Twelve Years

The main reason for this trip was to celebrate our twelfth year together and our eighth year as husband and wife, which both fall on October 20.

We started the day with an exchange of anniversary cards, a breakfast of perfectly ripe papaya and pineapple and a trip to see the Panama Canal.

Once we got back into town, we headed into the old city, Casco Viejo, to do some exploring and have a little lunch. We stumbled across a little plaza that celebrates my birth date, January 2nd. It's not every day you see that.

We were exceptionally lucky with the weather because we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day that allowed us to walk about town without our rain gear. We are nearing the end of the rainy season here and when it rains, it REALLY pours.

We were both quite hungry when we arrived in Casco, so we headed straight to Dodo Bon Cafe for lunch. This lovely little French inspired bistro offers many vegan options and the food was as beautiful to look at as it was delicious. Brenda had a tofu scramble and I went for a plate of six tapas. We shared a small bottle of Prosecco to toast our anniversary and the arrival of our granddaughter.

Sadly, after lunch and due to an unexpected equipment failure, we had to cut our Casco Viejo visit short and return to our hotel. We chilled for a couple of hours and I went out to buy some Champagne with which to properly toast our festivities later on.

Unfortunately, although Panama City offers many options for us vegans, a large number of them don't really provide anniversary celebration quality ambiance or food. After much searching we settled upon Beirut, a Lebanese restaurant that looked pretty nice in the photos and had really good reviews.

We ordered six mezzes; hummus, babaganoush, moussaka, falafel, veg kibbe and fried potatoes, all of which was accompanied by a huge basket of pita bread, Although it seemed like a lot of food at the time, we managed to plow through it all, save one lonely little pita bread. All the plates were delicious and in fact, as good as any I've ever tasted.

After dinner we waddled back to our hotel, popped open the Champagne and even managed to chow down on some cakes we bought earlier in the day from a street vendor near the Cinco de Mayo Metro station. Okay, we're not complete gluttons, we saved half the cakes for tomorrow.

All in all, this was a great anniversary and, with the addition of Charlie to the family, one we'll never forget.Read more