BOCAS DEL TORO

Finally I have four days off in a row and can go somewhere!  I decided to go to Bocas del Toro, a resort area on the Caribbean side of Panama.  It was formerly the headquarters of Chiquita Banana Company.  The region has many tropical islands and hosted the Survivor show at least once.  The WorldTeach volunteers in Santiago are going there the next week, but they have one or two weeks off since they teach in elementary schools, which have a regular spring vacation.  I will have to go alone (which seems to shock my host family) since this is my only longish stretch of time off.

I took the bus to the other side of Panama, which took about five hours and cost $8.50.  Then I took a 40 minute water taxi to Bocas Town, which cost $2 (senior rate).

My hotel is the rear building

I stayed in the Hotel Palma Royale, which was a splurge at $80 for a room with air conditioning, a small patio, and breakfast.  I later looked at some of the hostels in town.  They cost $10-20 but some look pretty noisy and potentially unsafe.  I booked a boat tour to a nearby island which had snorkeling and lunch for the next day but it ended up raining.  I skipped the boat tour and took a bus to Drago Bay on the other side of the island.  We went through a lot of jungly areas for about an hour and ended up at a kind of low rise hotel complex with an outdoor restaurant, a small beach, and an ecology institute.  I had red snapper for lunch and browsed through the souveneir stands before taking the bus back to Bocas.

Taken from the water taxi

Across from my hotel

Restaurant in Bocas del Drago

I cancelled my boat tour because the sky looked like this

Small boats to get to other islands

It rained pretty much the rest of my time there,which is typical for Bocas.  At least I felt like I had a little vacation.

BOQUETE

The mountain town of Boquete is where I go on some weekends to get out of the heat.  It is an less than an hour and only $1.75 to take the bus up there but seems a world away.  It is famous for coffee and flowers.  It is always high on the list of places to retire.  One reason I like to come is to get a hot shower, since most of the houses in David seem to only have cold running water. 

My room at Hostal Boquete

View from my room at Hostal Boquete

My first time I stayed at the Hostal Boquete and had a room overlooking the river.  I walked all over the town, something it is harder to do in David due to the heat.  I took a tour of the Sarracin coffee plantation for $25.  It is family owned and the first male descendant is always named Francisco.  The original Francisco came from Italy in the 1800's and married an Indian woman who knew how to grow coffee beans.




I also went to the Boquete Community theater to see a comedy revue.  The participants and attendees are mostly Americans.  I met and talked with many of them.  Many live her only part of the year, but most are full time residents and seem happy with their choice to move to Panama.  They get discounts on almost everything, from food to medical care to transportation, hotels, movies, etc.

The latest Francisco Sarracin at the coffee plantation

Peanut butter glazed salmon over a corn fritter

On other weekends I stayed at Hostal Gaia, which is $8 for four bed dormitory, Refugio del Rio, a nice house turned hostel on the river and formerly owned by Noriega's secretary, and Hostal Doraz, which is more on the main drag but has private rooms  with shared balcony for $20.

My host mom, Mery, is a great cook but it is nice to have a change from the typical Panamian diet of rice, beans, and chicken.  Memorable meals included peanut butter salmon ($15 at El Oasis), coffee rubbed filet mignon with chipotle sauce and yucca fries ($14 at The Fish House), and Peruvian corvina fish and langostino shrimp ($17 at Macchu Picchu).  I also enjoy breakfasts at Punto de Encontrado, where they give you a cheese, bacon, and tomato omelet with orchid garnish for $7 or Central Cafe downtown overlooking the central plaza where you can get scrambled eggs, fruit bowl and local coffee for $6.

DAVID, PANAMA

I arrived in David on June 30, after a brief stop at the National Hotel in Santiago for a lunch meeting with one of the WorldTeach sponsors.  There I met Drew, Katie, and Jennifer, who are volunteering for a year, as opposed to the rest of us, who are here for only six months.

