Sunday, September 13, 2009
Pictures
I took a few hundred pictures, so I can't post them all, but here a couple to get things started:
This was framed, hanging in the school
This was the computer lab. The school has 4 working computers.
A look from the computer lab to the common area.
Volcancito school from my walk to the taxi stop on the last day. There are two separate building connected by the roof.
A view of Boquete from the hill by Volcancito.
Recap
Ok, so I'll recap the last little bit of my trip:
Friday was the last day of school and I had woken up unprepared for the day's lesson. While having coffee in the morning, I was trying to figure out what to teach. I thought that shapes would be a good idea, so that the kids could play on paint and make the shapes that I would teach. I had a hard time coming up with things beyond square, circle, and triangle. Then, as I was making flash cards, I thought that I could teach the kids the English words for the pictures that they had been drawing the last few days. So, I created flash cards for about 20 different different pictures. Once I got to school, I realized that what was completed was almost completely for waste, since most of the kids weren't in school that day. Yet again, I improvised a bit and just let the kids play on the computer.
When I had shown up to school, the older man that had been at the school a couple of days before for a dance lesson was back. Shortly after I arrived it was time for dance lessons again and I watched as much as I could. Then, the man pulled me into the middle of the kids to give me a lesson on the dances and had me perform them with one of the older boys at the school. This was so fun and I had such a huge smile on my face when I was doing this! I'm not even one to really dance, but I really enjoyed it, although I really had no clue what I was doing. By the time I left, I had learned 3 dances and danced with the kids. This was one of the most memorable moments of the whole trip and am still thinking about what a fun day that was.
It was sad leaving school that day, especially since most of the kids that I had worked with all week weren't there for my final day. Jacob, the 14 year old that I had worked with, had not been at school since Wednesday, so I could not give him a book that I thought that he could read and learn from. Neither was Lucas (the little boy that I had played with top with and had the extra minutes of going over ears, eyes, mouth, and feet with). The two that I felt I had bonded with the most had been gone for two days and I would not see them again. There were still plenty of kids that I could say bye to, but almost felt that I just wasn't leaving at the right time. As I walked away from the little, green school in Volcancito, I had to hold back tears, knowing that after a week of not being able to communicate with these kids because of language barriers, I still was able to communicate with them and in some ways bond with them. This was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I will never forget it!
I made my way back to Boquete with only enough time to buy a painting that had caught my eye all week, then grab a quick lunch before catching a bus to David, so I could fly back to Panama City.
I arrived in Panama City and went back to the same hotel that I had stayed in during my first night in Panama. It's amazing how much perspectives can change in just a few days. What I had originally thought was a rather blah, gross hotel room was now clean and comfortable and I was excited to be there.
My flights back to Seattle were long and stressful. My flight from Panama City to Miami was delayed, causing me to have a short amount of time to get to my flight to Chicago. Then, after problems with security and having to rush to get some stuff checked, my flight from Miami was delayed for a lightning storm...for about an hour. I only had a 55 minutes layover in Chicago, so during the whole flight I did not know if I would make it to Seattle that night or have to stay in Chicago's airport for 10 hours. Luckily, upon arrival in Chicago, I found out that the plane to Seattle was held and I would be making it back home that night.
Today was very surreal. I woke up early (but late for the time zone that my body was accustomed to) and just thought it seemed weird to be home. I can't really describe the feeling, but it was just not the same as before. I was, though, beyond excited to get my laundry done. I have found quite a few things ironic, since coming home:
~I had not seen any spiders in Pamana, but saw a large, brown spider in my house first things when I got home.
~I had barely seen any mosquitos in Panama, but had a few in the house last night.
~I had been in a sunny, tropical environmental for 10 days without getting a sunburn, but got one my first day back in Washington.
Now that I've been back I can only look back at this trip as the most amazing experience of my life. Absolutely everything that I saw, did, and experienced was better than I could've expected or asked for and I can't wait for the opportunity to do it again.
I'm home!
I made it home safely after some close calls on missing connecting flights. I'll start to post some pictures in the morning (well, later this morning).
Friday, September 11, 2009
Last day of school
In a couple of hours it will be my last day at Esquase de Volcancitos. This week has just flown by so fast that I can´t believe it´s over! I´m hoping to take a lot of pictures at the school today before I leave. Once that´s over, I´ll be hopping a bus to David, plane to Panama City, then taxi to my hotel. I think I´ll be getting into Panama City around 6:30 (local time), so I´ll probably just have dinner and get ready to leave in the morning.
Well, this may be my last post while I´m here, but I´ll make sure to post some pictures when I get home. Chao!
Well, this may be my last post while I´m here, but I´ll make sure to post some pictures when I get home. Chao!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Last full day in Boquete
Today is my last full day in Boquete before leaving for Panama City tomorrow. I´m rather brain dead right now, since I just got out of 4 hours of Spanish lessons.
Nothing too eventful happened today, so nothing too great to report. School went well, the kids had fun learning foods by looking at the words on the PowerPoint I made, then looking at the pictures I printed out (since their computers couldn´t handle the pictures I tried to attach). During recess, again today, I let the kids color. For some reason I saw a lot of churches and cats being drawn today in addition to the normal houses, mountains, and suns.
Like I said before, that´s about all besides Spanish. Since it´s my last night, Kaytee is taking me out, so that should be fun.
I´m finally at the point where I´m excited to be coming home. Yay, just two more days and all be back! Don´t get me wrong, I´m having a wonderful time and enjoying everything, but there are just some comforts at home that I´m missing, like my bed and not worrying about bugs!
Nothing too eventful happened today, so nothing too great to report. School went well, the kids had fun learning foods by looking at the words on the PowerPoint I made, then looking at the pictures I printed out (since their computers couldn´t handle the pictures I tried to attach). During recess, again today, I let the kids color. For some reason I saw a lot of churches and cats being drawn today in addition to the normal houses, mountains, and suns.
Like I said before, that´s about all besides Spanish. Since it´s my last night, Kaytee is taking me out, so that should be fun.
I´m finally at the point where I´m excited to be coming home. Yay, just two more days and all be back! Don´t get me wrong, I´m having a wonderful time and enjoying everything, but there are just some comforts at home that I´m missing, like my bed and not worrying about bugs!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Little Things, vol.2
Here are a couple of things that don´t really go into a full story:
I´ve noticed that many of the kids in the school have large burns on their faces and arms, which is probably because of all of the cooking that is done over fires in their homes.
I went to Mi Jardin es Su Jardin, where they had many beautiful flowers, including hibiscus flowers the size of my head. They also had tacky lawn art.
I´ve noticed that many of the kids in the school have large burns on their faces and arms, which is probably because of all of the cooking that is done over fires in their homes.
I went to Mi Jardin es Su Jardin, where they had many beautiful flowers, including hibiscus flowers the size of my head. They also had tacky lawn art.
Today was a good day
Well, actually that´s an understatement. Today was an excellent day!
It started out a dreary, cloudy day, unlike any of the mornings I´ve seen so far. I got up early, got coffee, then rented a scooter before going to class. By the time I started out on the scooter for the day it had started to rain, but it was going to be the only opportunity I had to rent a scooter while I was here, so I wasn´t going to back down from my plans. I was off to school before long, in the rain and wearing a plastic jacket to protect myself from the elements. I made it up the hill to Volcancito school, but not without the wind half way knocking my helmet off my head.
Once I got to the school, parked, and got ready for today´s lesson, I realized that the whole presentation that I created yesterday did not work on the computers at the school. Great, I thought, what would I do now? I have no lesson ready for today! Unfortunately, the clip art images on the school´s computer would not allow me to give a similar presentation than I was prepared for (on food in English), so I searched clip art to see if that could guide me into a good presentation. Luckily, I found two images and was able to quickly put together a presentation on body parts in PowerPoint to use for the day. Disaster avoided.
While I was putting together a last minute presentation, I found out that it was immunization day at the school for the younger kids. One by one they would sit in a chair by my classroom and get their shots. I was hard to hear all of these kids crying! With all of these things happening so far in the day you´d think I was having a terrible day and I was preparing myself for a bad day, but then things got better.
I was teaching my lesson on the body and the kids were having fun with it. They liked moving the screens, and mimicking me while I pointed out and said the body parts that I was able to teach. After going through a couple of groups it was recess time, in which the kids came into my room. I felt bad because there are only 4 computers and a lot of kids in there.
