This place is amazing. I can’t believe that I’m standing here on my own piece of tropical beach.

We were having lunch on Friday at that little restaurant downstairs and Randy asked, “So what’s everyone doing this weekend?” You should’ve seen the looks on their faces when I said, “Oh, I’m heading out to Panama for the weekend.”

That’s the best part of this. Suzie and I were thinking of buying some land by the lake and building a summer cottage. It would’ve been twice the price of this place just for real estate, and then I’d have to invest in building. The contractor I spoke to said I was looking at spending an easy $200,000 for just a small two-bedroom cottage.

Here I’ve got the surf, the palm trees, the warm air and sun, and it’s a fraction of the price. I can fly down for a weekend or even a few weeks anytime I want. Amazing.

The place is wild, too. It’s like a jungle. Hey – it is a jungle. There are toucans in the trees, and one of them landed right by the breakfast table this morning. Suzie took some pictures.

There are howler monkeys too. I never thought I’d wake up to the sound of monkeys instead of that damned alarm clock. The experience is crazy good. I get a kick out of watching them play – they’re all jumping about and swinging from the branches.

Randy was saying I’ll be like the Indiana Jones of the corporate world. The joke stuck and Friday after lunch, the guys left one of the Indie hats on my desk. I brought it along to wear, and it’s actually perfect for the sun.

The cabana’s great. It’s rustic and makes me feel like this place is some tropical jungle adventure. Ah, but with the little luxuries of easy living – Suzie made some of that great coffee with the French press this morning. I’m going to buy one of those for the apartment when we get back.

We sat together with our coffee and watched the sun rise over the ocean this morning. It was nice. The waves were swishing up on the beach and we could hear the crash of bigger ones on the reefs nearby.

The surf here is amazing, too. I’m going to head out later and catch some waves. First, time for a nap.