Riande, More Than We Thought

Going to the US always involves an overnight stay in Panama City, and the Riande is our go to place. https://riandehoteles.com/aeropuerto/ The rooms are comfortable, the grounds are beautiful, the staff is very nice, and there is an on site restaurant. There is a buffet breakfast and an hourly shuttle to the airport. It has everything we need for our stopover time in Panama City.

We fly in the morning in the rainy season, so we had most of the day in the hotel. We got restless and decided to stretch our legs and go walking, and we discovered parts of the hotel we had never seen before.

There is paintball.

There is a tennis court and shop

There is a garden area where they grow the plants that make the grounds beautiful

There is a casino (but we didn’t take a look at it)

The grounds that we usually see are really beautiful. There are many palm trees with orchids in them, and other plants everywhere. There is a lovely pool, and a swim up bar. We have enjoyed dinner and drinks on the dining side of the bar many times in a beautiful evening. You can get food from the restaurant, and sometimes the BBQ place is open for other options. We have found the food delicious, well presented, and affordable. The hotel suffered badly during COVID and showed signs of the struggle, but since then we have seen the place improved, upgraded, and made more comfortable.

One thing that is fun is the cats. The white one lives outside the front door, and the yellow and white one hangs out on the outside patio and bar. We found the black one out back on the way to the paintball fields. We see food and water dishes hidden discretely so we know they are cared for.

It’s funny how you can go to a place many times and not know half of what is going on there! I’m glad we went walking and wandering to find all these new things.

In other news, there isn’t much news which at our age, is a good thing. We have a band date on the 20th at Hops, our favorite place, so we are starting to gear up for that. We are recovered from a wonderful NYC trip (more on that later!) We are getting some rain, so everything is green and growing, and the rains have a welcome cooling effect. I’ve been spending more time on my bike and making a little progress toward building up my distance and endurance. If I ever want to make it back to my favorite routes though, I still have a way to go. But, life is good.

We see the news and the trouble, both natural and man made. Sometimes I feel almost guilty that we are so unaffected by all of it, but we feel for the people who are in the path of various things. Life is really hard for a lot of people. We are so thankful every day for our lives here.