There was this one little boy that had been attached to me almost the whole time I´ve been there, even though we can´t talk because of the language barrier (he´s about 7). He just looks up at me and smiles. Today, during recess, he showed me a toy that he had, which was a top, so he and I played with that for a while. I think he liked that I´d play with his top with him because he kept on giggling when I´d spin it, but even more was the look in his eyes as he was doing so.
Since there are only 4 computers to work on, half way through recess I pulled out some blank flashcards and my markers and let the kids draw. It was fun to watch the kids doing this although it was mainly houses, the sun, and mountains that they were drawing. It´s so interesting to me that although there is such a huge difference in cultures, these kids are drawing the same things (and in the same ways) that I remember drawing at that age: a house was a square with a triange on top, although many of the houses in Volcancito and Boquete don´t look like this.
When recess was over the kids went back to their classrooms and I had another couple of groups come through my lesson. By this point I had finished one class and the other classes were starting lunch (rice, meat, and beans). Since I knew I wasn´t going to have any kids for a while I started to work on my lesson for tomorrow as a way to pass time. After lunch, little to my knowledge, an older gentleman came into the school to give the kids a dancing lesson. It was fun to sit there and watch these kids, of all ages, doing these traditional dances, but that was short lived because some kids came back into my classroom.
Since there wasn´t enough time to go through my lesson, I let the kids play on Paint for a while. Jacob, the 14 year old student, came in to watch everyone, but I took this opportunity to give him a one-on-on lesson in English, since the earlier lessons were too easy for him (and I felt bad that the earlier lessons didn´t teach him anything). We went through the basics and he finished them with ease, so I got my phrasebook and started to find words that he could learn. We went through sports, foods, months, and other random things. He did SO well! After about 20 or 30 minutes, I ran out of words that were appropriate for him. I told him that his English was very good and he has a good vocabulary, sounding out difficult words with ease. I think he was really happy that I took the time to challenge him more than numbers and colors. Before I leave, I would like to type out some harder words for him to keep and practice (I would give him my whole phrasebook if I didn´t have to get back to Panama City).
It was now 12:20, 20 minutes after school let out and I still had a bunch of kids in my classroom. I let them play a little longer before having to turn off the computers for the day. Right before I left, the little boy with the top came back in my room and just stood there, excited that I would talk to him. It was just he and I, neither knowing each other´s language and not being able to communicate, but smiling and glad to be there. I felt bad not being able to say much to him, but he then pulled at his ears and said ears (one of the body parts that we went over in the lesson). I then pulled my ears, said ears, then continued on with the other body parts...eyes, nose, mouth, knees, foot. Then I let him lead, choosing a body part and I would repeat him. While we were doing this, another girl (in a Nougle Bugle dress) came in and joined us. They had fun just going over body parts in English and we did this, repeating the same words, for about 5 minutes. They smiled the whole time! It´s times like this and the ones with Jacob, that turned my day completely around into one of the most memorable and rewarding parts of my whole trip. I will truly never forget these moments.
After school, I got on the scooter and just started driving. By this time the weather had turned around and it was no longer raining. I drove in the opposite direction of Boquete (towards David) for about 20 minutes, which was just long enough to put up with the helmet not fitting, flying backwards in the wind and choking me. At a good turnaround spot I adjusted my helmet and headed back towards Boquete. Right before the hill into Boquete valley is a Cafe Kotowa/CEFATI, which I stopped at to take pìctures and grab a coffee. Overlooking the valley is so beautiful! From there, I headed into and past Boquete and to the surrounding areas.
As I was driving towards Palo Alto, I learned valuable scooter lesson #1: do not drive a scooter slowly past a stray dog...they WILL chase you! I learned this lesson while slowing down to take a picture of a washed out bridge. I was turning around when two dogs came racing at me with no signs of them slowing down. I just about dropped the scooter as I tried to rush past them.
After the craziness settled and I was on the road again, I ran across a little Italian restaurant in Palo Alto that I had heard about, so I went there for lunch. Wow! This place was amazing! First of all, I sat outside, alongside a waterfall that ran along the patio, in a quaint stonewalled restaurant. Second, the chef makes fresh pasta on the spot. Having been to Italy, I can say that this was one of the best Italian meals that I´ve ever had!!!
I was on the road again, heading to a part of the valley that we drove past on the way to the zipline tour, when I learned valuable scooter lesson #2: watch out for random, pothole filled, gravel roads...especially those going downhill. I almost fell of the scooter this time. This led me to hope that I didn´t run into any stray dogs while on a downhill, pothole filled, gravel road.
After a full day of teaching and driving, I returned the bike just in time to head to another jewelry making class. Tonight I made 3 necklaces, though none match the earrings I made on Monday. In the class was me, Kaytee, and Amara, a woman that moved to Boquete from Iowa City about 3 months ago. During class I had asked about a restaurant that I walked past yesterday and neither one had gone there, but heard it was very good, so we all decided to go out for dinner. This was another delicious meal and I was able to get over the fact that there were geckos climbing the walls inside.
During dinner I was talking about how I don´t think that the public education that I received was that good, but it took me a while to think about the school that I´m working at this week. What I had is nothing like the education they are receiving, the little that they actually are receiving. It just goes to show exactly how anything and everything that I had and have is so easily taken for granted.
I´m excited for class tomorrow, but don´t know what to present. I think I´ll show up early to see what the computers will allow me to do, then plan accordingly. Kaytee told me that it was ok to take pictures in the school, so I´m going to take pictures tomorrow of both the school and the kids, although pictures won´t fully be able to tell the story.
It started out a dreary, cloudy day, unlike any of the mornings I´ve seen so far. I got up early, got coffee, then rented a scooter before going to class. By the time I started out on the scooter for the day it had started to rain, but it was going to be the only opportunity I had to rent a scooter while I was here, so I wasn´t going to back down from my plans. I was off to school before long, in the rain and wearing a plastic jacket to protect myself from the elements. I made it up the hill to Volcancito school, but not without the wind half way knocking my helmet off my head.
Once I got to the school, parked, and got ready for today´s lesson, I realized that the whole presentation that I created yesterday did not work on the computers at the school. Great, I thought, what would I do now? I have no lesson ready for today! Unfortunately, the clip art images on the school´s computer would not allow me to give a similar presentation than I was prepared for (on food in English), so I searched clip art to see if that could guide me into a good presentation. Luckily, I found two images and was able to quickly put together a presentation on body parts in PowerPoint to use for the day. Disaster avoided.
While I was putting together a last minute presentation, I found out that it was immunization day at the school for the younger kids. One by one they would sit in a chair by my classroom and get their shots. I was hard to hear all of these kids crying! With all of these things happening so far in the day you´d think I was having a terrible day and I was preparing myself for a bad day, but then things got better.
I was teaching my lesson on the body and the kids were having fun with it. They liked moving the screens, and mimicking me while I pointed out and said the body parts that I was able to teach. After going through a couple of groups it was recess time, in which the kids came into my room. I felt bad because there are only 4 computers and a lot of kids in there.
There was this one little boy that had been attached to me almost the whole time I´ve been there, even though we can´t talk because of the language barrier (he´s about 7). He just looks up at me and smiles. Today, during recess, he showed me a toy that he had, which was a top, so he and I played with that for a while. I think he liked that I´d play with his top with him because he kept on giggling when I´d spin it, but even more was the look in his eyes as he was doing so.
Since there are only 4 computers to work on, half way through recess I pulled out some blank flashcards and my markers and let the kids draw. It was fun to watch the kids doing this although it was mainly houses, the sun, and mountains that they were drawing. It´s so interesting to me that although there is such a huge difference in cultures, these kids are drawing the same things (and in the same ways) that I remember drawing at that age: a house was a square with a triange on top, although many of the houses in Volcancito and Boquete don´t look like this.
When recess was over the kids went back to their classrooms and I had another couple of groups come through my lesson. By this point I had finished one class and the other classes were starting lunch (rice, meat, and beans). Since I knew I wasn´t going to have any kids for a while I started to work on my lesson for tomorrow as a way to pass time. After lunch, little to my knowledge, an older gentleman came into the school to give the kids a dancing lesson. It was fun to sit there and watch these kids, of all ages, doing these traditional dances, but that was short lived because some kids came back into my classroom.
