hey there folks....from a steamy and wet panama....it is definitely the rainy season these days.....this area has HUGE lightening and thunder storms.... this past week some trees and even a person was hit on our campus....he is okay, but whoa - scary stuff.....the rain is HUGE in these parts....i thought rain was huge in ghana, and they are comparable....but this seems to be more frequent....and the lightening is always happening.....i am hoping to get a picture of it at some point, but of course that is harder said than done....we still have not had a week off here in panama, and do not get one until the second week in november, so this year starts off as a killer....but this past week we were given a special day off.....as panama has for the first time in the country's history, qualified for the world cup in russia next year.....soccer rules the world.....the partying was insane on tuesday night into wednesday....i have never been somewhere when a victory parade was held the night of the big game....the team won, the partying started and the parade was held from midnight to 2am.....i did not go to the parade, because at that point we did not know if we had school or not....but i did go out to one of the main streets after the game was over to see the insanity.....it was a blast :)
we did get a three day weekend in september and so some friends of mine and i rented a sailboat (with a captain and cook) to sail around some of the 300 san blas islands in the carribean of the panamanian coast....it was fantastic and i have some pictures below....i have also decided for my sanity that i need to get out of the city at least once a weekend....preferably in the mornings, as it gets really hot from mid-morning to the late afternoon and then if it storms on top of the heat, it can be pretty crazy....so i also have made it to the second biggest city in panama - colon - and to a quaint town called potro bello and to a lovely little island just off the coast called isla grande.....i am hoping to get to see more of the canal real soon and maybe even take a boat through some of parts of the locks.....plus, i hope to get to an island on the pacific side soon.....and in november, i head to argentina for the week we have off.....yahooooooo
so things are moving along....we just had the end of our first quarter and parent-teacher conferences, so the school year is also moving along....this signals the end of astronomy - boo, but now onto what is science and learning equipment and doing labs - yay! below are some pictures from the past bit of time here in panama....maybe this will convince some folks to come on down and visit ;)
one of the crazier things we did on a school night, was go see maroon 5 at an outdoor stadium (called the rod carew stadium - for those who know that baseball player, he's from panama)....it was insane because we had the highest bleacher seats....which were covered in bird poop....it was nasty....so no sitting for us....this was the close-up with my camera, so it wasn't too bad, but the sound was not so good....lots of energy though and if there was an easier way to get in and out to this stadium, i would try it again....but the traffic was ridiculous and trying to get a ride back to the city was an adventure...it was good that my friend carla was with me and that she is as friendly as me and knows spanish....that was our ticket for success....but hey, you never know how it will go until you try....one and done for a concert on a school night at this particular stadium....
this is a shot of the middle school crew one friday happy hour...mostly women and lots of fun :) a great group of people, who care about what they do and the students they teach.....many have been at the school for quite a long time....so you know they are passionate about what they do!
this is the sailing crew from the three-day weekend.....this is the water taxi that took us out to the sailboat....this was after we had been picked up at 5am....yes, you read that correctly, and had to take one of the curviest, vertical at points road for an hour....it was insane.....but oh so worth it!
the food on the boat was all you could catch....it was/is lobster season in the carribean....yummy....this was our first dinner....there is shot below on how things were caught by the captain and the cook....it was awesome....they caught dinner...and we snorkeled around.....
this is captain benjamin spearing a barracuda....which we then had for a tasty ceviche lunch....more on that in a minute....as you can see, the water is sparkling and clear....it is like the waters you see on screen savers of computers.....the islands are like that as well in many cases....no people, white sand, palm tress and lovely reefs surrounding them....
here is captain benjamin again.... a 23-year-old frenchman, who has lived most of his life in Venezuela and on a boat....he is holding the flag of panama out for all to see....with one of those tiny palm tree filled islands we saw all over san blas....it was spectacular....
this was our special birthday island....we swam to this from the boat, and then they delivered a ceviche and beer snack for us to enjoy....this island is known as the japanese garden....and yes, this is the whole island....what a cool place to have a birthday fiesta....inflatable flamingos and dolphin included :)
and this was just the beginning of the celebration....we actually got to sail to the next island after this one and had a blast dancing along with the wind and music....the ceviche in this picture above was made from the barracuda caught earlier....done two different ways....the traditional way with lots of lime - and this is what "cooks" the fish....and the other way which was sushi style with soy sauce and sesame....yummy....what a birthday treat to start!
