Finally Something to Say

Haven´t written in a few days because there wasn´t much to tell. I had Spanish lessons all this week from 11a-3p each day, and I´m amazed at how much more I can say and understand as compared to a week ago. I actually was quite comfortable coming into San Jose today, as opposed to the last time, because I felt like I´d be able to communicate OK. I´ve tried to chat with the locals this past week when possible to practice, though sometimes they´d prefer to practice their English.

Thursday night I went to a free belly dancing class at Bocas Yoga. I was the only person who showed up so I received a private lesson. Some moves were really easy and others just weren´t gonna happen for me, at least not that night. But it was fun nonetheless and it was something new.

On Friday night, Ryan (a guy in my Spanish class) and I went to Bocas Marina (had to take a boat even though we were staying on the same island) to Calypso, a party with fire dancers and belly dancers (one of them my instructor from the night before). The cantina there was filled with ex-pats, most of them rich older couples whose yachts, mega yachts, were parked at the marina. The men spend their days in a bar playing Texas Hold Em and the women play dominoes, do lunch out once a week, etc. A tough life, in other words.

After Calypso, we hitched a water taxi ride with a rich old American guy and his very young Panamian wife back to the town center where we went to two bars. One of them was the bar where the men play poker and the table was full that night. The bar is a crazy one. At specified intervals a bartender jumps up on the bar top with a bottle of tequila and pours some into each person´s mouth--free shots! And sometimes he´ll use a squirt gun filled with tequila.

Saturday I was supposed to go on a boat tour to see Starfish Beach and do some snorkeling at two different places, but I was the only one who booked, so instead I took the collectivo (a van that provides transportation to and from Boca del Drago and the town center for $5 roundtrip). On the way a local guy I was sitting next to started speaking to me in Spanish; he wanted to practice his English because his son lives in Texas so he spoke in English and I tried to speak in Spanish as much as possible.

The ride was a bit interesting. We filled the van, a 15-passenger one, before leaving town with 16 people. Shortly after driving out of town, we stopped to pick up a woman and her son and even the locals were saying, Where? because there was really not room for them, what with 16 people and bags of fruit! Nonetheless, we crammed them in. Most of the locals were dropped off at points along the way. One older guy got out of the van with his machete (it was at least wrapped in cloth) and his post-hole digger. I couldn´t see a house where he got out, but he climbed through a barbed wire fence and took off up a hill. The little boy who was last to get on actually got out on his own and started walking down a road; he couldn´t have been more than 5 years old. Today in the water taxi I saw a little boy oaring a boat on his own; he was probably 6 and just out by himself. Prettty amazing.

The walk to Starfish Beach, about 30 minutes, was well worth it. The starfish were plentiful, and I did a bit of snorkeling. When I got back to Boca del Drago, I walked into a booth where a man and his family were selling jewelry they had made. I´ve been a sucker for the jewelry here as it´s made from local materials like seeds, shells, and coconuts; I had already bought two necklaces and had a guy make matching earrings for them both, then later bought a bracelet. A little girl was making a necklace so I asked to take a picture of her. She agreed but immediately became shy and hid her face. She did let me take it, though, and was excited to see herself in the viewfinder. I had her tell me which of the bracelets was her favorite and then I bought that one for my niece, the girl was excited to hear that Bella is the same age as her--9. I also bought another necklace--yes, that´s my third if you´re keeping count. On the way back we picked up a couple we had let out on the way in. They had apparently been collecting fruit to bring back to town. I think that´s quite common, which is why many of them carry machetes. There are men who walk around with a cart of coconuts, and they´ll hack them open with a machete right in front of you, and another man has a pickup truck full of fresh pineapples, literally full, and he slices them up at his food stand. I made it back to town just before it started pouring rain for the third day in a row.

I was up at 5:30 this morning for a 30-minute water taxi, a 30-minute van ride, and a 6-hour bus ride to San Jose. Other than being stopped at a police post, where we had to disembark and have our passports checked, and some annoying passengers, it was uneventful. Two Americans whined about virtually everything and were glad to be going back to the States tomorrow. I was glad as well so that I don´t have to run into them again. One of the other Americans talked with some German girls in front of me for 5 hours on the bus. Need I say that no one should be allowed to do that on a bus unless they are in a soundproof enclosure! They did my head in. And that was even wearing headphones at maximum volume.

I´m in San Jose for two days staying at Hostel Pangea, a pretty decent place for $12 per night. It has a huge common area, which I like, a swimming pool, free Internet, and hot water showers, which I will be enjoying shortly. Too bad it´s raining and is only 70 degrees (all the more reason I´ll enjoy the hot water). More of the same is predicted for tomorrow. I´m only here waiting to start another volunteer project Sept 1, and I´m hoping the weather will be better on the Pacific side.