Our last meeting before going to our sites: Jennifer, the two Michaelas, Ariel, Anna, Matt, Halimah

 Drew and Kari at National Hotel, Santiago

Kari, the WorldTeach country director, had arranged for me to stay with the Guerra family in David for $110 a month, not including food.  AbeI is a teacher who commutes to Bocas del Toro and Kattie is an NICU nurse from Bolivia.  I had my own bedroom and a fan, but we all shared the one bathroom and small kitchen.  The window in my room looks out into the hallway.  There was a park near their complex, but they told me it was dangerous to go there.  I later learned that the whole neighborhood is considered one of the worst in the city.  To get to school, I had to walk a few blocks, take a shared taxi to town (50 cents), walk two more blocks, then take a bus (35 cents) before walking six more blocks to the university.  Since some of my classes are at night, I was not too happy about this.  The couple also had a four month old baby, who was basically good but did have a few crying spells.  They spoke no English.  I paid $110 a week for the room but that did not include food.

The kitchen.  Not a lot of room for storage

My room at the Guerra house

Kattie and baby Abel

In front of the Guerra house with neighbors

 When I called the University, the director of the language department did not know I was coming.  She had apparently been on medical leave when this was arranged, so the only people who knew about it were the director in Panama City and the secretary in David, who had forgot to tell her boss about it when she came back from leave.

I went to work on Tuesday.  The director was appalled at where I was living and had a new place for me by the next day.  For $150 I have my own room, bath and three meals a day.  This is paid for by the university, plus they give me $200 a month stipend.  I had to pay the first week at the first place out of my own pocket, since it is apparently in the contract with WorldTeach that the university provides the housing.  I gave the Guerra family $50 since I only gave one day notice I was leaving.

I now live with the Lara family.  Juan works for a government agricultural agency and will retire in December.  Mery is 63 and retired.  Women retire here at 57 and men at 63, which goes against all kinds of equal opportunity laws in the US.  They have two adult sons and one daughter, all married with their own homes in David.  The boys are twins.  One has two young children and the other a baby on the way.  The daughter lives recently graduated from University in Panama City and lives there with her husband.

Mery and granchildren in typical afternoon activity

I rarely see Juan, although we did all go up to his finca (ranch) one Sunday to see his cows.  He has someone watching the place full time but usually goes up there every weekend.  It is beautiful, with a river on one border and  unobstructed views of the mountains.  I see Mery a lot, since she serves me all my meals and won't let me do the dishes.  She goes to the Lion's Club four days a week for an exercise class.  I only have one day I can go with her due to my schedule.  It is free and has about 20 local women and a young male instructor.  We did a lot of bouncing balls, floor exercises, and hand weights.  Mery also goes to bingo for five hours every Saturday afternoon, but I have not tried that yet.  I think I would just fall asleep after being in class five hours that morning.

It is only about a mile walk to the university, which is nice in the morning but can be very hot or raining in the afternoon.  I try to carry an umbrella with me all the time, for the heat and the rain.  This is the kind of rain that can soak you even if you have an umbrella.  There is often a lot of thunder and lightning, as well.  Hurricanes tend to be on the Caribbean coast, however, so I feel safer here on the Pacific, although we are about an hour from the beach and there is apparently no bus that goes there.

I co-teach high school students from 8:30 to 11:30 Monday through Thursday, adults Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. and 8:30 to 1p.m on Saturdays.  My office hours are 3 to 6 on Wednesday.  So my days off are Friday and Sunday.  The kids and adult weekday and Saturday schedules are all on different vacation schedules, so I always have to be here at least part of the week.

Teacher Susanna

Teacher Henry

My grand plans to see some of Panama and Costa Rica on my vacation time are out the window.  The good thing is that it is only an hour bus ride to Boquete up in the mountains, so I can go there overnight and enjoy weather about 10 degrees cooler than in David.  It is too hot or wet to walk much in David, so that is where I go to get in some long walks in beautiful mountain scenery.  The area is known for growing coffee and flowers.  Also, there are many American retirees there and I have seen almost no foreigners in David.
 

