La Palma

Today I went to the provincial capital of La Palma. Last night one of my older host sisters came home, since she now has the super long weekend due to the Panamanian drought/electricity thing. She’s studying to be a dentist, just like one of my sisters in the States. She’s 24, so she’s really close to my age, only she has a husband and a baby. (Shout out to 20-something year old grown-ups! I’m not one of you.)

She seems pretty cool, so I was happy to go gallivanting about Darien with her and the baby. (Pudgy babies!!!) We took a chiva up a crappy road to get to Puerto Kimba (Quimba? I’ve seen it spelled different ways) and then from there took a 20-25 minute boat ride to La Palma. The boat ride was exciting and I thought it was a beautiful view. It’s in those moments that I wish I could bring over my family members via portkey so that they could appreciate the awesomeness that is THE WORLD. I’m not crazy for leaving the Carolinas, y’all! There are some cool places out here.

As we pulled into the port at La Palma, you could see all the colorful houses on stilts by the water. It was pretty cool, it reminded me of Oporto, Portugal (is that weird?). We walked around La Palma just a little and then met up with my host sister’s husband and met my host abuelos. They have a dog that is just. . .spoiled. He only drinks cold water and he throws his food bowl for attention. He also growls aggressively at visitors. I don’t think he’d attack me, though. All the Panamanian dogs just look for an excuse to growl at somebody, and then when they actually get a chance to back it up (i.e.: they get let out of the gate or off the leash), you find out they’re all talk. Think of middle schoolers who only want to fight when their friends are holding them back. Panamanian dogs are just like them. They only growl when you’re walking/running AWAY from them. (This is the reason I can’t run here, I’m not down with dogs chasing me. I bought a jump rope. Maybe I won’t be a couch potato.)

We’ll see how I spend the rest of my long weekend. J Shout out to Danny, visiting your site is a strong possibility for this weekend if other things to do don’t magically fall into my lap.