Since there wasn´t enough time to go through my lesson, I let the kids play on Paint for a while. Jacob, the 14 year old student, came in to watch everyone, but I took this opportunity to give him a one-on-on lesson in English, since the earlier lessons were too easy for him (and I felt bad that the earlier lessons didn´t teach him anything). We went through the basics and he finished them with ease, so I got my phrasebook and started to find words that he could learn. We went through sports, foods, months, and other random things. He did SO well! After about 20 or 30 minutes, I ran out of words that were appropriate for him. I told him that his English was very good and he has a good vocabulary, sounding out difficult words with ease. I think he was really happy that I took the time to challenge him more than numbers and colors. Before I leave, I would like to type out some harder words for him to keep and practice (I would give him my whole phrasebook if I didn´t have to get back to Panama City).
It was now 12:20, 20 minutes after school let out and I still had a bunch of kids in my classroom. I let them play a little longer before having to turn off the computers for the day. Right before I left, the little boy with the top came back in my room and just stood there, excited that I would talk to him. It was just he and I, neither knowing each other´s language and not being able to communicate, but smiling and glad to be there. I felt bad not being able to say much to him, but he then pulled at his ears and said ears (one of the body parts that we went over in the lesson). I then pulled my ears, said ears, then continued on with the other body parts...eyes, nose, mouth, knees, foot. Then I let him lead, choosing a body part and I would repeat him. While we were doing this, another girl (in a Nougle Bugle dress) came in and joined us. They had fun just going over body parts in English and we did this, repeating the same words, for about 5 minutes. They smiled the whole time! It´s times like this and the ones with Jacob, that turned my day completely around into one of the most memorable and rewarding parts of my whole trip. I will truly never forget these moments.
After school, I got on the scooter and just started driving. By this time the weather had turned around and it was no longer raining. I drove in the opposite direction of Boquete (towards David) for about 20 minutes, which was just long enough to put up with the helmet not fitting, flying backwards in the wind and choking me. At a good turnaround spot I adjusted my helmet and headed back towards Boquete. Right before the hill into Boquete valley is a Cafe Kotowa/CEFATI, which I stopped at to take pìctures and grab a coffee. Overlooking the valley is so beautiful! From there, I headed into and past Boquete and to the surrounding areas.
As I was driving towards Palo Alto, I learned valuable scooter lesson #1: do not drive a scooter slowly past a stray dog...they WILL chase you! I learned this lesson while slowing down to take a picture of a washed out bridge. I was turning around when two dogs came racing at me with no signs of them slowing down. I just about dropped the scooter as I tried to rush past them.
After the craziness settled and I was on the road again, I ran across a little Italian restaurant in Palo Alto that I had heard about, so I went there for lunch. Wow! This place was amazing! First of all, I sat outside, alongside a waterfall that ran along the patio, in a quaint stonewalled restaurant. Second, the chef makes fresh pasta on the spot. Having been to Italy, I can say that this was one of the best Italian meals that I´ve ever had!!!
I was on the road again, heading to a part of the valley that we drove past on the way to the zipline tour, when I learned valuable scooter lesson #2: watch out for random, pothole filled, gravel roads...especially those going downhill. I almost fell of the scooter this time. This led me to hope that I didn´t run into any stray dogs while on a downhill, pothole filled, gravel road.
After a full day of teaching and driving, I returned the bike just in time to head to another jewelry making class. Tonight I made 3 necklaces, though none match the earrings I made on Monday. In the class was me, Kaytee, and Amara, a woman that moved to Boquete from Iowa City about 3 months ago. During class I had asked about a restaurant that I walked past yesterday and neither one had gone there, but heard it was very good, so we all decided to go out for dinner. This was another delicious meal and I was able to get over the fact that there were geckos climbing the walls inside.
During dinner I was talking about how I don´t think that the public education that I received was that good, but it took me a while to think about the school that I´m working at this week. What I had is nothing like the education they are receiving, the little that they actually are receiving. It just goes to show exactly how anything and everything that I had and have is so easily taken for granted.
I´m excited for class tomorrow, but don´t know what to present. I think I´ll show up early to see what the computers will allow me to do, then plan accordingly. Kaytee told me that it was ok to take pictures in the school, so I´m going to take pictures tomorrow of both the school and the kids, although pictures won´t fully be able to tell the story.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The day goes on...
I think I figure out why I´m not feeling well! I think it has to do with all of the exhaust I´ve been inhaling, since that´s the overwhelming scent of Boquete...that and dehydration. Luckily, I´m beginning to feel better, but still have a lingering headache.
I got out of Spanish class about an hour ago and am really learning a lot. For only $15/hr I´m getting private lessons, so I can go at a pace that works for me. Tomorrow I don´t have class, since my teacher´s child has a doctor´s appointment, but then have a 4 hour class for my last day, Thursday. Everyday, I do have the free lesson I get from working at the school and let me tell you, I know my colors now! Oh yeah, and how to say, "Repeat, in English."
Since I have a free day tomorrow after school, I think I´m going to rent a scooter in the morning, take it up to school, then scoot around all day to see the sights that are on the outskirts of Boquete. There are so many things to see, so I think I´ll pack a lunch to take with me, so I don´t have to worry about finding something to eat...mmm...bread and water, yummm...kidding!
I´m having a hard time deciding what to do for class tomorrow. I´m afraid that body parts may be too hard, but also don´t want to bore the older kids with my lessons (since I have the same lessons for all the kids in the school). Hmmm....maybe I´ll do food instead. I really wish I had my computer here, so I could make a really good PowerPoint for the kids, but that may have to wait until I get back, then email it to Kaytee to put on the computers there.
I´m finding it amusing that everyone´s talking about the weather here in Boquete (the locals). I keep hearing that it´s hot, considering that it´s just the beginning of the rainy season, but the head never really bothered me until today, when it was overcast. I´m not sweating as much as I was in Panama City by any means, but am now at the point where I wish that I could just do some laundry. I think I´m on cycle two of most of my clothes, but since I only have 3 full days left, it´s not worth the hastle of trying to figure out how to do get a load of laundry done. Until then, I´ll just have to manage feeling kinda gross. Mom and Dad, have fun smelling me when you pick me up from the airport! You may not want to get too close! :)
Well, I better get back to preparing my lesson for tomorrow!
I got out of Spanish class about an hour ago and am really learning a lot. For only $15/hr I´m getting private lessons, so I can go at a pace that works for me. Tomorrow I don´t have class, since my teacher´s child has a doctor´s appointment, but then have a 4 hour class for my last day, Thursday. Everyday, I do have the free lesson I get from working at the school and let me tell you, I know my colors now! Oh yeah, and how to say, "Repeat, in English."
Since I have a free day tomorrow after school, I think I´m going to rent a scooter in the morning, take it up to school, then scoot around all day to see the sights that are on the outskirts of Boquete. There are so many things to see, so I think I´ll pack a lunch to take with me, so I don´t have to worry about finding something to eat...mmm...bread and water, yummm...kidding!
I´m having a hard time deciding what to do for class tomorrow. I´m afraid that body parts may be too hard, but also don´t want to bore the older kids with my lessons (since I have the same lessons for all the kids in the school). Hmmm....maybe I´ll do food instead. I really wish I had my computer here, so I could make a really good PowerPoint for the kids, but that may have to wait until I get back, then email it to Kaytee to put on the computers there.
I´m finding it amusing that everyone´s talking about the weather here in Boquete (the locals). I keep hearing that it´s hot, considering that it´s just the beginning of the rainy season, but the head never really bothered me until today, when it was overcast. I´m not sweating as much as I was in Panama City by any means, but am now at the point where I wish that I could just do some laundry. I think I´m on cycle two of most of my clothes, but since I only have 3 full days left, it´s not worth the hastle of trying to figure out how to do get a load of laundry done. Until then, I´ll just have to manage feeling kinda gross. Mom and Dad, have fun smelling me when you pick me up from the airport! You may not want to get too close! :)
Well, I better get back to preparing my lesson for tomorrow!
Tuesday
Right now I´m having a hard time staying away. I´m afraid that I´m starting to get sick, but am trying not to let that hold me back. Hopefully I´m just dehydrated and the Gatorade I´m chugging will kick in soon.
Last night I toughened up and stayed in the hostel again and this time no large beetles made an appearance. Unfortunately I had a hard time falling asleep and also kept waking up in the middle of the night, so I didn´t sleep very well.
