Long weekend- Friday

We had a great long weekend because classes didn’t run on the Friday of Semana Santa (Holy week).  Instead of spending the morning at the language school and the afternoon taking naps at the house like we had been doing all week, we got out to see some of the surrounding areas and even rented a car for two of the days.

Danny goes right to the source!

Cal takes in the view while sitting in timeout!

On Friday Evelio took us up to his family’s property in the mountains. It was a beautiful drive up into the cloud-shrouded hills and we looked for eagles and parrots as we bumped along in the truck.  We took a little hike while he checked on the water pipes at the farm.  He told us a lot about the area and the coffee plantation that sits on the hill above the property.  Apparently it is too difficult for trucks to get up the steep wet slopes in order to pick up the coffee so they have devised a pipe system that runs the coffee down through the hillsides. It comes out of a spigot right next to Evelio's property to be transported down into town for processing.  We could see evidence on the ground of beans that didn’t make it all the way to the truck.

That afternoon we visited the newly constructed Boquete library. It is really nice and reminded Harper of the library in Basalt.  The library had a great kids section and much to the delight of our kids there were books in Spanish and English.
After returning to the house Harper and Cal got a ride on Rosita, the horse.  Evelio and Yira got them all set up and then Danny walked the kids in circles around the property.  Michele, the little girl next door, also took a ride with Cal.  They all thought it was pretty funny when Rosita walked through the high grass and stopped to munch for a long while.  Harper and Cal hope to ride Rosita at least once more before we leave.

In the evening we hung out with Evelio and Yira.  Yira brought out a glue gun and some supplies to make barrettes and Harper was on cloud nine.  Cal got a little sad when it seemed like he wasn’t going to get to join in on the girly fun with a new barrette so Yira indulged his need to be just like his sister and made him one, too.

Yira shows off her creation.

The bow really compliments the mosquito bites and goose egg on his forehead.