Today is the 22nd......1 day shy of a month that we would have begun this summer journey south of the border. It feels like an eternity....in the best way. Our days are simple and full.
Most mornings for the girls begin with a journal entry and some reading. Alisa leaves for her 9am workout at the Bocas Fight Gym....or yoga....or weight training(or 2 out of 3!) My day starts at 5am with meditation & mobility training followed by a couple hours of surfing.
From there we just make it up as it goes along. I am still working so am on & off the computer all day. It is slow-season, however, so I have plenty of time for little missions throughout the day. There is always some swimming off the back deck. We like to wait for the school of sardines to accumulate and then jump into the center of them. The quickness of their scattering flee is a wonder to behold.
The girls have become moderately obsessed with fingernail art. There have been many trips to the local 'everything' store, Toto's, to gather their supplies. They've created myriad templates for their salon guests.
We've dined and played with friends big and small.
There was a surprise reunion with some local Besties
The girls put their artistic flare on my surfboard.
We had a chess lesson from one of their former classmates who has become the Panama junior chess champion.
A couple months before leaving the States I started a new ice-bath health regimen. To keep up the training I built a bathtub out of a plastic water barrel with the help of the girls.
A little jewelry shopping. This was actually in David. The gentleman who owns the store is wonderfully kind. We stumbled upon the shop last year and now it's a ritual to stop in every time we pass through town.
Miss Malea took one for the team and got sick from 'something'. She spent one day with her stomach in reverse. Then it took a couple days to build her energy back up
This is the rainy season so we've experienced a few torrential downfalls. Most of the time the rains come at night, but on this fine day we got to experience some heavy midday rain.
Life in the tropics is still thriving. Creatures show up in unexpected ways almost daily!
Our neighbors are a young family from Colorado who are trying to put down some roots here. One of their intended business ventures is to rent mermaid tails. They needed some models for their local adds so we decided to be a Mer-Family.
We spent the day at most beautiful beach on the island - Bluff Beach. It can be shockingly dangerous when the waves are big, but on this day it was just right for some family body-whomping!
Alisa is the is our resident Selfie master. This one has a National Geographic feel : )
And then there was this...
It feels great to be back! Looking back at the photos from our first adventures
in Panama back in the Fall of 2015 felt like peering into a dream. Did that
really happen? The kids looked so young! How did we pull it off? I don't know
the answers, but somehow we lived here for 13-months. We returned to the States
for 11-months and now we're back!
Pulling out of Mexico City after an overnight layover...
We love it here! The people, the vibe, the environment & the language.
We felt the love as soon as we arrived in Panama City where we were
hosted by our friends from Bocas who had since moved to the big city. We always
had a good time doing our tourist-thing romping through the city, but with
their inside knowledge we got to learn some of the local knowledge on what
makes it tick.
Pop-up Nicaragua Festival in Panama City
For example, stories were shared about how taxi drivers are known to
arbitrarily throw you out of their taxi if they change their mind on wanting to
deliver you to your destination. Malea and I were thrilled to then experience
this firsthand!
After visiting my surfboard shaper we flagged a taxi back to the hotel. We
jumped in the car and he pulled away. We then told him our destination. Our
driver frowned, said he wasn't going that way, pulled over and told us to get
out. Malea & I stepped out of the car laughed and gave each other a
high-five for being kicked out for the first time!
Synchronicity is in the air for us in this country. Before we arrived Alisa
was talking about getting another tattoo from the same artist while we were
here. She knew that the artist split her time between Bocas and Panama City. On
our 1st day walking around we passed a couple tattoo shops right around the
corner from our friend's place and Alisa suspected that one of them was where
she worked. On that same block we past a mural that was a striking resemblance
to Alisa's first tat.
THEN, when we reached our friends' place who do you think
was standing in the elevator when the doors opened??? Yes, the tattoo artist!
And she doesn't even live in the building!
Needless to say.......Alisa got fresh ink 2 days later! [Ink not shown😉]
Our friends were gracious hosts opening their home to us. We basked in their
warmth for 3 nights before making our traditional stay at the Radisson for a
couple nights. Their breakfast and proximity to the mall served us well for our
time off the island. The mall is home to the arcade where the girls first
became enamored with full-sized video games.
Giant moth found in the hallway on the 24th floor or our hotel. We did a catch and release. It was like catching a bird!
Next leg of the journey took us to the working town of David. It was
an 8-hour bus ride that put us about 4.5 hours away from our final island
destination. Midway bus stop below:
We stopped there for a couple days so Alisa could take care of
some dental work with the wonderful dentist we met. We always stay at the same
place Hotel Alcala that has the best restaurant in town. Everyone who works
there is so lovely dovey....it's like stepping into an episode of Cheers! Of
all the restaurants we've frequented throughout my life this is the only one
where we hug the servers on our last day.
Someone's been sleeping in my bed!
Fresh squeezed cane juice with a squeeze of lime. Delicious beyond words!
Traditional stop for a Mani/Pedi at the curbside salon.
Alisa's breakfast of choice.
Finally, it was time to jump on the bus to Almirante where we would catch a
Launcha (small passenger ferry) to the island. The journey was pre-destined. At
the bus we got the last row to ourselves and then at the ferry we jumped right
into the last 4 seats without delay and were cruising over smooth waters to our
beloved island.
Cutest passenger on our van ride to the docks of Almirante.
Pulling away from the docks in Almirante.
Riding the familiar ferry it was like we never left. And pulling up to the
island felt like coming home. It took us 45-minutes to make the 3 block walk to
our lodging as we got and gave love to all the familiar faces. More to come on
that later...
Alisa hooked us up with a sweet pad as usual. Second floor apartment over
the water: Diving board, laundry service & half-block from our favorite
grocery store! Whereas on our earlier stay here we had a little beach shack
that had it's own charms; it also had a rustic (buggy) element. This place is
the opposite. It still has the all wood beach shack feel, but with sealed walls
and windows, ceiling fans in every room & a/c for Mrs. Alisa.
It's been over 3 weeks already and so much more has happened. We've already made a trip back to David. Kid's have played with their island buddies.....and us too! Alisa got recruited to start up her Pilates class again. Darrick's been surfing, surfing & more surfing!
