More adventures

Last Thursday I went on the craziest hike of my life, and I´m SO glad I went! It was one of those hikes that at some points just seemed so dangerous or adsurd that I couldn´t help but laugh at the situation. So the deal is that ANAM has been coming to take GPS coordinates all over these hills in order to map the area and the borders of the newly created Protected Area. So we went down to take coordinates at the River Anton, which is one of the limits. So I go with the guide, Juan, and two people from ANAM. The hike starts by, like always, going way down into a valley and then up the other side. This wasn´t bad, there were trails (well, the way down the ¨trail¨was actually a stream bed, but it´s better than nothing). From the top of the other hill, we proceed to walk down the hill to the river. This turned out to be a very long hill. And there was no trail, at all. Just Juan in the front, blazing our way through the dense Panamañian forest with a machete. So it´s kind of slow going, but not too bad. We got to one point where he didn´t have to use the machete anymore as the grasses and brush stopped and it was this area of just trees on a steeper, very slippery and muddy ground. I got down by essentially holding onto one tree for as long as I could while slidding down the hill, then throwing myself onto the next tree and continuing the slide. It was kind of fun actually. Then more grasses and brush and machete-ing. The we finally get to the river bank. Which at this point isn´t a bank so much as a little cliff side where the river has cut it´s path. At this point I discover why we had been carrying a rope with us the whole way. It is, of course, to pretty much rapel down a part of the cliff to get to the river. So we scopped out a good area, tied the rope to a tree, and across we went. Down on the river bank we´re walking along and there´s a 2-liter plastic soda bottle that has ended up on the bank of the river from someone throwing their trash into the river, as many people here do. So the woman with ANAM picks it up so we can take it back and dispose of it properly. Then we walk along a little more and discover that the bottle wasn´t alone. The bank was COVERED in trash. Just piles of trash washed ashore all over the place. Shoes, plastic wrappers, oil containers. Everything. All the trash that people just throw in the river directly or they throw on the ground but inevitable washes into the river. It was disturbing. I wished I had my camera so I could take pictures and be able to show people back in town that THIS is where all your trash goes. It´s so hard to get down to this part of the river, nobody from town has seen it. But in the end it was probably a good thing I didn´t have my camera since I did fall in the river while we crossing it. But that´s ok. :-p While we down on the river then, of course the rain started. The daily aquacero. Although this made falling in the river not that big of a deal since I was already soaked through from the rain. So after we got the GPS coordinates, we start the hike back up. And so that we wouldn´t have to climb back up that cliff face, we go back up a different way. Which I still don´t quite understand why because we still had to climb up the cliff face, just at a different place. And here there was a small little trail so maybe it was easier, but not really. The trail was about the width of one foot. And not stable. And every 10 feet Juan would say ¨be careful here, this part is dangerous.¨And I would just laugh. The whole thing is dangerous! Once at the top Juan started cutting our trail again. Through more tall tall grass and forest. I have also discovered why it is necessary to wear long sleeves occasionally in Panamá, as the crass cuts. By the time we made it back my left arm was just slashed with over a dozen cuts. Nothing deep by any means, but enough to draw a little blood. My right arm fared well though, only a couple cuts. :) While blazing our blind way through the monte, we of course managed to get lost. I figured this out when we turned right and then started going back down again. It´s hard to know where you´re going when you can´t see anything over the forest. But eventually we somehow made it back safely. Exhausted, wet and filthy. But feeling good! It was entertaining. A true hike through the forest. :)
Yesterday I went on my first school field trip. When the school goes on a field trip, which is once a year, the whole school is invited. Except the kindergarteners. And the family has to be able to pay $1.50 per child. I think about 70 or 80 of the about 100 came, so a good amount. Plus the six teachers, about 30 parents, me and Emily. We left at 5 in the morning. Since it´s the only trip into the city of the year, they cover as much ground as they can. We started out at the Presidentail Palace. Although me and Emily and some of the parents weren´t able to go in because we didn´t make it onto the list. But that´s ok, we got to sit outside in the peaceful square for an hour and just chat and eat shaved ice. :) Then we headed to the canal museum, where we had our PC swear-in ceremony, but it was too expensive so we didn´t end up going in. So we headed to the Miraflores Locks on the Panamá Canal. I was excited about that, since I´d been wanting to go and check it out anyway. It was neat to watch a boat go through and to be on the canal. But at the same time, if you´ve seen locks anywhere, they´re pretty much all the same. But these are famous! So yea. After the locks we headed to the national park just north of the city, which is the one stop I actually knew of. I didn´t know previously how field trips work here and mistakenly thought it was the only place we were going. Silly me. :) We got there at about 1:30, 2 o´clock. Ate lunch first (arroz con pollo... mmmmmm), then walked around and looked at the zoo area. Now, I´ve heard that Latin American zoos tend to be pretty sad places and this was my first one to visit and wow, they are indeed pretty sad places. The cages are just so small and bare. There was one leopard cub that was alone in this tiny cage by itself and it was just pacing and crying. So sad. There were some beautiful animals, but I couldn´t really get excited about them. Except the monkeys, because I always like monkeys. But yea. The kids enjoyed it. And I did take some pictures but I´ll have to post them later.
So that´s the news for now. We´ll see what more adventures I have in the coming weeks. Emily and I are going to El Valle on Sunday to check it out, and I might be going to a Peace Corps conference about starting youth groups the following weekend, if I get permission. Hope all is well wherever you are! Hugs for all! :)