Panama – Boquete – Part 2 Finally COVID-19 vaccinations came to Boquete. Here Charlotte is getting her first Pfizer shot. Getting vaccinated will help us once again begin to travel – we hope. We went to the old Panamonte Hotel and Restaurant to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. They even started a nice fireplace fire – with a flamethrower, no less. Just before leaving for the states, a new restaurant opened up. Called Mesa Azul (Blue Table). We got there a day or two before their grand opening. We are with two good friends, Marcia and Fred. Just before heading to Panama City we had lunch with Don who is from Canada. He lived next to us and often gave us a ride places. This big rock ended up in front of the town hall. It’s amazing to think of the force of an exploding volcano to hurl this several miles! With a huge volcano nearby, there are lots of big rocks everywhere. Sometimes its easier to torn them into art rather than move them. There is art work all over Boquete. This is the mural on the gate into our AirBnB. For Christmas we decorated our second floor deck with a colorful peace sign – just like we used to do in Jackson, Mississippi. After Christmas we transformed our peace sign into a heart for valentines day. Later we found that the heart is the symbol for a brothel in Panama. Several neighbors were asking if we were in business! When we found out, we took it down. There was a quiet spot in the backyard where a stoned meditator kept vigil. Charlotte navigates this tiny swinging bridge over the Caldera River just at the south end of Boquete. For finishing the Boquete 5k, we got these medals. A few times we would come across these masses of worms on the sidewalk. No idea how this happens. The spiders seem to do a really good job on their webs. This one is catching a lot of moisture on a foggy day. While picking up trash on the streets of Boquete we came across this object, formerly known as a snake. I think it once had a head. But it has lost its head. This is the old one quarter wolf dog that lives here. She was once a terror to chickens and other small animals but not so much any more. You can put a little doggie treat between your teeth and she will grab it out of your mouth. This is the sign on the bin that holds our trash just outside the gate to the property. These are our friends who lived in the apartment below us. Tim is an American who worked for software companies around the world and Tu is Vietnamese. We all loved to walk, so we did some adventures together. At this moment they are in Bangkok, Thailand. These are the wonderful people we rented our apartment from for seven months while in Boquete. They were great hosts and friends. Rhoady plays the keyboard in the local jazz band and he did wonders for keeping Charlotte adjusted. Love his keyboard tie. We got interviewed about our traveling lifestyle by these two gals who do a weekly show on the local radio station. The studio is almost outdoors! Just three walls of rough planks. Here we are getting ready to run as the Basura Busters Team in the early morning Boquete 5k. That’s the finish line behind us. We finished the race that went up the river and back. Every week at the Tuesday Market in Boquete they do a drawing for a vendor gift certificate. One week I won! I still carry the beautiful embroidered coin purse that I got. When we first got to Boquete, this was the only recycling. A guy ran it who mostly recycled metals. Charlotte and I picked up somewhere around 10,000 aluminum cans and emptied them, crushed them and got them recycled. Here we are approaching the new city recycling program. Every Friday they have several employees helping people recycle at the fairgrounds. Here we are about to head to the recycling center. We have bags of 1) aluminum, 2) glass, 3) cardboard, 4) paper, 5) plastic and 6) tetrapacks (a type of milk carton). This is Charlotte wearing her Basura Busters T-Shirt. If you recycle three Sundays with the organization you get a t-shirt. Every Sunday from 8am to 10am the group picks up the streets of Boquete. A vendor near the fairgrounds took an interest in how we were cleaning the area and tried to buy a trash grabber from us. We were so impressed with his enthusiasm that we gave him a trash grabber and he took right to it. A nearby organization picked up trash for Earth Day and put up signs to help remind people to quit littering. There is a weather pattern in Boquete of a flying mist that is quite common. It often produces spectacular rainbows. This is the internal battery from our laptop. It is not supposed to be bulging like this. It is about ready to explode and create an expensive mess. Not having any of my tools anymore, I found a nearby company who replaced the battery correctly. They also put in a larger hard drive for me and transferred all the date over and did the job just right.