There are two malls in David, but both are outdoors so you can't go hang out in the air conditioning unless you are in a store.  Neither mall has much of interest.  There is a PriceSmart (like Costco) and a DoIt Center (like Home Depot), plus another store like Kohl's.  Other than that there are shoe stores and expensive clothing stores with only small sizes.  I really don't need to buy anything, since all my food is provided.  Only one mall has a food court, and it is small.  There is a Pizza Hut and McDonald's near one of the malls.  There is a Java Juice, Dairy Queen and McDonald's a few blocks from where I am living now.  Also a Curves, which I am considering since it is hard to get in all the walking I usually do due to weather issues.

I went to the dentist here to get a cleaning, since I had not had one in over a year.  I didn't find any dental hygienists in Africa and I couldn't get an appointment in the short time I was in the USA.  I paid $25 for an ultrasonic cleaning and flouride application.  I haven't had one of those in years since it is in our water supply in the US.

I also went to a dermatologist for a rash on my neck I have had since coming to Panama.  I tried antibiotic ointment for a month before finally seeking medical care.  I was told to come for my appointment between 3 and 6.  I got there around 4 and they finally saw me about 5:55.  Luckily the waiting room was air conditioned.  The doctor did not take a medical history ( I have had skin cancer), just asked a few questions about the rash and gave me a few local steroid injections.  He also gave me a prescription for an anti-itch medicine to take at night and skin cream, and an ointment.  The appointment was only $25, but the prescriptions were $75, even with my 20% senior discount.

There are two movie theaters in town.  Movies are usually subtitled or dubbed.  I walked to the multiplex and saw Batman with subtitles.  One of the other volunteers in Santiago said she went to see it in the dubbed version and she was the only one laughing, because the jokes just don't translate.  The senior price for a movie here is $1.85 versus $3.25 regular price.  It is air conditioned, which is a good reason to go.  There is no air conditioning in the house except for the master bedroom,  but the classrooms at the university have it.  The temperature may be only 85, but the humidity makes it really uncomfortable.  They tell me that January and February are a lot hotter, but thankfully I will be gone by then.

GOODBYE TO PANAMA CITY

We had a "field trip" to the Panama Canal one Saturday.  I went a little early to go to the Albrook Mall near our meeting place at the bus station.  This is one of the biggest malls I have ever seen.  It has five food courts.  The other volunteers  met me at the bus station on time but had not eaten, so by the time they ate and we were waiting for the next bus in the sun for awhile, two more hours had passed.  I was feeling a little dizzy so opted out of the Panama Canal viewing.  It would be a shame to be here for three weeks and never see it, though.

Chess tournament at Albrook Mall

We had a second field trip to the Parque Natural Metropolitano just north of the City.  It is over 650 acres of jungle like terrain, with multiple trails going through the jungle and up to viewpoints.  I could not make it up the steep one because of continued weakness in my knee so I went off my myself.  It was a little creepy walking through that jungle alone, and hearing things crashing through the bush.  I didn't see any animals, but we had seen sloths and guinea pigs nearby.  There were lots of turtles in the pond.  I entertained myself by throwing bits of carrot cake into the pond and watching about a hundred turtles dash for the crumbs.  This huge park is called "the lungs of Panama City" and was formerly part of the US Army base and used for jungle exercises.  It is partnered with the Cleveland Municipal Park system, another canal city (Erie).

Dozens of turtles

I took a day off from school the last week and walked to Casco Antiguo.  It was extremely hot walking along the jogging trail.  I had my water bottle with me but had forgotten to fill it.  I was feeling terrible.  I stopped by some stores but they were closed.  So I trudged on to the Panama Canal Museum.  I bought my ticket after they said they had water on the second floor.  I trudged up the steps, feeling like I was going to faint any minute.  My mistake was that I was only on the first floor, since Panama is like Europe in counting the ground floor as "zero."  I was able to go into the bathroom and wash my face, which was beet red,  in cold water.  I then took an elevator up to the real second floor.  I expected a restaurant selling bottled water, but there was only a 5 gallon water cooler.  I filled my 1/2 liter water bottle up 3 times and drank it all while sitting on a bench reading my kindle.  I sat there for about half an hour till finally getting up and looking around the museum.

