It’s been a while…I know.
I've been a slacker. But really
it’s because we've been so busy having visitors and enjoying Panama! We have had an adventure-filled couple
months, and Panama is growing on us more and more every day.
Carnival is one of the biggest party celebrations in Latin
America. Brazil supposedly has the biggest
and craziest party of all the countries.
Panama claims to be the second best.
Carnival is a 5-day festival right before Lent and consists of street
parties and water trucks. Everyone hangs
out in the street or in a parking lot, and gets sprayed buy big truck hoses,
water guns, water balloons, and more. Of
course there’s ridiculously loud music, and beer.
Our Carnival week kicked off with a visit from my mom and
Aunt Molly! They took a day tour with
Alex to see the canal and other city attractions, and they came to visit me at
my school. We had a week off, of course,
and the Friday before vacation was our Carnival celebration at school. The kids were off the wall all day in
anticipation for “Mojadera,” which is basically a water festival. All 3rd, 4th, and 5th
graders had an hour and a half out on the field together to do one thing: have
a giant water fight. The kids went
crazy. I stood in the middle of the
field with a hose and got to spray kids with water. What more could a teacher ask for? Of course I had a couple kids who would not
leave me alone and kept dumping buckets of water on me. It was super fun and the kids (and teachers)
had a blast. I don’t think that would
ever be allowed in the states, that’s for sure.
Knowing that all the major beaches and towns would be
overcrowded with partiers, we decided to head to a quieter spot with my mom and
Molly for a few days. We rented an apartment
in a beach town called Coronado, which overlooked the ocean and valley. It’s only an hour or so from the city, and is
quiet and low key. We spent a couple
days lounging at the pool, walking along the beach, and watching the Oscars J. We took them up to El Valle for the day to do
some market shopping and see some mountains.
Once we got back to the city we went to the fish market and had a fresh
lobster and tuna feast (this is becoming an awesome tradition with our
visitors!). Although it was a short
visit, it was super awesome to spend some time with two of my favorite ladies!! (For some reason I don't have ANY pictures with them :( :( )
As my mom and Molly left, our good friends Travis and Jenny
arrived! We were able to celebrate the
two of them getting engaged, and Jenny’s 30th birthday! We headed down to the Carnival celebration on
the first night, which was happening right in front of our building. They shut down most of the road (this
actually happens more than you would think) in order to have the big street
party. They had carnival rides, stages
for concerts, water trucks, and a ton of food trucks. The food trucks are not the kid that you are
thinking of that are in the states. The
ones here consist of an old metal can with an old tire attached to the top, a
rack to hold the meat, and the open flame inside the can. Probably not the best thing for our
gringo-digestive system. We had a good
time walking around and drinking beers on the streets.
We headed back and got ready for our early
morning departure to Pedasi. It was long drive, about 5 hours away, but we
passed many Carnival celebrations along the highway. Pedasi is on the Pacific coast, out on the peninsula
on your way toward Costa Rica. It’s
beautiful out there, with very clear blue water. Honestly, I thought it was going to be more developed
than it is. There are plans in the works
to have many hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, but at the moment, it’s
pretty remote.
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| The line to get into Carnival that night |
We rented a house just outside of the little town, right on
the beach. We spent one day driving
around for hours checking things out.
Alex and I had never been there, so it was nice to see something new and
a different part of Panama.
We managed to rent a guy and a boat to take us out fishing
one day. We loaded up the cooler with
beer, snacks, and water and headed out to sea.
I think Trav and Jenny were a little surprised to see how informal this
whole fishing process is in Panama, especially after they saw the boat we were
going out in. Not exactly the Hawaiian
experience they’re used to. Soon enough,
it didn’t matter anymore because both boys caught some tuna! At one point, Trav had a pretty big one, so
big that snapped right off and we lost it.
It was ok, though. We had plenty
of fish and even gave some to our fisherman to sell. I got pretty seasick right away, and the
blood from the fish did not help, so the boat dropped me off at Isla Iguana,
and they stayed out and fished a little while longer.
Isla Iguana was exactly what you’re thinking. It was covered with iguanas! And sand crabs. The water warm and crystal clear. It was a great place to take a nap and recover
from the seasickness.
Once we got back to the main land, the nice fisherman
skinned our fish for us, right on the boat, and we headed to the store to get
all the things we needed to make some delicious sushi! The boys cooked up a feast for us. It was so incredibly fresh and just melted in
our mouth! Yummmmm!
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| Alex trying to get some coconuts off the tree....a harder task than you would think...but of course he was successful :) |
We spent our last two days cruising around the town,
swimming, and celebrating JB’s birthday.
We headed back to the city on Sunday because, unfortunately, I had to go
to work on Monday. Alex was able to take
them around to all the touring spots the next few days and it worked out
perfectly. It was so sad to see those
two leave, but hopefully we’ll be seeing them for their wedding in
September!
