 US in order to get him back!

We couldn't believe it! We told the family that we thought that was too much money to ask for and that we weren't prepared to pay that much money to get him back - we would just have to visit him at their place.

Another twist in the story came tonight - a friend of ours was able to get a chocoyo for us. This poor little guy has arrived tired and cranky. We were warned that he bites - so I guess Pancho isn't unique in that way!
We hope to make an exchange for Pancho later this week. In the meantime, we'll have to try and sweeten this little guy up!

We found Pancho!

Pancho enjoying the beach in Awas

You will never believe it - but Pancho has been found! As you may recall from a previous posting (Pancho has flown the coop!) our pet chocoyo decided to escape from his "birdsitters" while we were in El Salvador. When we returned I called for him for a couple of days thinking that if he was nearby that he would return to us. When he didn't come back we hoped that he had found a new family (bird or human) and that he was happy but secretly I thought that he had died.

Last week when I was visiting a family in Awas I could hear some "chirping" from inside their house and asked them if they had a chocoyo. Miss Ildelia told me that her nephew had found the bird about a month ago in the rice field out by the road to Raitipura (right about the time that Pancho went missing). I asked if I could see him and told her the sad story about loosing Pancho and how we miss him. The room that the bird was in was quite dark and it was hard to get a look at him. My friend and I had a good laugh because of the way he was acting. We kept saying - Oh, it has to be a boy - he acts just like Pancho!

This morning I went back out to visit Miss Ildelia and Mr Orlando and this time the bird was outside on the wooden railing. As soon as I saw him I knew - it was Pancho! This bird had the same plucked chest and the same bald spot on the head! After a little coaxing he was back on my finger - happy as could be.

So - now we have a little problem. His new family really like him. They run a small tourist business and they like to show Pancho off to the tourists. Also, Pancho now has waterfront living - will he want to come home?Pat and I have decided that we will have to find a replacement for him so that we can bring Pancho back home.

Debbie with Pancho - Awas, Nicaragua

Mr Orlando and Miss Ildelia with Pancho - Awas, Nicaragua

Pancho has flown the coop!

Pancho enjoying the back yard

Pancho, that ever independent, little bird has decided to spread his wings and make his own nest in the trees of Pearl Lagoon.

It's our fault I guess - we've never kept him locked in his cage because we hated to see him frantically trying to get out. He was always happiest when he could maneuver his way inside to outside his cage and back again. Also, we would take him outside on a weekly basis so that we could clean his cage - we encouraged him to enjoy some time outdoors.

Up until this point we've only had one scary situation where Pancho decided to make a break for it - that was in early August. Pat had taken him outside to clean his cage and instead of hopping onto the grass as he usually did, he decided to fly off into the neighbours yard - 3 houses away. We had to go out for a couple of hours and so we couldn't chase him, but we figured he would have just kept flying away from us if we did. When Pat returned a couple of hours later
he checked in the back yard to see if Pancho had returned - no Pancho! I returned about an hour later and still no bird. I went into the back and called him but there was no answer.

After lunch I just had to go into the yard and try calling him again. Sure enough, I would call his name and there would be a little "chirp". Pat came out back and called "chickenhead" and all I could hear was this excited - "chirp, chirp, chirp". Pancho was close by. Pat put on his boots (it had been raining and we figured the neighbours yard would be muddy) while I kept calling Pancho. Just as Pat entered our neighbours back yard and slid into a small swamp Pancho flew out of some bushes towards me. He landed about 10 feet away on the other side of the fence. As I kept calling and Pancho answered, Pat got closer to the clump of bushes that Pancho had landed in. Finally, Pat located Pancho and put his finger out for the bird to climb onto. How do you think Pancho responded? - he bit Pat on the finger! After a second attempt Pat was able to get the bird to climb onto his finger and he brought him to me. Pancho was all shivery but seemed happy to be back home. We decided that even though it is common here for people to clip their birds wings we wouldn't do that to Pancho - even though we now knew he was able to fly.

So, what happened this time? Since we were out of town for a few weeks we had a couple of "bird sitters" lined up. Our friend Jean has been in the house a number of times and she was able to take care of Pancho for a couple of weeks. He seemed quite happy with the arrangement and went out of his way to stay up late and talk with her (until 10 pm from what we hear). Since Jean had to leave Pearl Lagoon too, we made arrangements for a few new friends to look after Pancho until we returned. Unfortunately, Pancho didn't know them and had a bit of a tantrum with lots of "squawking" and seemed quite agitated at the change in arrangements. As they were doing some laundry Pancho took advantage of an open door and flew away and hasn't come back.

Since we came back yesterday, we have been out calling him hoping that if he is near that he will come back. But, to no avail - not even a "chirp". We will miss the little guy and hope that he has found a mate or a new family to take care of him. We've enjoyed getting to know him and his quirky personality.

