I still felt pretty icky Monday morning, but no longer had a fever and was excited to just get home. We took a David to Panama City bus and got off at Rio Grande. While waiting for a busito from the interamericana to El Copé, it started to rain. By the time we got home, it was raining pretty heavily and we were welcomed by no water in the house. Dave went outside to check the pipes and saw that one of the pipes had been damaged and was spraying tons of water out. Our quick solution - put PVC cement over the gash and wrap duct tape around it. Milciades, who was feeding Ketchup while we were gone, saw that we were back and brought the cat food over just in time to help Dave! I stood over the pipe with an umbrella while they troubleshooted the problem. It was a successful quick fix but we knew it would have to be replaced sooner than later... we also had to leave the water in the sink running to release pressure on the pipe.
By the time the sun had set, we were both really tired and just wanted to sleep. The rain was coming down pretty hard so we passed out until the morning when Ketchup started to meow... incessantly. Since we were both exhausted, Dave put her outside hoping she would find something to do. Instead, she came right back in the house and meowed a bit more. Finally, we both got up and ready for the day. The rain had let up a bit just in time for LB's Independence Day Parade. The school's marching band, led by flag holders, little girls in traditional clothing and baton girls, marched from the school all the way past Dave's house, collecting community members along the way. Basically, you stand and watch them go by and once they've passed you, you walk behind them and essentially become a part of the parade. They then turned around and went back to the school where they were performing "actos civicos" which are basically patriotic poems. Dave didn't think the students personally wrote any of the poems but they still performed them very well. They were also selling food - hot dog tamales, hojaldras and this hot dog soupy stew thing. They also had chicha that tasted just like kool-aid. They did other activities at the school including potato sack races, but my stomach was still not feeling too well so we headed home so that I could rest.
Samuel and Annairis
Anny is the little one in orange
On the way home, I got to meet Victor's wife, Librada, who had just gotten back from taking care of a sick family member. She's incredibly nice and gave us each a duro for free. Even though it was crummy weather, the duro was still nice to have. It even helped to settle my stomach!
I took a nap on the hammock as soon as we got home. I woke up a few hours later and Dave and I sat around. I started singing Christmas carols for some reason which prompted me to take out my iPod and play Christmas music. And so started our Christmas celebration. We decided that we would celebrate Christmas the next day.
P.S. Besides the bit of sunshine during the parade, it had been raining since we arrived in LB Monday afternoon.
The next morning, we headed to Trinidad (the neighboring town) for their Flag Day Parade and LB was a part of the parade. Technically, LB was the parade since their band and community is tons bigger than Trinidad's. The sun was out and shining! Perfect weather. It was the same story with the parade that goes through town and you follow behind your school and then head back to the actual school for food. Yes, it was the same as the day before but it was just as fun.
Trinidad's school band
Loma Bonita's school band
On the walk back from Trinidad, we found out there was also a parade going on in El Copé so we caught a chiva and headed out. On the way there, it started to rain again. It wasn't too bad at first. We met up with Kayla and got some lunch. While eating lunch, it seemed like the parade had ended. It started to rain pretty hard so we hung out at the restaurant and played cribbage. It was only my second time playing it but guess what... I came in second! I beat Dave. Imagine my excitement. Eventually the rain started to let up, so we headed to the chino to do some shopping. While there, the parade started up again with tons of people still there to watch. I couldn't believe that so many people had waited out the storm to see the parade. They waited for at least two hours!
A group marching in El Copé's parade
The next morning, I woke up pretty early. Dave was still sleeping so I decided I wanted to play solitaire. I couldn't find the cards and ended up cleaning Dave's house. I actually had a lot of fun cleaning. There were tons of books that Peace Corps had given him that seemed really interesting. I also went through his first aid kit and noticed that his Pepto Bismol chewable tablets he brought from home had expired... in 2000!
We didn't have much to do that day, so Dave did laundry while I finished cleaning. His place looks pretty organized now! While letting the clothes dry, we went to this little swimming hole known as a charco right by Dave's house. It was cool but I wasn't too excited about the bugs floating around the top. We decided to head home just in time. By the time we got back to his place, it had started to rain again.
We decided to head to Victor's tienda to get some cheese, ramen, eggs and chicken. Dave was making us tuna melts for lunch and we needed the cheese. I was making chicken adobo for our Christmas dinner so we needed chicken. We got the ramen and eggs for breakfast the next morning. Dave also got a goose egg which we ended up hard boiling. It was delicious and tasted just like a regular egg... but bigger!
On the way home, we stopped at Anna's to talk. While there, the rain started to come down pretty heavily. One of her sons made us coffee and we talked about politics, religion and language. One of her other sons was folding paper into little envelopes and boats. Anny (I learned she spells her name Anny not Annie) took the paper boats and had them float in the streams made by the storm. Eventually the rain let up, though it didn't stop, and we headed home.
Dave made our delicious tuna melts and we started to play cribbage. As we played cribbage, Dave started to hard boil that goose egg. It took FOREVER. We finally got to eat the egg and then... I WON AT CRIB!!! I was so excited. Dave even called Kayla to tell of his defeat.
After winning, I started to cook the adobo while Dave cooked rice and we played another round... which I won! We ate and had a third go at crib which Dave finally won. We spent the rest of the night playing solitaire.
The next morning, we packed up and headed to Kayla's site in Barrigon to help build stoves for her school. We built three stoves total and it was a lot of work. There were several community members there who did the actual work of mixing cement, laying it down, smoothing it out and placing the codo (part of the stove where the wood goes) and bricks. We basically pasted the codo with this muddy paste and cleaned the cement so that it wouldn't dry in an ugly way. It took a long time but was definitely fun and rewarding. It felt really cool to do actual Peace Corp work!
Next stop was Penonomé for the baile. I was definitely excited for it but found myself not too thrilled when we finally got there. I don't know if it's because I had a bad experience in the bathroom (I waited in line forever and then tons of people just walked in and once inside people rushed to any open stall ignoring any line formed) or what, but I just wasn't enjoying myself. We stayed around to listen to Alfredo Escudero sing and play the musica tipica and we even danced tipico. I think thats another reason I didn't enjoy myself too much. Tipico dancing, not to knock it, is pretty much two people glued together moving their hips to a 3-count beat. That's it. Nothing else. No spins. No other movement. Just a guy and a girl glued together for 10 minutes. I'm sure it is actually fun but yea... it wasn't for me. At least not that night. We ended up leaving the baile pretty early and watched a few episodes of Dexter online until we fell asleep.
The next morning, we headed to Panama City where we spent the day checking out Albrook Mall. It's huge! I would love to go there one day with a bunch of girls and just shop and hang out. Definitely not Dave's scene.... hahaha. We also watched the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" also known as "Lluvia de Hamburguesas". Even though it was in Spanish and I couldn't understand everything, I got the gist of the movie, including some jokes. I definitely enjoyed it.
By the time night had come, we were both pretty tired and ready to get on our TicaBus to Costa Rica. We both passed out almost immediately after we boarded the bus and didn't wake up until a passport check at about 4 in the morning. The next time we woke up was for the border crossing. It took about 3 hours to get our luggage sniffed by a dog, our passports stamped with the exit stamp (Panamá), stamped again with the entrance stamp (Costa Rica) and our luggage hand checked. Sometimes I really hate beaurocracy. While we waited, we went across the street to this restaurant for breakfast. I had the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. It was like a Big Mac without the meat. Delicious! Right after we got back on the bus, we both passed out again until another passport check and a stop for lunch. Then it was sleep till San Jose.
Now we're at Hotel Aranjuez. It's honestly one of the nicest hotels I've been in. The rooms are comfortable and the shared bathroom is amazing. Best shower I've ever been in! The floor is tile and the shower walls are glass. There's even a liquid soap dispenser in the shower. I'm super bummed because they have a free breakfast in the morning but it starts at 7 and we're leaving to head up to Monteverde at 6. I was really looking forward to mango!
In the end, I did start to feel better but started to have a scratchy throat and now I cough and sneeze pretty much all day long. Hoping this passes quickly!
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