I decided to explore the town on foot with J. I should have rented a bike but my last experience with a baby seat was not good. Neither was the experience before that but that's another story for another day.
I found the Biblioteca Publica. It was not open. E said he went inside once and the books are all very old and it was lit by one light bulb. I sort of peeked through the broken glass window and saw a Geometria book. Not very impressive.
I tried to find the hospital but I only found the cemetery. M said the hospital is next to the cemetery so I missed it. I saw most of the town and there isn't much to see. I was impressed with the sidewalks. While not perfect, they were better than here in Texas. They existed.
I saw hostels where you can rent a hammock in a ...uh...structure with a roof. And I saw about 15 Panamanians trying to get 40 foot steel beams off an eighteen wheeler by hand. With no forklift.
I saw some chickens and roosters and chicks. Most of the homes and businesses do not have air conditioning. But I saw a lot of televisions. One woman was washing her laundry by hand and listening to music with a HUGE and loud sound system.
I talked to T, a real estate agent and an American with two boys, ages 4 and 2. She told me about the Montessori school. I think I will send big J there so he can get to know the kids. Most of the kids that attend are European and some are American and some are Panamanian. I found the school but no one was there.
I tried to find the marina but I did not succeed. I should have taken a map.
The town is very small. It takes about five minutes to get from one end to the other by foot. Most people walk or bike. Most of the vehicles are taxis. It is common to see multiple people on one bike. The park is the center of town. M's company is supposed to improve the park any day now by adding a playground and covering the mud with concrete.
I got in the water behind our hotel and tried to snorkel but the water was too deep and I was scared of the shadows since there are sharks and barracudas in that water.
I love that the water is clear blue so you can see to the bottom. It is very hard to look at the dirty brown water here in Clear Lake now.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Day 5: Going to church
The branch president (leader or minister of the congregation) picked us up in his water taxi at 7am. The church is in Almirante, which is on the mainland. It was about a half hour boat ride. When the boats go, they go FAST. I mean REALLY FAST. Gas is very expensive and it costs the branch president about $20 each way to go to church. That is a lot of money for someone who makes about $8-$10 A DAY!
Church was at 9am so we were early. Church was in Spanish. We didn't really need to know Spanish in Bocas since most people could speak English. It was very hard to not be able to understand them at church.
After church, P and his family and E and us explored Almirante. We stopped at the store to get some food. Other people in the branch, including the branch president, stopped there too. We don't shop on the Sabbath so that was different. We ate on the sidewalk outside the store. The branch president told us he would leave at 2. We walked around the town a bit. It was a very quiet town. I was told there is a lot of drug usage in that town.
It is difficult to see poverty like this. Some of the houses are built over the water. They are little thatched roof huts and they are little more than shelter from the sun.
We made it back to the boat at 2. We saw the branch president locking up the church so we all got in the boat but then the branch president disappeared for an hour. We were getting very nervous since M, J, and I had a flight to Panama City at 4:30pm. A water taxi happened to pull up and E asked him if he could give us a ride. He was going to charge us a lot since it's far and expensive to get to Bocas but we got on that boat. Through the trees we saw the branch president so we got off that boat and back on to his boat. E explained that we were in a hurry to get back to Bocas so we could catch our flight.
Of course we had to get gas first. There was a little girl about 3 years old that carried a big gas can as big as her almost to be filled. A lot of the taxi drivers had their young children, about 3-5 years old, with them on the boat. A lot of the little girls that age don't wear pants and some don't wear shirts either.
We made it back just in time to pick up our bags from the hotel and we caught a taxi to the airport. We had plenty of time to sit and wait at the hot, un-airconditioned airport. J was tired of traveling all day so he was grumpy on the flight.
We made it to Panama City. Ricardo's brother, Roberto, picked us up from the airport. He spoke English, which was really VERY nice since E wasn't with us to translate. E went to David. Roberto took us to the Radisson hotel. It was very elegant. We ordered room service since J was pretty grumpy still. I had smoked salmon with fettuccine. The fettuccine was good but even I've made better salmon. M ordered a sandwich but they didn't cook the salmon on it. Ugh.
Church was at 9am so we were early. Church was in Spanish. We didn't really need to know Spanish in Bocas since most people could speak English. It was very hard to not be able to understand them at church.
After church, P and his family and E and us explored Almirante. We stopped at the store to get some food. Other people in the branch, including the branch president, stopped there too. We don't shop on the Sabbath so that was different. We ate on the sidewalk outside the store. The branch president told us he would leave at 2. We walked around the town a bit. It was a very quiet town. I was told there is a lot of drug usage in that town.
It is difficult to see poverty like this. Some of the houses are built over the water. They are little thatched roof huts and they are little more than shelter from the sun.
We made it back to the boat at 2. We saw the branch president locking up the church so we all got in the boat but then the branch president disappeared for an hour. We were getting very nervous since M, J, and I had a flight to Panama City at 4:30pm. A water taxi happened to pull up and E asked him if he could give us a ride. He was going to charge us a lot since it's far and expensive to get to Bocas but we got on that boat. Through the trees we saw the branch president so we got off that boat and back on to his boat. E explained that we were in a hurry to get back to Bocas so we could catch our flight.
Of course we had to get gas first. There was a little girl about 3 years old that carried a big gas can as big as her almost to be filled. A lot of the taxi drivers had their young children, about 3-5 years old, with them on the boat. A lot of the little girls that age don't wear pants and some don't wear shirts either.
We made it back just in time to pick up our bags from the hotel and we caught a taxi to the airport. We had plenty of time to sit and wait at the hot, un-airconditioned airport. J was tired of traveling all day so he was grumpy on the flight.
We made it to Panama City. Ricardo's brother, Roberto, picked us up from the airport. He spoke English, which was really VERY nice since E wasn't with us to translate. E went to David. Roberto took us to the Radisson hotel. It was very elegant. We ordered room service since J was pretty grumpy still. I had smoked salmon with fettuccine. The fettuccine was good but even I've made better salmon. M ordered a sandwich but they didn't cook the salmon on it. Ugh.
Day 6: Last Day in Panama
M had to get up at 5am to catch his early flight to David. I had this ability throughout the trip to wake up almost exactly every hour since we usually had to get up pretty early and we didn't have an alarm clock and I was worried about sleeping late. J and I both woke up when M got up. I had room service bring my breakfast at 6am. J and I ate and then I checked out. I was nervous about checking out so I did it half an hour before I needed to. I've never checked into or out of a hotel before so I didn't know what to expect. J and I hung out in the lobby for awhile until Roberto picked us up at 7am.
We picked up Mr. S who is doing a job for the company M works for. He builds glass houses. We both had the same flight. Everything went smoothly at the airport. I let J walk around for awhile. He got tired and took his nap before the flight which was not what I wanted him to do. He was pretty good on the flight and took another nap in the middle of the four hour flight.
Leaving a country is easy but it's a little more difficult to enter one, I think.
It is good to be home, where ever home may be. But I miss Bocas.
We picked up Mr. S who is doing a job for the company M works for. He builds glass houses. We both had the same flight. Everything went smoothly at the airport. I let J walk around for awhile. He got tired and took his nap before the flight which was not what I wanted him to do. He was pretty good on the flight and took another nap in the middle of the four hour flight.
Leaving a country is easy but it's a little more difficult to enter one, I think.
It is good to be home, where ever home may be. But I miss Bocas.
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