La Clase de Cocina

 Last night we joined the other language students for a cooking class.  Lessy, a local Panamanian, taught us how to cook a traditonal Panamanian soup, Sancocho.  

The other language school students are two jovenes - Tilda from Sweden, and Dominik from Switzerland.  We’re pretty sure they expected more of a young crowd at the school than they have gotten - lol!  Both spoke no Spanish before coming to the school, so used the translation via Lessy’s phone to understand what was going on.

Jeff and Dominik

Dominik, Tilda, Lessy, and Jeff

Turns out Lessy is a runner, so Jeff and I had some common language to talk about, which was nice!  

Overall it was an enjoyable evening of Spanish and cooking.  The new host for the language school, Lawrence, from Botswana, joined us for dinner.  

Jeff, me, Tilda, Dominik, and Lessy

Lessy, Tilda, Dominik, Lawrence, and Jeff

And… the afternoon rains persist. 

Anniversaries and Birthdays

As I type this, my hands keep getting pushed off the keyboard by Mimi the Cat, who is relentless in her quest for attention.  It's a good thing she is so adorable!

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary!  Because of our summer wedding date, we have been to some pretty awesome spots on this date.  Paris, Guatemala, Italy, Alaska, the western US, and Queensbury to name a few.  Panama is an awesome addition to our anniversary memories!

As I shared coffee with our hostess this morning, Myrian said that today is her birthday!  We were planning on making dinner for our host family one night, and it became apparent that today must be the day.  

After Spanish class, we headed into town to buy fresh baguette.  This went with our meal of spaghetti and meatballs.  We couldn't find a birthday cake nearby, so we bought a strawberry pie from a German bakery, and topped things off with some wine.

About the same time we finished preparing the meatballs and sauce, Myrian came home from work, and Amilcar and David emerged from their rooms.  Myrian had bought us an anniversary gift of two locally painted coffee cups! So thoughtful! 

We opened a bottle of Chianti, Amilcar got the music going, and before we knew it, Kathy was getting salsa and merengue lessons.  Amilcar competed in dance when he went to high school, which is a varsity sport in Panama.  His team won quite a few competitions, and he keeps his skills sharp in the local discotheques as often as any 22 year old.  Kathy, who has no fear of dancing and learns quickly, was born for this.

We had a lovely dinner together, and drank some more wine. 

Myrian and Astrid

David, Myrian, Astrid, Amilcar, and Jeff

As a surprise for our anniversary, I'm going to kill the rooster for Kathy so she can sleep.  I think she is going to love my gift!

Café Para Nosotros

Today Jeff and I had what I think was the most worthwhile tour we've ever been on.  We toured a coffee "farm" in Boquete - Finca Casanga. 

We arranged to be picked up at the language school, but had no idea who would come for us.  Turns out the owner of the coffee farm was our transport!  He is a gentleman from Oregon. We're guessing he is in his late 40's.  Not what we expected.  He and his wife bought the property 11 years ago, but only moved to Panama 6 years ago.  They bought the property on a handshake, after a week long trip here. He admitted that some days he doesn't know what he's doing, but that it gets better every day!  

At the farm, we were greeted by their two very friendly dogs and Enrique, our guide for the afternoon.  Enrique apologized for his English, which was absolutely flawless.

The tour was so informative!  I call it a "farm" and not a plantation, because the property is only 2.5 acres.  They use as many organic methods as they can - ducks to keep bugs down and fertilize the soil, and larger trees to shade the coffee plants.  The only thing that keeps them from being totally organic is the treatment they use for fungus that grows on the leaves.  

Enrique led us through the entire process - from explaining the beans and when they are harvested to roasting our own "green" beans. At the end we tried different ways to make coffee.  Enrique gave us a tour of the facility - showing us where each step takes place, and having us help along the way.  

Turns out they harvest beans about 6 times during the "harvest" and each bean needs to be picked off the plant one by one.  They only harvest perfectly ripe beans, so they harvest more times than bigger plantations.  The native Panamanians are the harvesters, and are paid by the "container" (see the photo)

of beans they pick.  They do not get paid if they pick too many un-ripe beans.  Each container is checked before payment.  A talented/fast picker can make $60 a day.  The indiginous people make the majority of their income during harvest season, and big coffee plantations have housing on the property for the pickers.  They are provided everything but their food during the harvest.  

