Last Post from Panama!!!!A wrap up just would not be right without an Anne report. She narrowly avoided another terrorist threat yesterday by ALMOST swallowing an inch long shard of glass which she found in an innocent little glass of free water. Good on ya Anne.


Goodbye Costa Azul Thanks for the Memories

and thanks for saving out TEACHER.

WWWe are off to the retreat as of Friday morning for an all inclusive treatment at PLAYA BLANCA resort. I dont know how we afford this, considering we are all broke students. But we are hanging in there.

BACHELOR PARTY IN PANAMA

Well I can say i never thought this would happen. I was pleased to be duped by my group yesterday into a surprise Bachelor Party in Panama. I cant say enough of the look on my face when I walked out of the elevator into a mob of my whole PDP group. The elevator opened and I was surprised, but it did take me a moment to realize that the party was for me. Damn.

After being wrangled into going to get an ass shot of antipiotics with my friend Charlotte, I was then brought to my favorite restaurant to have my favorite dish.

It started by being wrangled into going to a clinic with Charlotte and getting a shot in the ass for the second day ina row. Poor girls bum looks like a shooting range, but I have not seen it. So after that I was escorted, still unaware of the surprise that was awaiting for me. Andy, Olivia and Charlotte then went for a great dinner at Restaurante Machu Pichu and had an awsome dinner. Corvina al aijo. Which is Sea Bass in Garlic Sauce. Delicious. With a couple of cloves of garlic and lotsa butter (mantequilla).

Then after a drink or two at the place, we were on our way out the door, and when the elevator hit the bottom floor. I couldnt believe to see the whole crowd there, flash bulbs bursting and a sea of blue and pink t-shirts. It took me a moment to realize that this whole thing was for me, at the time it felt more like a prank. Then when I saw my name on the t-shirts and a couple of tiaras I realized what was going on. It was a bachelor Party and shit I had no idea.

It turns out there were several slip ups in the few days and the day of. People had dropped hints inadvertantly and am sad to say I still had no idea. It turned out, that at the time the whol group had thought that I had caught on. And good on me, casue I tell you I had no idea and now that I look back, kinda like movies like "the sixth sense" and the "usual suspects" I did not catch on till the end of the movie.

So I was given my shotglass on a string, a plastic cup that lit up with flashing LED lights and a t-shirt which translates basically as, actually I forget, a fancy plastic hat and get this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a PARTY BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. It is basically a emptied out old-school decommissioned school bus. All the seats are taken out except for a thin bench running around the outside and it is turned into a dance floor, complete with some handles hanging from the ceiling and a couple of poles in the centre. The windows are taken out and the air gets to circulate inside, and the best part was there was a bar inside. It was an all you can drink bar with SECO and Rum on board, with TOnic water and or clubsoda. And as you can see in the pics, the open topped cups we had sucked as the drinks were spilling everywhere. The music was pumping, all good of course, as the bus goes along at about 10 miles an hour as we all danced inside. As Olivia said today, its kinda like an INSTA-PARTY. We had a few people from Panama on the bus too which really upped the stakes, they danced like villans.

It looks like everybody had a good time, and Anne was there too busting out moves here and there.. I had a shit-eating grin on my face for the whole ride. I had never been given a surprise party before and wow are they fun or what.

I have to thank everyone for making it such a fun night. It was great to celebrate together the end of classes, the closing days of our trip together and damn, my upcomming nuptuals. I hope being married is this much fun.

Marina I wish you were here for this one, but then again I dont think you were to be invited to this one.

So after the long bus ride to where we had to go we ended up at a club on the Cause way named Bamboo. For the most part we were ripe for a steady dance floor and more space to dance. I had to really go to the bathroom so the last little bit on the bus was a bit painful. So gettin there was a real relief. We got to the club and turned it up a notch. I danced witheveryone on a crowded dance floor, the mood was great, two for one drinks and salsa all the way. Everyone was looking at us there like we were crazy, all the tiaras the tshirts the dancing, we really sparked it up.