The second (third?) floor of the museum was mostly about the US presence in Panama.  The exhibits were all in Spanish.  I had rented the English tape but there was hardly anything on it compared to what was in the exhibits.  A lot of the signs were (justifiably?) very detrimental to the US.  When we signed the contract to build the canal in 1903 there were clauses in it about being able to protect our interests there.  We apparently took that and ran with it.  The plus side was that so many of the workers were dying of malaria that the US Canal administration pretty much wiped out malaria in the country.  The engineers did an amazing job finishing the canal that was started by the French years before.  During that time, they brought in telephones, underwater cables, radio, electricity, and many more technological advancements.  The canal brought a lot of commerce to the country.  On the minus side, we pretty much took over the country in the name of "protecting our interests."  When the Panamanians complained, they were given a little more money. and we built more bases.  By WWII we had forts in every province and Panamanians did not have free access to the Canal Zone. There were demonstrations in the 1960's when students were not allowed to raise the national flag in schools, resulting in many deaths and injuries when the US retaliated.  Finally, the US relinquished the canal to the Panamanians in 1999.

After the museum, I went to visit the National Theater, built in 1905.  It has many tiers of balconies and reminded me of the Ballet Folklorico theater in Mexico City. It, and a lot of the buildings in this area, are in the French style with a lot of wrought iron balconies, gates, etc.   I had lunch at the outdoor restaurant Casa Blanca at Plaza Bolivar.  Just as I finished, it started to rain.  Soon it was pouring, and I grabbed a bus to Metrocenter before walking the rest of the way to the hostel.  Luckily, I was carrying my umbrella.  I still got soaking wet in the heavy rain, a marked juxtaposition from nearly getting heat stroke earlier in the day.

National Theater

We had a farewell dinner Friday night.  Kari had picked a restaurant in another section of town.  Due to rain, we were unable to get taxis, so ended up eating at the local sushi restaurant without her.

Michaela ready for rain at UTP

I finally did get to see the Panama Canal.  We went over it on a bridge on the way out of town.

TEACHING AGAIN

We continued classes in Teaching English.  Two of the volunteers have education degrees and I am a trained teacher, but the other four are mostly new college graduates.  Two people from the Peace Corps in Panama came to talk to us about their education programs.  The Panamanian government wants American teachers to teach alongside Panamanian teachers and show them different ways to teach besides just copying and memorizing.  I don't think this will go over well if they are putting American new grads in with longstanding teachers.  At least the Peace Corps volunteers get six months of training first.

We are meeting every day at the Universidad Technologica, which is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour bus ride from the Multicentro mall, depending on time of day.  There are three former WorldTeach volunteers who are still living and working in Panama City.   One of them, Jenny, offered to give us a lift to school every morning.  It is about 45 minutes by car, so it is great for us.  She was a lawyer in the United States and decided to give up her house and job and come to Panama and help by volunteering to teach English and whatever.  I really have to admire her guts in driving in this city!.  There are hardly any street signs so I rarely know where I am or where I am going.  I learned one bus route (there is no written schedule) and how to get to the two malls and Casco Viejo by foot.  Otherwise I have not seen much.

Former WorldTeach volunteers were home in the US a few weeks before deciding to come back to Panama and get jobs

Current voluneers teach a class

Waiting for the bus at Albrook station

Students

We have been observing classes of high school and college English and have team taught some classes when teachers are absent.  The classes are three hours long, so I don't know how the students stand it.  We try to keep things interesting by doing lots of educational games and getting the kids out of their seats at times.  The high school kids all wear uniforms with white shirts and blue skirts/pants and ties.  The college kids dress really grungy all the way to perfect suits, hair, and nails.  The teachers are required to wear professional dress, including closed toe shoes.  Not the easiest thing to do in a tropical climate.  Africa was very pleasant compared to this.  I stopped wearing face cream because I didn't like putting it on when my face was already wet with sweat.  Most everything in Panama City is air conditioned, including the buses, but you can't avoid being outside sometimes.