Jeff and I were introduced to a new way of brewing - a siphon brewer.  Looked like a chemistry experiment!  

Successful tour, and well worth the money!  I'd recommend to anyone else!!  

No Es Nuestro Perro

We had a day to decompress from all of our learning today.  We slept in a bit later, had the best coffee in the world, and caught a cab into Boquete.  

I'm not going to lie...we are pretty proud of our ability to hail a cab, get to our intended location, and not get stuck with the gringo price.  We're certain it is because they are mistaking us for locals.  And this is probably because of our flawless and accentless Spanish.

From town, we walked a 6+ mile loop into the foothills near the town.  The walk started in a nice park along the Rio Caldera.  Within a mile, we left town and were joined by a very friendly dog, whom we named Señor Simpático.  Sr. Simpático walked with us for over four miles.  We loved his company, but were concerned he was getting far from home.  Our solice was that there was nothing we could do about it.  We didn't know where he lived, and he had no collar.  His mannerism made it seem like he is loved, and that he pulls this stunt regularly.  He even used the sidewalks and looked both ways before crossing the street.  Sr. Simpático seemed fairly aloof to the many dogs we passed who were behind fences and behaving as if they wanted to rip his throat out.  He just carried on.

We re-entered Boquete and stopped for lunch. The waiter gave us a puzzled look.  "No es nuestro perro,” we told him and he gave a knowing smile.  When it was apparent that Sr. Simpático wasn't going into the restaurant, he bid us adiós.  Lunch was delicious, and we took our mandatory food porn photos to make all of our friends jealous.  We noticed that everyone else in the restaurant did that too.  The presentation was excellent.

After lunch, we went to Boquete Bees and Butterflies.  We didn't pass as locals when we greeted our tour guide, Quetzel.  

"¡Hola!  Estamos aquí para el Tour," quoth Kathy.

"Welcome.  Glad to meet you.  I will be your tour guide," replied Quetzel.

The gardens were beautiful.  They had several species of native bees, who are stingless.  Quetzel pointed out different flowers and fruits and explained the life cycle of the bees.  They produce honey for sale. Most of it does not come from their native bees.  Apparently, the native bees are very important for pollination, but don't produce much honey.  They use Africanized (killer) bees for most of their honey production.  Apparently, there are pros and cons to everything.  Killer bees produce tons of honey.  Their minor downside is that they might kill you if you get too close to their hives.  I guess life is full of tradeoffs.

They also raise butterflies, and they have a netted area full of butterflies, orchids, and other plants that butterflies need for their life cycle.  It is quite the operation. 

Our last activity there was a honey tasting; sampling about 20 honey varieties.  Each had a different flavor profile, depending on what the bees pollinated.  Most tasted similar to us, but some were markedly different.

On our journey back 'home' a storm rolled in and it rained and rained and rained and rained.

Getting Schooled

Language class is a great reset for our teaching jobs.  Although loathe to admit it, there are times at my job when I think, "How can you not know this?" or "The answer is right in front of you.  Read it."  We've had students focus so hard on decoding that they can read a paragraph aloud and have no idea what it is about.  Intellectually, we understand why, but this week we have been able to feel it.  If nothing else, our Spanish school reestablishes empathy for our struggling learners.

It also illustrates the fundamentals of what we do at school.  It's hard to move to the next level before you have a certain level of competency of prerequisite skills.  For example, to work with fraction arithematic, you need to know your multiplication facts.  In our case, a lot of grammar has been covered in our three days, along with hundreds of vocabulary words.  Our heads are spinning for sure!

Us with our teacher Massiel.

We've had lots of practice in our homestay though.  Everyone patiently works through our broken Spanish, and we are able to learn a lot about life in Boquete.  Amilcar, their 22 year old son, is very gregarious and is awesome at getting conversations going if the dinner table gets quiet.  Yesterday, Amilcar brought his new girlfriend to dinner, and she is equally sociable.  Cristina moved by herself to Panama from Venezuela four years ago, and spoke no English and knew no one.  She taught herself with Dr. Suess books and children's television programs, and is now fluent.  Young minds are sponges!

