Panamania

Oh man... it's been a while since I've done this. Sorry to those of you who have checked for an update recently to find the same old posts. It's been a pretty crazy last few weeks, but I'm going to have to blame laziness for the delay. Anyway, here we go. (I didn't proof read this either, so sorry in anything doesn't make sense.)

About 2 and a half weeks ago I headed out of Costa Rica and headed toward Panama with a hand full of other students. It was closing in on my three month visa limit and pretty conveniently I was going to have the whole following week free. (The first year student had there week of integration that meant no first year classes for the week. My fourth year class was also canceled.) I left at 6 am on Saturday with two other exchange students (some others had left a day or two before). We had a relatively painless time getting to the border and once there had to walk over this big bridge that happened to have a board missing hear or there, so you had to pay attention where you stepped. Once across the bridge and officially in Panama we had to pay our gringo fee (the students from other countries didn't have to pay anything.) and then we were of to the island of Bocas del Toro. To get there you had to take a bus or taxi to the water and then from there take a water taxi to the island. We managed to get suckered a little bit and had to pay a little more than we should have for all that. It's all part of the experience though, right? Once on the island we weren't exactly sure where the others were. We had agreed on a couple different hostels and went around checking for them. After an unsuccessful loop we decided just to get rooms and hope we ran into them later. They did eventually find us when we were cooking dinner that night. We visited a few different beaches, most of which were pretty empty and with the clearest ocean water I'd ever seen. We also got a chance to go snorkeling and see come of the coral just of the coast in a few different places. I don't think it's necessarily a snorkeling hot spot of the world, but for a first timer it was pretty cool to see the different kinds of coral and fish. I even found a whole sand dollar that I dove down and got, but unfortunately it broke in my hand before I could get it back to the boat. We also took a boat tour to this cove that several dolphins swimming around in it. I wasn't able to get many good pictures of them as there were like 8 or 9 boats driving around trying to see them. One did jump completely out of the water one time though, which was really cool. Other than that we just kind of used the few days there to relax, eat some non cafeteria food (the Indian restaurant was delicious) and just get to know each other better. It was nice spending sometime together away from school and seeing people in a different setting. I think it brought us all closer together.

We all left on the fourth day and me and my friend Chelsea decided to break the trip back into two days, so we stopped in Peurto Viejo on the way back. I'd already gone to Puerto Viejo at the beginning of the my time here, but this stay was a bit different. (Side note: I found my first mango since I've been here at a little fruit stand there, and it was SOOOO good. I bought two) We decided to stay at this place that Chelsea had heard about called Rockin J's. This place was really cool and unique, but I doubt I would have stayed there if it had just been me. I glad I did though. It was an interesting experience. They had a few rooms with bunk beds for rent as well as a "Pimp Suite" (Not sure exactly what that consists of) but most of the property was filled with Tents on the raised covered deck, or two pavilions that housed about 60 hammocks each. when you rented your tent/hammock you were also given a key to a locker to keep all your stuff in. The place was decorated pretty cool too. pretty much all the walls or doors were covered with some sort of random mural. All the tables had been covered with random stuff as well, from money to cell phones all glued and sealed to the surface. There were signs mandating daily showers, a 30 day stay limit and my favorite, a sign prohibiting the smoking of marijuana and telling anyone who wanted to partake to take it to the beach. To cap it all off there was a metal wire dragon along the top of the outside wall protecting from intruders. After we checked in we hitch hike down the road a ways and find a good beach. (sorry mom) After walking a little ways and getting passed up by several cars we got picked up by a guy that just stopped next to us and didn't even get off his phone once we got in. Once his call was over and we got to talking we found out that he owns one of the first hotels built in Puerto Viejo called Playa Chiquita. He was a really cool guy and his name was Wolf. (Not like a mean nickname or anything... he was German and I guess that's a normal name there. Either way it's sweet) We got to his hotel and he pointed us in the way of the beach and told us we could use his property as long as we wanted. It had been raining most of the day and was still a little overcast which gave the beach a cool feel to it. After we were done swimming decided to walk back to our hostel along the beach instead of the road again. This was a great idea because on the way we came across this momma dog with three little puppies, one of which looked a lot like my dog Toby did when he was little. The rest of the night was pretty chill and the town was pretty dead. (It was a Tuesday in the off season) I got up early the next day and headed back to the University by myself since Chelsea didn't have to back back and wanted to visit some friends she had made there a few months ago. The trip back wasn't too bad and I was able to navigate it pretty easily. I met another guy from the states that going the same way as me for most of the trip so I was able to talk to him for a while too.

I got back to school and had just about enough time to eat shower and pack before leaving again that afternoon for the golf course in San Jose. With my extra free days I decided I'd work (Wed.-Mon.) instead of just wasting them inevitably sitting in front of my computer all day at the school. I'm really glad I went. Even though I'd been away from the University the few days before this was also a much deeded break and change of scenery. I was able to relax as I had a lot of time to myself in the afternoons and evenings. I was able to get to know the people that I'm working with a little better than I would have if I hadn't been there more than just one day at a time. I was able to go to a couple movies (Zohan and Saw 5) and the guy that works in the club house gave me a stack of coupons for free meals at Taco Bell, so I hit that up a couple times as well. One of the really cool things about this trip though was that I was able to go to church for the first time in 3 months. The assistant superintendent (Deborah, who actually graduated from EARTH a couple years ago) attends a church about a block or so away from the golf course so I went with her to youth night on Friday. They weren't kidding when they said youth night. Besides me and Deborah and the guys leading the group, everyone else was at least 5 years younger than me. It was good though. It was nice to be able to worship with people again, even if I didn't know what all the words meant. It was even fun playing the game of the night, 4 on the couch. I actually got pretty into it, always gotta try to win everything. (which my team did) I was even able to meet up with Daniel (my old Spanish teacher) to get some coffee, catch up a little, and mainly just to give him his keys back for him mom's house. Work was good too. Like I said I got to spend a good amount of time with the other people that work there and got to know them better, but I also learned some stuff too. Probably my favorite was learning how to use the greens mower. It's what's called a real mower that has blades that rotate on a cylinder instead of the typical helicopter style mowers. It's actually harder to operate than it looks. That, combined with rainy season wet and steep inclines can be pretty tricky. (I only fell down the hill once though. Apparently it happens to everyone when they're learning)

Since then things have gone back to normal. I've been busy with classes and I've started my normal rotation of Mondays and Wednesdays at the golf course. I feel like I've been learning a lot from God lately too, to the point where I'm still kind of mulling through it right now and if I start writing in my confusion will probably just ramble on more than usual, so I'll save that and try to write something this weekend. Plus I need to catch up on some sleep, so I guess that's where I'll leave things for now. I think I'll pretty much be in this same schedule from now until the end of classes, but I'll try to keep up with the posts a little better. Thanks again for reading, and I just want you to know that I appreciate all the prayers that you send my way, and know that I'm trying to return the favor.