Having breakfast the other morning at the famous Cafe Coca Cola, in Casco Viejo was an experience to be treasured. Liver and Onions with eggs and a huge Cappuccino was part of the pleasure but more was the "people watching". We, (Barb, my wife and I), were enjoying our food and conversation in this exotic little cafe tattered around the edges but still proud of an elegant past, when a man from a nearby table spoke to us inquiring where we were from.

Salvatore and Jacomo are Italian men, who happened to meet here in Panama from different pasts and were sharing a "rendez vous" for breakfast, they were young and not typical tourists, but rather very at home in this Latin world. They were surprised at the fact that I was eating so much for breakfast, and wanted to know if it was good. They preferred a croissant with coffee, but were intrigued just the same. Salvatore was a qualified sea captain, of about 50 years and Jacomo was a traveling painter, photographer, artist, of probably 30ish, who was in love with the architecture of the old city of Panama.

Very interesting people indeed, their opinions were fun to hear, and their life stories very exciting for sure. Salvatore is a self professed nomad, who explained a very profound philosophy, that chance meetings were divinely inspired, "coincidence was a word not found in his dictionary." He had traveled for the past 20 plus years around the world as an adventurer "feeding the freedom" he was still very much enjoying. He concluded after more than an hour of exciting conversation, this meeting must be to confirm the sanity and value of the adventure that I was on with my wife and kids.

That seems to be the way it works, these adventures people take. Here we are for the second year, Barbara my wife and I with our two kids, Tyler age 13, and Stephanie age 11, in a tropical city for the winter. Panama, is a beautiful friendly city 2.5 hours out of Miami, and the point geographically where North America meets South America. It is the place where the famous Panama Canal is found, running north and south much to my personal confusion. The little country is approximately the same size as New Brunswick, our home province in Canada, only long and skinny, and running not north and south as my mind's eye pictures it, but rather east and west.

Panama once was a part of the country of Columbia and in 1903 became an independent republic through the encouragement of the United States of America. The U.S. is the country that finished the "Moon Shot" of the times, by finishing the canal begun by a French consortium; finally in 1914. From our living room window, we watch monster ships slowly advancing into the southern approaches to the canal, and others, from the farthest corners of the planet, sitting at anchor in the bay waiting their turn. It's an amazing sight to witness these ships piled high with containers climbing up through the canal and passing slowly along the jungle path between the seas.

So what are we doing to fill our time, you ask? Well, Tyler is a fanatic about soccer, "futbol" as it is called here and has been logging the hours, of instruction and game play, often two or more hours a day for the two weeks we've been here. We've been to the local "Rommel Fernandez" stadium and witnessed two Fifa sponsored games, quite a thrill for both of us to watch World Cup teams playing live. So he's fully engaged.

Both the kids are enjoying their tutor who comes each morning to provide "home schooling", Paola has "downloaded" the curriculum from Bessborough school in Moncton, where we live in Canada, and she teaches these subjects and adds Spanish and Panama history as a bonus. Paola is a young lady attending Florida State University, Panama City campus, in the afternoons so is free to tutor the kids in the morning for us. Our hope is that this is a very enriching experience for them, yet we worry that the effort, and it is an effort, is lost on them somehow. They are very bright, so probably as parents we worry for nothing. That's what worry is, isn't it?

I am very fortunate to have some great friends here in Panama, one of whom, Gonzalo, is very well connected. Thursday evening past we went to the Union Club, the most prestigious social club in the country for a meeting of the "Panama Cigar Aficionados Club". A group of men meet on an open air patio overlooking the sultry Panama bay, filled with the lights of ships from around the world, a full moon overhead and share camaraderie, food, a great cigar, and an aged rum of Panama. At this meeting I was introduced to men from Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Turkey and there were two of us from Canada. Some around the table had terrific cigars to share, and one man brought a half dozen cigar lighters that were very special, that he offered to those around the table as a gift. We talked late into the night about politics and world affairs, food and our wives and kids, and generally went away filled with optimism for the world.

On Saturday past we were invited to the US Ambassador's residence for a "Picnic". A sprawling two story white mansion, on something like 5 acres of the most valuable land in Panama, over looking the city, complete with a beautiful pool, and garden party tents, and a big circus like blow up toy for the kids to climb and play on. There was a band playing "Jimmi Buffet" tunes, free food and drinks and a crowd of very friendly people from many national origins, all recent members of the American Association. It was a hot afternoon filled to overflowing with fun, food and conversation.

Then we came back to our perch in the sky, overlooking Punta Paitilla, a beautiful pocket of residential apartments on the waterfront of Panama City, opened the windows and allowed the tropical breeze to flutter through our drapes. It's hard not to smile at our condition, feet up and gently sweating in this little place of pleasure we have carved our for ourselves.

Jim Sellars,
Moncton's freelance correspondent in Panama