Dog's Day Afternoon

Today we are in Panama City, by far the best Central American metropolis. We're staying at a mansion/hostel which overlooks the boats docked on the bay and the downtown skyscrapers in the background. The mansion/hostel is in the old town: cobblestone streets, fish market, some parts dirty, some parts European. We're going to venture downtown soon to do some essential shopping, I have a feeling it will be Miami-ish. Later we're going to head to the Canal and watch the boats come in (we'll blog about that afterwards, sorry no pictures).

A few days ago in Bocas, we were super hungry, walking around looking for a cheap place to eat. Finally we settled on a "soda" which is a cafeteria type restaurant where you point at what you want and the lady spoons it out. I got the stuff that looked like chicken thighs, it looked pretty good, too. Alvin got fried chicken. We sat down to eat and I started to work on the meat. it had this thick outside layer that was unusual. It was in between a skin and a cartilidge texture that enveloped the meat. I knew something was up. I took a tiny nibble and so did Alvin. It was super tough meat. Then, the cook came out to smoke a ciggarette, I asked her "Cual animal?" (which animal?) and pointed to the plate. She said "puerco, woof woof." And then, as if on cue, this cute puppy came up to our table to beg for food. I spent the rest of the night spitting and brushing my teeth.

We'll be in Panama City for a little bit longer. Stay here and celebrate Passover at the hostel. Then, eventually work our way back up to Guatemala.

We miss our family and friends mucho. See you in about a month.

Love,
alvin and donna