Hail the Traveling Girl

I woke up this morning feeling completely normal (well as normal as I ever get) for the first time in nearly a week and that fateful beachside pork chop. The last phase was a day long headache that proved impervious to medical science. No more pork chops south of the Mason Dixon line in my future. It’s still a tough slog at night getting used to such a quiet house and not having the Favorite Panamanian at my side. The wind was howling last night but barely registered inside after my week in the Boquete wind tunnel.

The Traveling Girl - My Favorite Panamanian on the Road in Costa Rica

Speaking of that Favorite Panamanian; she continues to cut a wide swath through the wilds of Costa Rica. I received a boatload of photos this morning chronicling her adventures with her pack of PanaGals. Costa Rica looks beautiful, reminiscent of the Rockies. She took time from her escapades to land a Facetime call. She’d left the capitol, San Jose, was headed for a volcano and then on to the coast/ beaches. I’m glad she’s having such a good time and I can vicariously re-capture the atmosphere of being around her family. I’m not exactly sure what some of these photos show but they’ll all from Costa Rica.

The Gang

With Their Agent Provocateur

Central San Jose

Main Cathedral San Jose

Central Park

Countryside on Way to Volcano Irazu

They Found a Tourist Stop With a Lot of Boston Memorabilia

Basilica Nuestra Señora de los Angeles

I knocked off the second movie on my list last night seeing Hail Caesar. I love the Coen brothers films but this one left me with a definite, “mehh”. While the film is eminently watchable – I mean look at that cast – there was the lack of the signature character that mark all the best Coen films. There was no Dude, Marge Gunderson, or Tom Reagan. Every single character, including a large number of the bit players were handled by major actors, maybe too many. Having to give each actor his story line add to a certain lack of coherence. Every single actor stepped up though.

This was the Coens’ tribute to post WW-2 Hollywood at the height of the studio system and shortly before the McCarthy hearings. Josh Brolin plays an extremely capable studio boss who’s trying to keep all of his pictures on track while dealing with a star’s kidnapping, horrendous miscasting directives from on high, and twin sister (adorably played by the incomparable Tilda Swinton) Hollywood reporters who hate each other. In the end it’s clear this was a profession of love of Hollywood – with all its many character defects. I’ll end up seeing this again and seeing many missed clues to the better movie this probably is.

I’ll leave you with some photos my daughter posted from Panama times: