Saw my sister, Addie and Rita off yesterday, it was so good to see them and I’m glad they were able to join us.

Excluding our amazing visitors from home, Coronado is arguably the most boring place in Panama. Either that or we have gotten too tired to look for new adventures. Spent the last few days mostly at the pool relaxing and having fun. Like a classic all inclusive vacation except you have to pay for everything and the beach sucks because Jelly Fish are trying to kill me.

Coronado is very different from the other places we have seen so far, the expat influence is strong here. This area features largely American expats and retirees (also seemingly American) and this shines through in the community and businesses that are everywhere. For example, in Boquete the Facebook and Insta groups are true communities. They plan events together, share tips and info and use the groups to form relationships. Coronado groups are infomercials, requests for useful info are ignored and every post is a commercial for something you don’t need or want.

The new businesses in Boquete fit in, it may be a Chinese food restaurant but it reflects local architecture, attitude and colour. Here it looks like they are trying to create a little American city with Starbucks, McDonalds and Burger Kings all over. Despite the rumours of crazy drivers this is the only place where I have seen horn honking self absorbed road ragers.

Needless to say we will not be moving to the Coronado area despite the fact that all the dogs and chickens have been replaced with endless clowders of very quiet cats. Saw my first iguana in the pool area yesterday while I was sitting reading. He just walked up and ate some leaves and left. Good for him.

We have also been enjoying the late hours that the pool is open for nightly swims with epic Monkey in the Middle Battles. Even Phil and Connor have joined in and I am loving the family bonding time, that soccer ball was arguably the best purchase we have made here.

Tomorrow we have an Island trip booked with more snorkeling and some potentially embarrassing paddle boarding, I promise more exciting pictures to come :).