Other random pics

Cute little Caribean kiddo shakin his booty to the steel drums!








Tia Veronica y tia Benedikta








Ryden y su amiga de escuela

Our friends

This is Rye hugging Maestra Sharon....Rye adores her!


Rye's classmates all dressed up for a Panamanian holiday
Rye and best friend Bibi being goofy

Red Frog Beach

Here we are hanging out on Red Frog Beach, a national preserve. It is on the island of Bastimientos, a short boat ride away. We had a great time playing in the waves, holding the little red frogs and boogie boarding. This is island life!

Organic Cacao Farm trip

This was our trip to an organic Cacao farm. We took a boat to the farm, which is owned by 2 expat Americans. They walked us through the whole process from picking the beans. We got to eat raw cacao....yummy! Saw how the beans are extracted, fermented and then roasted and then blended up to remove most of the oil. From there the pure cacao is left. Fun trip!!! Rye loved it.

Halloween Bocas Style

Had a crazy crazy Halloween here in Bocas. As you may or may not know, Bocas is quite the party town. There are parties every night and the bars are thumping til 5 am most nights. We laugh because everyday someone comes by the language school to advertize that their bar is having ladies night. In Bocas there is a ladies night every night....nice for me I guess. Anyways, Halloween was a spectacle. All the tourists were out in their handmade throw it together outfits and the locals were all out full force too. I had a babysitter that night and got home around 3:30. I was a rock star complete with a star on my eye, crazy hair (most of the night until it got too hot and I had to put it up) and tatoos everywhere. Rye and I went to a Halloween gathering earlier in the day. Rye was a rainbow fairy....a last minute idea we had, but it was cute. She had rainbow tatoos on her face and a rainbow skirt and shirt and purple wings. Check out the pictures from the day.

More starfish beach pics

Another day playing at Starfish beach. Warm water, starfish, palm trees and sun...what else do you really need?

Pictures from Starfish beach

 
 
 
 

Only in a Third World Country

I've started a list that is entitled "You know you are in a third world country when." Here is what I have so far:

1)Your alarm clock is a rooster
2)You have no idea what time it is or what day it is.
3)Dogs lie in the middle of the streets
4)There are bars on your windows
5)A cold shower feels good
6)You are asked to do something one way the first time and a different way the next time
7)The baseball field and the airport landing strip are one and the same.
8)Kids play futbol in the street
9)Nobody wears shoes....not even the tourists
10) Nothing works right

Geckos

Geckos geckos...there everywhere. Tiny little curious creatures that pop their cute clear heads out to see what´s going on. I always thought that geckos were green or a shade of green at least, but these Caribbean geckos are far from that.....they are almost ghost like and resemble jellyfish more in color than lizards. Rye was afraid of them at first but now she thinks their cute and kind of ¨like her little pets¨.

MEATBALLS
Everyday when Rye gets home from school I ask her about her day and ask what she had for lunch. Everday she´s been happy about her lunches and says things like, ¨ we had rice and beans and some yummy bananas (plaintains) or ¨ we had chicken in a spicy sauce.¨ Well today when I asked her, this was her reply: ¨We had some rice and some meatballs that tasted like dog.¨

Sabado Octubre 17 (Mas)

We went to the beach a few days ago and had a really good time. She loves taking the boats everywhere....they are really funand fast. We saw dolphins and flying fish. The other night we went over to another island, Isla Bastimientos, by boat for dinner. Wow was that an experience. The boat driver dropped us off at this dock and then we walked for maybe only 1/4 mile but straight up this cement walk way. It goes through the back yards of little shacky type houses and then through the jungle- it was dark mind you and we had to use flashlights. Right when you think, "where the heck am I going?" you arrive at the most beautiful wooden bungalow style home set up high on stilts. It was so cute and well made with a thatched roof and a georgeous porch overlooking the jungle and in the distance the sea. Wow, I was blown away. But the weirdest part is is that it was a top notch Thai restaurant. The food better than most Thai restaurants I´ve tried and only $6. While we were sitting there the howler monkeys started going off. It was magical. Oh yeah, the drink of the house is called "magic"......yum! Lots of coconut milk, pineapple juice and rum (of course).

Last weekend I arranged a group excursion for the students at the school and we went out to the Zapatillo Islands, where they filmed Survivor (that´s what I have been told at least). The group of islands is in a National Park so the beaches are pristine and incredibly white......Beautiful! Rye had so much fun playing in the waves and actually got knocked down a few times but laughed as she was getting up. On the way home from the islands we stopped at this adorable little restaurant built on stilts in the middle of the Caribbean Sea and got to pick out the lobster we wanted to eat. It was fabulous. Rye slept the entire way back and I had to carry her off the boat (¨lancha¨) to the school. Oh, and the best part is that she got to snorkle that day. She jumped off the boat with me, stuck her little head with her googles in the water and got to see all the coral and fish. The first fish she saw she gulped in a bunch of water because she was screaming to the Norweigen girls in the boat,¨I saw one...I saw a fish¨. The look on her face was priceless.

Sabado Octubre 17

Ryden and I have been in Bocas del Toro, Panama for a little over 2 weeks. The island life is what I imagined it would be...slow paced and tranquilo. Nobody is in a hurry and what should take 5 minutes takes 15. We have had a mix of beautiful sunny days and drizzly Caribbean wetness. All in all quite lovely. The rainy season is approaching however and we´ve heard countless stories of flooding, blackouts and days without power...we´ll see how that all goes.

Rye is going to a cute little school. Her teacher, Maestra Sharon, is a big black Caribbean woman with a whole lot of personality. Rye adores her. She is great with the kids too. Rye´s Spanish is coming along. She is resistant to speak it with me of course, but speaks it in school a bit and with the students at the school I´m working at, Spanish by the Sea. We were walking on the street the other day and a taxi was coming and she said, Mama, ¨Cuidado!¨.