Flip Flop Fire, Skewered Crabs, and Clam Hunt

My Favorite Panamanian decided my last week in Panama could not pass unmarked and arranged a party. Unbeknownst to yours truly she assembled a gathering of two sisters, a PanaGal, a niece, and her mom. I knew about the mom and Tia Loca because I was required to pick them both up but I was securely ensconced in my beach chair yesterday morning when the PanaGal walked up and asked that I get her through the gate. I arranged that and thought that was kind of cool but went back to reading. When I came upstairs for breakfast I was in trouble with my Favorite Panamanian because I hadn’t assisted the three ladies carrying up their gear.

Fireside Last Night with my Favorite Panamanian

I tried to explain I didn’t know it was three ladies and I could see the lightbulb go off in her head as she realized this had supposed to be a surprise. I love it when the condo is full of family and friends and my wife certainly arranged that for the weekend.  There is. however, a cautionary tale involved since I was the only Y-chromosome possessor within the group. I must be getting old to complain about being the only guy in group of very fun ladies. It was a memorable day on the beach with some sustained boogie boarding despite the lack of cooperation by the surf. There were very big waves but they weren’t prime and seem to always break just out of reach.

Friday Lunch with Tia Loca and Mom in Law

Much Larger Saturday Lunch

I was getting near the end of my riding when I noticed all the gals digging furiously in the sand at the water’s edge. This was a new experience. My wife explained the vagaries of the surf had turned this stretch into very soft sand and they were spotting bubbles served up by buried clams when a wave receded and were energetically digging them out. These were very small clams but I was assured they were delicious. I am going to take their word on that. My mother-in-law also wondered at the activity and wandered down to the hunt location. Because the sand was so soft my wife placed a boogie board for her to stand on to help with her balance. There followed a series of jokes about her boogie boarding prowess as we asked her to make surfing poses.

The Clam Hunt

Surfing Mom in Law

How do I get this Into the Water?

Son in Law, Stop Laughing and Help

The Quest Continues

The Resulting Dish

They eventually secured a sizable collection and secured them in my cooler. The beer tasted a little salty after that. As the sun set the ladies moved to the condo pools to continue celebrating their successful hunt. Tia Loca led the group in a series of dance exercises that I’m still trying to figure out the motive for. But, hey, who am I to complain about dancing girls? We had arranged for the caretaker to build a bonfire since the ladies showed up with a supply of marshmallows.

Saturday Sunset

Sunset Pool Party

Wife and Tia Loca

Wife Trying to Drag me into Pool
Honey, I have the Phone in my Hand!

Tia Loca Exercise Program

Once darkness fully fell, I joined him to watch the ignition. Yes, I am a closet pyromaniac. I was a little dubious about his setup since there wasn’t any kindling, just a healthy collection of fairly stout driftwood logs. This is when I learned a secret of local Indian lore – flip flops. He produced an aged flip flop and used that to start the fire. It burned furiously and soon we had a major conflagration. One of the curious things about beach combing is the large number of single flip flops that wash up on shore. So, his choice made use of a handy, plentiful resource.

Fire Started

Marshmallows with Tia Loca

Helping with Fire, Can't Help Myself

Good Company

I’ve written before about the orange and black crabs that emerge in April at Las Lajas in huge numbers. We learned last night that the condo firepit is home to dozens of the little beasts as they emerged from their burrows to try and escape the increased heat and suddenly abundant humans. The cement walls prevented that escape. The crabs should have stayed in their burrows because they didn’t take into account the bloodthirsty PanaGal. She turned her marshmallow roasting stick into a crab skewer. She chased down the largest crab she could find and speared it through the middle. She then roasted it in the fire and started eating it.

The Trapped Crabs

There were a Bunch of Them

PanaGal Roasting her Catch

Roasting Crab

We had some kids join us for the marshmallow roasting and I think they were a little traumatized by this savagery. They spent the rest of their time with us trying to catch crabs to release outside the firepit onto the beach where they could escape from this apex predator. We finally a clear night so the amazing starfield I tried showing the Cantankerous One while he was here was finally out and spectacular. Figures.  So, the beach certainly is no longer lonely.

Starry Night

Swim Elevation

In granddaughter news the FBR graduated to a new level with her swim class yesterday. She also recently became a baseball fan which is something I’ve been trying to accomplish for years without any success. The secret weapon used to overcome her reluctance, the movie, The Sandlot. She’s now a big fan (Red Sox hopefully) and in that effort Wingman secured tickets for her to attend the 2022 season opener for the Sox against the hated Yankees in Yankee Stadium. Somewhere up there Soxfather is smiling in approval.  

Modeling for Abuela

She also managed to make her abuela’s day. I was out on that extended boogie boarding session when I began to wonder why my Favorite Panamanian hadn’t shown up yet. She eventually did and was almost skipping as she walked into the water. She said she had been delayed because the FBR and my daughter had called just before she was coming down. This usually means the FBR asks where Grandpa is and pointedly ignores her abuela. However, this time she was fully engaged and talked at length with my wife about a favored shared passion, shopping. I’m guessing the grandfather fixation runs out when the granddaughters get old enough to value shopping and fashion. Certainly subjects I have no part in any discussion thereof. The FBR modeled a couple of her newest acquisitions for her delighted abuela, hence the skipping.

While we were in David to drop off Cantankerous (he eventually got his luggage and returned home) we took in a movie. Ambulance is very, very Michael Bay. He seems particularly taken with a newfound ability to use drone cameras to get stomach churning, wild camera shots of fairly mundane sequences. Of course, once again, being a Michal Bay film, there weren’t very many mundane sequences. The action was up to his usual standard as we followed a pair of adopted brothers take part in a bank heist that results in their hijacking of an ambulance carrying a police officer they shot to make their escape. Everyone is soon watching their “escape” on local TV. This wouldn’t have worked, even with the standard Bayisms of explosions and car wrecks without a strong cast. The central characters, Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza González were so good you actually care what happens to them, at least for Mateen and Gonzalez. While this is a summer popcorn movie you’ll find fingermarks deeply embedded in your chair arms from the sustained tension; a lot of harmless fun.

Beach This Morning

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                        

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course