Mother's Day, Panama Style!

As some of you may know

Mother's Day is celebrated on Dec.8 in Panama,

the same day as The Feast of the Immaculate Concepcion.

In our town, they do it in style...

with one of the largest horse parades in the country!

(The best looking horse in Panama:)

So, this was my first experience with the celebration.

According to everyone I talked to, 

attendance was on the lower side than usual...

I couldn't imagine there being more people!

I had the best day ever and I'll be back in December,

only this time I'll be wearing boots instead of sneakers!!

P.S.

I'll also be prepared for the Parade of the Immaculate Concepcion

which the Catholic Church does at the end! 

It was wonderful,

but I only had my cell phone to take pictures at that point

and only 1 pic turned out decent:

This is an awesome experience & highly recommended time of year to visit Panama...if this is your kind of thing.

And for those who can stay out later than me,

dance clubs are set up in several areas with all the alcohol & LOUD music you can imagine!

Waterfalls, Parades, Horses and Rodeos!

 I had a couple of hours to spare after dropping Dylan off at school to get ready for a parade, 

so I headed up the mountain to see this waterfall:

I hadn't been up here in quite a while,

so I guess I'd forgotten how far it was...

By the time I got there, it was time to snap a couple pics & turn around!

Not only was I pressed for time to get back down the mountain,

I was also running out of fuel!

So I coasted.

Billy couldn't make it to the parade so Dylan was depending on me...

Luckily I made it!: 

A local rodeo:

Dylan & a friend enjoying his favorite thing:

The fun side of 2013

Not that there was much time for fun last year, 

but here's a few pics of Billy actually enjoying life here in Panama:

Distilling Brandy:

Crocodile Hunting:

Boat trip to Isla Boca Brava for lunch:

Fishing Trip

(Bottom right: Dylan's catch with spear gun)

Dinner from the ocean!

Oil Palm Farm

One of the many things keeping Billy busy:

The Oil Palms!

It took 60 hours to mow entirely!

(There are actually palms in that thick, tall grass!)

All done and looking good!

Boat House: Completed!

Here it is....

the boat house is done!

It was on the bottom of a very long list of things Billy had to do this year,

so after 12 months you can imagine how happy he is to be done!

(Coco was the apprentice on this job!)

Of course, as soon as the job was done, we had some repairs to do on the trailer before we could bring the boat home, 

so that added an extra month...

it the mean time the tractor had a cozy place to park!

And the finale:

Here comes Pan Blanco.

5 years at the marina and she finally gets to come home!

Congratulations baby! 

Job well done!