Beach, Pool, and Traffic

Our first full day in Panama brought a casual day around the property. We lounged around the condo until mid-morning, before Laurie, Linda, Vicente, Peyton and I ventured down to the beach (and after Linda discovered the $6.49 milk was bad. It didn’t smell bad, but the first spoonful of Cheerios proved that it was no good). We found that the tide was out, which led to another good hunt for treasures amongst the rocks and beach. I found a most interesting fully intact fish skeleton with a face and all. I was surprised the waves hadn’t broken it apart. I also found numerous pieces of green beach glass and the best piece of blue beach glass I’ve ever found. It was a good size and nicely frosted. It made my day.

On my way back to the condo I ran across everybody else who were heading to the pool, so I dropped off my treasures and got my swim stuff and met them back at the pool. It is a nice infinity pool with a gradual walk-in. It was not overly busy and Vicente enjoyed practicing his Spanish with a group of Panamanian kids. He also talked to their mothers and got some intel on a couple of places we should check out. On our walk back to the condo we were talking and a fellow condo owner popped out and said he’s not used to hearing a lot of English. His name is Mark and is an Army Veteran from Indiana who has retired to Panama since September 2023. He also gave us a lot of information on where to go to eat (he recommend the city Costa Verde which was approximately 15 minutes away). We decided we would check it out. After everyone got cleaned up we headed out.

We got to the mall area that Mark had recommended without incident and found several modern stores and restaurants to choose from. We decided to go to a place call Mi Ranchito which had a wide variety of items on the menu. I got the caprese chicken and Tom had a cheeseburger. Both were good but nothing overly spectacular. After dinner we walked around the mall and got some ice cream and went to the grocery store to pick up some items we forgot and re-plenished our water supply. The grocery store in Costa Verde was much bigger and newer than the Jumbo grocery store we went to yesterday. It was the equivalent of a Pick N’ Save.

On the way back we once again got stuck in extremely bad traffic at our exit ramp. It took almost an hour and a half to get off the freeway. I think there was construction happening on our road that was causing the delay. We passed the time in the car singing kaeroke to the radio (American songs), placing a bet for what time we would pull into the driveway at our condo, and Tom giving us random facts about the band TLC. We really should have made the bet as soon as we got stuck in traffic not from when we were almost out of it, but Vicente won (after he switch his timed twice).

We got back and I researched things to do (Pete and some others are not real keen on having to drive anywhere), where as I am still willing to give it a go. I think tomorrow we are going to attempt a road trip to hike to a waterfall.

Stats of the Day

Number Pieces of Beach Glass: More than 10 and 1 Lego
Steps: 13,192
Time Stuck in Traffic: 1 Hour 50 Minutes