The picture says it all, doesn't it?
I spent Friday morning - Sunday evening in paraíso (paradise). Some of my friends had organized a trip and I jumped at the opportunity to go; I'd been wanting to go to San Blas since I arrived in Panama...and all the hype and expectations did not disappoint. We woke up before the sun on Friday, squeezed into a LandCruiser, and were off. San Blas is north and east of Panama City on the Caribbean side. We took the highway for about an hour and a half and the last 45 minutes or so were spent on a roller coaster of a road. We were winding around mountains, taking sharp turns, speeding down steep descents and crawling up steep ascents. We stumbled out of the car when we finally reached the unloading point, all of us at least slightly woozy from the theme park ride. We waited at the edge of the water under a little hut for about 45 minutes before a boat arrived to take us to the island. Even though the boat ride was packed and I was drenched with salt water by the end of it, it was absolutely mesmerizing. Everywhere I turned there was another tiny island full of palm trees and a white sand beach in the middle of sparkling, teal blue water. Remember the old school Microsoft screen saver of an island like those I just mentioned? Apparently that photo was taken in San Blas.
The San Blas, or Kuna Yala, islands are an autonomous "comarca" of Panama. The Kuna Yala indigenous people occupy about 50 of the 350 islands in the area but have control over all of them. The Kunas believe strongly in the four key elements of the environment: earth, wind, water and fire. The Kuna women are easily identified by their traditional dress: they wear a shear blouse connected to a mola (multi-layer, hand-stitched material consisting of animal designs and geometric shapes) and a patterned tapestry as a skirt. Many of them also wear a gold ring in the center of their nose.
Our group stayed on Franklyn/Tony Island. It's called that because those are the two owners. It's split down the middle, complete with a chain link fence; Franklyn owns and runs a hostel of huts on one side and Tony does the same on the other side. We stayed on Tony's side. This was one of the most economical vacations I've ever taken. For all transportation (car and boat), two nights in a hut, all meals (including lobster for dinner one night!), snacks and entrance fees I only spent $120.
There were many groups of young Israelis staying on the island and there were also some really cool North Americans. I spent a good amount of time getting to know awesome people from California, Michigan and Canada. We spent our days laying in the sun on the beach and shade of palm trees, soaking in the beautiful water, playing scrabble, listening to music, and just hanging out. We actually all met up again last night (their last night in the city) for some DELICIOUS (and cheap!) food at Sabor de la India. A new friend, Courtney, and I shared butter chicken, naan and samosas. My bill was a mere $7. So awesome.
This whole weekend was the perfect way for me to clear my head and get a little perspective on this adventure of mine. I'm living in a beautiful country with so much history and so many cultures. I'm glad to have the opportunity to take advantage of seeing and experiencing the diverse peoples and places within this culturally-packed country of only 3 million people.
Now that I'm 3 shades darker and genuinely content, it's time to get back to work. I'm no longer teaching the morning conversation class--only 1 of my students signed up for the second class :( so she's switching to the night class. I'll be team-teaching that class with my friend, Josh. I'm planning on restarting the faculty conversation club next week--I'm cautiously hopeful on this one, though. It's been pushed back by the participants for about 3 weeks now. So we'll see. I'm taking a bit of a break from Access this week because the students have exams. The midway point of my grant is in 2 weeks...CRAZY. Next time I'll post a midterm evaluation.
Until then...
Cuídate.
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