This morning I got to Hastor Computers early, so I would work on my lesson for today, which was colors. I had everything ready to go, but couldn´t get it saved to the disc I have, so I headed up to Vocancito and redid my work on their computers. The lesson didn´t really go according to plan. It seemed like the kids´favorite words were Purple (which always made them giggle) and Yellow. The kids were eager to get into the computer lab, but then when the lesson was over, they didn´t want to leave. The language barrier didn´t help any becuase I didn´t know how to tell them to go back to their classroom. The kids were just so excited to be there, were always smiling at me (I´ve perfected my Hola and Chao) and excited for me to work on the computer that I caved and let them play on Paint before having them go back to class. Most of the kids just scribbled, but I also got a lot of pictures of suns and houses. I even got a couple of hugs after my lessons. After going through a few groups, and at the end of the day, I was able to adjust my lesson, so the kids could enjoy it more. I now know what to do tomorrow.
To get back to Boquete I was to catch a common cab (a van they pack with as many people on it as possible) from a cement waiting area outside of the school. While waiting, I saw my first gecko, which was black and bright yellow. When I saw the first common cab pass, I asked if it was going to Boquete and they signaled for me to hop in, so I did. We drove further and further from the school, in the opposite direction of Boquete and I kept thinking that I took the wrong cab and would end up in who knows where and no way to get back. After about 30 minutes of thinking I had gotten myself into another unusual adventure, I was able to see the valley of Boquete. Luckily, I had taken the correct cab and got back into Boquete shortly after.
Well, that´s all that´s happened today so far. Since I´m not feeling well, I´m going to head back to the hostel before my Spanish class.
Last night I toughened up and stayed in the hostel again and this time no large beetles made an appearance. Unfortunately I had a hard time falling asleep and also kept waking up in the middle of the night, so I didn´t sleep very well.
This morning I got to Hastor Computers early, so I would work on my lesson for today, which was colors. I had everything ready to go, but couldn´t get it saved to the disc I have, so I headed up to Vocancito and redid my work on their computers. The lesson didn´t really go according to plan. It seemed like the kids´favorite words were Purple (which always made them giggle) and Yellow. The kids were eager to get into the computer lab, but then when the lesson was over, they didn´t want to leave. The language barrier didn´t help any becuase I didn´t know how to tell them to go back to their classroom. The kids were just so excited to be there, were always smiling at me (I´ve perfected my Hola and Chao) and excited for me to work on the computer that I caved and let them play on Paint before having them go back to class. Most of the kids just scribbled, but I also got a lot of pictures of suns and houses. I even got a couple of hugs after my lessons. After going through a few groups, and at the end of the day, I was able to adjust my lesson, so the kids could enjoy it more. I now know what to do tomorrow.
To get back to Boquete I was to catch a common cab (a van they pack with as many people on it as possible) from a cement waiting area outside of the school. While waiting, I saw my first gecko, which was black and bright yellow. When I saw the first common cab pass, I asked if it was going to Boquete and they signaled for me to hop in, so I did. We drove further and further from the school, in the opposite direction of Boquete and I kept thinking that I took the wrong cab and would end up in who knows where and no way to get back. After about 30 minutes of thinking I had gotten myself into another unusual adventure, I was able to see the valley of Boquete. Luckily, I had taken the correct cab and got back into Boquete shortly after.
Well, that´s all that´s happened today so far. Since I´m not feeling well, I´m going to head back to the hostel before my Spanish class.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Day 5? First day of school in Vocancito
After a night that tested my patience and caused me to have a TERRIBLE attitude towards hostel life (filled with bugs and the large beetle in the middle of my bed was just the topper...thanks, Mom, for listening to me freak out when I called), I woke up today with a very optimistic attitude. Although I was not very keen on the idea another night with bugs, being the only one in a room of 10 beds, and having no coverings over the windows, I thought that I needed to try harder to adapt to my surroundings. No, 3 hours (or 12 for that matter) was not enough time for me to give the hostel experience a try, therefore, I will be staying at the hostel yet another night. Of course, I say that now, when it´s been over 12 hours since I´ve last stepped foot in that place.
Ok, so enough with that! Today was my first day of school! I woke up early, got ready, and grabbed coffee before a cab was supposed to pick me up. The scheduled pick up time was 8:45am, but the cab did not arrive until 9:15, which frustrated me, but there was nothing else I could do. I arrived at Volcancito school shortly after.
First, an introduction to the school: this school is for the underpriviledged kids around the Boquete area, most of which come from farming or indiginous families (Nogle Bougle, I think is the name) and the school consists of 4 classrooms to teach the approximately 50 kids that are going to school there. The ages range from 5 to 14 and all wear school uniforms, except the indiginous Indians who wore the traditional dresses. The school is made completely out of concrete, barely have windows (in fact, the computer room has no windows), no air conditioning, and swelters during the warm mornings/early afternoons. During the day, the kids roam in and out of the classrooms because the teachers don´t have a whole lot of control over the kids, which was interesting because they all came to the computer room to see what Oscar and I were teaching. I have yet to run into a child at that school who seemed excited to see someone new, wave, and say bye before they left.
So, we were to shows the kids how to use Word and Paint on the computers, but we also turned it into an English lesson as well. Since I didn´t know what to expect, I had nothing prepared and relied on Oscar´s help to get me through the day. As we went through numbers 11 thru 20 with the kids, I was able to learn some Spanish myself and also see how kids the kids were learning English. Of the numbers that we reviewed, 12 and 20 were the hardest for the kids to say. I also noticed that the younger kids were less shy and wanted to show me their English, rather than the older kids who were more shy. The kids were so excited to come into the classroom, say hi to us, and see what we were doing. The teachers were also excited too, to have a native English speaker helping the kids with their English.
One funny/gross thing that happened was when a little boy walked into our room holding something rather large and black. As I realized that he was holding a beetle or bug of some sorts, another boy knocked the bug from his hands, landing on the floor, so the little boy stomped on it with all his might. As I watched this unfold, I heard the disgusting pop that sent shivers down my spine (and continue to do so as I think of it again). This was nothing to the little boy, who walked away, but I couldn´t stop staring at the bug remains and thinking of how grossed out I was. Yes, in case you couldn´t tell, I´ve got an issue with creepy crawly things.
Today went by quickly and we ran through about 20 kids on the computer before school got out at noon. A couple of kids stayed behind and washed the cement floor with the teachers before heading home.
From there I went back to Oscar and Kaytee´s house for lunch and as we we walked there, Oscar and I thought of things I could do for my lesson tomorrow. There are a couple of different ways I think I´ll prepare for class, with tomorrow´s lesson on colors. Ultimately, given enough time, I hope to put together a PowerPoint presentation that I can save to the school´s computers for basics in English. For now, though, I´ll work with flashcards.
After lunch, I went off to my Spanish class at Habla Ya. Ericka is my teacher and we spent 2 hours going over basics. I´m catching on more than I thought, but am still having a hard time mixing my Spanish with French words that I know. Although I don´t know a whole lot, I´ve learned enough to interact with the kids tomorrow.
Once class ended, I had about an hour of freetime before a jewelry making class that I signed up for (suprised I did that? Me too!). During this time, I went shopping for supplies for class tomorrow.
The jewelry making class was taught by Kaytee and it ended up being just me and her spending 2 hours making jewelry (5 pairs of earrings in my case). I was surprised by how much I liked doing this, since it isn´t something I´d usually try doing on my own. Afterwards, we met up with Oscar for a Peruvian dinner at Machu Pachu.
Well, that´s it for my day. I´m excited to back to school tomorrow, see the kids again, and work on colors. I won´t have Oscar´s help, so it´ll be difficult with the language barrier, but I´m excited anyways.
Ok, so enough with that! Today was my first day of school! I woke up early, got ready, and grabbed coffee before a cab was supposed to pick me up. The scheduled pick up time was 8:45am, but the cab did not arrive until 9:15, which frustrated me, but there was nothing else I could do. I arrived at Volcancito school shortly after.
First, an introduction to the school: this school is for the underpriviledged kids around the Boquete area, most of which come from farming or indiginous families (Nogle Bougle, I think is the name) and the school consists of 4 classrooms to teach the approximately 50 kids that are going to school there. The ages range from 5 to 14 and all wear school uniforms, except the indiginous Indians who wore the traditional dresses. The school is made completely out of concrete, barely have windows (in fact, the computer room has no windows), no air conditioning, and swelters during the warm mornings/early afternoons. During the day, the kids roam in and out of the classrooms because the teachers don´t have a whole lot of control over the kids, which was interesting because they all came to the computer room to see what Oscar and I were teaching. I have yet to run into a child at that school who seemed excited to see someone new, wave, and say bye before they left.
