Panama!

The week before last was crazy with final papers and presentations, and then last Wednesday we had an exam, so I was of course cramming for that. I think it went well -- cross your fingers! It was all about concluding treaties, the International Court of Justice, and the use of force. It's crazy how much I've learned already.

Then we had Thursday and Friday off, and you know how I just can't stay away from the beach! :) Actually, I tend to take every opportunity I have to get out of Ciudad Colon. It's a really small town (one traffic light, I think), and we're close enough to San Jose, but San Jose doesn't have a lot going for it. I'm realizing that I miss big cities, big time. I'm too close to roosters and muddy roads all the time. I miss street cleaning, and people rushing off to work in suits and high heels, and tall buildings, and meeting friends for a drink after work. But I don't miss it so much that I don't appreciate what I have going here. I love learning what I'm learning, and I love getting to know the local culture and seeing as much of the region as possible. I'm just going to be happy to move back to a city after my year is up.

Speaking of traveling as much as possible, a fellow classmate Jessica and I decided to travel over the long weekend. We went to the Carribean coast again (to Puerto Viejo) hoping to avoid the rain, but we weren't so lucky. But it was still great just to be by the beach and to be able to relax. We spent Thursday and Friday in Puerto Viejo, but then we decided that, since we were only about an hour and a half from the Panama border, we should go for our last two days.

I'm so glad we went! It was such a great experience. First we took a bus to the border, where I got a new stamp in my passport. And then you have to walk across a bridge to get to Panama. I think it's the first time I've walked over an international border. The bridge was this really old, rickety railroad bridge. Here are some pics of it:


On the other side of the bridge there are these taxis that take people to a harbor (about 15 minutes away) where boats leave for Bocas Del Toro -- our destination point. Bocas Del Toro is a collection of islands right off the coast of Panama in the Carribean. So we took an hour-long boat ride to the main island. The first half hour winds through a river, and then it opens up to the sea, where we wound through some of the islands. It was really beautiful. Some places had little huts on the water that you could rent:



We arrived on the island (Isla Colon), ate lunch at this little place on the water, and then found a hostel for only $8 a night per person. We were walking down the main street with all the shops and restaurants when we ran into a local guy named Robert. He offered to take us on a boat to one of the other nearby island for only $2 each way, so we took him up on the offer. (By the way, everything in Panama is in U.S. currency. Someone said they used to have their own currency -- Balboas -- but now U.S. currency is the official currency for Panama. Weird, huh?)

So Robert took Jessica, me, and this British guy to an island called Bastimentos -- which was the best cultural experience I think I've had since I got here. This Robert guy used to live on the island, so he knows everyone on it, and he introduced us to about half of them. The part of the island we visited is where all the locals live. They're all Afro-Carribean and speak a different kind of English (as Robert said, it's like English but not proper). There was this main cement walkway through the town, but no cars or roads. It was so lively -- it seemed like the entire town was out and about. There were boys playing baseball in a field:


There were guys playing dominos:


And there was a funeral, so half the town was dressed up and gathered at one house and at a pub down the street celebrating the dead's "passage into the next life," as Robert put it. We actually talked to a nephew of the man who died. He and several others in town said the man died of a broken heart because his son had recently been stabbed and killed. Here's a pic of some of the people gathering for the funeral celebration:


And here are some other pics of the town (I took about 50):




We went back to the main island after a little while and then left for San Jose early the next morning. It was quite an experience.