Random Panama thoughts

A few random tidbits from my Panama trip.

-When flying in to Panama city with clear skies you can see the Atlantic (Caribean) on one side and the Pacific on the other.

-My godson, Fernando Fabian, who is my cousin Fernando's son in now 4 years old. He loves batman for some strange reason and can be a bit of a terror!

-My niece Ines now likes to read. 8 months ago I couldn't get her to pick up a book. Now she complains cuz she doesn't have enough time to read! And not surprisingly, the book she's reading now is The Sword of Shannara. In French unfortunately. Even though she's picked up on the family penchant for fantasy books, she hasn't joined our tri-lingual clan and didn't have as much fun on this trip as she should have since she only speaks french and not many people speak french in Panama!

-Un desayuno para cinco en Nikos cafe = $14!!!

- Most expensive meal = $140. That's for 5 people at a steak house and with 2 bottles of wine.

- Tons of condo high-rises have gone up in the past 2 years and are still going up. A whole section of the skyline seemed completely new to me.

- Traffic is as bad as ever.

- My spanish isn't so bad, I should use it more.

- The Venato hotel/casino has a poker room, but they don't start playing till 6 and I didn't get to play.

- My cousin Carolina is 18 and going to law school. That's crazy to me.

- My nephew Clement is also 18, likes to smoke cigars and pipe, and gives me funny looks when I drink rum and cokes instead of drinking it straight. Straight rum??? Crazy kids...

- Bocas del Toro is a pretty cool set of islands on the caribean ocean right off the coast. Even though tourism is developing there quickly it's still pretty raw and ghetto like the rest of the country. That's a pro and a con in my book. It's still has a very real quality that's missing from the fancy resorts in the rest of the caribean but it's lacking in some of the comforts and commodities.

- Swimming on a 'wild' semi-deserted beach with strong waves can be real dangerous. If it wasn't for a random boat that happened to come by we could have been in real trouble. It's hard to tell how much since the boat showed up real soon after we realized we were in trouble. Just the possibility of me, my brother, my niece and nephew being in a real life threatening situation with my mom watching from the beach is almost too scary to contemplate.

- The scary experience and minor miracle above made my non-religious brother takes us to a church the next day to give thanks.

- My mom can still cook up a mean meal. Salmon souffle, pernil de puerco (pork) con arroz con coco y guandu (y concolon para mi!), y flan/cheese cake de philly cream cheese. So tasty!

- After lunch at my mom's we went to my grandfather's grave. He's buried in Nuevo Emperador not far from my mom's house. This was the first time I'd gotten to go to his grave since he died in October and I was crying before I even made it through the gates of the cemetery. It was very sad.

- Gilberto Santa Rosa is coming to Panama with Olga Tanon on December 7th. Would be fun to go back to see that concert and spend some more time there. Not sure if I can swing it.

- Shrek 3 and Spiderman 3 = 2 bad movies. Not bad enough for me not to watch them on the plane but very close.

- Food I brought back from Panama: yellow corn tortillas that I can't find here, white yuca and cheese tortillas closer to the arepas I can find here, bollos, and some coffee