So, we were to shows the kids how to use Word and Paint on the computers, but we also turned it into an English lesson as well. Since I didn´t know what to expect, I had nothing prepared and relied on Oscar´s help to get me through the day. As we went through numbers 11 thru 20 with the kids, I was able to learn some Spanish myself and also see how kids the kids were learning English. Of the numbers that we reviewed, 12 and 20 were the hardest for the kids to say. I also noticed that the younger kids were less shy and wanted to show me their English, rather than the older kids who were more shy. The kids were so excited to come into the classroom, say hi to us, and see what we were doing. The teachers were also excited too, to have a native English speaker helping the kids with their English.
One funny/gross thing that happened was when a little boy walked into our room holding something rather large and black. As I realized that he was holding a beetle or bug of some sorts, another boy knocked the bug from his hands, landing on the floor, so the little boy stomped on it with all his might. As I watched this unfold, I heard the disgusting pop that sent shivers down my spine (and continue to do so as I think of it again). This was nothing to the little boy, who walked away, but I couldn´t stop staring at the bug remains and thinking of how grossed out I was. Yes, in case you couldn´t tell, I´ve got an issue with creepy crawly things.
Today went by quickly and we ran through about 20 kids on the computer before school got out at noon. A couple of kids stayed behind and washed the cement floor with the teachers before heading home.
From there I went back to Oscar and Kaytee´s house for lunch and as we we walked there, Oscar and I thought of things I could do for my lesson tomorrow. There are a couple of different ways I think I´ll prepare for class, with tomorrow´s lesson on colors. Ultimately, given enough time, I hope to put together a PowerPoint presentation that I can save to the school´s computers for basics in English. For now, though, I´ll work with flashcards.
After lunch, I went off to my Spanish class at Habla Ya. Ericka is my teacher and we spent 2 hours going over basics. I´m catching on more than I thought, but am still having a hard time mixing my Spanish with French words that I know. Although I don´t know a whole lot, I´ve learned enough to interact with the kids tomorrow.
Once class ended, I had about an hour of freetime before a jewelry making class that I signed up for (suprised I did that? Me too!). During this time, I went shopping for supplies for class tomorrow.
The jewelry making class was taught by Kaytee and it ended up being just me and her spending 2 hours making jewelry (5 pairs of earrings in my case). I was surprised by how much I liked doing this, since it isn´t something I´d usually try doing on my own. Afterwards, we met up with Oscar for a Peruvian dinner at Machu Pachu.
Well, that´s it for my day. I´m excited to back to school tomorrow, see the kids again, and work on colors. I won´t have Oscar´s help, so it´ll be difficult with the language barrier, but I´m excited anyways.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Little Things
Over the past couple of days there have been a couple of things that I´ve forgotten to mention, so here they are:
Panama City - I left my hotel to walk around a bit before I had to check out, so I wouldn´t have to drag my bag around. I got back to my hotel about 15 minutes before it was time to check out, but when I arrived at my room, the door was wide open and the housekeeper was already working away. I´m glad I had already packed up all of my stuff!!!
In General: I started reading another book a couple of days ago and one of the main characters´names is Meg. Is it weird that the way I picture her is Meg from Family Guy?
Boquete: The days have been hot, but not too hot and not too humid. Every day around 4 it starts to rain, hard, but doesn´t last too long. Then, around 6;30 when it´s starting to get dark outside, clouds begin to roll in, engulfing the Chiriqui valley from all directions. I don´t know what´s so special about it and I can´t put into words how neat that is, but I can just sit there and watch the clouds roll in.
Today, after I last posted a blog, I walked around town, grabbed another coffee, and came back to my hostel. Like I had said before, there were 10 empty beds in my room, so I randomly chose the one next to the window, overlooking the Caldera river. What I had not thought about with that decision is that bugs like windows...windows with holes in the screens...windows with holes in screens facing rivers. I was putting up my mosquito net when I had already attracted a spider and a moth on it. At this point, I chose the bed furthest from the window, hoping I´ll have less bugs around me. Thank goodness for sleep sacks and mosquito nets! I really think I´ll need it now. Even as I´m typing this, there are two bugs crawling around the computer monitor. Ick. Right now, I´m thinking the whole hostel thing will be short lived, but I won´t fully decide until after my shower tomorrow morning.
Panama City - I left my hotel to walk around a bit before I had to check out, so I wouldn´t have to drag my bag around. I got back to my hotel about 15 minutes before it was time to check out, but when I arrived at my room, the door was wide open and the housekeeper was already working away. I´m glad I had already packed up all of my stuff!!!
In General: I started reading another book a couple of days ago and one of the main characters´names is Meg. Is it weird that the way I picture her is Meg from Family Guy?
Boquete: The days have been hot, but not too hot and not too humid. Every day around 4 it starts to rain, hard, but doesn´t last too long. Then, around 6;30 when it´s starting to get dark outside, clouds begin to roll in, engulfing the Chiriqui valley from all directions. I don´t know what´s so special about it and I can´t put into words how neat that is, but I can just sit there and watch the clouds roll in.
Today, after I last posted a blog, I walked around town, grabbed another coffee, and came back to my hostel. Like I had said before, there were 10 empty beds in my room, so I randomly chose the one next to the window, overlooking the Caldera river. What I had not thought about with that decision is that bugs like windows...windows with holes in the screens...windows with holes in screens facing rivers. I was putting up my mosquito net when I had already attracted a spider and a moth on it. At this point, I chose the bed furthest from the window, hoping I´ll have less bugs around me. Thank goodness for sleep sacks and mosquito nets! I really think I´ll need it now. Even as I´m typing this, there are two bugs crawling around the computer monitor. Ick. Right now, I´m thinking the whole hostel thing will be short lived, but I won´t fully decide until after my shower tomorrow morning.
Day 3: Boquete
Yesterday was a long, eventful day for me in Boquete. As I mentioned yesterday, I began my day with a coffee tour. After my blog yesterday, I met up with Kaytee and Oscar for some lunch at Nelvi´s, which serves traditional Panamanian food. It´s a cafeteria type place where you pick what you want, a la carte, and pay a flat rate for the lunch. I had some white rice, steamed veggies, a carne dish, and fried plantains all for $2. Granted, the food was a little odd (not too hot, temperature wise), but was still good. After lunch, the three of us went on a hike to a waterfall about 15 minutes of out downtown Boquete.
We took a taxi to the waterfall and walked halfway back to Boquete because we were crunched for time. Of course the waterfall was beautiful, but I thought the walk along the Caldera river on the way back was even better. We passed many different fruit trees and Oscar would climb the trees to grab some fruit. The fruit that I really liked was Guayana (I think that´s what it´s called), but it was weird eating something straight from the tree, seeds and all. On the walk back we also passed the dwellings, I guess that´s how I´d describe it, of the indiginous Indians. It´s amazing how simple their lives are, yet they seem so content. We passed some kids playing on the clothes lines, who would then run to us, wave, and say hi. They seemed so happy to see us and for us to acknowledge them.
Right before we hopped a bus back to Boquete, we passed one indiginous dwelling, which was simply traps tied together with string for walls, then metal slats for a roof. Their bathroom was a doorless outhouse that had a cement hole for a toilet. When we walked passed, we noticed that there was a dog nursing a new litter of puppies. We stopped to look at them and a little girl came up to us and picked one up for Kaytee to hold. These puppies only looked about a week old and it was sad to see them covered in mosquitos and the mom was so skinny that you could see the ouline of both her rib cage and spine. While we were there, I saw 3 adults and 1 child living in that house. Once Kaytee gave the puppy back to the little girl, we quickly caught a bus back into town. This bus, a run down VW-like van, eventually held 16 passengers, plus the driver and an 8 year old looking buy who was working by taking everyone´s money.
