Beach Bumming

Panamanian Mafia Visitors With my Wife

I’ve embraced my new role as a beach bum. This may be causing my wife some issues as I don’t think she honestly thought I’m as ready to  retire as I’ve been indicating. It’s still at least year out but I can genuinely see myself folding myself into this stress free beach front living. The last few days have been perfect weather-wise as I continue my boogie board education.

Las Lajas Beach

I even went on a walk to the elusive end of the Las Lajas beach. I’ve been coming to this beach for the better part of twenty years and have always taken early morning or evening walks down the beach trying to see what came next. The combination of tropical heat and very intrusive sand always stopped the treks before reaching that terminus. For those of you who’ve never been to Las Lajas you have to understand the beach seemingly goes on forever and any Descartian trained philosopher would question whether the unseen end even existed. I put all those questions to rest by finally reaching the river that marks the end of the beach. It’s where all ATV tracks go to die and wasn’t really that impressive but at least I’ve now checked that block.

Shell Gathering

End of Beach - Finally

My wife proposed the walk in an effort to collect shells for a craft project she has in mind. The beach walk is something of a tradition that dates back to the summers of my youth spent at York Beach, Maine accompanied by that worthy – the Cantankerous Friend. We’d often take a morning long walk down the entirety of Long Sands and not just to see what the female population was garbed in. Las Lajas shares a lot of similarities to Long Sands with great surf and a wide beach of packed sand at low tide. The one huge, and telling difference, is the water temperature. The Maine water is cold enough to take your breath away while Las Lajas is the warmest ocean water I’ve ever encountered.

Sunset Watching

It was Gearing up to be Another Epic Sunset

When a Lone Thunderstorm Cloud Inserted itself At Last Minute
You See - We Do Have Our Challenges Down here

We had another set of visitors yesterday which was short and altogether too much fun. One of the founding members of the Washington, DC chapter of the Panamanian Mafia and her husband stopped by for a quick late afternoon visit on their way back down the coast. They’re great friends and we never see enough of each other. We usually stay with them in Maryland when we visit D.C. so it was great seeing them in this new environment. They were in Panama for a long visit and were typically being pulled in a lot of directions by family and friends so we really appreciated them taking the time and braving the entry road to visit us. As I said in an earlier post – that’s going to be one of the very coolest parts of this condo – hosting friends and seeing them discover the paradise that is Las Lajas.

Our Most Welcome Visitors

We also walked down that entry road a couple hundred feet and patronized the Show Pony Hotel bar last night. We ended up sitting at the bar next to one of the young Canadian owners. He directed the bar tender to put the NCAA football championship game on for us while we enjoyed the company. Yet another boon to the location, having a neighborhood bar! I think in the coming years my children and their significant others will patronize this place while the grandparents pull babysitting duty back at the condo. We had five beers and a huge Pina Colada - final tab = $11!!!!!!

At the Show Pony Bar Last Night

And We Know Who had the Pina Colada

In my last post I wrote about dreading the return this week to find my driveway encased in ice as the residue of last week’s storm had the opportunity “bake” over my absence. There must be some sort of guardian angel looking out for me because late last night we received a text from our next door neighbor saying a snow blower fairy had visited our driveway and sent us this picture. Last year they didn’t have a snow blower and I repeatedly did their driveway for them so this was their way of thanking me. Completely and unbelievably AWESOME!

Saved - Although it Does Look a Mite Colder there

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

Tropical Languishing

First Friday Sunset Beer out on our Balcony

Alright, I have a question for you. If you were living right on a beautiful tropical beach would you spend a lot of time writing? I really enjoy writing here on Frail Deeds but the blog is up against a serious adversary in the form of my favorite beach in the world. I wake up each morning to the siren call of the best body surfing waves I’ve ever encountered and I’m once again putting off writing. I’ve also received some fairly robust feedback from frozen family and friends back in New England that my attempts at humor whilst comparing our relative weather are not fully appreciated.

Meanwhile - Back Home

This of course only motivates me to strive for greater comparisons. This is the first time of my many visits to Panama that seemingly the entire USA and especially New England were submerged in a serious deep freeze. Obviously no such problem here but there has been an occasional passing shower. I’ve fortified myself by attempting to master the newly acquired family boogie board. For those of you grating on that last sentence just remember I only have a week left here and will have to carve the remains of the snow storm from my driveway which will have had a full week to turn into some hard packed ice. I’m “almost” looking forward to it.

With Two of my Favorite People

We’ve been fairly busy and productive down here. On Thursday we hosted my wife’s Cousin of the Legendary Laugh along with a large contingent of her family. It was kind of an overcast day but they constitute a healthy percentage of my favorite people in the world so we just hid out on the beach bohios when there were passing showers. Earlier in the day we’d seen a huge pack of dolphins jumping and playing just outside the surf line. The visitors spent the entire day with us and we had the entire condo complex pretty much to ourselves.