Panama City

Early in the morning of June 11, I caught the red eye to Panama City, a six hour flight from LAX.  They would not let me on the plane with a one way ticket.  Panama apparently might not let me stay if I didn't have a way back.  So I had to go to the United Airlines counter in the next terminal to buy a return ticket on their partner airline, Copa, which is based in Colombia.  

I arrived at the airport at around 10:30 a.m.  I waited around for the WorldTeach field director, Kari, who had told me she would be there by 11.  She didn't show, so I took a taxi to the hostel.  Luckily she had given me directions.  So I was already out almost $500 I had not counted on spending.

The rest of the volunteers were supposed to get in on a flight from Miami around 1:30 p.m.  They were late, but still Kari did not show up at the airport until they were already at the hostel.  I took them across the street to Super 99, which is like a Wal Mart and is a chain owned by the current president of Panama.  We seem to go there at least once a day.  They had not eaten all day so were happy to get some snacks.  When Kari finally arrived at the hostel, we walked to a nearby mall, Multiplaza, for dinner.  She said our food allowance for dinner was $5.  We went to the food court at the mall, which had a lot of American chains like Wendy's, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, Subway, etc.  It was hard to find something under $5, unless you just got rice and beans.  The mall was shocking.  I thought I was coming to a third world country, but the mall stores must have included every brand you would see in Vogue magazine ads.  Cartier, Tommy Hilfiger, Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, etc.  Panama is apparently the big drug money laundering center of the West.  One of the teachers at the University here said they start up dummy companies here just for that purpose.

Multiplaza mall

Casco Viejo

Casco Viejo street

View from Casco Viejo

We are staying at Casa Areka, a hostel in Paitilla, near Punta Pacifica.  This is apparently a very nice area of the city, full of skyscrapers.  The six women are in a room with three bunk beds, which is a little crowded since we all brought luggage for six months.  The sole guy, Matthew, has his own room.  We do have air conditioning, but the bathroom is down the hall and has cold water only.  There is a kitchen we can use to cook in, which will help with our $11 a day food allowance.

Oswaldo, owner of Casa Areka hostel

Michaela and Halima at Casa Areka

The first full day here, Kari met us and we walked to the Multicentro mall, which is the opposite direction of Multiplaza but about the same distance, maybe a mile.  This is where we will catch the bus to the University every day for orientation classes.  Today we are just walking to Casco Viejo, an old part of the city with old churches, cobblestone streets, the presidential palace, etc.  There is a nice walkway and bikeway along the waterfront most of the way there.  Unfortunately, it started raining soon after we started out, so everyone got soaked.  I was the only one with an umbrella, but I still got soaked from the waist down.  We ate lunch at a typical Panamanian hole in the wall restaurant, run by a Chinese man.  Lunch was under $3.  We walked around a little before heading back.  We caught a Diablo Rojo (Red Devil) bus, which are independent, wildly colored, and go where they want to go.  For 40 cents each he took us to Multiplaza mall and we walked back to the hostel from there.

Near Mulicentro mall

NORTH CAROLINA AND LA

My time in the USA was running out, so I flew to North Carolina to see my doctor for an annual physical, check on my condo, and renew old friendships.  Despite my fears, my lab tests came back the best they have been in years.  Cholesterol down to 174!  

Deborah and friends

In Asheville I stayed with my friend and next door neighbor, Deborah, who finally was able to get a job there and move down from New York about a month ago.  Her two dogs, Brigitte and Chester, are well behaved but shedding a lot!  She joined me for lunch with friends at Pack Tavern and for a tour of the Nature Center, where my friend Toni is a volunteer.  Eleanor, Jane, and I also went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," which was a very funny movie about British retirees in India.

Me, Toni, Kathy, Flor, Eleanor, Deb, and Doris at Pack Tavern

Nature Center

Toni, Linda, Deborah, Eleanor, Judy, and me at the Nature Center

Today my son Matt came to take me to breakfast, so we had a nice walk and talk.  He is flying to New York tonight so he can be in the Tony awards show tomorrow.  I am finishing packing to leave for Panama tomorrow night.