Once back in town, we went to the grocery store, so that Kaytee and Oscar could get food for the dinner party they were throwing that night and so I could get a cell phone. At this point, the 3 of us went our seperate ways for the time being and I walked back to my hotel. As I was crossing the bridge over the river, I was walking by a man who´s walk captivated me. I studied his foot movement in the rubber rain boots he was wearing, when it occurred to me why he was walking the way he way. It looked as though he had a clubbed right foot that had never been corrected. For some reason, of all of the things that I´ve seen so far, this was the saddest to me. I could help tearing up when I thought that this could´ve been how I would´ve been walking, so painfully looking, had I not had my club foot corrected.
A couple of hours later, Kaytee sent her friend Deamus to come pick me up for the dinner party that she was throwing, so I could meet some of her friends in Boquete. There was such a mix of people at this dinner party: Kaytee (from Scottsdale, AZ), Oscar (from Columbia), Deamus (from Panama City and getting ready to move to Argentina), Carlos (native Boquete), Evelyn (from Luxenborg, now living in Boquete), and Felix (from Germany, visiting Evelyn). It was interesting to be a fly on the wall, watching the men doing all the cooking, and all of the friends would switch in and out of English and Spanish during their conversations.
After dinner, we all headed to Zanzibar, which is an African themed bar in North Boquete. Live music was playing at first by two guys playing the guitar and bongos, then it kind of moved to the a freestyle music night, where Carlos and Deamus would randomly start playing either of the instruments and singing. As I sat there, listenting to this music, I couldn´t help but to think "Wow, this is my life. I´m actually experiencing this!"
It was pushing 1am by this point and I decided to call it a night. After saying bye, Carlos warned me about walking alone through town at that time. Never before would I think I would hear the words, "Don´t take the left road, it´s full of indiginous drunks that you don´t want to walk past." I took the right road and made it back safely, even without seeing any indiginous drunks. I do have to say, I was disappointed that I never went with Kaytee and Oscar to get "street meat", which is the equivelant of a hot dog after going to the bars.
Today:
I slept in a little bit this morning and found myself in a rush to check out of my hotel and make it to the Canopy tours on time for the 10am departure. I cut it so close that I didn´t have time to check into the hostel before getting to the tour, but just enough time to get coffee next door.
The first part of the canopy/zipline tour was a 20 minute drive up in the mountains. Let me tell you, this was an adventure in itself! Unpaved roads, old truck, and uncomfy seats means a sore butt! All that didn´t matter though, since the view was beautiful, both on the drive and also when we got to the top. I would have to say that the view of the Chiquiri valley rivals some of my other favorite views: Alps from both Kleine Scheidigg (I´m sure I misspelled that) and Gimmelwald, the ocean from a restaurant in Cinque Terre, and the view of Germany/Austria from Mary´s bridge (which includes the castle that the Disney castle is based on).
We hiked to the first platform to zipline from and as I waited for my turn, my whole body began to shake. I hate heights, but knew I would regret not doing this. Once I was secure, I slid off the platform for a 10-15 second ride. At this point I didn´t know what to feel...fear, nerves, excitement? Going from platform to platform was rather quick, until platform 6 when we waited for everyone to reach. Once we got started again, the same fears and nerves came back as the first time I jumped, but this time my body was shaking from the same nerves AND having the stop and pull myself on the previous ziplines tracks. There were 2 more tracks to go before we stopped again as a group. This last group stop was right before the longest track of the whole canopy tour, which was a 410 meter track and would take about 20 seconds to go across. Although it was the scariest track of all, it was defintiely the most thrilling!
We finally hit the end of the zipline course and we were given the option of going on the Tarzan swing. I still had my harness on and though there´s no better time to do this than now, so I went for this. We stood in line, since there were many people that opted to do this, and during my waiting time, I saw my first large, not-behind-glass-at-the-zoo cockroach. Ewww! The only reason that I noticed it was because it had flown right past my ear, grazing it, before landing on a rock at my feet. Ewww!
The whole zipline tour and Tarzan swing experience was amazing. In our group was the cutest 5 year old girl, who was so excited about everything and enjoyed every thrilling mintue. She just glowed; it was so cute!
We then made our way back down on the same bumpy road as before, but it was worse going downhill. I think I spent more time in the air on the ride down than on the tour! The whole way down I was concentrating on looking for an animal, any kind of animal, in the vegetation that we drove past. It was like trying to find Waldo in the middle of those puzzles/posters that you´re supposed to stare at for 30 seconds before seeing the object of the picture. Needless to say, I didn´t see any animals. Darn!
Once I got back into Boquete it was time to finally check into my new "home" for the rest of my time in Boquete (5 nights). This new "home" is a hostel, where rooms are seperated by boys and girls. When I got there, the room had 10 beds, reminded me of Annie, yet I was/am the only girl in the room right now. Now it may be hard to believe that I´m not a fan of communal living, seeing that I´ve lived with up to 6 people in my house at one time, but I think this part of the trip is going to be the most difficult for me. Part of me knows that this will be a great experience, but part of me is placing a bet on how long I´ll go before throwing in the flag and getting my own hotel room.
Well, tomorrow morning my volunteer teaching begins in the moring for 5 hours, followed by a 2 hour break before going to my Spanish class. I think I´m going to take it easy tonight in anticipation for the next 5 days. I will send out off with these pictures taken by the Canopy tour since they are the only pictures I can post right now.
P.S. As I was attaching the pictures, the power when out. The music playing in the streets was still going and everyone just stood in the streets. Apparently it´s common, but it was the first time I´ve experienced it. Thank goodness for saving!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Day 2: Panama City and trek to Boquete
Yesterday was an interesting day. I started off my day with a breakfast that was served in the restaurant that I stayed in. Apparently Panamanians feel the need to deep fry EVERYTHING! I decided to go with the flow and try something new, even though it looked rather strange. I took a bite of what was apparently a deep fried sausage link, which actually tasted like taking a bite out of a piece of deep fried tree branch. Well, I tried, but wasn´t really in the mood to break any teeth, so one bite was it for me.
I then walked around Panama City for the next few hours, sometimes dodging into random stores to escape the heat and humidity. I don´t think I´ve ever sweat so much in my life! It was disgusting!!! Jen, Mexico was nothing compared to what I experienced yesterday. Wow! Other than that, I made my way through the Marella and Bella Vista districts of Panama City and slightly into a part of town that my guidebook says isn´t safe. I turned around as soon as I saw a bolt of lightning, followed by the loudest thunder I think I´ve ever heard. Great, it was starting to get crappy out as I had to make my way to the airport.
As I´m conditioned to do by American standards, I arrived at the Albrook airport WAY ahead of time. I left my hotel, Hotel Executive, around 2pm for my 4pm flight. The cab ride took me through part of the most povery stricken areas of Panama City and I just stared out the window in complete shock of what I was seeing. Men, both in uniform and not, guarding entrances of doors with large guns, and people standing in the road in groups. The buildings/aparments were nothing more than large white buildings with small holes cut out for windows (which were covered in bars, both horizontally and vertically). Lastly, there was a section of buildings that were enclosed by a chainlink fencing and barbed wire that were arranged in a way that eerily reminded me a lot of Dachau (it´s a concentration camp in Germany that we visit(ed) on the Best of Europe tour when I worked for Rick Steves). I had never really seen anything like this in my life!
So, I made it to Albrook airport a little less than two hours before my scheduled departure. My plan was just to read a book until the flight, which I did, until we were informed that our flight was delayed another two hours because of weather. So, I had four total hours to kill at the Albrook airport. At that point, I left the airport and walked to Kotowa Cafe and found the closest thing to Starbucks that Panama has to offer. Oh yeah, I also saw the cargo ships passing throught the Canal.
The plane ride from Panama City to David was short and bumpy. My seat was one facing the opposite direction that plane seats usually face, which gave me a good opportuntiy to watch the plane´s propellers cut their way through the rainstorm that we were going through. By the time we landed, though, it was dark outside, so unfortunately I could not see much of David when we were landing.
I was greeted at David´s airport by Kaytee (my contact at GVN while I´m here) and her Columbian boyfriend, Oscar. The two were very nice and together we took a taxi to David´s bus station, where we caught a bus (a typical school bus) for our hour drive, uphill, to Boquete. The whole hour to Boquete, the three of us talked and Kaytee prepared me for what I will have in store for the next week. Once we got off the bus in Boquete´s "town square", we walked to my hotel, El Oasis B&B. Contrary to what my dad called it, it was not a Bug & Bat. Actually, I liked my room a lot more than the one in Panama City because this one actually had personality and charm.
