Mother's Day

I got to celebrate Mother's Day twice in 2016, but it looks like I'll miss it completely this year! In Panama, December 8 is a national holiday to celebrate mothers, and everyone has the day off! We (well I, because Spanish) made reservations for brunch at a nice hotel in town. It was special, but the meal was quite meat-heavy, as breakfast is in Panama, so I decided I'd make up for it with something chocolate later in the day.

After brunch, we headed to La Yeguada, a lake a little over an hour from Santiago. Our navigation kept telling us to take dirt roads. We eventually made our way there, but when we arrived, the park was closed for Mother's Day. I got out of the car and talked to a guy who I thought worked there. Turns out, he had been waiting for the bus for hours, but because it was Mother's Day, only one bus ran to Santiago that morning. He walked down to the lake with us and gave us some tips for more to see in the area. We drove up to another pretty stop in pouring rain, and when we came back by the lake, our friend was still there, so we asked if wanted a ride back to Santiago. It was helpful to have him with us for navigation on the way back. He also taught us the word "crateres" in Spanish when we were talking about the potholes on the route. Some had really become craters during the rainy season!

Edited to add: I totally forgot about the mariachi performances in the neighborhood! We heard music coming from the house next door in the morning, and went out to see a mariachi band in the doorway serenading the mother. We heard another a further away a little later.