Much to Learn

Lots of things aren't necessary in Boquete.  The temperatures stay between 60 and 80F, so there is no need for heating and cooling.  You can walk or take public transportation to all of your needs.  And no alarm clocks are needed, since the roosters rouse us around 5 am.  The rooster in our yard and the rooster down the street face off each morning. 

 

¡¿Cuál es tu nombre?!

¿Qué?

¡¿Cuál es tu nombre?!

Diego

¡Suenas como un gorrión, Diego!

And on and on for an hour or two.

Don't mess with Sr. Robert

The hens are all "Suzanna."

Hot water is also unnecesary, and is not available in our Boquete home.  After being awoken by Sr. Robert, we take a shower that jolts us to full attention.  Initially, there was a  'culture shock' to the 60F shower, but by day two, we have adjusted and find it refreshing.

After washing up, Myrian serves us the best coffee in the world, and breakfast.  This morning's included locally grown pineapple.  Delicious!

The mornings in Boquete tend to be very pleasant, and the rain starts up in the afternoon.  That means we get to study Spanish with blue skies and pleasant breezes, and our free time is quite rainy.  Boquete gets around 16 inches of rain in the month of July (as compared to 3.5" in Glens Falls).  We preferred to study in the rainy afternoon, but our teacher has to be home when her children get out of school.  This isn't ideal, but our teacher is excellent and the sacrifice is worth it.

Speaking of rain... We went for a walk and a worker we chatted it up with said, "Welcome to the jungle!"  Any image you have of jungle deluges accurately depicts the afternoon rain here.  It doesn't drizzle all afternoon, it comes down in buckets...for what seems hours.  And then clears out and is gone. We have learned that we can still run, as long as we don't start happy hour too early.

Time for homework and dinner and bed!

 

Getting Aquainted

The cliffhanger entitled, "Will we leave Newark?" was rated PG-13 for language and substance use.  The travel weary hunched themselves over beers at the airport bars, and the travel angry shouted and cursed at airport employees after yet another delay or cancellation.  Our spirits remained high (we never thought we'd leave Newark on time) and somehow, by the grace of the gods, our plane boarded on time and took off an hour late.  

One perk to being a day later is that we scored two first class seats on the plane to Panama.  The meal was good and the drinks were free and the hot towels felt particularly refreshing.  Upon landing in Panama City, we received a text letting us know that there was going to be a protest shutting down the road from David to Boquete.  They weren't sure when we would be able to reach our final destination.  Shrugging, we rested up for the night and caught a quick plane to the town of David.  Fortunately, our driver (also David) knew a way around, and was there to greet us!   Things were turning around.

The drive to Boquete was beautiful, with Volcan Baru (elev 11,400 and the hightest point in Panama) guiding our way.  The lush landscape was dotted with coffee plantations and dairy farms.  David spoke no English, but was willing to work through our limited Spanish.  We arrived at Myrian's casa, and David brought us into the house like he owned the place.  He introduced us to Myrian, who showed us to our room.  She prepared us coffee (El mejor cafe del mundo!) and breakfast while we unpacked.  When we came for breakfast, David was still there. "Myrian es mi esposa!" revealed David, with an impish smile.  David!

After breakfast, we walked about three miles into Boquete proper to check things out, and to get a bite to eat.  We then returned to the room for a beer and nap. 

Mimi, the Cat, naturally knew Kathy was the allergic one and wanted attention most from her.  Winter, the Dog, wagged his tail and limped around on three legs.  We think Myrian said that when Winter wagged his tail, he was unhappy.  It didn't seem to be the case and left us very confused....

Lots of flower displays leading into Boquete!

At dinner, we got to know our hosts in our most broken Spanish.  We met two of their children, Astrid (19) and Amilcar (22).  We actually saw and heard Amilcar earlier as he headed to the shower and sang loudly and confidently from therein.  Dinner was delicious (beef with a sauce, rice, avocado and plantains), and we definitely started to feel at home.  And then we slept gloriously.