Stan and Camille come to Panama

On Wednesday afternoon we picked up Stan and Camille at the airport.

We stopped for dinner at Niki's, one of my favorite places for simple, good Panamanian food, open 24/7. It reminds me a lot of Popes in St. Louis where my family would often dine before a movie on a Sunday.

We drove on toward home, stopping in La Chorrera at XTRA for provisions.

XTRA is like Machetozo, though not as new. It is similar to a target with a grocery store, meet department, hardware store, bulk supplies (like rice or beans), and a typico restaurant.

Thursday morning we swam, walked on the beach and had one of our standard brunches of fresh fish, fruit smoothies, watermelon and tortillas. As with all our shared meals, we had great conversations, renewing our friendship fromwhen we last saw each over in the early 80's. Both couples had some stories to tell.

We alternated our days between resting and going on outings. Thursday was stay at home day. On Friday we headed up to El Valle to the market and another nice lunch at Bruschettas.

Here is Stan in his new Panama hat helping Cam negotiate the purchase of a beautiful shell.

El Valle is about an hour drive up winding roads up and over the mountains that remain from a very ancient volcano. On the way back we stopped for dinner at one of our favorite spots, the Bayview hotel. The water was at extreme high tide and we watched some young men surf almost up to our dinner table.

Cam's Pina Coloda in a Pina.

After another rest day we drove up to Altos del Maria on Saturday. We have a lot up there we would like to build a weekend house on. From it one can hear the sounds of a waterfall. Stan and I went swimming in pond at the base of the waterfall.

When we returned to Gorgona we stopped for Flan at La Ruina, a restaurant built on the ruins of a very old bar. Frank and his wife Delcia are very proud of what they have done. Frank is a former military man. Delcia grew up in the village of Gorgona.

On Sunday we headed into PC to see the sights there and find a spot to view the Super Bowl.