7.4.2010

Happy 4th of July!!! I made sure to wear red, white, and blue, as well as my shirt with the American flag on it today. :) Several of the shopkeepers I saw today greeted me with: "Happy 4th of Yuly! Hehe.
We were supposed to go white-water rafting today, but after the intense workout yesterday none of us felt up to it. And because we weren't going, the other half of the group didn't want to go either. I thought I was going to get to sleep in, but no. I was woken up at 7, by Kira asking if we wanted to zip line. Poor thing was just the messanger, but we were crabby. I told her I would come find her when/if I wanted to zip line. And could she please leave now. :) Haha.
We wandered downstairs shortly thereafter (it was too noisy to go back to sleep). The owners of the hostal were cooking breakfast for us. It was eggs, toast and fried ham. There was also amazing coffee and orange juice! The guava jelly they had was good too.
Once our tummys were full, we were more willing to talk about our plans for the day. Since there were only 10 spots available to go zip-lining, and it was $70 to go, we let other people go. It turned out to be a great decision.
We all got ready and a small group of us headed out to do some shopping. We got to look through all the little shops and stands in the downtown square area. Then we stopped in for lunch in a little cafe. I ordered a chicken sandwich and it was delicious. I treated myself to a coca cola light, which is almost the same as diet coke... except it's not. It tastes flat almost and is a lot more syrupy. I thought it was disgusting at first, but I'm growing accustomed to it!
The girls that we were having lunch with had to leave for zip-lining, so Katie and I finished lunch by ourselves and headed back out to shop some more.
We both needed to call our parents, so we started looking for a phone booth. We found two that were back-to-back and it worked out great! We could both talk at the same time so we didn't have to spend 2x as much time at the phone. I think we both talked for about an hour to different people. I had to call my dad's cell, mom's cell, home, and finally the Richmond's to get ahold of my parents. :)
I have a really cute picture of me standing in my red raincoat, in the rain, talking on the phone. Haha.
After our phone calls, we shopped some more. We walked into one store and they had a bakery. The baked goods are awesome here! I bought a danish for 40 cents. So good. Thinking about it now makes me hungry. :)
We took our danishes and walked to a coffee shop. The zip-lining crew was supposed to arrive at the same plaza, so we were hoping we could catch a ride with them back to the hostal. Since we were supposed to leave to go back to San Felix at 5, and they weren't back by 4:50, we thought we better just walk. We didn't know if they had been dropped off there already. So, we finished our coffee... made a couple friends with some nerdy American middle school boys who thought we were cute, and headed back up town to the Hostal. At this point it was literally pouring.
I remembered once we left that there was a bridge at the edge of town that I wanted to see before we left. So, in the pouring rain, we walked in the opposite direction of our hostal to see the river and bridge. We also got to see a drum line performing. My raincoat didn't make it through all the running, hopping, and skipping we had to do to manuever through the streets. They seemed to turn into rivers, ankle deep at points. We were soaked by the time we made it back. Several men honked at us as they drove by, but none offered us a ride. We wouldn't have accepted, but it still would've been nice. Hah. I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy because we weren't finding shelter, but we were not about to be left behind.
We were so glad we didn't go zip-lining. We had an awesome day just being by ourselves (a rarety) and hanging out. Plus getting drenched. That was fun too. On top of that, the crew that went got soaked too, and it rained so hard they said it hurt their faces to go from platform to platform. :P
Hot cinnamon tea was waiting for us at the hostal. Soooo good. We changed, grabbed our stuff and some tea and it was time to load onto the bus. It took us another hour to load the bus and get everyone on it. Then we started the 2.5 hour bus ride back to the compound. No one was happy about it. We enjoyed so much the weather in Boqete. It was in the mid 60's - to low 70's. Just to have a little R&R felt great.
Now, we're back at the compound. It's hot here and very sticky, just like I remember. There's also a new crew of Panamanian men staying here. Yay us! The water pressure is still non-existent. I'm hopeful it will get better. We only have 3 more nights here and then it's back to the city of knowledge.
Tomorrow we're going to the botanical gardens and then meeting with the Universidad of Chiriqui nursing students (that's the province where we're working). I think they are feeding us too... arroz con pollo, no doubt. :)
Hope everyone had a great 4th. I missed out on all the patriotic activities I always look forward to. LIke lake days, good food, and sparklers. I guess I just have to wait until next year. :/