Our local beach spot, the one with no surf.  The surf spot is about 20 minutes away.

Tate with his friends at the soccer /basketball "concha" 2 minutes from our house.

                                                                     Our house
                                           The boys creating in the front yard sand pile.

It's amazing how little you really need to be entertained.




Gutting fish is fascinating...

                               

Countless scorpions and large spiders later we are thankfully unscathed by the co existance with these creepy crawlers-oooh, they give me the willies...

Besides the many unwanted BUGS things are pretty good in Pedasi.  

I have been asked many times about the days in the life of Pedasi.   Hhmhhhmmm, the days are all around 80 degrees, the wind blows steadily this time of year, with very little rain "the dry season" is upon us.    We  (I) wake up around 6:30 or 7 depending what kind of mood Zade is in.  If I'm lucky, I sneak out early for an early morning sunrise workout on the beach.    The beaches here are long and vacant.  There are no buildings right on the beaches so you can dance as if no one is watching (yah, I know were suppose to do that anyway, but who really does??).  

The tides here are very extreme so each day the beaches look so different from the next.  I have gotten really into beach combing, finding cool old pieces of wood to create things for our house.  I think the locals are convinced that I am one loca gringa- there is some truth there...

Monday - Friday we have school.  We are just now figuring out the balance of all that.  It's tough schooling a 5 and 10 year old in the same 700 square foot house.  somehow we are getting through it and Tate has really risen to the occasion and doing pretty well.  It's not easy learning everything from your parents, so, kudos to him for making it happen.   

As for Zade, he is learning his alphabet and numbers and trying to figure out how to make $$$, Us too ...

The town is so small we can ride our bikes all over.  Tate has  become so independent he rides his bike all over town.  ( Zade would like to be just as independent, wow, not quite ready for that). Tate has made a lot of friends, gotten himself on a soccer league, figured out ways to get out to the island for the same price as the locals get, he's found fishermen that will take him and his brother and dad out for as cheap as possible.  It's pretty amazing watching him adapt and become aware of the cultural differences.  His  Spanish has surpassed mine in the 4 months that we have been here,  blows our minds daily.  I am constantly being told what a mature, cool kid he is- so I think he is surviving well.  Although when you ask him if he wants to come back next year he will give it an emphatic NO. 

It's funny as we ride  through town on our bikes the kids will say  "TEET or ZED" hard names for the locals, but it's very endearing to hear them try.  The little blondie and red head don't blend AT ALL.   It seems everyone knows them.  That can be hard sometimes kids don't always want to be so different.   It's kind of nice for me because everyone knows where they live and who they belong to.   They have way more freedom here than they do at home- things are very small and safe here, it's pretty special in that way.  I'm not sure how all that will translate once we get back to the states  (I'm trying not to worry).

So for fun we surf, boogie board, fish, play soccer, go to the river (baseball is going to start for Tate next weekend).  There is not a whole lot to do here, it's definitely a simpler life. I miss being stimulated by art, music, friends and I really miss the awareness for the environment.  That might be one of my new projects to teach this community ..  I would love to introduce Surfrider foundation to Panama-  It's not that they don't care, they just don't know. 

The majority of the time we are really happy we have made this choice to do something different and try another way of life.  There are times when we look at each other and wonder what the h--- we have done.   It's certainly not the easiest path in the world and we are certain that we will not be moving to Latin America full time.  We love our home, family, friends and life back in Santa Cruz.  Although this has been such a great eye opener to the world and all that we are unaware of.  There are so many things that we now feel so grateful for that we may have not really noticed before.  Like what you might ask, well,  fresh organic foods of ANY kind, Thai Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mexican, American, French, Morroccon food right in your own town.  Okay, food isn't everything, but almost:))))  

WE do have multiple veggie trucks that come by our house, announcing with their mega phone "venga venga, pina, sandia, ,ajo, cebolla, venga, venga"!  It's pretty funny Zade loves to imitate that.  

Dwight has been chomping at the bit for something to do.  It's not easy to have provideritis here.   I think he would like to have a project  but we are also pretty non committal at this point.   He has done really well at getting a routine for studying his Spanish, he has learned a lot in the last months, we all have.  He spends his free time fishing and surfing and keeping up on the worlds news.  He is also looking hot sporting his sarrongs as you may get a glimpse of on facebook:))))

Okay it's a beautiful day out there, Dwight took the kids to the river so I could have some mama time now I'm needing to get out and breathe some fresh air and get the blood flowing.

I have been pretty crappy at journaling on here but I'm working on it- be patient and please keep in touch.  LOVE & PEACE AROUND THE WORLD...