38th...last visitors; and civil unrest!

Well, we are in our last month here in Panama and that makes both Sha and I a little nervous. We have settled a little more than either of us planned on here at House Coronado; but it has been paradise to say the least!
​A few things have happened since I last shared some news with you; so I'll pass on the new data that has been collected. Sha and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary on October 19th! That was then...

...this is now!

Time seems to move both fast and slow. It does seem like we've been together a long time; but it also seems like we are just getting started in our new life. I guess being married to your best friend allows you to have it both ways. We figured since we were getting so good at this, we deserved two anniversary dinners. First, on the 19th, we did our best at Thursday night Trivia at Picasso's and then we went to the unique garden restaurant, Cafe Med on the road to town for a wonderful evening and a great dinner. A glass of wine led into the tuna tartar, followed by bruschetta de casa (might be better than Chi town's finest--don't let the looks deceive you!). Sha then opted for the spinach and ricotta cannelloni and I had the seafood casserole. We then had to finish with the fudge brownie with ice cream to pair with our second glass of wine.

We rested during the morning and got ready for Friday afternoon BINGO at Picasso's in a rain storm and then slummed it by eating at home that night (more on how sucky it has been to eat at home later). The rain continued throughout the day and into the night. As you may recall, we have access to the Coronado Tower and are connected to the generator for the building that kicks on when power is lost for any reason. The weather since March; when the rainy season started, has been much drier than expectations and has impacted the operation of the Panama Canal for many months. It has given us gringo visitors a mostly hot and dry rainy season to work on the tan lines. As the end of October approached, the clouds increased and evening showers have been more frequent. This night as we were watching TV, the power was lost and it was dark as heck fire in the house! As always, the faithful generator roared to life outside our house and we waited quietly for the lights to come back on.

We knew the generator was working because we could see the emergency lights were on in the parking garage; as if the jet engine roaring outside was not enough to evidence the generator in operation. 

As we waited, the darkness got a little oppressive and Sha got the headlamp we use for walking to and from the two restaurants near us so she could refill our wine glasses in the kitchen. 

We waited in the dark for the lights to come back on...and we kept waiting. We were grateful to have the headlamp so that we could find our toothbrushes to brush our teeth before we went to bed--without the A/C!
We were both surprised to have slept fairly well, but knew immediately that power had not been restored because the lamp beside our bed that I had left on was not working and the generator was still hard at work. Long story short, a purchased ice bag was put in the freezer to preserve our frozen foods and 18 hours of no power was resolved with our handyman, an electrician and the Power Company getting our power back. Just in time for  us to get ready for Anniversary dinner #2!

On Saturday the 21st, we went to the closest Italian restaurant, to our house, Lunarossa (it takes about 4.5 minutes to walk there) for anniversary dinner #2. Sha has been loving the chicken marsala here and my go to is the seafood fettuccine in Alfredo sauce (their pizza is really good too!). We might have to make this two-dinner anniversary thing a standard practice!

I think I'll finish the food section of this post before we shift gears, revealing two samplings of some of the wonderful meals we have prepared together at our house. First offering is the combination of marinated and grilled mushrooms that were paired with scallop potatoes and grilled salmon...best mushrooms ever!

The second example is Sha's famous beet, arugula, crushed nuts and feta cheese salad, paired with pasta and grilled tuna...yum! Just so you know, there is the occasional hotdog, ham and cheese sandwiches, PB &J lunch or chili, pizza or hamburgers for dinner too. They just don't look as nice in pictures.

Now to the casa (house) and country data collected since the last post. We were excited to have our last guests coming to see us the last week in October. We first met on our initial trip around Costa Rica in Playa Grande and really enjoyed each other's company. Maghan and Charles are from Charlotte NC...we call them the "Royals". We planned a four-day itinerary of places to go see for their stay with us before they would leave to go to the Bocas Del Toro area on the Caribbean side of Panama. About a week before their arrival we began to worry about the news we were hearing regarding the open-pit mine in Panama and the new contract that the government signed with a Canadien company to continue operations. The President of Panama signed the new contract late on October 20 and news of protests were hitting the internet by the 22nd. Unfortunately, I'll bet this news hasn't been covered anywhere else. People are pissed! Sha was constantly monitoring the web for local information as we wondered if our friends would be able to get to Panama, and more so if they would be able to get to our house!

