Escape to Pana
Today we decided we would take a walking tour of our neighborhood then slip off to Pana without taking Joan with us. We hiked the 2,000 feet (I’m exaggerating but not much!!!) straight up the mountain to the church we can see from here which is next to the market. This is also the place where you can catch a ride in the back of a pickup truck for Q10 into Pana. These pick ups have a frame constructed over the bed that leans itself to supporting a tarp if the weather turns to rain. They build a seat on each side of the truck bed so you can set and hold on for dear life as you travel through the mountains.
Once in Pana we headed out to find lunch, a chicken, black bean, rice, and cheese burrito with guacamole and Coke Light. We stopped first at the bookstore in the same complex and bought each a book to read (we have no TV in our room). Then the hiking began up and down the open craft stores and shops. How can they think to make a living when as far as the eye can see down the street there are vendors selling the same stuff?? It is very colorful and very beautiful but every store has the same merchandise. Today we had to fight off all of the street vendors but there are so few tourist that no one is selling much. The question “What part of No, Thank You” are you not understanding comes to mind often. We walked along the ’beach front’ enjoying ourselves till I heard thunder then decided we needed to get back before the heavens opened up. We managed to get back to the Casa just before all of the heavens opened up. It was some rain! It was over in a couple of hours but we also lost power for 45 minutes. We ate early so we could see what we were doing then found the candles and lit them so we could move around safely. The lights were back on in a timely manner so our shower will not be an adventure.
My only purchase was a small purse/cell phone holder. I wanted to be able to have my phone with me but not stuck in my pocket which is not deep enough to keep anything from falling out.
Tomorrow we plan to take Joan with us for breakfast in Pana which she loves to do but has not done much lately. It is very hard for her on her own to get out much. The search for the crutch tip and/or another set of crutches is still on. It is the very least we can do to help Joan improve her quality of life.