Then back on the bus to drop off some of the crew and we then went to a Karaoke club. Only a few of us made it there because it was getting kinda late and the bevys were plenty.

Again we took center stage as the music began playing. Now I dontknow how we got to the front of the stage but we stayed there the whole night, and as I turned out to look at the audiece at times, I could see them all staring. Looking at us like "what the hell is going on here".

The karaoke was enjoyable but they seemed to be real selective aobut who could sing and who could not. I got on the stage to sing Loosing my religion, I dont think I picked the song. But after a few lines of drunken indulgence, i was gonged off the stage by a hooded MUCHA LUUCHA, with a trumpet. He rang on a little ditty that basically ended the performance. Our whole group was unable to finish even one song. SOmething tells me he had it in for us. We all then went to the casino for food. I had enough by that point and hit the sack. But man what a great time. I have to say there are good parties but the great ones are the one that are in my favour.

Andy: you are a friend that i found in the strangest place, mucho respeto

Charmaine: thanks for all the dancing

Christa: woot, and thanks for retrieving the hat

Carmen: thanks for your questions with Ray, and being so adamant

Kristi: i still want to hear what you said, i couldnt understand a thing

Lyndsay: acrobatic bus dancing, should be a sport and you ought to get a gold

Olivia: thanks for bringing over your liquor and gettin me wasted

Breanne: shits and giggles and someone else who remembers the 80's

Erin: i saw you dance and dance and dance, girl you go

Erika: thanks for the performance, you were plugged in all night

Jen: no t-shirt and a yawn, but hanging in till the bitter end, thanks

Michelle: thanks for the salsa dancing lesson

Charlotte: thanks for all the photos and executing a well-orchestrated diversion

Inya: you were as cute as a button with that tiara on

Evelyn: thanks for all your help with the t-shirts

Anne: thanks for allowing a party bus in the end and dancing up a storm on the bus

Sickness

From the shadows behind my eyes, I open to reveal a virginal white sky. A breeze moves across the pool just beyond my feet and it ripples a floating reflection through it. It has a rhythm that sings with all the looseness that surrounds me. This lonely deck is covered by a shelter of dried palm leaves that surrounds me with a crinkle sound. I take in a sigh without trying and drop deeper into a relaxed state. I can see the sweat on the edge of my nose the rim of my glasses and eyebrows peeking down from my sockets. I am looking straight up to where the blue meets white. On the second floor of this hotel is the pools slightly raised above the city floor and there is no sign of anyone from here, but only for a moment before the void is disrupted. The volume is on before I notice as I hear the sound of progress below and my eyes drop from the heavens above, a bit closer to land. I see that my expanse is crowded by layers of buildings, towers, skyscrapers, offices, apartments and every architecture that expresses its money differently. In these buildings that look so empty, it is hard to believe they are made for people.
A pigeon charters across my present airspace vaulting the wall and swooping down over to my right, out of my view. It seems like a shortcut in between some of this cramped city space. The wind floats in again as the sun repeats its heated glare. I hear more shuffling leaves as I shift to the green foliage above me. The shuffling sounds come in a different pitch from the leaves that are green. I see the undersides of the planted palms, with all their bold life on display. I enjoy the site of a new sprout, the fresh curved armature of a stock and the carriage of a heavy fruit locked into place. The tips of these leave echo upward into the outline of feathers as I focus deeper into oblivion. I begin to track the phenomenon of winged creatures weaving in the wind. Washing up into my view from this fresh wave an increasingly countless number of these shapes begin random operations. But random may be a naïve description. I watch them pattern around in the thermals above me. I see them travel in circles and curly q´s, ovals and cones, word bubbles and spill patterns spinning up and down and through each other. Their population increases as their black color reveals different shades as they become smaller and further and further away. I wonder about their economy in this urban environment. They seem to exert so little energy as they tilt and drag their wings. Is it a time to rest or to socialize or is this some processional behavior from the animal kingdom. I don’t know, I can’t imagine it. It is like the voyerous glide of a swallow that engages in a flight of fancy. It is a reason that I cannot contemplate now. My body is exhausted as I am gripped with a virus I cannot escape. I see health in the future but not before the sun sets today.

