Happy New Year
We're
off on and running with another new year. The parties are over, and I
survived them all with nary a hangover, though I did eat a bit too much
blackeyed peas and cornbread yesterday. May this be your best year ever.
Christmas Party in Caimitillo
In
the old days when I was still doing weekend warrior duty with the Naval
Reserve, we used to put together Christmas parties for a small school
in Utive, but stopped doing so when the Reserve Unit disbanded in 1999.
The fellow who used to plan those parties (I'll call him Bubba, since
he asked me not to use his real name) called me a few weeks ago and
asked if I would be interested in helping out with a similar party in a
village called Caimitillo. I was only too happy to participate. On the
day of the event we gathered a few miles from the school at a friend's
finca and had a few beers and memories. The finca is bounded on one
side with a small spring-fed stream which joins another small stream on
the road where the entrance to the finca is. Normally this stream runs
a few inches of water and the ford is only about 10 feet across. On
this day, it started raining, and when we left to go to the school, we
found a raging torrent of water across the road. I'm pretty much an
off-road novice but am well aware that my Jeep Cherokee is capable of a
lot more rough road than I am, and this gave me pause. Nevertheless,
the lead vehicle, a Dodge Ram 2500 4X4 with a honking big Cummings
diesel made it with no trouble at all, so I decided to try it. Sure
enough, the Jeep seemed to not even know there was water on the road.
The third vehicle, a smaller Nisan 4X4 also had no trouble, though its
driver was even more reluctant than I. I moved over to let the other
driver get in front of me and we soon came to another raging torrent of
water pouring over the road. The Dodge had no trouble, and the little
Nissan made it just fine, as did I. Then the road got very steep and I
thought we would likely not have made it, even with our very capable
vehicles, before the red clay was topped with tosca earlier this year.
Then we rounded a curve and found yet another river of water flowing
over the road, but again we all made it with no problem. More about
this later.
We arrived at the school and unloaded the gifts and
drinks, then met the parents and school staff. There were about 25
children, and at first everyone was a bit shy and reserved, but we all
warmed up to each other as the party progressed.
Remember that
steep hill I mentioned? Earlier that morning, Bubba and Joe Bob, two of
the organizers had started to the school to deliver the food, but were
unable to ascend the hill in their pickup (the 4 wheel drive wasn't
working). They had passed the food to a delivery truck on its way to
the school. Strangely, some of the ingredients seemed to have not found
their way into the arroz con pollo, which had no mixed vegetables and
very little pollo. I guess there's magic in the mountains.
After
a filling meal, there were some games with the winners each getting a
small gift, and then the individual presents were passed out, and we
said our goodbyes. Then came the scariest part of the trip.
As
we reached the third river we had forded on the way in, I did a
double-take on the bridge we had driven over when it was flooded, but
now was high and dry. There was less than a foot of bridge on
each side of my Jeep with nothing but a two feet drop onto large rocks
on each side. It was obvious how close to disaster we were when we
drove across the flooded bridge. Oh well, what's an adventure without
an element of danger? I can hardly wait for next Christmas.
Leñas y Carbon
Last
Thursday evening Nora and I, Rachelle and Smitty, Pat and Buzz, and
Ruth and Bill all piled into Big Mo, our Suburban, and drove to the end
of the Amador Causeway. Right on the water, where the Cruise Ships
bring in passengers sits Leñas
y Carbon (Wood and Charcoal), a first class restaurant specializing in
grilled seafood and meats. The food is excellent and service attentive,
but as always, I can be depended on to find something to complain
about. They didn't have tomato juice so my preferred before-dinner
drink, vodka with tomato juice, was not available. To rub salt in the
wound, Panama beer was available only in cans. And the outside area
where we were first seated, is a smoking area, but we insisted on
non-smoking seating and were accommodated inside. Aside from those
quibbles, it was a very nice dining experience with excellent company.
We were kept highly entertained observing rich playboys with their
pneumatic escorts. Some of those young ladies simply make too much of a
good thing.
Our meals ranged from grilled chicken breast to
the grilled seafood platter which Nora and I shared, and only one of
the party, who shall remain nameless, was able to eat everything on the
plate. The rest of us took doggy bags home. Plan on spending
$20.00 to $40.00 per person. This would easily be a three thumbs up
restaurant if they stocked tomato juice and bottled Panama beer, but
with those faults, it gets a two and a half thumbs up rating.
Cast-iron Skillets
Novey's
now carries a nice assortment of cast iron skillets and pots. I wish I
could say a full line, but the corn pone molds I've been hoping to find
are not in evidence. Most of the items are Lodge brand and very high
quality. While prices are a lot higher than in the US, at least they
are available. I haven't been to all the Novey stores, but you can find
them in the Costa del Este store for sure.