Rolling Stone-Hinds: 2008

zade surfing

Tate and Zade are both becoming quite the water kids. Tate moved up to a regular board and is nothing short a surfing maniac. Zade just keeps telling me "I got it Dad" . Cheers to all!
DH

Our trip to Santa Catalina was very wet, it rained, and rained, and rained. It's reputation for great surf and fishing remains! We stayed at a little hostal called Rolos right on the water. The owners invited Tate and Dwight out to the point on their little boat, lots of fun was had. Zade was not happy about all that but I ended up taking him to another surf spot he surfed for the 1st time ever- wave after wave, he's a natural!!

The hostal experience was really great for the family , the kids loved hanging out with all the travelers, we had many good laughs and plenty of fish to go around. We decided to start keeping a world map journal of all our new friends we meet along the way and some fun facts about their country, it's amazing how much there is to learn about the world...

All in all it was a good road trip, we are ready to go back to Pedasi and keep searching for a place to live.

This is Tate these days-
DEFINITELY NO PHOTOS,
so if your wondering where he is
don't worry, he is with us in Panama
although he would rather not be.
He misses his friends and his life...
Santa Cruz Montessori is missed...
Homeschooling is hard and not exactly what he had in mind.
He is learning Spanish the quickest of us all, he has a great memory.
He is constantly correcting Dwight and helping him think of the word he needs.

Venao is the surf spot that was suggested by many, it was way blown out and not good the 1st day we went but the next time we went it was beautiful, Tate got the rides of his life. No, I didn't capture it , a bit pre occupied by the beautiful water too, a memory moment. HHMMM, a water camera would be nice.

Headed to Pedasi

We heard the small pueblo of Pedasi was a great place to be ... with surf/ fishing and great people, so far we agree:)

It's not always easy to be different.

Zade's 1st coconut

We drove about 2 hours towards the beach, ended up at a beach called Santa Clara. A little too touristy, so we stayed one night and continued on. The warm water was beautiful and cooled us off, aahhhhh.

Our room without a view...

We only spent a week in Panama City, which wasn't too bad. We stayed in the Congrejo area , it was clean, safe, and had some descent restaurants in the area. There was a great little park nearby that Tate & Zade both found some fun playing soccer (Futbol) with the local kids. A good way to connect with not much language needed.
Everyone is a bit culture shock by the lack of ability to communicate, especially Zade, often asking why everyone has to speak Spanish.
We bought a car, surf racks, new tires, a Panamanian insurance policy and off we went...TAKE US TO THE BEACH, IT'S HOT!