Spring Training

 

For two whole weeks in March my mom came to visit it me. We spent time in Panama City, my site, a small mountain tourist town near my site, and off the Caribbean coast. There was A LOT of hiking involved throughout the two weeks which was an adjustment on top of coming to the tropics from a freezing tundra. My mom was a trooper.

The day had finally arrived! I got up early to hike out and head to Panama City because that night my mom would be arriving at the airport. I was just about to leave my house and therefore was moving my pack to my porch so I could lock my door. It was about 6am and just getting light outside. I pick up my pack by the back handle and almost immediately feel something hard and claw-like attach itself to the top of my hand. I then almost just as immediately shake my hand to try to get whatever it was off my hand. It was still pretty dark, therefore I couldn’t see anything (probably for the better). As soon as a shake my hand I feel it. A shooting pain. The claw-like attachment is gone but now there is a sharp shooting pain jolting down my hand that causes several profanities to expel out of my mouth, mostly expressing dislike at the current feeling in my hand but also distress and curiosity as to what the heck just stung me. I grope for my headlamp trying not to move my feet (pain in my foot like the pain in my hand would most definitely put a damper on my 45 minute hike to the road. My light illuminates the floor as I franticly search for something wicked. I can’t find anything. (Just for the record my house is tiny. Tiny tiny. About six by ten feet. (My bed touches three of the walls...) It’s not like there’s that much floor space.) I’m searching all over my floor asking (out loud) “what the heck was that?” and “could that have been a scorpion?” and alternately saying “holy crap this hurts.” I had never been stung by a scorpion, I had no idea what it felt like. And then I shine my light towards my bed. And I see it. Clung to the side of my mosquito net. Huge and black with a thick curled tail and staring at me. As I reach for my machete I say to it “oh you about to die.” With a little trouble I get it onto the floor and proceed to chop off its tail and then just continue chopping until it’s in small enough pieces to make me feel like I’ve thoroughly revenged myself. Fast forward to that evening. I pick my mom up at the airport unable to move any fingers on my left hand because they have swollen to the size of sausages, or “club hand” as my friend put it. “Hi mom, no I’m fine, just got stung by a scorpion this morning in my house. Welcome to Panama!”

The following photos are in order of occurrence.

Visiting Miraflores Locks, one of the three sets of locks in the Panama Canal.

 

 

 
Eating delicious green things before a week of rice in my site.

 
Walking along the coastal strip in Panama City.

 

 
Seeing a classical concert at the National Theater in Panama City.

 

 

 

Blurry I know; my host mom and sister

 

 

 

Panama City by night

 

Traveling to my site.

 

My site is behind that mountain range.

 

 

 

The following day we hiked back out and traveled to a neighboring volunteer's site to hike up the Cero Teria.

The Cerro Teria

 

 

 

 

See the little A-frame house in the bottom right corner? That's where we started the hike from.

 

We then hiked back down, took a chiva, and hiked back to my site. It was a long day.

A few days later we hiked out of my site the other way and took a chiva to El Valle.

Hiking La India Dormida (The Sleeping Indian, looks like a girl on her back from here)

 

At the top (about on her forehead at this point)

Visiting an orchid farm. 

 



 

 We went to a "zoo" and saw the famous golden frog of Panama and others.

 

Hiking back to site.

Community members hulling logs (the size of trees!) to be used as fire wood for the school kitchen.

First Birthday Party for this beauty! (Frozen themed)

 Snorkeling off the Caribbean side. Amazing!



The Ruins of Portobello.