We're getting closer...

As usual, we had to find a place to stay. We saw a large, public looking building on our right, so we decided to check it out. As we approached we saw that it was a mosque. Cool, it would be awesome to stay in a mosque and talk with the locals there. However, there was one big problem. Me. Although I'm not very girly, the fact that I have a vagina was enough to put us out of luck. "Who is that? Your wife...girlfriend...?" "Oh, no, that's my sister." "Ah, oh, uh huh, well..." Whisper whisper in Arabic to a companion. The verdict: "It would be best if you could find somewhere else to stay." I suppose we'll never really know what happened there. It seemed that my femaleness was the problem, but perhaps there was some other reason. It was mentioned that people would be coming throughout the evening to worship; perhaps they wanted to preserve the mosque's environment for them. Perhaps other cyclists had stayed there and the sweaty odor of months of putrefied exertion was enough to make them decide never to invite bikers in again. Who knows.

So we continued on down the road, spotted a private school and, helmets in hand went to ask for a place to lay our heads. MC said yes! MC is a warm, wonderful woman with tons of energy from Pennsylvania. And Haiti. And Florida. She speaks French, Creole, Spanish and English but says that everyone teases her in each language. She introduced us to Erik Omar, the night watchman, made sure we had everything we needed and bid us goodnight. That evening Erik Omar took us to his sister's home in town so we could use the internet. We took a van stuffed with weary workers on their way home or to the hospital for the night shift. We got off in town and walked through the center by crowds of people shopping, having a sweet after-dinner treat at bakeries, and meeting with friends. When we arrived at his sister's house we were immediately ushered into the living room and introduced to all the family members. We noticed all the instruments in the room, and so they handed Eric a guitar. He strummed along a bit and Erik Omar's brother in law played us some regional folk songs on a 4 stringed ute-like instrument. While I wrote a blog and did some research online, Eric kept everyone entertained with stories from our trip. To our surprise they suddenly brought us out heaping plates of food, and we gorged on delicious fried plantains, fried chicken, and fried empanadas - quite the divergence from rice or pasta! They kept insisting that when they feed guests they want them to be FULL! so we kept eating. When we were completely finger-lickingly full they all sang us a song, said a prayer for us for safe travels, and dropped the three of us off at the school. What a wonderful, unexpected treat to have spent the night with Erik Omar's family!

The next day we were on to very different tasks than usual - coloring! Eric and I colored paper bears for each of the students, and later we went out to play with the kids on the playground. After a couple of hours of fun it was time for us to hit the road. We said our goodbyes, thanked MC for her fantastic hospitality, and headed out for...the beach!!!

We arrived at Santa Clara just 40 km later. We decided to take a peek at the beach to see if it were worth checking out for a while, and it certainly was. Most beaches seem to have been taken over by luxurious, exclusive estates and over-priced restaurants and bars with a foreign vibe. Although there were some beautiful homes on the way down the narrow road, Santa Clara was simply a beautiful local community with a police station, parks and churches tucked into the greenery. The beach itself was quiet, with a handful of locals enjoying a relaxing afternoon under thatch roof huts. The sand was white and flecked with shells, and the water was calm and perfect for swimming. In the distance was a rocky island covered with birds and topped with a cross, and several fishing boats were anchored just offshore. We decided to stay the night, and it was lovely. I swam, read, swam again, read some more. In the evening we cooked dinner and Eric went on an epic quest for coconuts. We still don't really know what coconut etiquette is(as in is it OK to take coconuts from trees that aren't yours?) so he decided to wait until nightfall to start. After about a half an hour of throwing fallen coconuts at the coconuts still hanging from the tree he finally achieved his goal - two brown ones perfect for eating! We decided to save them for later, and called it bedtime. Unfortunately, some local kids did not want to go to bed. They cruised into the park just after we had fallen asleep and blasted everything from reggeton to house from their ridiculously powerful car stereo. I'm sure they had fun, but I was exhausted by sunrise the next morning!

Our last night before entering Panama City we stayed with the local fire department. Without a moment's hesitation they offered us their meeting room. It was one of those rare times when we pull off the road and have a perfect place to stay - safe, comfortable, bathrooms included - within 5 minutes. We cooked dinner, ate ice cream, scoured the guide book for information about our ride into the city the next day and broke open a coconut. It was so freaking delish! We offered some to the firefighters, and the bowl came back empty within 2 minutes! That evening we slept like logs despite the highway traffic 10 meters away and woke up with the jittery anticipation that only comes before a tough ride.

Photos from the last post: Double banana!; me with Luz Maria and her family; Eric with MC and her students; Eric with Erik Omar and his family; view of Santa Clara beach
Photos from this post: More of Santa Clara, Guadalupe station fire truck, coconut!