My Wife with Part of the Group

My Wife's Aunt

Cousin's Daughter with her Signature Pose

The cousins brought my wife’s aunt and a good representation of their growing brood of grandchildren. Seeing that energetic group careen between the beach and the pool brought visions of the upcoming years when I hope to see my own grandchildren doing the same thing. We have been able to FaceTime with both sets of frozen progeny. The FBR is usually much too busy to stop and talk with her grandparents until I ask her if she wants to see the beach and pools. This usually stops her dead in her tracks and gets her in front of the computer screen. This is all part of my long range psy-ops campaign to have her and her parents come visit us in the coming years.

Beach Lunch

Grandchildren in Pool

My Favorite Panamanian and I spent another half day back in David completing most of the paperwork to sell our land. There was one final roadblock thrown up when they said since I was a foreigner they wouldn’t accept cash but I needed to pay some fees with a certified check. No, I didn’t understand that either but with the help of our intrepid lawyer we got everything sorted out. “We” also did some shopping (you understand the “we” now) to continue the effort in furnishing the condo.

Wife Caught me Walking to Surf After Return from David

She Does her Yoga on the Beach
Music Put me Sound to Sleep

We bought two nightstands and an assortment of other tables, all of which required assembly. Luckily the instructions were in English and on a whim I’d purchased a basic set of tools which the assembly would have been impossible without. We returned to the condo to find the elevator was on the fritz so I had to carry all of the purchases up the stairs. I was assisted by the caretaker who we’ve kind of adopted. A good friend to have when something like this happens. I’m not sure the furnishing of the condo will ever be completed, if I know my better half at all.

She Makes it all Worthwhile

We’re hoping to have several groups of friends stop by for a visit in my last week here and I think that’s what I like most about this place. It seems to attract visitors. Even on those days without company though my wife and I have settle into a pretty cool and restful routine. I get plenty of exercise with multiple trips into the waves but it’s almost completely stress free. That will all change when I return to work since I just learned one of my key managers has been hired away but I’ll need a challenge like that to get my head back in the game. This beach is going to be hard to forget.

With Due Apologies to all Long Suffering New ENglanders
Some of our Spectacular Las Lajas Sunsets 

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

Beach Livin

Hanging with My Favorite Panamanian

I’m five days into my first effort at living on the beach and I think I can handle it. That has nothing to do with the fact that Worcester is getting hit by a blizzard as I’m writing this because I kind of like blizzards, especially from afar. The condo complex was completely full over the holiday weekend but most of the other inhabitants have to work so the place eventually emptied until last night when my wife and I were the only ones in the entire place except for the caretaker and his family.

MY Morning View - Note Horse Walking Down the Beach

We spent most of yesterday back in my wife’s hometown meeting with our lawyer for the seemingly endless process of selling the land we own here. I’ve written before about the robust Panamanian government bureaucracy during our previous encounters. We spent most of the afternoon trying to prove who I am since my passport number has changed since I bought the land. The Panamanians government has evolved over the past decade to make it increasingly difficult for foreigners to buy and sell. The ending result was a letter from my mother in law stating that I reside with her when I visit and a copy of her electric bill for some reason. It was all very arcane. We’re not done yet either. I met the young guy who is buying the land and really liked him. He’s in the police special forces here and reminded me a little of myself at a similar age.

Niece and Nephew Hangs

We had a great beach day on Tuesday accompanied by the last remnants of my wife’s visiting family. My favorite niece and nephew in law stayed with us from the weekend along with the nephew’s girlfriend. It was fun talking movies and hanging with them. We had to return them yesterday when we traveled up to David. Before that however we had a very nice surprise when one of the founding members of the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia and family showed up for a visit. My wife noticed in her What’s Up app that they were at Las Lajas and talked them down the beach to our place for a very nice visit.

Worcester Visitors

I think that’s what I’ll like most about this place – the inevitable visitors. It really is a paradise and despite the delightful environment this far down the beach it really hasn’t been developed so we’re kind of spookily alone at times. That’s okay as long as the Netflix account holds out. We can’t get any sports here which I’m surprisingly okay with, leads me to believe that maybe I spend too much of my time watching my favorite teams. I’m surviving nicely just reading about the aftermath on line.

Wife Dancing the Sun Down

We have a solid Wi-Fi connection which allows texting and FaceTime calls back to the US. We spoke with my Favorite Son and the ABFA, now into her eighth month of pregnancy and all that portends. They were gearing up for the storm and smiled indulgently when I mentioned how nice it was here. My daughter and by reputation the FBR were unavailable last evening as the Curbside Girls had gathered for a rare get together as they were all within in the same time zone for the first time in a very long time. Today we get another passel of my wife’s family arriving for a beach day. Yeah – kind of like it here.

Curbside Gals (Daughter in Front) Back Together in NYC

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

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.