I (Steve) added some photos at the last minute: despedida
I am sitting on the porch of Isabel’s house after a delightful evening with our Spanish teachers and our families. We had a festive graduation ceremony to mark the completion of 32 hours of Spanish classes. The students gave wonderful presentations to demonstrate what they learned using poetry, theatre, and puppetry. Will and Sarah spoke eloquently on behalf of all the students to thank the families for opening up their homes and hearts. Each student gave a hand written and decorated card and flowers to their families and to their teachers. Isabel’s backyard came alive with the sounds of children’s laughter and live marimba music, the smells of huge pots of arroz con pollo and grass under running feet, the colors of haikus hanging on the clothes line and the whirling shirts of dancing people and swinging hammocks.
Tomorrow we will meet in the central park at 5:30am to load up the bus and head to Panama. Our journey will take us through Braulio Carrillo National Park and then down along the coast through agricultural lands with many Banana and Palm oil plantations, on the way to the the border. It will get much greener as we near the coast. Most of this lowland rainforest. We will arrive at Almirante around 3 or 4 in the afternoon where we will meet up with Pete Lahanas and take 45min boat ride to Isla Colon.
We have to go. we will do our best to keep you informed.