Fourth of July Musing

I just looked at my calendar trying to determine the day's date and stood there confused until I realized I was looking at June. So today is the Fourth eh? That means we will be off to Los Molinas to party with dozens of other gringos who will be there to take advantage of the all-you-can-eat and all you can drink, including beer and wine, for $7.50 a head. (Last year it was $5.00. I blame Bush.)

Los Molinas is an upscale housing development on the flats a few miles south of Boquete. There is a nifty hotel/restaurant/bar there where today's fiesta will be held. The bar is in a separate building apart from the hotel and it is perched over a steep canyon with a river at its bottom that is fed by a long drop waterfall. Nice. There are well tended grounds and gardens surrounding the hotel and bar and most of the activity will be out there unless it rains which seems unlikely now what with powder blue skies in abundance so far this morning.

Alrighty then. The Fourth Of July. Independence Day. Time to celebrate the U.S. separation from my homeland in my heart, England. (Long time blog followers know I am an anglophile.) I did grow up there in the colonies though, so I do have an excuse to party down with the natives. The U.S. is a great country despite all those dreary statistics that show it is like 50th in the world in math and 50th in science, and 50th in life expectancy and 50th in poverty and 150th in health care and 1st in violent crime and, well, you get the idea. (Those rankings are approximations. The actual numbers in some cases are worse.) I am reminded of David Sedaris' comment that "when I was a child I was taught over and over that the U.S. was the greatest country in the world. When I grew up I learned that other countries also had slogans and none of them included we're number two!" Nevertheless I will toast my homeland because I am an optimist and I have hope that it will one day be viewed again as a force for good in the world as it was, oh say, before Kennedy's assassination. (That is roughly where I pinpoint the beginning of the U.S.'s decline) For the first time in a long time two men are running for the presidency and neither is an idiot. I find that a hopeful sign. So God Bless America, bring on the burgers and get us the fuck out of Iraq.