Once I Kaytee and Oscar left and I got situated, I headed to the grocery store in town, so I could get something to eat (it was nearing 10pm and most places in town were closed). I guess I haven´t gone too far from my days of bread and water on my first trip to Paris because I got, you guessed it, bread and water. I made sure that the bread had raisins in it though, to add a little substance to what I was going to call dinner.
Although I had just been in Boquete about an hour and it was night, I could tell right away that I was going to love my time in this little town and all the previous anxiety and nervousness had completely vanished.
This morning I woke up early, so I could see the town by day before meeting up at Habla Ya for my coffee tour. There really isn´t much to this town and it was still early, but there was a quaintness, calmness, and simplicity about the town that just puts everything at ease. After a stop at Kotowa cafe, I went to Habla Ya, took the placement test for my classes (which start Monday after my first day of volunteering), and was picked up by Carlos and the other tourists for the Cafe Ruiz coffee tour. We drove about 15 minutes from Boquete to the coffee farm and walked around everything for about an hour. Not only does this farm grow coffee, but they also grow lemons, limes, oranges, mangos, papaya, banana, castrol nuts, and peppers. The setting was so beautiful because all you could see was the green of the trees (with some random fruit colors mixed in) leading to Volcano Baru, which is also covered in green, against the most crisp, blue sky that you could see. It´s unbelievable how all of the colors pop out more than usual or maybe I´m a bit excited and biased.
Back in town, it´s interesting to see the diverse group of people that are in Boquete. You have the Boquete natives, European and American retirees (Boquete was named on of the top 3 places to retire in the WORLD), young tavelers, and most interesting, the indiginous Indians in their traditional attire (most notably the dresses that the women are wearing).
Today is supposed to get interesting, since it´s Saturday and most people get paid then drink it away. I´m about to call Kaytee to meet up with her for the day, get a cell phone (since I was unsuccessful yesterday), and possibly hike to a waterfall nearby. Tonight, I´m going to have my first traditional Panamanian dinner and go out for some drinks with Kaytee, Oscar, and Carlos (one of the guys that works at Habla Ya) at Zanzibar.
Now that I´m in Boquete, I´m loving every second and every sight and can´t wait to start working. I may even decide to stay in a local home stay for a couple of nights (why not...when in Rome).
I then walked around Panama City for the next few hours, sometimes dodging into random stores to escape the heat and humidity. I don´t think I´ve ever sweat so much in my life! It was disgusting!!! Jen, Mexico was nothing compared to what I experienced yesterday. Wow! Other than that, I made my way through the Marella and Bella Vista districts of Panama City and slightly into a part of town that my guidebook says isn´t safe. I turned around as soon as I saw a bolt of lightning, followed by the loudest thunder I think I´ve ever heard. Great, it was starting to get crappy out as I had to make my way to the airport.
As I´m conditioned to do by American standards, I arrived at the Albrook airport WAY ahead of time. I left my hotel, Hotel Executive, around 2pm for my 4pm flight. The cab ride took me through part of the most povery stricken areas of Panama City and I just stared out the window in complete shock of what I was seeing. Men, both in uniform and not, guarding entrances of doors with large guns, and people standing in the road in groups. The buildings/aparments were nothing more than large white buildings with small holes cut out for windows (which were covered in bars, both horizontally and vertically). Lastly, there was a section of buildings that were enclosed by a chainlink fencing and barbed wire that were arranged in a way that eerily reminded me a lot of Dachau (it´s a concentration camp in Germany that we visit(ed) on the Best of Europe tour when I worked for Rick Steves). I had never really seen anything like this in my life!
So, I made it to Albrook airport a little less than two hours before my scheduled departure. My plan was just to read a book until the flight, which I did, until we were informed that our flight was delayed another two hours because of weather. So, I had four total hours to kill at the Albrook airport. At that point, I left the airport and walked to Kotowa Cafe and found the closest thing to Starbucks that Panama has to offer. Oh yeah, I also saw the cargo ships passing throught the Canal.
The plane ride from Panama City to David was short and bumpy. My seat was one facing the opposite direction that plane seats usually face, which gave me a good opportuntiy to watch the plane´s propellers cut their way through the rainstorm that we were going through. By the time we landed, though, it was dark outside, so unfortunately I could not see much of David when we were landing.
I was greeted at David´s airport by Kaytee (my contact at GVN while I´m here) and her Columbian boyfriend, Oscar. The two were very nice and together we took a taxi to David´s bus station, where we caught a bus (a typical school bus) for our hour drive, uphill, to Boquete. The whole hour to Boquete, the three of us talked and Kaytee prepared me for what I will have in store for the next week. Once we got off the bus in Boquete´s "town square", we walked to my hotel, El Oasis B&B. Contrary to what my dad called it, it was not a Bug & Bat. Actually, I liked my room a lot more than the one in Panama City because this one actually had personality and charm.
Once I Kaytee and Oscar left and I got situated, I headed to the grocery store in town, so I could get something to eat (it was nearing 10pm and most places in town were closed). I guess I haven´t gone too far from my days of bread and water on my first trip to Paris because I got, you guessed it, bread and water. I made sure that the bread had raisins in it though, to add a little substance to what I was going to call dinner.
Although I had just been in Boquete about an hour and it was night, I could tell right away that I was going to love my time in this little town and all the previous anxiety and nervousness had completely vanished.
This morning I woke up early, so I could see the town by day before meeting up at Habla Ya for my coffee tour. There really isn´t much to this town and it was still early, but there was a quaintness, calmness, and simplicity about the town that just puts everything at ease. After a stop at Kotowa cafe, I went to Habla Ya, took the placement test for my classes (which start Monday after my first day of volunteering), and was picked up by Carlos and the other tourists for the Cafe Ruiz coffee tour. We drove about 15 minutes from Boquete to the coffee farm and walked around everything for about an hour. Not only does this farm grow coffee, but they also grow lemons, limes, oranges, mangos, papaya, banana, castrol nuts, and peppers. The setting was so beautiful because all you could see was the green of the trees (with some random fruit colors mixed in) leading to Volcano Baru, which is also covered in green, against the most crisp, blue sky that you could see. It´s unbelievable how all of the colors pop out more than usual or maybe I´m a bit excited and biased.
Back in town, it´s interesting to see the diverse group of people that are in Boquete. You have the Boquete natives, European and American retirees (Boquete was named on of the top 3 places to retire in the WORLD), young tavelers, and most interesting, the indiginous Indians in their traditional attire (most notably the dresses that the women are wearing).
Today is supposed to get interesting, since it´s Saturday and most people get paid then drink it away. I´m about to call Kaytee to meet up with her for the day, get a cell phone (since I was unsuccessful yesterday), and possibly hike to a waterfall nearby. Tonight, I´m going to have my first traditional Panamanian dinner and go out for some drinks with Kaytee, Oscar, and Carlos (one of the guys that works at Habla Ya) at Zanzibar.
Now that I´m in Boquete, I´m loving every second and every sight and can´t wait to start working. I may even decide to stay in a local home stay for a couple of nights (why not...when in Rome).
Friday, September 4, 2009
Day 1
I made it to Panama City safe and sound last night, after 15 hours and 2 layovers. My first layover was in Dallas for 3 hours. When I was riding the tram to my gate, a women asked me where I was going and she lit up after I said Panama. This woman, in her late 50s to early 60s was excited because she too was going to Panama, but she lives there. Cricket (yes, that´s her name), has lived in Panama City since 1988 when her and her husband went there to do some mission work with their church in Virginia. We talked for about a half hour and she gave me a lot of pointers and dismissed some of the concerns I was having. She gave me her card and her cell phone number in case there was anything else I needed while I was in Panama. After this, I walked around and found a nice, cushy chair to sleep in for the next couple of hours.
My next layover was in Miami. At first it seemed like an ok airport, but then I went into the main check in area because I had to re-check in for my flight to Panama. How confusing! I swear, everyone that was walking through the airport had at least 4 pieces of luggage with them! I did find it interesting, though, that there was such a diverse group of people there. Another saving grace was that there was Starbucks, which I went to because I knew it would be the last one I saw for the next 10 days.
The plane I took from Miami to Panama City was a lot larger than I originally thought. When I first booked the trip, it looked as though there was going to be only 36 seats on the two and a half hour flight, but luckily the plane was much larger (a 737-800, I think, and it had 29 rows).