Pancho enjoying the view in the front yard

Crazy Parents writes a Postcard for International Living Magazine

A short while ago we were contacted by Erica Mills, Managing Editor for IL Postcards, and asked if we would be interested in writing a "Postcard" about our life in Nicaragua. As part of our "research" for moving abroad we had subscribed to International Living's magazine as well as their daily postcards so we were thrilled by the opportunity to share what life in Nicaragua can be like - at the very least, what it is like for us. On Friday, August 30, 2013 our postcard was emailed out to people who are interested in information about Nicaragua. Here is what we wrote:

We’re Happier than Ever in NicaraguaBy Debbie Polden
Eight years ago, my husband, Pat, and I had what most would term good, comfortable lives. Our jobs were stable...and there was no danger of losing them before we retired at 65. But with the kids all gone and making lives of their own, we realized that we had no desire to be working until retirement age.
We had seen many friends who put off retirement, unable to pursue their dreams due to health concerns. We didn't want that to happen to us...so we started to explore ways that would enable us to live a happy, more fulfilling life overseas...
After a tremendous amount of research and a few exploratory vacations to potential countries we saw the possibilities that Nicaragua offered for a new way of life. It met all our criteria: low cost of living, beautiful coast lines (we wanted to live near water), cooler mountain towns if we couldn't adjust to the heat and, specifically for us, a great need for volunteers.
A big question for us was how much money would we need each month to live on? In order to determine this figure we looked at what the financial requirements were for people to gain residence in Nicaragua as a pensioner. We found out that a couple would only need to prove an income of $750 ($600 for Pat and $150 for me) from a pension in order to obtain residence. This gave us an idea of how much money we would need to live in Nicaragua.
We began to save and in 2011 we realized that, because of our diligent savings plan, we were in a position to start our retirement a year earlier than planned.
Though we originally settled in the city of Leon, we were intrigued by the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. After a visit to Pearl Lagoon, and feeling the fresh ocean breezes on our skin, we felt right at home.
Living in Pearl Lagoon is like taking a step back in time to a simpler, slower way of life. It’s far more rustic and isolated than Leon, and, though living here sometimes has its challenges, that only adds to its charm.
Pearl Lagoon has so much to offer us: English-speaking friendly neighbors (this area is predominantly English-speaking)...the beach right on our doorstep...a nice breeze off the Atlantic...and a cost of living that fits our budget. And the people are incredibly friendly.
Our costs are extremely low, too. We pay less than $700 to live well. Rent for our comfortable three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is only $250. Dinner at a nice restaurant with a view over the water is less than $20 and the beach is a short, 50-cent taxi ride away.
You can fill your fruit and veggie tray for $10 and eat well for a week, and buy fresh crab for just over 40 cents a pound or fresh fish for less than $1.
Now, after over a year of retirement living here in Nicaragua we've never been happier. We no longer wake to a shrill alarm clock telling us it’s time to get up for work. Instead, we wake to the hungry chirping of our little adopted chocoyo(parakeet) Pancho, telling us it’s time to get up and enjoy our day.

Pancho is famous! - Friday Lens Affair #30

Recently, we submitted one of our pictures to Marysia at My Travel Affairs Travel Blog to be considered for her Friday Lens Affair feature. Unfortunately, the original picture wasn't suitable because of it's size but she found a picture on our Facebook page that she liked. We were thrilled to hear back from her and to find out that the picture of Pancho hanging on the clothesline outside of our house in León - plus a little write-up - were scheduled to be posted on her Friday Lens Affairs page on August 9th 2013.

Here is the picture that she liked:

Pancho

This picture of Pancho was taken while we were still living in León so it doesn't show the crazy featherhawk that he has since his accident in May. Isn't he a handsome bird!

Check out the story at: My Travel Affairs: Friday Lens Affair #30

Where's Pancho?

It's amazing how well camouflaged Pancho is - he really blends in when you put him into the bushes. Can you find him hiding in the bushes in this picture?

Pancho hiding in the bushes

 Maybe this picture will help you to locate him:

Pancho enjoying some outdoor time

Did you find him? See if you were right - check out the picture below:

Can you see Pancho now?

How is Pancho?

Pancho eating a mango (note his "featherhawk"

Quite often we are asked, "How is Pancho?" As, many of you are aware our little chocoyo, Pancho, suffered an injury in May wherein he lost part of his scalp. If you haven't read the story you can read it under, Living in a community where there is no vet.

At the time that it happened we weren't sure whether Pancho would be able survive with his injury - after all his skull was exposed. We soon realized that Pancho was a determined little bird and even an injury like he had wasn't going to keep him down. Within a very short time he was back to his chirpy old self and even for a while sported a "featherhawk" as his feathers were a little wild around his injury.

After a recent birdbath we noticed that there seemed to be some "skin" growing on his head and we wondered if it would eventually grow some feathers.

As the days go by his wound is becoming less apparent and although his head doesn't look as "smooth" as it was before the accident it is looking better and better all the time. Pancho has discovered a new love in life - mangoes! It's very likely that he always liked mangoes but he wouldn't eat the little pieces that we would put in his cage. No! he was holding out for the real thing - he has to have a whole mango to himself!

Pancho's head wound

Now, if we can get him to stop plucking out his chest feathers!

Pancho enjoying some time outside

Pancho, our chocoyo, getting ready for bed.

We've had a number of people express how "intelligent" they think Pancho is. Well, of course, we think he's pretty smart too - but we might be a bit biased. Tonight, we set out to capture Pancho's bedtime routine. He always follows the same pattern. He jumps down from his daytime cage, walks across the floor to the bookcase where his "nighty-night" cage is, climbs the towel up to the cage and then slips under the covers and climbs onto his perch - all tucked in for the night.

Tonight should have been no exception - however, it turns out that our little bird is a little camera shy and he didn't like the "paparazzi" following him. Take a look at what happened earlier in the taping of this movie: