this is... something: panama and then some.

Anzuelo and Ketchup

This is copy-pasted from an e-mail I sent to Dave's grandma last night. Enjoy!

The evening of August 15th, my parents dropped Ron and me off at the airport. Ron, a close friend of mine from high school, previous and current roommate, and one of Dave's best friends, wanted to go to Panama so I bought him a ticket at the same time that I purchased mine. We hung out at the gate for a few hours until our 12:15 am plane boarded. While waiting, I read a book that I knew I'd need to read for one of my upcoming classes. It's called "A Child Called It" about one of the worst cases of child abuse in California history. It's assigned for my pediatric course this semester. It's also a rather quick read - I ended up finishing it during the layover in Texas. I also had a few extra books and lent one to Ron to read. I'm glad I did because he really enjoyed it, reading it throughout the trip. It's called "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." He said it's the first book of that length (a bit over 500 pages) that he's read.

The flights from San Francisco to Houston and Houston to Panama were rather uneventful - a good thing! I slept as much as possible and kept myself busy with SkyMall and other airplane readings. I didn't want to start in on the other book I had in my bag.

Landing in Panama gave me such a great feeling! I was only hours away from seeing David - a cab ride and then a bus ride. I successfully navigated our way through the airport, onto a cab, to the bus terminal, to the ticket counter, onto the bus, and off the bus at the correct location with my minimal Spanish. I tried as much as possible over the past few months to learn Spanish, but school didn't always make it so easy. I did, however, have some confidence because I was able to communicate in Spanish with a patient who didn't speak English over the summer.

Ron and I went to eat at the restaurant below the hotel we were staying in that evening while waiting for David. He was with Cosecha (the group that is helping him build stoves in town). They were picking up bricks for Nikki (another volunteer, a few towns further down David's road) and decided to get his bricks as well. When David finally arrived, we put our belongings in the hotel room and then wandered Penonome - grabbing another meal and hanging out at a bar.

The next morning, we woke up early so that we could catch a ride with Cosecha to Nikki's town to help her build stoves at her school. Well... We waited for about a half hour, were told that they'd be on their way, waited a bit more... and a bit more... and then found out the truck had broken down. The belt had busted and they were on their way to the mechanics to get it fixed. We decided to hang around instead of catching a bus. After eating breakfast, we found out they needed to get the part from Panama City. At this point, we decided to catch a bus but first wanted to stop at a store. While at the store, David got a call saying the truck was good to go. We met up with them and headed to Nikki's town. We spent the rest of the day building two stoves before heading to David's house.

We spent the next few days in David's town, playing with Anzuelo and Ketchup, visiting families, and going to the school. I was so thrilled to be back in Loma Bonita. I have missed it and the people so much. One of the coolest parts was seeing a little baby girl who was only 3 weeks old the last time I saw her - she has definitely grown! Anzuelo is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met. As soon as you sit down, he jumps on your lap. He even cuddled with me each night! I'm so glad David is going to bring him home next year.

On Friday morning, we headed out, going to Boquete where we'd be climbing the volcano. We bus hopped to Boquete and then walked over to the hostel we were staying at. Prior to the trip, I had reserved a "cabin." Basically, it was two of the private rooms at the hostel that shared a kitchen and had a bathroom. One room fit two people, the other fit four people, and then there was a futon bed in the living room area. The cabin consisted of me, David, Ron, Catherine (a volunteer), and three of my classmates who were in Panama for a medical mission. We all met up that evening, along with two other volunteers (Erin and Klaus), and Klaus' brother, Harley. We spent the evening eating tacos that we made and socializing. It had been the first time since last December that I'd seen Cat (we met up when she came home for Christmas) and the first time David had seen them in a few months.

The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and rented our gear. Then it was off to the volcano! We hailed two cabs to fit all of us and our gear and headed up to the ANAM station at the beginning of the hike (it's basically a ranger's station).

The climb itself was long and steep! It was the first real hike I'd ever done, so I was a bit terrified but excited. It took us approximately seven hours to make it up to the campsite - 12.3 km. There were some flat spots - the entire 11th km was flat. There were also three downhill points. The hike was pretty cold because the volcano is in a cloud forest. As the day wore on and we got higher, it got colder and colder. It was never too cold, but I think that was because we were producing enough body heat and were wearing waterproof clothing that pretty much prevented the heat from escaping. When we got up to the top, we set up camp, ate a bit, and headed to bed. My three classmates hadn't made it to the top yet, but we assumed they headed back down because they were going pretty slowly and Khen's feet had been hurting him.

As we were falling asleep, we heard two girl voices. It was Michelle and Carol - the two girl classmates! We were amazed and excited that they had in fact made it up. Then they said that they had lost Khen. They left him around the 4 km marker because he was going too slowly and he told them to go ahead. At this point, we all started to worry. Somewhere on the volcano was a guy with injured feet and no tent. Klaus and Harley decided to head down the volcano to see if they could find him. Their plan was to go down the volcano. If they found him nearby, they would come up. If they found him somewhere in the middle, they would find a place to set up their tent. If the didn't find him by the time they got to the bottom, they would set up their tent at the ANAM station and give us a call. We didn't have cell service at the top, so we wouldn't get their message until after we had begun the descent.

Luckily, they found him about 15 minutes down! They came back up, we got everyone situated, and then went to sleep. By this time, it was after midnight and we needed to wake up by 5 if we wanted the best chance to see both oceans. I forgot to mention that Michelle was shivering and not feeling well, so we fit four people in a two person tent to try and keep her warm. She ended up waking in the middle of the night to vomit. Thankfully, she felt better after doing so.

In the morning, we all (minus Ron - he wanted to sleep), hiked up the last km to the top. There we had an amazing view of the country and both oceans. Words cannot explain the feeling I had standing up there. It was absolutely perfect.

The hike down went a lot faster than going up - around four hours. My three classmates again went slower than us, but we told them to stay together so that we didn't have to worry about someone being left behind. We got to town at 1 and went to eat some pizza. Then we went back to the hostel where we waited for my classmates. We figured at their pace, they would get to the ANAM station around 3:30 or 4. We had given them the phone number of the cab to call once they got to the station (they didn't have their phones on them).

At 4, they hadn't arrived, so David asked the cab driver to give us a call when they called him so that we knew when to expect them. Around that time, it had started to rain. Then it started to rain harder... and then thunder and lightning started. I began to worry. At 4:30, the cabbie still hadn't heard from them. Same deal at 5. At this point, I was starting to cry. We went to the fire station to tell them of the situation and see if they could get the phone number of the ANAM station. We had tried to find it at the hostel, but couldn't. We just wanted to see if they had made it to the station.

The fire station couldn't get the number either and were busy. There's a river that runs through the town and it had flooded because of the rain. People were being evacuated from their homes, so it took them a while to be able to really help us. They were all wonderful people, trying to come up with solutions, but they didn't have a 4 wheel drive car at the moment that could go up the hill to the volcano as it was in use for the flood. We eventually found a cab and asked it to take us up the volcano in hopes that we'd see them walking down the road. The cab couldn't get us up the road because of the rain. It was so bad a tree had fallen across the road blocking the path. The other route required a 4WD car, of which the cabbie didn't have.

We eventually made it back to the fire station, where I continued to cry. I was so worried because the storm wasn't letting up and we had no way to contact them. That combined with the fact that Khen was injured had me fearing the worst. After two hours of waiting, the fire station finally had a car ready. Then!!! The hostel called David saying they were there.

Turns out they made it to the ANAM station around 3:30, but the phone number of the cab had gotten soaked so they called a different cab. With the rain, however, the cab wouldn't come up far enough, so they had to walk down and ended up missing the cab. They then had to search for one. So yes, they had a tough experience with the volcano. At least they're safe!

That evening, we left Boquete and went to a bigger city - David. Here, we met up with other volunteers and got HOT showers. Then it was bed time. We were all exhausted from the day.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and then headed out for Panama City.

In Panama City, we went to the hostel and then went to watch the movie "Inception." It was really good! Definitely makes you think. The next day, we went to Casco Viejo and admired all of the old architecture. We went to La Catedral Metropolitana which is this gorgeous cathedral in the old town. I was fortunate enough that the cathedral was open that day, so I was able to walk around and explore. Amazing.

Then we went to the canal. Everyone has to see the canal when going to Panama meaning Ron had to see it. It wasn't as exciting the second time around, but the history of it is still incredible.

After the canal, we went to Panama Viejo - the original Panama City. The ruins are one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. I stood there imagining what they looked like in all their glory.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and then readied ourselves to leave. It was our last day in Panama and David had a meeting at 9. We headed to the bus terminal where he left us. I was so sad to see him go. Ron and I sat around for two hours waiting for the bus to take us to the airport.

At the airport, we checked in and then waited for the plane to board. Same story as on the way there with the uneventful flights. We arrived in San Francisco at 11:30. My parents picked us up and brought us back to their house. Ron drove back to Sacramento while I stayed in the bay. I stayed up pretty late showing pictures to my parents and telling them about our adventures.

The next few days were spent in bed. I did not want to move if I didn't have to. I even convinced my parents to bring me some of my meals. Terrible, I know, but I was just so tired.

On Sunday, we went to the Giants game. My uncle is visiting from the Philippines and had never been to a baseball game before though he loves the sport. It was a great game. We won! Prior to the game, Steve Garvey who played for the Dodgers and the Padres in the 70s and 80s was signing autographs. My uncle was very excited to meet him.

Classes began yesterday. I'm glad to be back in the academic setting though I'm constantly frustrated by the lack of organization the university has. Information that should be available online such as our syllabi and schedules wont show, equipment fails, instructors are ill prepared... I could go on and on. In the end, I know I'm getting an education that will get me to where I want to be, but I wish there were more organization in getting there. This is something that we all complain about. I think our frustration comes from the fact that we're taking out HUGE loans to pay for an education that isn't efficient. Oh well.

I'm officially half way through to being a nurse. I can't wait! We're doing our critical care and pediatric rotations until the end of October. November and December will be spent with Labor and Delivery.

I can't wait until December - David and Christmas! It's what I'm looking forward to to get me through this semester.