We were happy to finally get Aunt Kim into Panama last Thursday after that nasty NE weather snarled her original flight plans. We had just one day in Pedasi before we hit the road to show her some other parts of the country. Our first stop was David. We did some errands yesterday and poor Dan had some bad luck with the police. They frequently put up stops where they check your license. Last night while out with the girls to get ice cream, one such stop was set up but Dan remembered he did not have his passport (it was at the hotel). So he turned around. No es bueno. The cops pulled him over and told him that is a big warning sign for them – someone turning around right before a police stop. So after some frantic texting between me and Haley, some pictures of his passport sent and some lengthy discussion in broken English, the police let them go. There was one more police incident that night when Dan tried to move from a left lane to the right lane at a light so he could turn left. A police standing nearby tried to discuss the error of his ways with Dan but just then the light turned green and traffic demanded that he move along. Crisis averted yet again.
Today we drove to Volcan to see the sloths. This was our second time visiting the sloths (but Kim’s first) and we met Boomer, a howler monkey who was adopted at 6 weeks old. He’s now 4 months old and is very silly. He wears a preemie baby diaper and he loves to hang out on your hair. At any given moment you might be distracted by a large sloth and all of a sudden a monkey has jumped onto your head. We had a good time with Boomer and of course seeing our friends the sloths again. We learned that sloths love almonds but it’s good if you pre-chew them and offer it to them in a ball of mush. I was the only one feeling maternal enough to do that.
We continued along our way and stopped for some fresh strawberries and cream at Cerro Punta, where most of the fruits and veggies in this country are grown. The views were amazing and this time it was not pouring down rain, like the last time we visited in October.
After that we headed to Boquete to show Kim our old stomping grounds. We showed her the Spanish school, Valle Escondido where we first stayed when we arrived in Panama and the town of Boquete. It was nice to see it again but we sure missed the warmth of Pedasi. It started raining, with much irritation on Dan’s part.
We had one more run-in with the police tonight when we turned the wrong way down a one-way street trying to get back to our hotel. The police were there once again to discuss our wrong-doing. Thankfully they were very understanding as to why we messed up, since the cop himself pointed the direction to the hotel down that same wrong way street! So this time they just gave us some good directions and off we went.
Tomorrow we take off for Bocas to see the Caribbean side of the country. Yay! Beaches! We will be parking our car in Almirante and taking a water taxi over to the islands. Hopefully that will help us stay out of trouble with the police.
