Los Amigos de Alex Nos Visitaron

This past week, Alex’s two best friends since middle school, Matt and Austin, and their girlfriends, Jennifer and Alex, came to visit. The week was planned down the second thanks to Alex and his iCalendar.

We rented a minivan to pick them up from the airport when they arrived Monday evening. On Tuesday we got up early and drove to Isla Grande, on the Caribbean side where Alex and I had gone with José and his brother in January. Since we went on a weekday this time it was much less crowded and we enjoyed sitting in the water, chatting and drinking beers.

We drove back to Panama City that evening, stopping at Portobelo along the way to see the old fort.
For their second day we took them on the same tour as my brother’s first day: Panama Viejo, the Peatonal, and then Casco Antiguo. They also enjoyed raspados, but alas, no brochetas.

We then flew 20 minutes on the Pacific side, still within the Bay of Panama, to Isla Contadora in the Islas Perlas. This was the former “counting” island when the Spanish were here, and what they counted were pearls found in the island chain. We stayed in little studios, Cabañas de Contadora, a few minutes from several of the best of the island’s 12 beaches.
The first day we were there we stayed close to home and went to Playa Cacique. The water out there was COLD! Much colder than any other beach we’ve been to so far in Panama. Still, it was hot under the sun so we swam anyway (and it was still less cold than when I went to the beach in CA in September with Alex).
The second day we ventured further, first to Playa Larga, a long, sandy beach with warmer water than Playa Cacique, probably because Larga faces the coast while Cacique faces the ocean.
After cooling down with a swim we went to Playa de las Suecas, the only beach in the country where you can legally sunbathe nude. It was rockier, so we thought the snorkeling would be pretty good, and it was. Near some large rocks we saw a huge manta ray, probably almost two feet across. It was a little scary, but cool to see something so big. We also snorkeled at Playa Larga, which was excellent. Tons of colorful fish were swarming around us in the rocks. Alex and Austin also an even bigger manta ray and a poisonous rock fish. On the beach we found a blue jellyfish that had washed up on shore and died.

We returned to Panama City and Alex’s friends had one last day with us before leaving. We rented a car and took them to the zoo, the mall, and the Causeway, and then ended their visit with dinner at a sushi restaurant (Panamanian sushi is a little weird, and many of the rolls contain things like plantains, chicken, or cheese)