we also picked up these crazy pirate glasses and captain glasses for us and the crew....just some fun party favors....this is shawn with the cook, morracho - also known as pitbull ;) and the captain benjamin....they loved having us and our party on-board!
and here are the four of us....the captain and his three pirates on our island for the birthday festivities....it was a blast hanging with this crew in san blas....a beautiful, unspoiled place for the most part....the perfect spot to kick off exploration of panama :)
one last sunset shot from the boat of one of those tiny, palm tree filled, surrounded by sand and reef islands....yep...it was picture perfect :)
i finally made it to the panama sign along the cinta de costera....which some refer to as a corniche or a promenade....it goes along the southern part of the city and lets you look out to where ships are waiting to enter the pacific side of the canal.....there is a long walk out to the causeway....which i am hoping to do when it cools down a bit...but i finally got my walk in along the cinta.....
one of the other towns i have visited now is porto bello....a quiet, sea-side place where two forts were set up to protect panama from the british and french a long time ago....this was the way into land before the canal was created....plus, this has been a place where drug runners have been for ages....so the brits and the french would wait outside of this town and sink ships....even today the DEA stakes itself out here sometimes for the aforementioned drug runners.....interestingly panama is a huge dumping point for drugs and cash.....as we are the country next to colombia and everyone must pass it to get to the states and mexico....who knew???? not me....
in porto bello they have a cristo negro (black christ) in their church....the big celebration for him is next weekend....i have been told the worshipers will come from far and near to see the cristo negro....the reason this cristo negro is so revered is because he was thrown out to sea three separate times by the governor of the region and each of those times returned.....the people asked if he came back the third time, could they keep him....and the governor said yes....he came back and is now worshiped in this church....i love all of the candles.....
however, the mary in this church was much more intriguing to me....she is like a mannequin from a department store...not very elegant and dangling from her wrist is a set of handcuffs....something i have never seen on a mary before....when i asked about his, i was reminded how many drug runners come through here, and was told that many families have members that join those drug runners and then end up in jail....the people of this town have decided that mary needs to watch over all of the incarcerated....the priest removes the handcuffs every month, but the parishioners replace them when he has removed them.....interesting to say the least.....
from porto bello we kept going up the coast to an island known as isla grande....you have to take a speed boat over and no cars are on this island....one of the biggest drug lords of colombia has a house just across from this island and in the water is a negro jesus to watch over the boats traveling through here....it is a wild to see the jesus, with this amazing mansion behind it....it even has a helicopter pad attached....crazy....
i just wanted to post a picture of what isla grande looks like....beautiful sand, lovely water and we had amazing blue skies....it was hot, but the isla was terrific.....i hope to go back for a longer stint...and have heard there are some nice places on the "other side" of the island....just means more to explore....
due to all of the seafood here, i have started to put some fish and shellfish back into my veggie diet....i mean how can you say no to fresh caught baby lobster....yum!!!!
this was our view as we were crossing back over the to mainland side....before we hit all of the traffic coming back into panama city....i have to say, that is probably one of the worst things about panama....the traffic...it never disappears because this city never planned ahead and thought it would get this big....traffic rules my weekday and sometimes my weekend....its a bummer and i have to drive to work....definitely different from many of my most recent international school experiences.....
and here is one of the celebration shots from tuesday night's win against costa rica that guarantees panama is in the soccer world cup in russia....even in celebration, it's all about the traffic....this shot was taken before the celebratory parade down this same street a few hours later....it was just insane in this city!!! and because all of my other countries of residence are not going....i will be cheering on panama!!!!
one last shot for you to enjoy....or for me to enjoy ;) oktoberfest is something that even happens in panama....this is a shot from the oktoberfest here....they brought in beers from all over the world for us to taste, so a good time was had by all....myself included....
so there you have it....update number 2 from my country of residence now...i am official and have a residence card and even a panamanian driver's license.....crazy the way it all comes together....i am hoping to get another update out before i head to argentina....but am not sure it will happen....if you have any questions or comments, please get in touch and for all of those experiencing fall....please enjoy the color change and the temperature change for me....i am missing both of them this year!!!! i hope you enjoyed this update and thanks as always for reading!!!!
have a fab day :)
dani
