Next morning I kicked it of little later, again walking to Casco from the hostel with this 26 kg of backpack. Fuck it, that thing is ridiculously heavy! I brought some books from home that I wanted to read and dispose afterwards…. now I’m wondering whether this was so smart. I went to the supermarket to get some fruits for lunch to eat at Plaza de Tomas Herrea in Casco. Healthy stuff and vitamins, hmmm.

Talking to some people on the street – here we have Lu.

After lunch, Elo and I drove to her parents’ place in Sona taking her car. A small Ford ECO SPORT, kind of 8 years old, down a 88k km, well in shape, but what can I say, seems a little ugly to me. 😉 Elo calls him sweetly “Gippsy”! She loves him and when she says that she continues “It’s the truth.” 🙂 At night we reached Sona and spontaneously met with her friend from kindergarten for dinner in this small town of countryside life. We got some pollo (chicken) from the grill, drinks and some fried stuff for the three of us: $6. Easy. I slept well at Elo’s parents’ place, a home made of wood in colonial style that is over 100 years old.

The route we took:

Puente de las americas – crossing Panama Canal:

 

Her parents weren’t at home that night since they had some stuff to do in Panama City. I should meet them later – asking my favourite question for this trip – I will introduce you guys to this soon. 🙂

 

At 6 a.m. we continued to Santa Catalina to have a spontaneous, but excellent local pollo breakfast. After some greetings with friends of Elo, we went to the beach. A place called Oasis to rent some surf boards and to get some instructions. First time surfing in the waves: Well, what can I say: Amazing experience going with the rhythm of the water. Sure, I was standing in the wave for a long ride after the second try. Strong. 😉 Some chilling at the beach complemented.

Local breakfast with pollo from the back Yard:

Fresh fruit juice at Oasics:

We left early afternoon to check out the Hostel “Surfers Paradise”. Wohoo, here we are! What can I say to describe this. Beeter look at the pics:

 

Elo’s friend, her fiancé and another friend joined. Amazing view and the best sunset in my life. Red sky at the horizon and still blue sky over our heads continued for several minutes after the sunset.

The next morning, we woke up in Surfers Paradise. Strong winds werde predicted for the day. We had a nice breakfast and a true paradise view. I was reading some of the books I brought from Germany. Food tipp if you are around: Check out Parrillada “Mary” for excellent local seafood – amazing!

We headed back to Elo’s parents’ place, where I got the opportunity to meet her family. Her parents are very, very nice people. I asked Elo’s mom my favourite question while Elo was translating:

“What does happiness mean to you?”

The lady answered slowly with strong wisdom in her eyes. One could clearly see the experiences and knowledge about life. She raised three children. Her mum is a very kind and lovely person! “Being peaceful and having no concerns.”, was her answer.

Elo and I headed to the river to do some Stand Up Paddling. We were paddling up the river, the current working against us. Good excercise. We had to walk some way to get over some shallows. Great nature around, watched birds flying. At some place, a girl at the shore shouted. “Mumi, tráeme a ese fulito paca.” Elo could not stop laughing for a minute and I was asking her for a translation: “Mumi, gimme that blond guy!” “…Besso besso”, the lady continued. Hahaha. Would this ever happen in Germany? 😉

After we came back, I met Elo’s Dad, a cool person. Her mum prepared some pork, salad and potatoes, as well as some dessert: sweet banana and some sweet milk with alcohol – they call it “Ron Ponche”. Delicious. I’m Wondering how they do it all without industrial centrebution. 😉  We went to bed early to leave early the next day, heading back to Panama City. There, it happened that I approached New York Bagels Cafe to start writing on the blog…

Don’t miss the impressions and pics of the post Me hablo Espanol & Panama City impressions!

About the guy