AS CARNIVAL COMES TO AN END

After my last post, the excitement of Carnival left just as quickly as it came along.  Initially (a week ago or so), Ray and I were going to spend Sunday (one of the better days as we had been told) in the town of Chame getting soaked, dancing and partying with the town.  Greg and Thea were also going to partake in the festivities haha  We stocked up on food and drink for the day and night.  We made sure we went to the grocery store while the shelves were still full.  We filled up our gas tank.  We had been warned.  We walked to Chame and checked out the festivities on Saturday, so we would know what to be prepared for on Sunday.  After seeing the Queen, a few drunks, some families dancing, friends behind the fencing getting drenched, and then catching some souvenirs from the float, we decided Sunday would be better enjoyed poolside.  After all the excitement of Carnival, we needed lazy downtime.

First, we still had Valentines Day dinner to enjoy Saturday night.  Greg and Thea had invited us to their club restaurant at Coronado Golf and Beach Resort.  Dinner at Segundo Piso Restaurant did not disappoint (thank you friends!), even with the two year old toddler that joined his parents for a romantic dinner putting a slight kink in the ambience.  Upon entering the restaurant, we were given chocolates, a rose and a brandy with orange liqueur cocktail to start the night.  There was a set menu, and we ate in all entirety scallops and onions, tuna tartare, raspberry sorbet to cleanse our palette, steak and lobster and raspberry mousse.  Fortunately, there wasn't one shrimp to be found to ruin my meal (allergy).  It was all so good.  Absolutely outstanding.  Ray enjoyed every bite as well.  (We aren't huge seafood lovers, but when given the opportunity, we try it all.)  We walked to the pool area where we floated in hammocks for a short time listening in on the  karaoke party.  Once back to the main street of Coronado, we stopped at Picasso's to join our other friends sharing stories of the day and listening to Cell-U-Lite, an excellent reggae band.

Now we get to Sunday and the lazy days of retirement.  We spent the day at Coronado Bay with Greg and Thea lounging at the mid-level pool (there are three pools, and it was a windy day!) thinking about the wind and zero degree temperatures that my daughter and friends were experiencing in Virginia.  We brought with us all the food and drink we could manage, and I had made that red velvet cake in my crock pot!  We also made sure we had Brownie Brittle on hand with cream cheese icing.  And if that didn't satisfy, there was always ice cream in the freezer.  Delicious!  We decided to watch a movie after dinner and chose "Unbroken".  Historically disturbing, but inspiring in the end.

Once back at Casa Cuarenta, the night was quiet just as it had been Friday and Saturday night.  That is until about 12:30 am, and once again, I heard it only slightly, earplugs in as a just in case, and slept soundly.  Yesterday brought another lazy day in this thing called retirement.  We have noticed traffic picking up on the InterAmerican highway usually around noon, and our drive to Coronado and the pool yesterday took us fifteen or so minutes longer, since the police won't allow turn arounds in the usual place.  Plus, yesterday this one policeman was really directing traffic.  The day before, however, he was merely standing by his motorcycle looking at his cell phone.  And now they have these cardboard cutout policeman standing alongside the highway as well as a deterrent to drivers speeding by...artistic and an absolute deterrent, I know.

Up until noon Monday, there were 117 car accidents and nine traffic or drowning deaths. http://thepanamanews.com/wp/?p=8903  

According to article in link above, 130,000 cars traveled west from Panama City by noon Monday.

Our town of Chame yesterday afternoon had the usual crowd walking the town with teenage boys wearing the same logo t-shirts ("I'm Home, Take Me Drunk") only in different colors.  Others were wearing long pants and jeans soaking wet from being sprayed by the water truck.  I am always so hot just seeing the Panamanians in their long pants and jeans walking the highway, waiting for the bus, or just sitting on their porches.  The Chino (small grocery store owned by Chinese families, and yes, this is what the stores are called here) in town is open, but the entrance to the store has a locked gate.  To buy anything, you have to put your hands through the bars to collect food, drink and to pass money to the cashier.  Families were assembling on porches having what would appear to be BBQ's in the front yard.  In our neighborhood here, above ground pools popped up in the yards, Panamanians opened up their vacation homes, and the loud speakers are cranked up in the back of cars, in front as well as backyards.

A small convenience store that I have never seen open until Carnival time in Chame.  

And then there was today.  Eight inches of fluffy white snow fell on our lake house in Bumpass, VA where Ray will be Thursday night through the weekend, while six inches fell in Northern VA where I will be with my daughter and also my best friends for our annual "spa" weekend.  After going to the gym this morning (the owner was cleaning the pool today, since the staff is off for the holiday--I made sure the doors would be unlocked!), Ray and I decided to celebrate Fat Tuesday today soaking in the warm sun under the brilliant blue sky at our community pool.  Ray and I were the only one's there for the first two hours.  Our sleepy town of Chame was celebrating in the distance playing music for ALL to hear, and occasionally when the speakers grew silent, the band took over (I imagine those standing within the gates were getting soaked from the water trucks).

Getting ready to relax poolside.

But first I have to float (plenty of practice at the lake!).

Tonight, we will kick the night off with drinks, a wonderful Italian meal at one of our favorite restaurants nearby (one of the few open today with it being a Tuesday along with it being a National Holiday), Luna Rosa,  and then to the rooftop of Coronado Bay we go to check out fireworks (this just in---the fireworks were supposedly amazing and shot off the beach area at the whopping time of 7:30 lol--missed them, oh well).  We did have a chance to say quick goodbye to new friends that are leaving to head back to Canada on Friday and to say "see you in a week" to many others that were still having drinks on the rooftop.  A really great group of people have been vacationing here in the interior or have decided to make this their retirement home, also.   Tomorrow, we drive to the city in preparation to fly to Virginia for a snowy week.  One more pool day tomorrow at the hotel, flip flops stay behind, and although it is seventy degrees colder, Ray and I will be soaking up the warmth of our family and friend time at home in Virginia!