Goodbye Love

It's 10:22. We're leaving tomorrow morning for El Cope Parque Nacional--this is the beginning of our month on the road. As mentioned before, I won't have much cell phone signal much less internet contact, so it might be quite a time before the next post comes. Even still, they will come... eventually.

This last week we had our interviews with different "saving the world" agencies in Panama. By this I mean social development organizations, government agencies, animal rescue, forest conservation... everything. We went off in pairs and met with different groups.

On Tuesday Becky and I met with MIDES (http://www.mides.gob.pa/) which is the Ministry of Social Development in Panama. We met with someone from the Department of Communications and learned as much as we could in a 30 minute interview. The building was close to where we lived so it was only a 5 minute bus ride. Their headquarters were quite vast, a labyrinth of halls and corridors. This organization is working hard to improve social capital in Panama. There are programs for illiteracy, young people's involvement, community building, and much more. The website details a lot more if you're interested but for me, the experience just made me realize how many people are fighting and just how big the problem of poverty and underdevelopment actually is. Sitting in our comfortable homes, we often forget that our world is still sick, both in its physical health (land, ocean, atmosphere) and in its people. I started to realize that people can only attack this problem little by little and achieve small successes here and there, but not until huge changes in mentality occur, not much global change will be seen.

Thursday morning, Andrea and I visited the APPC (www.panamerican.org): an organization trying to educate people about wildlife, promote eco-friendly development, and rescue animals. After the interview, we got to play with some of the animals they used for demonstrations. There was this adorable squirrel monkey named Kong (after King Kong), who ironically could fit comfortably in my hand. He did enjoy jumping around the cage quite a bit though. There was also a baby ocelot (who stayed in its cage thankfully) that was also muy tierno. There were some other monkeys, snakes, rodents, and some other animals... all in the backyard of this small building (the area didn't allow them more room for the animals :(...)

New York Bagel, our little taste of home that we frequent pretty often to do work and eat wireless. Thought it was appropriate that I at least post a picture of it before I leave the city.

Lecture this week was with Dr. Varela, who brought the face the difficulties of dealing with Panama's problems. He also introduced the term social capital, and how it often is overlooked when building capital. (Social capital refers to community building, youth programs, parent organizations, and in general things of social nature).

Thursday we had our "debrief" in this nice Indian restaurant called Machu Pichu. If you didn't know, Panama is very similar to many US cities in that it has every genre of food. Chinese, Indian--you name it.

Friday I turned 20. No longer a teenager, eh? Though I'm behind for my grade and thus was called a "jovencito" by a couple people. lol. Although it was sad to be away from my family and friends from home for my birthday, I definitely had my friends and family here.

During our break in Spanish class, we had a mini-fiesta where the group had bought some Chicha de Avena and some pastries from a popular bakery to celebrate. I blew a candle, we sang some songs, and hey, I turned 20. :P

Party time!

Cati (Katie) She's like our group mom, always looking out and worrying about everyone :)

Señora Elvia on the last day of Spanish class... She was an awesome teacher!

Friday, unfortunately, was also exam day so I spent 2 hours in the afternoon typing furiously until my Panamanian family surprised me with cake, dinner, songs, and even more celebration. I've been very blessed. :)

My birthday cake from Momi's (the bakery)

My family! Grandpa, Grandma, Señora Eva, Michelin (gf of Jose), Jose

After that, we went to watch a documentary on urban poverty in Panama, which was extremely sobering. I'm typing this on a computer I could afford, in a room that has been arranged for me, with the knowledge that if all else fails, I still have the comfort of my bed back at home. It's easy to forget not all share this blessing. After the documentary a couple musical groups sang... but then we were soon gone.

One of the groups that sang with the hilarious bassist.

The other group we stayed for. They had a drum box.

To where? Karaoke and dancing of course. One of the girls said it was the "most fun we've had as a group since we've been here." And although I was completely exhausted, I'd have to agree. We sang horribly to Juanes and the Beatles, danced on a stage, and met many local Panamanians. Only cost 3 dollars, too. Late that night we headed home.

Alejandro (Brooks) was the first to sing. Knee-popping action.

Dance the night away folks.

This next month, as I said, I will be gone with the exception of a few stops back at the house, on which days of course I'll have to check in just to assure people I'm alive. But I'm excited about this next part. As someone who has never known life without technology, I'm hoping this will be an amazing and sobering experience. I'll keep you posted.