Swimming with the Pelicans

Hi From Las Lajas

Okay, first blog post of 2018. It does seem fairly unbelievable that another year has snuck up on me; I’ve already accumulated more than my fair share of them, especially when they seem to speed up so thoroughly as they are acquired. As you can probably ascertain from the accompanying photos I am no longer in the USA. My wife and I had a problem free flight down to Panama on Friday. I kept waiting for some issue to arise. Anything from my wife’s bloated luggage and international weight limits to the inevitable weather delay but everything went swimmingly. We were flying on separate bookings since I’m coming back before she is. That led to me being offered an upgrade to First Class for both of our flights. I looked over at my wife and she said to go ahead and take it but I’m not that brave. I can just imagine how 2018 would have been ushered in after leaving my wife in coach.

Dinner at El Fogon

We arrived in David in the evening and somehow fit all of our luggage into the rental car and traveled to my mother in law’s house for the night. There was the usual serial hugging involved in the reunited family. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever seen the house decorated for Christmas. I now understand where my wife’s predilection for Nativity Scenes comes from. We all piled into the car for our traditional welcome to Panama dinner at my favorite David restaurant – El Fogon. I was treated like a returning celebrity by my favorite waiter (I think it has something to do with the tips). We had the usual tough steaks, cold beer and great company.

Condo Arrival

First Night Sunset seen from Condo Balcony

Cloudy First Day

First Morale Photo I sent back to US Friends

Saturday was deployment day down to our condo in Las Lajas but we had some serious grocery shopping to accomplish before that since there was obviously no food at our destination. The only problem being that the entire country of Panama goes somewhere for New Year’s Eve and before that they all go grocery shopping. So that was fun. By dropping the back seats I was able to get the vast amount of food and other critical items (beer) loaded in the rental car and we were off for our condo. In a true gift from God the Panamanians finally finished and opened the four lane highway all the way to the Las Lajas turn off. That meant we didn’t get stuck behind the inevitable overloaded farm pickup trucks that have trouble breaking the elusive thirty mile an hour barrier.

First Turkey Dinner in Condo

Traditional Panamanian Dinner Later

Sisters in Law

We arrived and got everything transported up to the condo. Thank God the elevator was working this time. Since holidays are made for family and for that very reason we had eleven of us gathered in our two bedroom condo but it worked sublimely. As I’ve written before, my wife’s family is entirely too much fun to hang around with. New Year’s Eve was a little cloudy with a couple passing showers which are strange for this time of year but this did nothing to hamper the fun or dazzling views. My wife had done a fantastic job furnishing the condo over her past couple of visits. I managed to connect to my Netflix account for the televisions which as my sole contribution. I’ve been out to swim and body surf before breakfast each day. I’m usually joined for those morning swims by some of Las Lajas’ pelicans. Each morning they skim inches above the waves in search of fish. They fly in very graceful formations, one of which I counted more than fifty.

Family Photo

My Favorite Panamanian and I

Mother in Law with her "Kids"

Apparently I have a fairly impressive and completely undeserved reputation in Panama, at least amongst my wife’s family, for my turkey dinners. I think it has more to do with the exotic nature of the dinner to the Panamanians rather than any culinary expertise on my part. At any rate I volunteered to prepare a small turkey for New Year’s Eve dinner and it turned out to be a lot of fun since we had to improvise with the rudimentary implements we had. My reputation is safe for another year.

Life of the Party

A Little Later in  the Night

Out on the Balcony

Brother in Law Dancing

The New Year’s Eve party in the condo involved a lot of dancing, picture taking, the occasional beer, and trips to the balcony to see fireworks. My wife’s sister, the furthest thing from a shrinking violet, was the star of the show. We managed FaceTime calls with my Favorite Son, the ABFA, Daughter and Wingman who all seemed to be having a lot of fun as well, despite how cold it was back there. I may have rubbed that in more than is socially appropriate.

New Year's Day View

Condo Association Party

New Year ’s Day dawned as perfectly as only a Panamanian dry season day at the beach can be imagined. The condo association was throwing a huge bash all day long which involved well over a hundred people and the usual too loud Panamanian DJ. The cool thing about our condo location is the distance down the beach from where most of the huge crowds gather. We did have a bunch of ATVs buzzing by all day from that end of the beach but otherwise it was idyllic.

My wife’s family started to depart over the course of the day since they have to work today. It’s always tough to say goodbye to them, especially my wife’s younger sister who is the proverbial life of the party. I spent the entire day bouncing between the surf, the pool, and our beach chairs. Despite using sun block that reached triple digits I’d have to score the day as – Tropical Sun 1 Gringo Skin – 0. I was getting a little concerned late in the day when my wife would gasp each she saw my face. I know – that’s usually reserved for strangers.

What I did Most of Yesterday
Our Condo is on 3d Floor end - Obscured by Palm Frond

Happy Campers

Strangely, although it was bright red by the end of the day. It doesn’t hurt and I think this is just the first step in de-gringoizing my complexion. I’d hate to return to work in a couple weeks all pasty skinned. As the light started to fade we started assembling our accoutrement to bring back up to the condo when one of our neighbors encouraged us to stay for the sunset. We’re so glad he did because the sun setting into the Pacific was spectacular. I think I could get used to it.

This May Just Work Out

That Sunset

So the new year is off to a great start. We really wish the “kids” could have been down here for our inaugural stay in the condo but that will come. We imagined both the FBR and the BRS bouncing between the pool and the surf in coming years. The FBR seemed really intrigued by her view of the pool during our FaceTime call. Apparently the pools in New Jersey are closed of the season. We did receive this video however which touched our hearts decidedly.

Caught Redhanded (Obviously)

The Bad Cinema project count will remain at #88 out of 100, as I didn’t bring any of them with me.