Panamá updates

Last night I had a dream about Corey and Jen, and in the dream, I dreamed that Jen had just found out she was pregnant with twin boys. Crazy huh, and Corey had an X-box. In real life I got a hair cut in Panama City (for $1.50) and I also went to the Mercado de Mercancia. It is always fun to go there. I saw a bat in a glass case for sale only $30. It was very tempting. It rains every day here, usually around noon, and the humidity is amazing here. Just to give you an idea of how humid it is, I don't ever feel the need to use lotion or chapstick. My clothes don't ever fully dry and my hair drys in a couple of hours.


Last night we went to Avenida Balboa to see the tall buildings and the Pacific side of the ocean. Well it is the most premier spot in the whole country, and they have decided to fill in the ocean and create new land and more real estate. They are also going to clean the water and add a beach. I think that they want to be able to compete with some cities like Cancun and Rio de Janiero (because although Panama is extremely blessed with some of the nicest beaches you will ever see on either coast, none of them are near the city). It should be an interesting project when it is done. They are working on it 24/7 in order to finish it. I might add they are doing a ton of construction here on very large projects. It is very interesting to see things happen here.



On another note I went to visit some members in Pedregal over the weekend, and they still remember you Mom and Dad! When I got there they gave me dinner and then told me to get ready for a political meeting in Chepo. I guess that someone stuffed the ballot and they were meeting to protest. As Hno. Caballero told me, "What we are doing, we are probably doing in vain, but it must be done on principal so that they know we aren't as stupid as they think we are." Well let me tell you about Chepo, it is the last stop on the paved PanAmerican Highway (the highway that goes from Alaska all the way to the southern tip of Chile with no breaks except Panama). Chepo is right on the edge of the Darien Gap one of the densest jungles in the world. The paved portion of the PanAmerican ends in Chepo, but continues a while longer into Darien as a dirt road, which cannot be driven in the rainy season (most of the year). So there in Chepo we had a political meeting in the middle of nowhere in the jungle. It was cool except the mosquitos ate me alive!

1) Me with a waiter dressed as a typical Panamanian
2) 5 de Mayo typical street scene
3) Huge avacado pit (and new hair cut)
4) Huge leaf and papaya plant in the background
5) Building on Ave Balboa
6) The land refill project on Ave Balboa (they are working through the night, and the dirt comes from the new canal that they are digging!)