Taboga

For David's birthday we took a weekend trip to the nearby island of Taboga. This involved a ferry ride from Panama City. We passed dozens of tankers waiting for their turn to enter the Canal.

This was a bit different than we were hoping for - less beatific nature, more industrial staging ground. This boat summed up the contrast nicely, "Great Panama" indeed!

But the island got a little more picturesque the closer we got. It had a pretty white church that claimed to be the second oldest in the New World (we were a little skeptical about this).

Perhaps the best feature of the island was the extremely calm water, perfect for toddler wading. Inspired by German customs, we let her swim and wade and run around naked. We were not sure the Panamanians were quite as comfortable with this as the Germans would be.

The Wren loved it, and kept wanting to go back for more and more. She would run into the water, run back onto the beach and cry "Ocean!" then return to the water. Eventually, as it was growing dark, we had to leave. Wren was less than willing, screaming "Ocean!" with something between wistfulness and despair as we carried her away.

Needless to say, she slept well.
The next morning, she woke up and said, "Ocean!"