Party at the Beach

A few weeks ago, we attended a three-day beach party hosted by the owners of a popular local gringo-centric restaurant and bar, Mike’s Global Grill. Mike and his wife Heidi held this event for the first time last year, and decided to make it an annual event. Tim went to it last year and had a lot of fun then, so he wanted to do it again this year. Sure – I’m always down for a good time!

The purpose of this event was two-fold – a fun getaway for some of his regular customers, and (most importantly) a thank-you for his employees. We pretty much took over the entire place! Mike hired a bus to bring his employees down on the second day of the party to enjoy the resort and have a blow-out buffet dinner. Mike’s a great chef, and he made sure a good time was had by all!

The party was at the Show Pony Beach Resort at Las Lajas beach, which is a little less than two hours from Boquete, on the Pacific side of Panama. Even though Boquete is in the mountains at 3,000+ feet above sea level, it’s only a couple of hours away from either the Pacific Ocean (to the south) or the Caribbean Sea (to the north).

The Show Pony is really nice – the guest rooms are actually one-bedroom apartments with large rooms and a full kitchen. Something I didn’t expect to see were the toucans that live on the property. You can go into their cage and feed them fruit, and they will come and sit on your arm or shoulder. Beautiful birds!

I got a massage on our last day there at another resort (Las Lajas Beach Resort) just down the road from the Show Pony. This massage came highly recommended by a friend in Boquete, and I was definitely not disappointed! It’s called a “lomilomi” style massage, which originated in Hawaii. Very relaxing and restorative – just what I needed. And to add to the ambiance, it was performed under an open-air, thatched roof palapa near the beach, so I could hear the waves crashing in the background. Perfect!

On the last night of the party, we had a bonfire on the beach and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. There are a couple of swings right on the beach, and I appropriated one of them for a good long while that evening, swinging as I enjoyed the ocean breeze and the waves.

I love Boquete, but a change of scenery was much needed. Other than my outing to Boca Chica awhile back, this was the first time I had been to the beach for an extended stay since I arrived in Panama last August. I could watch and listen to the waves for hours – so peaceful, and so near!