Saying goodbye to Boquete

Kaidens last days in Boquete seemed to fly by.  He has met so many new friends and it amazes me that as we walk down the street he is constantly saying hello to someone- and then he will say he/she goes to kids camp- they are a friend of so and so etc.  How great is that for an 8 year old in Panama.  He had his last day at Kids Camp and from the look of him when he returned he took full advantage of it.  He even won a game of musical chairs and won a dream catcher- I found this so appropriate for him to "catch" all his wonderful dreams of his trip.

Of course he could not leave until he had his last night of playing the bongos at Amigos.  He has his own following of our friends and did not disappoint them.  I am thinking a set of bongos is in his future!!!
All too soon it was time to say goodnight and goodbye to the people who have taken them into their hearts and a happy boy made the walk in the dark for his last time.
The next morning we finished packing and he ran around saying his goodbyes to our fellow apartment people. His goodbye to Dave was a thanks for well just being Dave and  to Ann and Rick for the cookies.  Bob and Pat arrived to take us to the airport since with the Indian protests I did not feel comfortable taking him on the bus. Yes the roads were open but things are very unstable and I was not going to take a chance on getting stuck along the roadway somewhere. 
We were lucky the roads were clear and we had little traffic- our flight came close to taking off on time and it was a smooth easy flight.  Kaiden got a great view of the Canal and the Bridge of the Americas as we flew in.  It is one of the nicest views I feel- you see all the ships sitting in the harbor awaiting their turn and  I could point out where we were we would be staying with Goldie and Mary.
Albrook airport was part of the USA's canal and is a very small airport - You get off the plane and have to walk about 400 yards to a door and for some reason they will not let you in the door until you show your passport - then you are crowded into a room and wait while they unload your luggage and call out each number for you to come retrieve it.  I had arranged for our usual driver to have someone to meet us and Kaiden kept saying he just knew it was going to be Jose ( he is the owner of the business) and sure enough it was- Kaiden acted like they were long lost buddies for some reason.  It is a short drive to Casco Viejo and the condo.  Little did Mary and Goldie know what having a whirlwind 8 year old would do them.  Ouiji the dog immediately loved him and Kaiden was running around the 3 levels taking it all in - of course he wanted first to see the roof top veranda.  Me I had a cool margarita and sat and visited with our hosts. 

After I had caught my breath I decided to show Kaiden around the area.  Life here is very different the streets are narrow and dirty and people are everywhere .  We went to where people are set up selling their wares- stopped and got and ice cream cone (not the 45 cents like in Boquete but $2.50 YIKES) I told him he had better savor every bite. 
We returned to the house and poor Goldie - Kaiden quickly became his shadow-sitting beside him on the rooftop asking countless questions.  I knew I was exhausted so figure he must be too but getting him into bed was not easy - me I curled up on the couches on the veranda and felt the cool ocean breezes over me and yep you guessed it fell sound asleep.  I woke up several hours later - looking at the stars and wondering just where in the hell I was.  But oh what a place to be.