Panama days

And so we pass our time ...

Regis has tasks around the house for My Friend like getting the bikes operational which we are more than happy to do as that means we can get out and about.

We play with Sophie who is The Head of the Household, although she gets sick with a bad cold and misses 'school' for 3 days and is miserable - poor thing. No doubt we'll end up with the same thing. We are amazed that Kathryn and Regis can contact their paediatrician by phone in the evening and get a list of drugs from him to go to the local pharmacy before it shuts that night - all without a Rx or any cost for the call to the doctor ...

Before Sophie's cold peaked, Kathryn and I both spent a day in bed sick with some nasty stomach illness. Glad THAT didn't last too long!!

We go out for coffee with Kathryn a couple of times (there are a couple of lovely local patisseries) and My Friend and I return to one of these of our sorties out on the bikes. The Car is King here so we stick to the sidewalks - such as they are - power poles in the middle of them, HUGE potholes.

There is the swimming pool in the estate where they live but we only get there once with Sophie unfortunately - due to her cold.

I plant Regis's herb garden for him but he'll need to get the shade cloth over it fast before everything dies in the heat.

And Bobba the Dog gets walked everyday - always with 2 poop bags in my pocket for his super large doggy dumps!

My Friend has fixed a few door handles, put together Sophie's trike for her birthday (but her feet don't reach the pedals yet much to her mom's disappointment) and he installs a kids' table and chairs for her room (14 screws per chair he tells me!).

Sophie gets entertained with books, etc.

Plus a ride with her daddy now that the bikes are pumped up and oiled - and to make up for her own being too big yet.

Niah works in and around all this - she is a quiet delight and it is lovely to get her on her own - she falls asleep being gently rocked on your knee; or she wiggles around on her play mat surrounded by toys which she swats at haphazardly. And there are some little smiles.

We are up early our last morning (Friday). Evelio gets us out to the airport - traffic is good at that hour but is already building up in the opposite direction going towards the city - Carneval is starting.

Alison and Alex arrive Monday - hopefully the traffic won't frustrate their plans.

So it's goodbye to Kat & Regis and Bobba; Niah and Sophie are asleep - another restless night for Sophie and mum and dad due to her bad cold.

Despite allowing 2.5 hrs for checkin, it took 1.5 hours queuing to get to the boarding gate where we were security checked a 2nd time (!).

Flight is 7 hrs to San Francisco where we will overnight it before flight home tomorrow night. We fly back over Guatemala and Mexico where we have spent a good part of the past month and into the US of A.