Whole Lot of Shaking Went On

So, our last Tuesday in Panama was anything but routine. I knocked off something on my bucket list. It was something I wasn’t really seeking but it came along so I tried to enjoy it. I’ve always wanted to experience a true earthquake. I know. Weird. My Favorite Panamanian, having grown up in Panama, which is very earthquake prone, had all too much of that sought after event while growing up. We went back to David yesterday to knock out some final errands and see John Wick 4. We were sitting on my mother in law’s front porch when I felt the rocking chair I was sitting in start rocking on its own. I then noticed my wife and her mom were clutching each other and loudly praying.

Red Circle is Epicenter, Blue Dot is Las Lajas

My wife’s twin sister came over next to my chair and I thought she just wanted to see what was going on. It was pretty cool. Our car, parked out front, was rocking back and forth. I was surprised that it lasted as long as it did. My wife took a quick break from her praying to point out that her sister, standing next to me, was looking for some emotional support as she was very scared. Being a confirmed dumbass, I hadn’t noticed. I put my arm around her and assured her everything was okay although she had a lot more experience with earthquakes than I did. Luckily I turned out to be right.

Fallen Rancho in Center

My wife was surprised by how long the quake lasted. It was the longest of the many she has experienced over her lifetime. There wasn’t any damage at the house and life seemed to pick up on the street after the nearly minute long trembler.  My next surprise was how fast information about the quake was disseminated. Minutes after it ended friends were calling in to report it was 6.6 on the Richter scale which I guess is fairly robust. It was centered directly off of Las Lajas next to Coiba Island which I can look to the right as I’m writing this and see in the distance.

This led to questions about how things fared back at the condo. We contacted our upstairs neighbors who confirmed it was a lot more energetic there. The water in the pool was sloshing back and forth enough to leave the pool. One of the beach side “ranchos” where I spend most of my time reading, toppled over. My Favorite Panamanian said she wasn’t worried about anything in our condo since there wasn’t anything she considered in peril. I then, as I am wont to do, made the tactical error of pointing out all the glass knickknacks she had spread around the condo. She then commenced some serious fretting. As stated above, I can be a real dumbass.

Fallen Photos

Broken Bottle

Fallen Angel Fish

We returned to the condo late last night and found a bunch of pictures had been knocked over, including a board featuring granddaughter photos. I thought we had dodged anything more serious until I walked into the master bathroom. One of those glass knickknacks, a bottle encased in some rope (very nautical/beachy), was lying shattered on the floor. There was also a large glass angel fish (I know, what?) had fallen over and broken a glass dish on the bathroom sink counter. Still, we were lucky nothing more important, like the television, hadn’t been damaged and the condo building itself was still standing.

John Wick 4 is, well, a John Wick film, that takes all the ballistic themes from the first three films and ups the ante. The seemingly indestructible Wick launches on a revenge tour against the High Table, the highest level of the criminal empire that cost him a finger and tried to kill him for the last couple films. This a very long movie but you don’t notice the running time because, as usual, the action is relentless and Wick is such a compelling character. Reeves is at his coolest as he cuts a swath through the bad guys on four different continents. Somehow, the guy who shot him off the roof of the high-rise hotel to end the last movie ends up as his partner again as they take on the High Table. There are the usual fascinating supporting characters, including Donny Yen, who is so good in everything he does. There are some tributes to the earlier films including the welcome cameo by a very dangerous attack dog. Tribute was also paid to the 70’s movie, The Warriors. The ending sequence with Wick fighting his way through an army of assassins was amazing. I’ll never look at Paris the same way again.

Crowded 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; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him 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); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; 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