Beach Running, Rain, and Applesauce

Sunday made for day seven of regularly running since we have been in Panama. We are slowly on our way to a more active lifestyle and I have been trying to figure out easy foods to eat before a run. Thanks to social media, there were a few new recipes I plan to try in the upcoming weeks. Robert also decided to join in on the Friday Paint club!

This past week we ran a total of 12km (about 7.5 miles). During my last post I talked about how we were walking around like penguins. I am happy to report that our calfs are getting a little bit stronger, except for Sunday's run.

We had an idea of a landmark we wanted to run to in order to our extend our run. Google said it would have added another kilometer to our run. We disagreed with Google and decided to do it. We made it to our point and realized Google was right. We ended up running 4km on Sunday's run. Despite the push, it was a great feeling to push further than what I thought I was ready for. Can you remind me of this on my next run?

Link

Dry season here seems like it is slowly starting to fade away. This is a good thing since many people in surrounding areas are using wells and water tanks to get water for a few hours throughout the day. The smell of rain is amazing, despite the humidity that comes along with it. The rain is such a big thing that many people here talk about it on Facebook. This one post generated 14 comments within a few hours of the post. 

My latest homemade recipe is homemade applesauce. Honestly, had I known it would have been this easy to do, I would have made homemade apple sauce a long time ago. No sugar was added since I did not feel like it was needed. Yum! 

As some of you know, I have been on a painting streak lately. This week was a good week to try a new painting. Friday was a fun day, resulting in three masterpieces. 

This week was a very good one. The upcoming week will involve us going to an archeological site, more running, and hopefully more rain. 

A Long Time Coming

Life continues to go on in Panama and some weeks there are few things worth blogging about. We've also officially parted from the car rental business, which has been in motion for some time.

The other exciting things that have occurred? We have started running on the beach. Our calfs are sore and we are currently walking like penguins. Did running always hurt this much?

I also did another painting with a friend. 

Friend to the left, mine to the right

We continue to take Spanish classes. Although listening to people speak at a normal pace is still very difficult at times, our responses are becoming more natural seaming. 

Although we are no longer doing the rental cars, we still plan on staying in Panama. We are not sure what our next venture will be, but it makes life that much more interesting. The great thing about Panama is that you do not have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to have an idea that might not be here already. Now is our time to figure that out.

A Trip to Oregon

Sweaters and hot chocolate, surrounded by endless greenery and hipsters: welcome to Oregon. This is where our latest adventure takes us this week. We spent our time visiting friends, family, and reminiscing at our restaurant favorites, including a restaurant which has a massive six layer cake.

Our last trip to Oregon was about 15 months ago, just before we moved to Panama. Was Oregon always this cold? 

The week was filled with seeing family and friends.  Robert and I saw a friend and went bowling with her six year old son. The last time we saw him was about four years ago. I also made a trip to Robert's home town to visit another friend who has a 15 month old son. I have not seen him since he was two weeks old.

Robert and I surprised my parents by arranging a family photo shoot session, which was supposed to include my brother, sister-in-law, and niece. Unfortunately, something came up last minute and my sister-in-law was unable to make it. While we haven't seen the pictures yet, I know my niece was the highlight in the photos. It is amazing to see how much she has grown.

We also did some shopping. Robert got some shorts, I got some pants, and both of us wanted to stock up on Tillamook Cheese. Friends of ours also put in shopping requests. Some of their wish list items included jelly beans and Cadbury Eggs. By the end of the trip my suitcase was filled with goodies to bring back to Panama.

The most indulgent part of the trip was eating at Claim Jumper. Claim Jumper is the epitome of large portions and American food. Potatoes are the size of footballs. Chicken pot pies are served in a ramekin nine inches in diameter. The desserts get even crazier with  an option of a six layer fudge cake and cookies that are roughly six inches in diameter.

Robert got to eat Chinese food from Safeway, which is where he frequented back in college. It was probably some of the better Chinese food in the town. I enjoyed wearing a scarf. One thing I miss about living in Oregon is coordinating scarves and knitted hats.

We took an overnight flight from Los Angeles to Panama. Sleeping horizontally in a bed has never felt so good! Visiting Oregon was a special trip. We quickly jumped back into life in Panama and are eager for our next adventure.

A Week Revolving around Art

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time -Thomas Merton. 

The quote could not be more true, especially this week. It was filled with art and memories that will last a lifetime. We started the week off by doing a lot of miscellaneous things. I am not entirely sure what we did, but before we knew it, Thursday had arrived. What did we do earlier in the week?

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day. Robert and I celebrated the holiday by going with some friends to a bar that had Irish food, music, and games. They also had a contest with limericks. I did not participate, but here is mine in spirit of St. Patrick's Day:

There was an old woman by the bay,

who had a lot to say.

Some things were nice,

while others made you think twice.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Friday was a typical yoga day for me, followed by a painting class. The class is one of the "brush bar" classes where everyone generally paints the same picture.  Everyone at the class had their own painting style that others admired. Some people were very talented with reflections, while others created painted perfect waves. This was my first time ever painting on canvas and won't be my last.

The week ended with a fun trip to The City (Panama City). We went with some friends and stayed the night at a hotel. The purpose? To see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). The play is a compilation of all of Shakespeare's plays condensed into 90 minutes. While none of us fully understood all of the jokes in the play (which would have required us to read all 38 plays), the three actors did a hilarious job and were full of energy throughout the show. We even got to hear a condensed version of Othello. 

It was a great ending to an art-filled week. Thomas Merton was right about art. Losing yourself is quite the cleansing experience and one I hope we get to do again sooner than later. 

