Panamanian Music Festival (june 23)

WOW…another fun-filled day! The day started off pretty drably. I did not sleep very well and thus was wide-awake at 6:46 a.m. I tried lying for a while after the alarm (which I forgot to turn off) went off at 6 o’clock but by 7:00 I just got up and decided to be productive. I moved all the chairs then swept and mopped the whole house. The 3rd bathroom unfortunately has this WICKED odor that we cannot figure out. So I mopped that and it helped alleviate the smell somewhat but Yolanda’s gonna clean it out more so hopefully that will help. There are still some spots on the floor that I could not get up from mopping but oh well at least the floor is clean. So now on to the funny part. After cleaning I decided to make myself an egg sandwich (the Euclid Drake’s know what I’m talking about because we love them). Our stove is a gas stove and I’ve NEVER had to use one before. So I turn the knob and it starts clicking…but no flame or heat. Okay, am I doing something wrong?? I try again and still no heat. So I try calling home to ask for help and of course no one answers. So I just decide to have a bowl of cereal and forget about it. But I need the stove so can someone help me out!? Do I need to hold a match over the burner while it is click click clicking?? After cleaning I went out with Diane (political secretary) while she ran some errands. We also stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items. Around 6:30p we hailed a taxi to take us to this Music Festival in Casco Viejo which is the Old Part of Panama where the city originally was centered. Of course, it was raining so the atmosphere was kind of miserable and dismal even more so because it was dusk/nighttime. The first pavilion we went to was playing salsa and reggaeton. The group performing sounded pretty good. It was hilarious because we saw Panama’s version of a crackhead dancing in the rain to the music. She was all by herself and GETTIN IT! Look at the attached pictures to see her. A little while later this old man started dancing with her and he too was quite funny! We then went in search of the jazz pavilion. On the way we came across the Música Típica. Unfortunately, this pavilion was in between changing bands so there was no music. However, in that plaza we did see some old buildings that seemed important but we couldn’t really tell because it was dark. One building we saw was this cathedral that was said to be the oldest in the Western Hemisphere (I think I got that fact right). Anyways, we eventually made it to the Jazz pavilion but it was indoors and already packed with people so we could not enter. Coincidentally, Michael called right then saying he was at the salsa pavilion so we went back there to meet up with him. By then the rain had stopped so it was more pleasant, yet still muggy. We hung around listening to the salsa for a bit longer before walking in search of the world music pavilion. This was also indoors but without a/c and therefore quite uncomfortable. The music was interesting/nice. After leaving there at 8:00 we went to dinner at this quaint restaurant. The food was appetizing and inexpensive. I had a glass of red wine, salad, catfish and a baked potato. We got dessert to go (slice of caramel walnut pie) and headed home. Michael paid for the meal again so that was a blessing from the skies. I went to sleep early because I had an early morning ahead of me.