I'm a Mario, I'm a gonna win

Our Saturday has finally wound down. It's 1AM here and Daniel and I put in a crazy day of filming. We woke up around 8:30AM, headed downstairs for a breakfast buffet, and immediately started filming bits and pieces. Headed back upstairs to pack up for the day. Daniel called Mario, the driver/guide/bodyguard/father-figure/cameraman/actor that he had been using of the past few days.

The first stop was Casco Viejo, a very rundown, dilapidated area of Panama City. It sits on the coast, and has several historical landmarks, monuments, and such. We walked all around the area, with Mario tagging along, filming more scenes. So many great children, running around, playing soccer, enjoying the weather and wandering the streets. Found a great shaved ice cart, only 25¢ a cone! Perfect for such a sunny, humid day.

Daniel and I shot a scene at the wharf, with Mario behind the camera. I tried my hand at acting. Failure does not come close to describing my attempt. But hey, I tried. Porr Daniel, has to rely on me for cinematography (wth do i know?) and acting (wth do i know?) and sound (wth do i know?).

Headed to a restaurant for lunch with Mario. We ordered a great great appetizer platter with sausage, fried yucca, cheese, plantains, tiny fried tortillas (nothing like the ones in Cali), and the best god damn fried pork rinds I've ever snapped my teeth into (i know, eww...).

We drove around a bit more with Mario, got him to do a taxi scene with Daniel where he picks him up and has a conversation with him. Came out pretty nice! Mario, 3 times married, 52 years old, with 6 kids in all, actually kicked a lot of ass doing the scenes. We call him Morgan Freeman. Because, well, he kinda looks like Morgan Freeman. AND he can act, of course.

Mario took us to meet his ex wife and daughter. I voyeuristically shot Daniel walking up to them, with Mario and I hiding out of sight. Then we went up and said hello together. Mario's daughter looked so young, at the oldest 20, but Mario later told us she was actually 30!!!

We made one last trip to Casco Viejo, trying to finish a few more scenes. We walked on the beach, down over the rocks and behind an abandoned crumbling mansion. We tried to complete the shots we needed, but we ended up running out of batteries. Doh.

Finally back at the hotel, I took a nice hour nap (I don't know how Daniel powers through, the dude's a frickin' machine). Went over some of our footage. Went down to the hotel Italian restaurant for some grub and beers. Back to the room to go over a bit more footage. Brainstorm with Daniel for another. And now, finally, sweet sweet sleep. Night all. I know, talking about all this filming is pretty boring, but wait till u see the footage we're compiling. We're really excited about what we're doing, and we think we'll have something pretty great to show everyone what two people and one baddass Panamanian named Mario can do.