Grandma it tastes like salt

Keeping up with an 8 year old grandson has been a challeinge.  I have been lucky as there is a school right across the street that has a playground when all else has been exhausted for him to do he asks to go play there - I can sit on my balcony and watch him.  This has reminded me of how kids used to be - how a swing set, slide and teeter totters can keep a child occupied for hours and nothing has an electrical cord.  I am sure he has not swung this much in years. What he does with the teeter totters has surprised me though - he does not sit on them but works to get them all balanced then walks away with a very satisfied look on his face.  He has gone both up and down the slides and of course has crawled across the top of the swingsets like a monkey. A  kid and his imagination is such a great thing- too bad at times electronics gets in the way.
But his time in Panama had to be more exciting that that!!!!
One Sunday we went on what is called the Island tour with Boquete Outdoor Adventures.  We leave at 7 in the morning and take a van ride for over an hour to Boca Chica- this is different than the ones I went on last year going to a different place to take the boat and also a different island. Kaiden was all smiles knowing he was going to the sea.  The look of surprise when we pulled into meet the boat and the area resembled the Mississippi river banks - what we were in was an area of Mangroves trees that spread through out the edge of he ocean- but once we left that area he once again was all smiles.  It takes about half an hour in a small boat to get to the island and it is very pretty huge beach - with rock outcroppings.  Kaiden jumped in and came up with a confused look - "grandma it tastes like salt"  I guess when you grow up in Iowa the idea that water would taste that way does not cross your mind. I said yes the ocean is salt water to which he replied "well where does the salt come from" duh......... where does it come from but I now have the image in my mind of a huge salt shaker somewhere over the ocean with salt coming out it as it slowly shakes.

Needless to say he loved it - when we were loading up the boat a little Panamanian boy was helping out - I am sure he was looking for a handout - and so our guide said do you want to ride along and he bailed in.  I wonder just where his mother thought he was all day???? He was 9 years old and of course the 2 boys got together.  It crossed my mind that the world could learn alot from 2 boys on a beach who do not speak the same language - they got along fabulously and never even asked each others names.  His dark tropical skin and eyes being such a contrast to Kaidens white skin and blue eyes- my own little United Nations right on a beach.

I took Kaiden out snorkeling- he was in a life jacket and trying to learn how to use the mask and snorkel correctly - I am swimming along without the jacket and trying to keep us both from crashing into  the rock outcroppings - I dropped my snorkel one time and the Panamanian boy got it for me - then dropped it again and lost it.  Meanwhile I am still trying to steer Kaiden who is totally engrossed in what he is seeing.  Finally I just gave up and on my snorkeling and stayed along side of him until I was too tired to swim anymore and make him stop.
When you go on this tour they provide a great cold lunch of fresh fruit, meat cheese bread etc and you make what you want when you want it. Together we walked the beach picking up rocks and shells- each one more exciting than the last.  Then the boys started playing and my relaxing time came to an end- as they kept going where I could not see them  I could not make the other kid understand that he has grown up swimming in the ocean where this Iowa boy has pools to swim in.  But play they did.

 The day was near perfect- but then anytime you put me on a beach it is perfect.  Seeing it through his eyes made it more special. He is making memories but so am I.  Ones that cannot be taken away from us ever .He was amazed as our beach disappeared to the tide- loved running into the rolling waves and being knocked down by them.  Finding shells, coral, and rocks of so many colors and shapes.  I had brought several grocery sacks and needed them all to hold his treasures.  We were able later to make a couple of necklaces out of them but the rest will be returning in his suitcase.
The day went by way too fast and soon it was time to take my slightly red, sandy boy home.  But the question keeps going through my mind - just where does the salt come from????