Many sisters = many birthday parties

I was invited to go yet another birthday party, a dinner for Meivis´s sister Marisol. I have a feeling Meivis´s parents liked to have fun in the month of November ;)

The lovely sisters.



Dinner was scheduled for 7 p.m. at a fancy restaurant on the causeway.

I decided that a nice dinner was worthy of wearing the only dress I brought with me. I also decided to fix up my hair instead of going with the pony tale I wear everyday. Meivis is in school now so I had some time to kill during the day. I ventured to check out a cafe I had heard had a free book exchange (bring some books - take some books).

I was surprised to see (or more accurately - hear) several Americans in the cafe. After I ordered a cappuccino and an egg salad sandwich one of the English speakers asked where I was from. They were also Californian.

After I had the mini conversation with the Californians, the guy working at the counter just stared at me smiling. I smiled back. He immediately proceeded to admit that it was his dream to someday be a chef in L.A. and to get a tattoo by Kat Von Drachenberg of his favorite band, Tiger Army. It was then that I realized he was the first person in Panama I have seen wearing plastic framed glassed. Everyone else here wears versions of the metal frames.

All of a sudden I had a deja vu of a trip to Michigan in undergrad. I had won a scholarship to go to a co-op conference. While in Michigan I was struck by the lack of diversity, but I also recognized that despite the fact that nearly everyone was Caucasian, there was still the break down of different social groups. There were the wannabe gangsters (M&M copy cats), the Amime fans wearing Tomb Raider shirts, Jamaican sounding dudes with blond corn rolls, etc. etc.

I realized the guy behind the counter was the brown version of Jesi´s hubby Mike. I also realized why the guy was staring at me with goo goo eyes. I had picked a rockabilly influenced hairstyle, which Brown Mike dreamily complimented. I was probably the closest thing to L.A. that the dude had ever experienced. Before I left with my new stack of free books, I made sure to tell Brown Mike that Spanish would come in handy in L.A., especially if he really wanted to go into a culinary profession.

Later, we took a taxi to dinner. The restaurant was on the Amador Causeway, which is where we went clubbing last weekend. Here is an exert from www.pancanal.com

At the southern entrance of the Panama Canal is the Amador Causeway. This beautiful and picturesque causeway, lined with tropical palm trees, and with magnificent views of the Canal and the Panama City skyline, was built from excavated material during Canal construction. It took 18 million yards of solid rock extracted from the famous Culebra or Gaillard Cut of the Panama Canal to build this Causeway. The Causeway was formerly part of a military base, which has been transformed into a flourishing tourist attraction. Great restaurants, hotels, shopping arcades, marinas and a convention center provide an infrastructure that is attracting ever-increasing tourism. The causeway is also the home of the Marine Exhibition Center of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), where visitors can see and touch exotic species of Panama's Caribbean and Pacific marine life, and learn about marine-coastal environments. An excellent paved pathway, the full length of the Causeway, is an irresistible temptation to anyone desiring a leisure walk, jogging, biking, skating or roller-blading. The causeway is also popular with locals and tourists who want to enjoy a swim in the Pacific Ocean; or simply relax with fabulous scenic views.

The Birthday Girl.



Dinner included clams, lobster, trays of meat, spicy chicken wings, deep fried bananas and pitchers of sangria. Admittedly an odd combo of eats. It was yet another great experience with Meivis´s family who I am becoming attached to and I am going to miss when I continue on my journey.

Meivis, Jeeni, Amarili.



All the ladies.



After dinner, the birthday girl, Marisol invited Amarili and I to go to a casino with her husband. I had seen casino signs, but thought they were just bars. Wrong again. Always up for an adventure, we agreed to go.

As soon as we stepped in the doors of the casino it was like being in Reno minus the smoke. Oh ya, no smoking indoors in Panama! I immediately notice how many gringos were there. Marisol warned me that we may be mistaken for prostitutes... Yikes. Luckily there were no propositions. I didn´t feel like goining to jail for a knee to the juevos.

All of the gambling was in Spanish. Marisol´s husband hit the roulette tables and the ladies hit the penny slots. Oh ya, I am a high roller. As usual, I left with more money than when I arrived. A gal has to know when to cash out or in my case push the button on the lower left hand side with Spanish writing on it...