Rio Return, Repairs and Book Catchup

Yesterday was another day of rest here in the tropical paradise that is Panama.  I anticipated a day sleeping in since we’d been up until almost 2am at the Joron the night before.  I failed to account for my wife’s faith.  She woke me at 6am to report she was texting with my daughter about her own late night and fact that she was at the airport awaiting her flight back to New York City.

While I found this information fascinating it turned out to be a ploy to get my arms around the idea of continued consciousness so I could attend church services with her at 8am.  She tried selling me on the idea by saying it was at the church we were married in nearly 32 years ago.  This early morning strategy was not compelling.  The hurt look in her eyes when I didn’t respond was; so I was soon heading into central David with a very cheerful spouse.

The Central Cathedral in David Yesterday
The Place We Were Married Almost 32 Years Ago

It was kind of cool seeing the church again and walking down the memory aisle.  The church itself has not changed much and I found myself glancing around to see all the small details that were emblazoned in my memories from that day so long ago.  Luckily, no trees inside the church to remind how long ago it was.

Inside the Church Along With a Lot of Memories

After church we took my mother in law out for breakfast to the Hotel Iberia where we were joined by what seemed to be a lot of Latino Cowboys.  Apparently the rodeo is in town and this was their hotel of choice.  It was kind of cool.

The peace of the day back home was disturbed by the construction of a new car port for my sister in law’s car.  That’s one of the really neat things about Panama.  There are still reasonably priced craftsmen who can be hired for small construction projects.  I watched him for a while as he took down the old car port and started spot welding a new one.  The work looked top notch and he worked his ass off in the 90 degree heat. 

The Swimming Hole

I was less inclined towards physical exertion and convinced my brother in law to take us to one of my favorite spots in Panama, a swimming hole just up the road from David.  It’s called Rio Baranca and has a small bar, restaurant, and zoo perched over a turn in a river that sports the swimming hole.

Getting There Can be a Challenge
My Brother In Law Helping his Sister

Getting to the actual swimming spot can be a little hazardous requiring clambering over a bunch of smooth river rocks but the reward has always been worth it.  Since its dry season the river is literally thirty feet below where it runs when the rains are falling exposing all the rocks we had to climb over.  Each year the river bank is eaten away a little more so you have to find a safe way down to the river.

My wife thought she had and was calling me to come over when she suddenly disappeared.  Her feet had shot out from under her and she rode her posterior a short distance down to the river.  I was a little panicked making my way over but she was okay with some bruised feelings along with the aforementioned landing platform.  As We were leaving I took my own fall into the river when I encountered a rock unwilling to bear the weight of a gringo.  I was trying to convince everyone I did it so my wife wouldn't feel so bad about her own fall.  Rightfully, no one was buying that story.

Providing Some Fish Food

The river was everything I hoped it would be but seemed a lot more cluttered than I remembered.  They still had the daring teenagers climbing trees at the top of the thirty foot bank to dive into the river and a number of families escaping the heat in the cool water.  If you sit still long enough small fish come up and start nipping at your skin which tickles, luckily none of them were piranha. 

The Lonely Peacock and Parrot

The plan had been to grab dinner at the restaurant there but it seems to have descended a bit since our least visit.  In general the whole area seems to have fallen on hard times with many of the out buildings gone, the zoo reduced to a peacock and a parrot.  The crowd in the bar looked a little unsavory so we decided to return to David.

Dinner Party at El Fogon

My Sister in Law Even, Kind of, Behaved, For Once

We ended the night at El Fogon, a restaurant not too far from my parents in law’s house.  We had the outdoors patio all to ourselves and had a fantastic time with my wife’s sisters, her brother and his wife.  As I’ve said before, with my wife’s family you end up laughing a lot and last night was no exception.  Laughter really is a balm for a tired soul and sitting under the stars with these fine people was about the best medicine I could have had on a day I was missing my daughter and son in law.  They arrived back in New York City last night and a joyous reunion with a certain cat named Pee Wee.

A Very Happy NYC Cat Last Night

I’ve been remiss in reporting on the books I’ve read here in Panama so today I’ll play a little catch-up.  Last week I finished The Burning Man by Alan Russell.  This is the first book I’ve read by Russell (recommended by those damned accurate Amazon algorithms) and it turned out to be a fun read.  Russell tries a little too hard to make his lead character funny but it sported a compelling story that moves the reader right along.  It didn’t hurt that it included a police dog that played an important part.  The lead character is an L.A. police K-9 officer who, along with his partner, captures a serial killer and is severely burned as he walks the killer out through a forest fire the killer set to evade capture.

The rest of the book involves his return to duty after rehab and dealing with the aftermath both in his professional and personal lives along with some PTSD.  He gets a couple of compelling new cases which causes him to re-examine his whole approach.  I really enjoyed the read; this won’t be the last Russell book I enjoy.

Yesterday I completed another visit to the sci fi Empire World of Christopher Nuttall with When the Bough Breaks.  This book did not involve the lone marine unit of the first three books that I read by Nuttall.  This one has a lone female, augmented marine back on Earth changed with protecting the last emperor as the empire dissolved around them.

I’ve really come to admire Nuttall’s work and this fresh scenario served him well as he creates a heroine that dominates the pages so much that the reader feels frustrating when he steps away from her story to provide the necessary side plots to flesh out the story.  I found myself racing through this book which is an indication of how much I enjoyed the read.  I know military science fiction isn’t in everyone’s wheel house but if it is, you should really check out Nuttall.  I love it when I find an author who writes a lot because that means there are a bunch of stories out their waiting for exploration.