Out for breakfast at La Antigua

 Yesterday morning was beautiful. Blue, blue sky with wispy clouds. Low humidity and temps in mid 70's. Perfect. I was sitting on the patio waiting for Bill to wake up when this guy went by. Yes there is a guy under that dead Christmas tree. In his other hand was a plastic bag full of empty aluminum cans. Wonder what he is going to do with the tree. Fire to keep him warm maybe.

As I said a beautiful day.

Around noon we caught an Uber to go over to the Centro Historico to go to one of our favorite restaurants for breakfast. A really nice mosaic mural on a building. 

La Antiuga restaurant. We like eating in the patio of the old hacienda that is now a restaurant. The lady in the white blouse manages/owns the restaurant. She recognized Bill right away and had to give him a big welcome hug. I get a hand shake!

It is such a neat serene place. I love all the tile work on the fountain and the greenery. There are a lot of little birds singing in the trees. 

Inside the hacienda is this beautiful stained glass window. Through the years they have been restoring it. Almost completely done now. 

The fireplace is all tile and carved wood. 

Small tile frames around the outside of the windows in the patio. Also stained glass instead of regular window glass.

Another window in the patio. 

And what does this restaurant serve? Well crepes of course. This one is filled with cream cheese and thinly sliced bananas. Drizzled with caramel sauce and chopped nuts and whip cream decorations. Soooo Good. I ate it all. 

Inside window sill. Bigger tiles. 

Ceiling beams in main room. Looks like they were had cut. 

Just a little weird drawing on the wall of a building across the street. 

This area has a lot of the original homes and buildings. Many of them have been restored or kept up. Unfortunately there are quite a few that are in ruins. An apartment building across the street. Buildings used to be so pretty and original. 

One of the old homes along the street has been restored. Parking area in front of it. Most of the homes are narrow but go way back and have a second floor. So they are bigger than they look from the front. 

This bougainvillea is huge. A pretty side street. 

Building being painted. Long tall ladder. 

OMG this made my knees shake. Couldn't watch this for long. No safety equipment. 

We stopped at the Panama Bakery on the next corner but they were just getting a delivery and had nothing out that either of us craved. So we were good and didn't buy any pastries. Bill had taken a pill to help him sleep the night before and it was taking a long time to wear off. So we opted to go back to hotel until he could nap it off. 

I took most of the remaining pictures from a moving Uber. These stairs have been repainted many many times over the years. Always in a different design. I think I would get dizzy going up them. 

Have taken many pictures of this building over the years. Always saying I hope some day it will be restored. Was so happy to see it has been and is now the Maritime Museum. 

I just read, in the Pacific Pearl - a magazine for the tourists, that there are almost 94 new high rises along the malecon. Looks so different from when we first started coming here. Not sure if it is an improvement. Many, many of these are just in the construction stage. I hope they have a lot of people to rent or buy the condos. That is going to be a different one.

Just a few of them. 

Some of the tallest ones are in the area called The Golden Zone. Very touristy.

Entertainment at the stop light. 

Then on to the hotel. Naps and checking photos until time to go to dinner at Pancho's. It is in walking distance and has good food. We both had chicken milensea and brought home left overs for todays lunch.

Bill had a 7:30 dentist appointment this morning and another one tomorrow morning. So he is napping now. 

Monday - got out a little bit

 Tuesday morning, last week this time we were in Vegas at the airport. Has been kind of an up and down time here so far. Hopefully all the downs are behind us know. Looks like today will be a beautiful day.

Yesterday was perfect weather, not too hot and a lot less humidity. We did manage to get out for a while. 

Every morning workers from the hotel across the street are out sweeping. And the overnight man here is out sweeping the driveway. 

After getting ourselves together we got an Uber, still can't believe how cheap they are here, and went to the new Panama restaurant and bakery. They were building the building before Covid. Then construction stopped for years. Finally a couple of years ago it got finished. The building is interesting and the landscaping is pretty.
A little pond and a place to sit outside.  The building also has more restaurants and other stores in it. Getting ready for Valentines Day I guess. 

The entrance.

We were both surprised how small the actual area to sell baked goods was. And they didn't carry some of the yummies we are used to buying at a Panama. Seems very futuristic looking. We were expecting more Mazatlan  I guess. 

Lots of pretty cakes.

Pastries galore, but not what we were looking for. So ended up not buying any thing. 

At the end of the bakery area before going into the restaurant. This was a gown worn in 2022 by the Flower queen for Carnaval. Beautiful. It must be heavy to wear with all the jewels on it. 

The actual restaurant inside was nice, but again not what we expected. Very big and functional. He had an omelet and hash browns. I had scrambled eggs and bacon. I forgot that means the bacon is cut up and scrambled in the eggs. Very good though. 

Went back to the hotel for a while - then later in day we decided to take a walk to make sure we would be on time for Bill's dentist appointment tomorrow morning at 7:30 in the morning. I knew it was close to the hotel so we wanted to see how long it would take to walk there. About five minutes, closer than I though it was. Coming back we crossed the street and walked out to the beach. It was about two o'clock and the beach was almost empty. 

Heading back to the street we were watching the construction workers on this new building. 

The worker on the high floor, just dropped a rope down the side of the building? So we stopped to see what happened next. Follow the rope down and you'll see something orange that looks like a gate frame tied to it. He is pulling it up.

A pretty flowering bush along the sidewalk. 

Wow he is working right at the edge of the building. I managed to zoom in enough to see that at least he is wearing a safety harness. Makes my legs shake just to watch him. 

Nerves of steel. 

Stopped out in front of the building. 

Later in the day we walked to Pancho's again for dinner.  We thought about going to Austin BBQ but they serve mostly beef and pork and Bill doesn't do well with meat any more after eating just chicken, and when I can sneak it in fish, for so many years. Another night another band. The only song I think I recognized was House of The Rising Sun. Maybe. Again lots of drumming. Lots of people dancing.

Sunday

 Not too much to write about Sunday or the last few days for that matter. Friday I was recuperating from being up all night so didn't want to get out and do any thing. Did manage to go out to dinner. This time I didn't eat everything in sight, but it was so good.  Saturday it rained all day. We did manage to go out to breakfast and dinner. As usual meals were very good. In fact because of Bill missing his front teeth the chef cuts all his food into very small pieces. Special service much appreciated. We are able to get our Dish TV service from home on my laptop and both phones. So have been watching the news about the storm. WOW what a mess. 

There is a big Time Share across the street from us. Every morning several workers are out sweeping the sidewalk and trimming plants. Also here at the hotel the maintenance worker goes out every morning and sweeps the parking area. The maid comes in every day to clean and change linen. If only the bed wasn't so hard. Oh well. 

Yesterday was Bill's day for stomach upset. He too has been cleaning his plate every meal we eat. Our stomachs have been surprised by real meals. Come evening he was feeling better so we walked to the restaurant and had chicken soup for dinner. It was excellent. Had all kinds of stuff in it including avocado. After eating we walked up a few blocks just for some exercise. I didn't realize how many small tourist shops and taco restaurants there were around us. 

This is the restaurant right next to us and Sunday nights band. Again lots of drumming going on. At least they stop at nine o'clock. 

And that was it for Sunday. We have plans for today, but.......