The Adventure Continues...

As many of you may know, I am currently in Panama due to some ear issues I have been having since arriving in Suriname. Panama is the Washington DC Peace Corps approved medical facility for Central America, South America and the Caribbean. It has been a frustrating week with countless doctor appointments in a country I have never been to before with people I do not know from Adam. However, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? So, I have been trying to make the best out of this opportunity to experience Panama and enjoy incredible luxuries like hot water, an indoor toilet and air conditioning.

At the top of my list was, of course, the Panama Canal. Did you know the canal was under either full or joint U.S. control from 1914 when it was completed until December 1999? As a result, the influence of the United States in Panama is extraordinary.

Next on my list- eating delicious food. Don't get me wrong. Ryan and I have been exceptionally creative with our jungle cuisine but Suriname sadly just does not have a lot to offer for a curious palate. Mexican food, real sandwiches with lunch meat and sliced cheese, fresh fruit, sushi, Root Beer... I even salivated for fake Mexican food- Taco Bell!

That is dark chocolate covered bananas and strawberries at one of the very upper class malls in Panama City.

I went to Panama Viejo to see the ruins of the first Spanish colony in Panama.

Then I followed history's steps to Casco Viejo, where the colony moved after Panama Viejo was destroyed in 1671 by a pirate named Henry Morgan.This part of the city is full of old, deteriorating buildings that people still live in with a few beautifully restored ones in between.

And I went to church at La Iglesia del Carmen. Catholic mass in Spanish brought me back to memories of my homestay in Argentina.

Panama City has some extremely nice areas but I have been told the country outside of the city is quite the contrast.  For those of you wondering, I am doing fine and should be returning to Suriname within a week, hopefully healthy as a horse.

Random and Fabulous Pictures!

Every time I speak with people back home they tell me how much they appreciate my pictures and ask for more. I agree that showing you all the world that I am living in is sometimes better than telling you about it, so I try to make sure to capture as much as I can. Here are a few great ones that I hope you enjoy!

Di Lio- Take Two (written 8-15-10)

The community sink has not worked for the past two days. With the dry season approaching, we are trying to conserve the water in our durotanks when possible. So...off to the river we went to wash clothes and dishes. My adorable little neighbor girl asked me if she could come and I said sure. Her name is Leufeni and she is three years old. She lives next door with what I am assuming are her grandparents. When we first moved in she mostly just stared at us from a distance with huge eyes and was fairly afraid of us. Over time my smiles, waves and greetings wore her down and I got her to wave back at me. Pretty soon every time she saw me, she would wave energetically, even if we had just waved about 3 minutes before. She then progressed to returning my greetings, then started prancing (she loves to prance) and singing around our house stories about us, narrating what we were doing at that point in time. Now, the girl loves to know exactly what we're doing and where we are at all times and spends a good amount of time perched in our front window, singing and chatting away, all the while watching us with those big innocent eyes.

This is a picture of her carrying firewood back from the jungle with her grandma. Yep, she's three. And adorable. And probably tougher than me.

Cut to: Leufeni coming to the river with us. I soon realized that our dirty clothes and dishes wouldn't fit in our two biggest buckets, so I'd have to use a third. One for my head, one for Ryan's shoulder and one for Leufeni's head. Hey, you've seen her skills above. I asked her several times if the bucket was too heavy and she responded every time that it was not heavy. Off we go in a little line, all the way to the river. After the local women wash their dishes and clothes and whatever else, they wash themselves and then the clothes that they came wearing. Well, Leufeni decided she would wash, too, so she stripped down and jumped in. After that, she comes up right next to Ryan and lays her little tattered shirt on the cement step, grabs our soap, lathers it up and goes to town with our brush, working out the dirt. I watch her go to work, turn to Ryan and simply state, “She's three.” I went back to washing after a minute but Ryan told me later that she lathered and brushed her shirt about 4 times before he took the soap away and helped her rinse and wring it. We loaded up our buckets and headed back, three ducks in a row. Here I am with my cute little helper, back at our house.

Growing up here is no joke. In many ways, the children are far more independent and capable than most kids in the states, which I admire. However, too many are lacking guidance, encouragement, opportunity and supervision. And there is something to letting a child just be a child for a time.