Wet Canadian Sangria Danger

The Panamanian dry season is definitely in its death throes as each of the last three nights included some vigorous downfalls. I wanted to be back in the water on Monday as my doctor imposed quarantine finished but I was thinking ocean more than precipitation. I was out in the surf first thing Monday morning before we drove back to David for the day. I was optimistic that we’d be back in time to squeeze in another boogie boarding session before nightfall. Alas, it was not to be. I had not counted on the long list of items my Favorite Panamanian had to pick up in preparation for this weekend’s Easter celebration. That entailed calls at three different supermarkets and a butcher shop and a hasty manicure stop before we picked up her mom, which I had been told was the whole point of driving to David that day. As we were leaving David, the rain started and it was impressive. The drive from David to San Lorenzo (one of the three towns we drive though on our way back to Las Lajas) took nearly 45 minutes instead of the usual 20. All the cars had their hazard lights flashing because the rain was so dense. It was almost as if Great Aunt was back in country 😊. A huge tree was blown onto the Interamericana Highway just after San Lorenzo but fortunately on the other side. We arrived after sunset at the condo but were buoyed when we were greeted by the Panamanian couple from the Seis Amigos who had also just arrived from Panama City.

Fun Crowd Last Night
Our Hosts on the Left

Yesterday I was headed upstairs from my morning workout session only to see the dreaded extension cord running from the utility room to our condo (for the fridge), a clear sign the power was out. Again. My Favorite Panamanian and her mom were packed up to go into the village of Las Lajas where my wife volunteers a couple times a week at the senior center. I was left alone, without power, but at least I had some entertainment. I wrote last week about the mysterious construction going on down the beach visible from our living room window. I don’t know if they read this blog where I passed on the comment of using a back hoe instead of hand digging but yesterday a back hoe showed up. The comedy began shortly thereafter. They dug in around the pipe and tried to use the back hoe to shove the pipe deeper. Eventually the pipe leaned over and the next thing I saw was the pipe being removed and the hole filled in as they gave up completely. Back to square one for them, but it helped me pass the time. The power was restored just as my wife and her mom returned late in the afternoon. The Upstairs Neighbor commented that my Favorite Panamanian always lights up a room when she enters. I kicked myself for not thinking to say that myself as I would surely have earned some serious points with her which never hurts.

Back Hoe Shows Up

Forced to Admit Defeat After A Couple Hours

Last night we were invited down the beach for dinner at the house of the Canadian guy we met a few weeks ago. He and his Panamanian wife hosted a dinner for another neighbor couple, from Iowa, who were heading north early next week. We had never met the other dinner guests but we quickly established a nice vibe comparing notes about life in Panama in general and Las Lajas specifically. The Canadian is particularly adept (and locally renowned) for his sangria. Our family history is replete with stories about the effect of combining my Favorite Panamanian and that liquid. I was therefore on my toes as the evening progressed. The Canadian and his brother bought the house about 11 years ago when they were both single and offer  wealth of knowledge on local history and characters.

Finding Halloween Crabs in the Pool Each Morning

We learned the provenance of their signature flag pole which has proudly displayed the Canadian flag for as long as we’ve lived here. The Canadian and his brother used to get fired up well down the beach and drive back to their house along the beach instead of the road. Several times their navigation skills were impacted by excessive lubrication and they missed the turnoff completely and ended up at the far end of the beach. They therefore installed the flag pole to give them a landmark to signal where they should turn in and here I thought it was a symbol of Canadian pride. Shortly after we arrived, the evening deluge started falling and was once again, epic. The Canadian had a weather app for the locale and over three inches of rain fell in just over an hour. I glanced out their back window and what I thought was a support pillar was actually a solid column of rain draining off the roof. As I said, epic.

My mother-in-law had remained back at the condo since the elevator still isn’t working. We returned home and I didn’t have to carry my Favorite Panamanian up the stairs which I considered a win after the amount of Sangria intake. We found the condo hallways inundated as the ferocious rain had invaded. We opened the condo door to find my mother-in-law serenely reading her bible. She reported the power went out just after the storm hit and was out for nearly two hours. Our upstairs neighbors guessed that she was there and we weren’t. They came down and hooked the extension cord up so she would have some light and mopped up some water that was seeping in. She was so touched by their kindness as we certainly were. We are truly blessed having them as neighbors. 

I saw the rebooted Road House this week. The original is a monument to 1980s misogyny and one of the coolest movies ever made. If a guy didn’t like this movie, he had to forfeit his y chromosome and predictably the movie was less than honored by most of the fairer sex. It was therefore a huge climb for this movie to measure up. It almost does. It’s hampered by an honest attempt to connect with both men and women. The only nudity is repeated shots of Conor McGregor’s naked butt which I certainly could have done without. The love interest, a doctor again, doesn’t have any chemistry with Dalton. The bad guys were a mixed bunch this time out, missing the innate evil of Gazzara’s character and while McGregor cannot act, even a little bit, he was an entertaining source of unbridled chaos. Dalton is called upon to save a Florida Keys road house this time and Florida offers an endless source of local color. There is a cute harkening back to the original with a strip mall diner called the Double Deuce spotted a couple times. The movie is saved by Jake Gyllenhaal whom I had serious doubts about going in. He plays a different kind of Dalton, haunted by a earlier tragedy. While not as ferocious as Swayze’s take, he combines humanity with dangerousness. There’s too much CGI in the fight scenes and while it’s impossible not to compare this to the beloved Swayze version, this movie stands on its own. I liked it, which I was not prepared to do, still missed the nudity though. 

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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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course