As the days passed before our friends arrived, the news did not improve; it actually got worse. Country-wide protests were reported, more roads closed, areas cut off from food, fuel and necessities. We had originally planned to pick the Royals up at the main airport but needed to change plans due to the unstable changes in what roads might be closed due to protesters and any possible ways to find an alternate route around them. We hired a recommended driver from Panama City to pick them up and bring them to our house. Well, the normal two-hour trip took five hours and thirty minutes from start to finish.

Charles and Maghan in Miami before flight to Panama.

Sha and I were both happy to see those same big smiles on their faces when they finally arrived!
We had to monitor the protest locations closely because they were occurring more frequently in our area, and ultimately there was one on the highway just to the south of our entrance into Coronado and our house. We had decided to head to Playa Carocal and Punta Chame for the afternoon, hopeful that we would not encounter any protesters on the road. We ate lunch at the (remodeled) Surf Shack and walked on the beach at Playa Carocal. Then we drove up the 5 mile long thin peninsula to get to Punta Chame; not before we stopped at the kite surfing school/restaurant Solé for a beer. Punta Chame is a small fishing village that Sha and I love to drive around and look at the houses, people and their beach full of boats.

Having gone down every road in town, we decided we had better head for home. As we approached the entrance to Coronado we encountered this...

A very short distance past the REY sign on the left (in the above pic) is where we need to turn for home. Straight ahead, you might even be able to see where the left turn lane juts out. Here's what happened next...(play video)

We successfully navigated the drainage ditch that separates the highway lanes to reach the entrance to Coronado. With two "Malls" on each side of the entrance road, we had to go and see the actual road closure and protest in person.

After feeling like we were up close and personal with the local protest and road closure (the protesters did let some cars pass through every hour or so), we headed to the newly reopened La Hauca de Duende (the German beer/cigar restaurant) for some pints and dinner.

​Charles tried two different sausages...

Sha and Maghan had the goulash, and I had the schnitzel.
​Topped off with a couple of in-house brewed beers was perfect way to finish our day.

Luckily the protest closure of our exit/entrance to Coronado didn't persist the next day and we decide to try to go to the San Carlos market and then show them the cool stretch of beach we found; and then go to the Boga Bar (one of our favorite places outside of Coronado) in the Vista Mar complex. 

​San Carlos market...yep it was that big!

Also at Vista Mar harbor next to Boga Bar...on a 3 year mission around the globe to fight plastic waste in the ocean.

The Royals brought us a southern care package full of comforts from the States including coffee, a specialty jam, snacks and a bag of grits. Never having had (let alone made grits) they offered to fix breakfast for us. Gotta say, didn't think I would like grits...but dawg gone, I do!

We also went back to Picasso's one night to see a local band and enjoy some sangria.

The Royal's last night with us was Halloween and we were all invited to the Tower's rooftop Halloween potluck party! Sha made some chili to share, and we packed a cooler and headed for the top floor.

We all had a good time and met some new people we hadn't seen before. We called a fairly early end to the evening as the driver we hired to return them to the city was arriving at 4:30 AM to be sure they had enough time to get through any roadblocks and not miss their flight to Bocas. The happy, yet sad send off the next morning returned us to being empty nesters. We hope to reunite somewhere in South America.

The protests are continuing...there does not seem to be a readily available solution. We are still safe; although some violence has been seen and several deaths have occurred in different locations. We'll keep you posted.

​On a happier note...somewhere in there, there was also a full moon.

I have to say that Sharon, no not my Sharon, has been pressuring me to keep the data flowing; and I appreciate that persistent nudging. I also appreciate her detailed review and reflection after new postings and want to acknowledge her active readership; thanks!
As I have previously detailed, we will be heading to Columbia on December 7th to visit Cartagena for a month and then on to Santa Marta for the next month. Our next task will be to figure out how we will circumnavigate the continent of South America and determine which way we will go to see what we can see.

We are counting down the days (kind of, but not really) to our departure; but plan on enjoying every minute here in Panama.

​I'm sure there will be some more data to be collected here in Panama before we leave. If I find any, I'll share it in a timely manner.

Stay safe and happy everyone!

​Pura Vida!