Panama 2023 🇵🇦DAY 2🇵🇦

 What a great first full day in Panama! We all got a good nights rest - in spite of a brief EARTHQUAKE that woke me up around 3 AM. I thought someone had jumped next to the bed and made the floor shake for a quick second.  I didn’t realize it was an earthquake until Fernando‘s family mentioned it in the family group chat. We spent the morning unpacking, doing laundry, and Fernando went to El Rey grocery store to get his coffee & other breakfast stuff. We all showered and got ready to go to Fernando’s sister & dad’s house to spend the afternoon with his dad. When we pulled up, we saw Tenshi poking his head out to see us. 😂 It was hot and sunny today, but luckily there was almost a constant breeze to keep us from sweating through our clothes. Fernando and the boys walked to the corner store for drinks and snacks. Gabriel was happy to find more Mafa (a Panamanian snack kind of like a pretzel). They had given us some on the plane ride yesterday & he really liked them! I thought they tasted kinda bland & greasy. We really had a great time just hanging around with Papa Attilio & Tenshi. After Fernando’s sister Yoly got home from work, we all left to eat dinner at Ciao Bella, an awesome pizza place we have been to before on one of our previous trips. The boys both got good ole classic pepperoni. Fernando & Yoly tried the specialty pizza which had black crust and all kinds of seafood on it… like clam shells and everything. I got the Ciao Bella Chicken pizza which was chicken, cheese, onions, and mushrooms- the same one I got last time! Everyone but me tried a different dessert - Gabriel got some kind of small chocolate torte that had a tiny chocolate macaron on it, Fernando got tiramisu (his fav), Enzo got a lemon tart, Grandpa & Yoly shared a passion fruit cheesecake. I love how the restaurants here have good service. Someone held the door open for us when we arrived. Our waitress immediately greeted us & brought us all glasses of ice water. She patiently went over the menu with us. She even walked us to the door and thanked us as we left. Everything was excellent and we enjoyed a great time together. We took Attilio & Yoly back home and stayed for a bit longer to visit with them & Gerald. We got back to our apartment around 9:30 & I did more laundry and some work on my computer. Looking forward to tomorrow!! We love exploring together as a family & discovering tons of new places. I feel so blessed to be here and trying my best to be present in the moment! Sometimes I just do not feel like I deserve to be showered with blessings… I don’t want to selfishly hoard everything for myself; I want to be aware of others’ needs and share love & kindness wherever we go! What a blessing to be here in this amazing corner of the world that many others never get to visit in their lifetime.