I await being up in my room now so I can be alone with more of my thoughts as I wait for the sickness to pass and my movement to return.

The Island of Taboga

Another weekend on vacation. This one came after a full week at our schools in Panama. I spent a week working with my grade 5´s teaching Science. This was a time to relax and see a bit more of Panama. I had the video camera for most of this trip so there are few images. I can say that me and my fearless group conquered a grand cerro that surprise, surprise had a cross at the top. Here we are at the top as we enjoyed a laugh and a beautiful view.
There aint anything in this picture of me but I thought I would show you how sweaty I really was. I cant say much of the island as we saw so little. We got there after a 45 minute boat ride, we did the cerro, ate some Swordfish and rice and then slept on the beach for 2 hours, before returning to Panama City during the middle of a rainstorm.

I would like to dedicate a space to our fearless leader Anne Souther. Whom after having a shitty time of it has endured another trecherous day. After having ripped open her shoulder after tripping and falling on a major boulevard, and having her laptop stolen from her room, she endured 4 stitches at the back of her head after slipping on the wet pavement outside of our room. Anne is still kicking and showing us all how is it done by grinning and bearing it, with a smile on her face and an attitude that has been just phenomenal.

And for anyone that does not know where I am in Panama the above image should explain it. I am where the Red Star is in the Ciudad of Panama. The water that is running through the country is the part that was flooded about 100 years ago to make way for the Panama Canal. This is called Gatun Lake. The water mass on top is the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific is to the south. So as you can see it is not an east west situation, it is north and south. The next image shows the land mass of Panama as it is sandwiched between Costa Rica in the north and Columbia to the south. This combined with the otehr map images above should give a better idea as to where we all are.

The next day began with a Mud Bath.
This place of el Valle was known for their mineral springs and mud baths,

so we got hooked up. Michelle and Charmaine accompanied us. This was a list of all the known elements and all in the mud we were about to slather on. It didnt take much to get us sold on the idea. The admission was one american buck. The place kinda looked like a minature water park, with a couple of small pools and wet areas to sit and relax. There was a dark mud and a white one to lather on, the dark one was for healing and the white for beauty. Having enough of the latter I put the dark stuff on, everywhere. After waiting around for about 15 minutes for the stuff to settle in we washed in a little warm shower and then relaxed in a mineral bath. This last part was for 45 minutes which was almost amazing. Now there were some floaty things and if you drank the water yu might get the ´diareehas´ but it was a small price to pay for luxury. A couple of us bought some of the mud for future cleansing. This is a shot of Andy getting his white on.I felt like my pores were released from all their blackheads and nasties. I felt like I had just had a roll in the hay with a LOOFA.

After this and a little bit of shoppng we went for the all important COMIDA. It was a small joint in town and they had the promise of a good double decker burger. We checked it out and to our surprise we saw the other two groups that were at the baths with us the same morning. A promising sign of good food. My burger was soso considering it had a bun made for a quarter pounder and a patty the width of a couple of beer coasters, but for two bucks and a priceless picture it was worth the post.

But this does give me the opportunity to give praise to the all mighty BATIDO. This is something that we have all come to love about Panama. Some might say it has become the alternate beverage to bottled water. It is a fresh fruit drink that is made on the spot blended with ice. It comes in pineapple, Melon, peach, Strawberry (rare), Poopaya, Watermelon, and a cople of flavours I am forgetting. i have even found a hole in the wall that makes it with Corn Flakes. And since we have figured out the way to say NO SUGAR and NO MILK. It has become a treat for any time of the day. Some of our SFU bretheren have even been known to drink more than one in a day.

And for anywehre from 50 cents to 2.00 it has become hard to resist. They even make them superman-sized for the gargatuan liquid appities of a guy like ANDY. I think the next batch of Panamaninanites will be buying blenders for their hotel rooms instead of kettles.

What I find amazing is that they are available any and everywhere, even at roadside shacks, they got their blenders all ready to go. revved.Here thy go sucking bakc on some before we get on a bus ready to come back home.