A Week of Being Sick

Do you ever notice that when school starts weird, funky illnesses start going around more rampant? Public school in Panama started earlier this month. Illness is everywhere. Robert was the unlucky one this week who caught the latest bug. Luckily he is better now and rejoiced in his feeling better by going on a bus with 20 other people and going to dinner. It was a nice way to end the week.

While Robert was bed ridden much of the week I decided to continue on my trend of making things from scratch. I tried making biscuits from scratch. I was hoping to have them turn out to be nice and fluffy. Instead they literally turned out to be hockey pucks and had a brittle texture. After doing a little research, I think I figured out what not to do for next time.

I also made dulce de leche out of condensed milk for the first time. Move over carmel, you have been replaced by something even more amazing. The texture is thick like peanut butter, sweet like carmel, and incredibly smooth and creamy. Never having dulce de leche I found a lot of things saying you can eat it with a spoon or pair it with other desserts and make it like a dipping sauce. I decided to make cheesecake. Yum!!

Another day while Robert was sick I decided to take a trash bag and pick up some trash from the beach. It is something I try to do once a week if I have the time. I enjoy picking up trash on our beach due to the river that carries debris from other parts of the area, which makes for some interesting garbage. Last post I complained about "boring trash." There was no boring trash here! I found old tubing and a lot of fun, bulky trash to compliment some of the smaller things I found like bottle caps and straws. I even found a bed and a bed spring. I was not able to dig it up but plan on doing it in the upcoming week. 

Robert began to feel better so we decided to partake in a dinner club experience in which we got on a small bus with 20 other people and went to a restaurant. Neither of us knew many people, but we thought it would be fun to get out. We sat with two people we met earlier in the year and have hung out with on a regular basis. The food was good, the company was good. It was a nice ending to our week. 

A Month of Volunteering and being AWOL

Has it really almost a month since my last blog? Apparently so, and the blog isn't the only place we have been AWOL on. We went to brunch earlier this week with some friends and the owner of the restaurant made several comments that it has been too long since we've seen one another. When he asked what we've been up to, we did not have a very interesting answer.  What have we been up to?

We donated blood, again. This time we did not take pictures. This experience was almost identical to the first time both of us gave blood. We were done with the process within an hour of us getting there, It is quick and easy and you feel like you did something good for the day. Neither of us fainted, both of us enjoyed our cookies, and we potentially saved six lives with our donation.

We also have figured out how to vote while living here. Despite what some may think, Robert and I did not have to revoke our US citizenship to move to Panama.  After spending time in Panama it has become evident that people from many different countries are paying attention to the US election. While the system may not be perfect, unlike other expats here, who are not citizen, I am able to have an opinion and do something beyond make memes like this:

Robert and I continue to teach English. There is one other teacher who helps us with our class. The three of us make a great team and we seem to enjoy it. The more we teach, the more I continue to realize that learning a new language is difficult for everyone. We are taking Spanish classes. One thing I have realized is that our student's and classmate's (including my own) gripes about learning the other language are almost identical. 

Pretty sure this applies to Spanish too....
link

We also participated in a beach clean up with some of our friends. This beach clean up was not nearly as exciting as a previous ones because we did not find anything outside of the normal stuff: plastic, cans, and bottles. Although Robert did find a used tampon, and our friend found a dirty diaper. Even though we did not find anything "exciting" we picked up a lot of small trash which I know will make a positive impact on the  animals in the ocean. After all, every bit helps! 

Dead Jellyfish on the beach

As we continue to settle into living in Panama, life is becoming more normal for us and less exotic seeming. We stay busy and have a constant reminder of how fortunate we are to be in a place where we can work and have time to do things we enjoy. Life has been good to us!

Carnival in Penanome

This time of year is always crazy. It is busy with tourists who wish to escape the colder weather up north, but even more so, locally, with celebrations. This past week has been Carnival.

For those unfamiliar with Carnival, it is the same idea as Mardi Gras in New Orleans and typically starts about five days before Ash Wednesday. People generally take the day off and engage in Carnival festivities, including dancing and going to the parades. We did last year, and this year was no different for us.

This year, instead of dancing along side water trucks (although due to water shortages, this aspect of Carnival was cancelled in many towns), we decided to venture an hour west of us to a town, Penanome, which is known for its parades since it occurs on a river. We went with one of our friends and her son.

Despite numerous inquiries, none of us could get a straight answer as to when this parade was scheduled. Eventually, we just decided to believe the parade started at 11am and hoped it was accurate; it wasn't! 

We got to the parade location. There were few people there, mostly lifeguards setting up barricades along the river.  As 11:00 came by there were no signs that the parade was going to start. Somebody told us that the parade started after all of the Carnival goers were done dancing and that it should start at 3pm. That was four hours away!!

The decision was made to stay, we drove there already. Why not? We spent much of our time listening to music, swimming, and sitting. The time finally came for the parade to start; in Panamanian fashion it started 30 minutes later. 

Robert also tried out Sao; a traditional
Panamanian dish. Pig feet anyone?

Floats powered by men swimming in the river carried the princesses and queen. Each queen or princess on a float had large amounts of costume jewelry and decorate feather pieces. The  reflective lighting provided a perfect showcase for how extravagant these pieces and floats are. 

Getting home was a lot easier than we were expecting since traffic was so light. All of us were thankful not to be on the other side of the highway as a steady flow of cars were heading our way to some of the bigger festivals in Panama. Despite it being a long day in the dry season's heat (technically it is winter here), both Robert and I were happy to have gone. If we ever go again, we'll be sure to arrive a little later in the day.