Panama 7- Slow Times in Pedasi

After waking up in Chitre and not feeling the need to stick around for another day, I hopped on a bus to Pedasi. They kicked me out of the van around noon to a deserted city square. For a moment, I thought, "there's no way this can be Pedasi." After all, Pedasi was the "next big beach town" as my guidebook said. Apparently, that's still a ways off. If I can arrive at noon on a Saturday in the middle of the town during the height of the tourist season and the place feels like a ghost town, something that's supposed to be happening isn't.

Upon a more thorough investigation, I found the townsfolk. It seems to me that they take Panamanian time to a whole new level. Every living soul I found was sitting out on their front porch just lounging about and chatting. I had to physically wake the little old lady that was the owner of the place I had chosen to stay at. Nobody seemed to want to do anything remotely productive. I'm sure this was in part due to the extreme heat, but I suppose this is just the Azuero way of life.


(Here's the main street of the town outside my place in the middle of the day. Not a lot is going on.)

I knew I wanted a relaxing final weekend, and I got it. A quiet little beach town full of people that love to sit around and laugh is the perfect fit for my desires. And, like in Chitre, I'm pretty sure I was the only gringo in town.

I'll sum up what happened today with a picture:



No more, no less.

While at the beach, something happened that made me laugh the hardest I've laughed in a long time. It was a very windy day, and a woman's hat blew away. Her husband ran after it. It rolled down the beach like a wheel, and he ran as fast as he could to catch up with it. He swiped at it, and missed. He tried to kick it to knock it out of motion, but it righted itself and kept on rolling. He lunged for it, and fell short into the sand. This probably went on for about a quarter-mile down the beach and his wife and I laughed every minute of it. We applauded when we saw his tiny form finally manage to catch it a long way down the beach. I even chuckle just thinking about it.

So, my weekend of beach time has come to an end. Tomorrow, I will head back to Panama City for one last hurrah (I figure I should see the canal), so check for my final post on Tuesday evening.