Panama 2010 – Day 5

Day 5 – Wednesday. Our last day in Pedasi. 😦

We slept in. Got up, and had yet another great breakfast. I forgot to mention that I started off my morning with a glass of Chardonnay. THEN, we had breakfast. Afterwards, we decided to finally trek down the cliffside steps to the beach. We took a beach umbrella and a beachmat, and headed out. Although out hotel is on about an 80′ high cliff, the property slopes down quite a bit so at the edge the steps down to the beach aren’t too bad. The tide was out, and the vast numbers of rocks which lie beneath the water were totally visible. The little beach critters were busily taking advantage of the opportunity to scuttle about doing whatever they do. We saw many tiny crabs running around carting their tiny shells – every time we would get near, they would plop down and pretend they weren’t there. They were too funny! And the hermit crabs were running all over the place – I couldn’t get near enough to photograph them though – they are fast runners! We saw lots of tiny fish and bigger crabs in the tide pools. As my friends know, I don’t often actually swim in the ocean, but prefer to look at it. That’s what we did today. We walked all over the beach checking it out, and plopped down on a big rock under the umbrella. The sun is fierce here, and the shade was welcome!  I had wanted to bring a Coke bottle full of wine, but “practical” Mike recommended a bottle of water, so that’s what I packed.  Once we settled on our rock, we were REALLY wishing we had the wine instead! Oh well. So, we just sat and enjoyed the view, took pictures, and watched the waves and critters. We finally noticed that the tide was coming back in, and once it neared our spot on the rock, we meandered back to the hotel. Then we plopped down in 2 chairs beneath the palms, ordered some drinks, and cruised the internet and enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below. We were totally lazy! Eventually shared a sandwich plate, and decided to take a nap during the heat of the day. Unfortunately, I really enjoyed my nap, and we missed the suntanning time completely! Talk about lazy. Anyway, we took a dip in the pool and stayed out until the sun went behind the trees – took more pictures, drank more wine & rum, and cleaned up for dinner.  Had yet another amazing dinner. If it sounds like we are eating, drinking, sleeping, and being laid back, that is exactly what we are doing! And enjoying every minute. After dinner, we visited with Hans and one of his friends who moved here from Wyoming about 7 years ago – he spends much of the year here, and some time back at home each year. It is interesting to hear the viewpoints of all of these folks who have moved here from the various countries (so far, England, US, Columbia) as well as the native Panamanians. Most of the folks we have met who live around here are younger than us, and are focused on being part of the development of this beautiful area. They are working hard, and contributing to the growth. We’re not so sure that we would like to live here as retirees – not sure what we would do with our time, as Pedasi is still tiny, and the larger towns are a ways up the road. But it is certainly beautiful, and we love the weather out here by the sea. Wonderful breezes, and being from Houston we don’t mind the warmth. It’s actually cooler than we expected, but we hear that the summers can get quite warm (like Houston) and are rainy (but much less rain than other parts of this country). I think that Pedasi and the Azueros Peninsula should be a potential retirement destination… We’d have to figure out how to spend our time! Tomorrow, we leave for Boca Chica, a small village on the Pacific Coast south of David. We will miss this beautiful place and the nice people here!