Panama Update #48
September 16, 2008
I have not heard from Nikki since she went back to the research vessel on Sunday so I do not have anything new to report from her. I am continuing with my usual schedule with the English tutoring and Yoga classes. My schedule is not packed so I have some time to go on some local outings. Sunday night I went with group from the dormitory to the mall to see a movie called Ledron que Roba Ledron. I think it means the robber who robbed the robber. It was a funny movie that all of us liked a lot and I got most of the jokes even though it was in Spanish. Today I went out to the Causeway, which is the strip of land with the nice walking path bordered by the Pacific near the entrance to the canal. I met a friend who works in that area and we had lunch. It was great oven roasted pizza and only cost $4.50 for a size that easily feeds two people. Afterward I went to the marine museum there adn the admission was only $2. It was a simple exhibit, mostly aimed at school groups, but it was worth seeing. They had hands-on type of displays and also aquariums with the local Pacific Ocean fish. They also had tanks where you could get up close to big turtles and star fish. There was also a nature trail where you can see sloths and iguanas, although I did not see either one. We also have a sloth and iguana living in the jungle by our dormitory. After the museum I walked along the Causeway and even though it was peak afternoon sun, there was a pleasantly cool ocean breeze. It was the first time I had felt a cool breeze at that time of the day, or maybe even the first time ever in Panama. It is still raining here everyday and the humidity stays high, but it does not rain all day long. The time varies, but usually it will rain late morning or sometime later in the afternoon. It rains hard for about an hour and then slows up or stops completely. I read that on this side of Panama it rains about 6 to 8 feet a year and on the other side of the country about 10 feet a year. From December 15 t0 May it is supposed to be the dry season, with no rain at all, so all that rain is squeezed in a period of several months.