Once I landed in Panama City, I just kept thinking, "What the hell did I get myself into? Am I crazy? There´s no turning back now!" As soon as I walked off the plane, I played a game with myself, called "One of these things is not like the other." Can you guess what the answer was? Well, it was a white girl. Most of the people standing in the immigration line with me were from other parts of Central America or Europe. I think I was the only one in line that had a blue passport cover. After going through immigration, picking up my luggage, and then going through customs, I knew it was time to figure out how the heck I was going to get to my hotel.
It was already dark outside when I left the doors of the airport (and it was only about 7pm) and I was instantly hit with a blast of heat and humidity. Luckily there were cabs lined up at the doors and I quickly found one that was within the price range that Cricket told me should be correct for my trip from the airport to my hotel. I was kind of disappointed that it was pitch black outside, so I couldn´t really see everything (or anything for that matter) on the 20 minute cab ride. When we got close to the hotel, I kept thinking that things were ok in my surrounding areas, but then we suddenly took a left turn down a dark alley that had a bunch of guys standing around in the street. Great. My luck will be that the hotel is right there in the sketchy part of the nice area in Panama City. The hotel wasn´t too far from there, but it was not in a dark alley, thank goodness!
As soon as I got into my room, the first thing I did was look at all the walls and floors to make sure that there wasn´t anything creeping and crawling anywhere that I could see. The first impression of the room was definitely not what I expected, considering it´s one of the nicer hotels in the city. By American standards, this would be a cheap, run down hotel, but I´m not in Kansas anymore, so I know not to expect that. By Panamaian standards, this hotel was worth the price, I guess. Now, I´m glad that I paid extra for a "nice" hotel because I have no clue what I would have gotten had I spent less. At this point, I was still thinking that I´m crazy for coming here because it´s definitely going to test everything I have in me because it´s so far out of my comfort zone.
Although it was only about 8pm by the time I got to my room and situated, I knew the best thing to do was to just get some sleep and start fresh the next day. I was tired, but couldn´t fall asleep for a couple of hours, so I just sat there and though it´ll have to get better tomorrow.
When I finally woke up this morning, I quickly looked outside to see what the city actually looked like during the day. Now, it looked like a normal big city during the night, so I wasn´t expecting anything too crazy. Wow! I was wrong! Daylight does this city no favors! I am situated in one of the nicer parts of town, the banking district, but it´s defintely like no banking district I´ve ever seen before. I took some pictures from my balcony and the deck outside my front door, but didn´t want to look like a gawking tourist while standing on the streets, so you´ll have to take my word for it. Just...wow. I don´t know what I expected, but I guess not this.
Right now I´m at a mall, looking for a cell phone to use while I´m here. I better go, so I can find a cell phone, then get back to my hotel in time to check out. Later today I have to make my way to Albrook airport, so I can catch my flight to David. When I get there, luckily, there will be someone from GVN to pick me up and take me to Boquete, where I´ll be spending the next week.
I´ll update soon. Hasta luego (I shouldn´t even pretend like I know what I´m saying)!
My next layover was in Miami. At first it seemed like an ok airport, but then I went into the main check in area because I had to re-check in for my flight to Panama. How confusing! I swear, everyone that was walking through the airport had at least 4 pieces of luggage with them! I did find it interesting, though, that there was such a diverse group of people there. Another saving grace was that there was Starbucks, which I went to because I knew it would be the last one I saw for the next 10 days.
The plane I took from Miami to Panama City was a lot larger than I originally thought. When I first booked the trip, it looked as though there was going to be only 36 seats on the two and a half hour flight, but luckily the plane was much larger (a 737-800, I think, and it had 29 rows).
Once I landed in Panama City, I just kept thinking, "What the hell did I get myself into? Am I crazy? There´s no turning back now!" As soon as I walked off the plane, I played a game with myself, called "One of these things is not like the other." Can you guess what the answer was? Well, it was a white girl. Most of the people standing in the immigration line with me were from other parts of Central America or Europe. I think I was the only one in line that had a blue passport cover. After going through immigration, picking up my luggage, and then going through customs, I knew it was time to figure out how the heck I was going to get to my hotel.
It was already dark outside when I left the doors of the airport (and it was only about 7pm) and I was instantly hit with a blast of heat and humidity. Luckily there were cabs lined up at the doors and I quickly found one that was within the price range that Cricket told me should be correct for my trip from the airport to my hotel. I was kind of disappointed that it was pitch black outside, so I couldn´t really see everything (or anything for that matter) on the 20 minute cab ride. When we got close to the hotel, I kept thinking that things were ok in my surrounding areas, but then we suddenly took a left turn down a dark alley that had a bunch of guys standing around in the street. Great. My luck will be that the hotel is right there in the sketchy part of the nice area in Panama City. The hotel wasn´t too far from there, but it was not in a dark alley, thank goodness!
As soon as I got into my room, the first thing I did was look at all the walls and floors to make sure that there wasn´t anything creeping and crawling anywhere that I could see. The first impression of the room was definitely not what I expected, considering it´s one of the nicer hotels in the city. By American standards, this would be a cheap, run down hotel, but I´m not in Kansas anymore, so I know not to expect that. By Panamaian standards, this hotel was worth the price, I guess. Now, I´m glad that I paid extra for a "nice" hotel because I have no clue what I would have gotten had I spent less. At this point, I was still thinking that I´m crazy for coming here because it´s definitely going to test everything I have in me because it´s so far out of my comfort zone.
Although it was only about 8pm by the time I got to my room and situated, I knew the best thing to do was to just get some sleep and start fresh the next day. I was tired, but couldn´t fall asleep for a couple of hours, so I just sat there and though it´ll have to get better tomorrow.
When I finally woke up this morning, I quickly looked outside to see what the city actually looked like during the day. Now, it looked like a normal big city during the night, so I wasn´t expecting anything too crazy. Wow! I was wrong! Daylight does this city no favors! I am situated in one of the nicer parts of town, the banking district, but it´s defintely like no banking district I´ve ever seen before. I took some pictures from my balcony and the deck outside my front door, but didn´t want to look like a gawking tourist while standing on the streets, so you´ll have to take my word for it. Just...wow. I don´t know what I expected, but I guess not this.
Right now I´m at a mall, looking for a cell phone to use while I´m here. I better go, so I can find a cell phone, then get back to my hotel in time to check out. Later today I have to make my way to Albrook airport, so I can catch my flight to David. When I get there, luckily, there will be someone from GVN to pick me up and take me to Boquete, where I´ll be spending the next week.
I´ll update soon. Hasta luego (I shouldn´t even pretend like I know what I´m saying)!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
P.S.
Today I learned a little more about the work I'll be doing in Panama. I'll be teaching kids, between ages 5 and 12, how to use computers in a little town called Volcancito. Volcancito is about a 7 minute cab ride from Boquete. At first, I was offered to stay in a home stay in Volcancito, but considering the fact that I'm already going WAY outside of my comfort zone, I chose to stay at the hostel in Boquete instead (which is pushing it already). So, I'll be spending my mornings teaching, then go back to Boquete for some Spanish lessons, and have the evenings free to venture around Boquete.
Heading out
In just about a half hour my parents are picking me up to go to the airport. I can't believe it's go time. By this time tomorrow I'll be in Panama City. That's such a crazy thought! I'm still kind of thinking to myself that I'm crazy for going, but I'm definitely excited (and nervous). I'll try to find an internet cafe tomorrow to update again.
Oh boy...
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Packed and Ready To Go
It's a full 24 hours before I leave and I'm already packed and ready to go. My bag is pretty light and has a lot of extra room to bring things home (Jen, you'll never know what kind of "souviners" I'll bring home...hint, hint, wink, wink). This is definitely a first for me, since I am usually packing up until the last minute. All I have left to do is sit back and wait until it's time to go to the airport!
Ever since my whole freak out day, on Sunday, I've felt a whole lot better about my trip. I've made arrangements for some extra Spanish lessons, a zipline tour, and a coffee tour. The school that I'm going through organizes a lot of things for people that are traveling in Boquete, so hopefully I'll meet some interesting people while I'm gone.
There is one disappointing thing that I did find out today and that's that Panama is technically in North America. Damn. I was hoping to make it to South America, but I'll be about an hour away from the border (apparently the border of Panama and Columbia defines the border between North and South America). I was hoping to be able to say that I beat Jeff in getting to South America, but not this time. Next time, though.
Now, it's time to wait in anticipation!
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