Apparently we all survived day one of the reunion, since most of us boarded the bus on Sunday morning for the road trip to El Valle. Up and over the mountain we drove, then down into the caldera we know as El Valle de Anton. There was very interesting entertainment on the bus trip with Chris M, Sue H and Neil D comparing the sizes of their . . . well, maybe that’s the subject of another story. Neil, you have some ‘splaining to do! We also stopped at several “banco maticos” (ATMs) so that Valerie G had two fists full of dollars when she arrived at the market.
And we did safely arrived at the local market place, which satisfied those of us with the extra shopping gene in our DNA. But our host for the day, Eduardo de Alba, kept us on a tight schedule and packed us back on the bus in a timely manner, and for good reason. He had arranged for us to visit his family’s home and finca in El Valle, where we debarked the bus again, were given a tour of the shady grounds by he and wife Georgina. During the walk we were re-introduced to tangerine, mango, bread fruit and papaya trees, sugar cane and other tropical flora. As we headed back toward the house, we were treated to wonderfully tasty finger food, not to mention sodas and cervezas.
From El Rancho De Alba we were taken to the beautiful Los Madarinos Hotel and Restaurant, where we were seated in three tables in an outdoor garden and served a sumptuous lunch. The U.S. Ambassador was also at the restaurant, but we had the best tables in the place! Somehow Neil D (BHS ’67 and Tammy’s husband) was separated from the other males and was seated with all ladies during lunch. Noticing his glassy-eyed stare, I went over to rescue him only to find out that his ears had fallen victim to high estrogen charged (or should I say low estrogen charged) post menopausal table conversation. Then, as I was helping Neil to escape, Linda P came around to tell us, and everyone within shouting distance, that the conversation wasn’t all that bad, they had just taught Neil how to go south on a woman! By the time Linda came back to try to ‘splain herself, it was of course, way too late. For the rest of the reunion, Linda was affectionately referred to as the “Queen of the South.”
The proprietress of Los Mandarinos was a good friend of the de Albas, so before she would let Eduardo leave, she insisted that he sing. So as she played the piano, we were once again treated to the smooth sounds of Eduardo, the singing lawyer; or is it the lawyering singer? Fully sated with wonderful food and drink, beautiful scenery, and visions of the south; we rode back to the beach.
One would have thought that the trip to El Valle was enough for the day, but noooooooooooo . . . our local reunion committee had set up a fantastic dinner at the famous Restaurante Camisones just down the road from Santa Clara. The reunion crowd almost doubled that night where we enjoyed drinking, and eating, and yakking, and “bailando-ing” – mucho bailando. Somewhere between the eating, drinking, talking and dancing; Sammy M (on behalf of the rest of the class) presented some small gifts and our heartfelt thanks to the Panama reunion committee of Eduardo, Johnny Moses, Ernesto Chong, Mike Chavez, Allen Husney, and Ramon Fernandez.
After a weekend like that, we all knew that pacing ourselves was not an option. The ride had just begun, and we were filled with an energy that we hadn’t felt since 1968.