More Jazz!

There are times when I am thrilled to be here. Last night and this morning are some of those times.

The jazz band played last night at Amigos with a couple of additions. John Day was back. He is the internationally acclaimed trumpeter and piano player that headlined the jazz festival last February. And a local (David) Panamanian jazz guitar player also joined them. He was extraordinary! How does a town of 100,000 produce someone like this?

Amigos was full and hopping. We stayed for 2 sets. Yella sat in for 3 songs in the first set.

Yella is a town favorite so she gets the big applause. And she did again last night.

John Day got into town at 3 pm yesterday so the band was playing WITHOUT rehearsal. How and the hell do they do that?

It was great! For Yella's songs, they would huddle around the piano for a few seconds, then rip off a near perfect rendition of the song.

In the second set, they started to move out of comfortable playing and into the Hot Lick arena. They upped the stakes for the last half of the set and it was hot, hot, hot! I was stunned at the level of playing. And I'm sure I missed a lot of it because I am not well trained in jazz.

It amazes me that extraordinary music is available here, in Boquete, in a far corner of the earth, in a 3rd World nation, in a jungle village.

Awesome!

We met friends for dinner before the music and sat with more friends for the music. A fun, warm time last night.

This morning, I had to go into town to eat because I was out of coffee. Must have the coffee!

I talked to Olga for a few minutes in Spanish, something I appreciate because her diction is slow and clear. Then, I ate breakfast with a few friends.

Then on to the trash truck parked behind Amigos. This truck is supposed to be available every Sunday for those of us who don't have trash pick up at our house.

Inevitably, the truck is not there or just leaving or something. This is the Land of Inconsistency, after all.

The truck was just pulling out when I got there. He stopped and helped me throw my trash in the truck.

That is the good side of Panama. The people are helpful.

I appreciated it!

I tried to buy some wine at the supermarket before going home and I couldn't because it was before 10 am on Sunday.

I didn't know. We only buy wine for friends so I am ignorant about all this stuff.

I hung around and talked to some more friends, then bought the wine.

Many things to learn here!