Saturday, April 28, 2007
new pictures
Hey check out my new pictures I posted (link to the right) from The Panamá Canal and the rest of our time in Boquete. They are a few weeks old now but I´m doing my best to keep up. Some of them are not rotated correctly so you may have to lie sideways or hang upside down to enjoy them. The computers here refuse to let me edit them so I gave in and let them win. You can only ask so much of technology here in Puerto Jimenéz. Enjoy my friends!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
where are we?
Hi Folks,
Sorry we´ve been out of the loop. Just a quickie to catch you up. Jamey and I went to Panamá for the week of Semana Santa (before Easter) and enjoyed the deserted streets, closed restaurants and shops. What we didnt know before we left is that the City shuts down for the religious holiday. No beer, no shopping, no nothin´. But they did keep the movie theaters open for the heathens. That was us. We went to the movies. Not that cultural but we did end up getting to get out a bit and see some of the surrounding parks and the old city ruins. More on that later. I also have pictures trapped on one of my memory cards. For some reason my memory card is holding them hostage. I am negotiating their release.
Currently Jamey and I have made it to our volunteering post on the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica. We are in the middle of nowhere with no phone, no internet, and no transportation. We love it. We rarely get to town to check our e mail and do our business so blogs are usually out of the question. Luckily today we are in town for an earth day celebration. We are celebrating in air conditioning and using the nice computer café. We figure everday is Earth Day for us.
Our volunteer position is with a fairly new non profit called Friends of the Osa or for you spanish lovers, Amigos De Osa. You can google that online and find a really good website. They are just getting things started here on the Osa. The facilities are top notch. We get a nice bed with real mattresses and pretty mosquito nets. They just built the residential cabinas and a lab and are currently raising funds to build a dining hall for when they begin to house more volunteers and researchers. Trond Larsen is the science director. He is the contact here for the entire organization and he seems to be stretched a little thin these days. Our first meeting with Trond was about a week after he had gotten into a pretty bad ATV accident on his way to the station. He is currently going back and forth between San Jose and here to get root canals to fix the teeth he broke in the accident. It was gnarly. So he´s been a bit distracted and overwhelmed.
Jamey and I hope to bring some peace to his life by helping establish a permaculture garden and some pura vida atop of the Osa. We are currently working on making raised beds to plant veggies and devising new ways to keep the millions of ants away from the plants. Jamey and I also spend part of the days either going to the completely beautiful deserted beach that is a 10 minute walk or we chase Howler Monkeys in the trees around the property. Either way we can always find something interesting to do. We´ve come to one of the most biologically diverse places on earth (according to Nat Geo) and we are darn appreciative too.
We will write more when we get the time. Love to all of you.
Sorry we´ve been out of the loop. Just a quickie to catch you up. Jamey and I went to Panamá for the week of Semana Santa (before Easter) and enjoyed the deserted streets, closed restaurants and shops. What we didnt know before we left is that the City shuts down for the religious holiday. No beer, no shopping, no nothin´. But they did keep the movie theaters open for the heathens. That was us. We went to the movies. Not that cultural but we did end up getting to get out a bit and see some of the surrounding parks and the old city ruins. More on that later. I also have pictures trapped on one of my memory cards. For some reason my memory card is holding them hostage. I am negotiating their release.
Currently Jamey and I have made it to our volunteering post on the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica. We are in the middle of nowhere with no phone, no internet, and no transportation. We love it. We rarely get to town to check our e mail and do our business so blogs are usually out of the question. Luckily today we are in town for an earth day celebration. We are celebrating in air conditioning and using the nice computer café. We figure everday is Earth Day for us.
Our volunteer position is with a fairly new non profit called Friends of the Osa or for you spanish lovers, Amigos De Osa. You can google that online and find a really good website. They are just getting things started here on the Osa. The facilities are top notch. We get a nice bed with real mattresses and pretty mosquito nets. They just built the residential cabinas and a lab and are currently raising funds to build a dining hall for when they begin to house more volunteers and researchers. Trond Larsen is the science director. He is the contact here for the entire organization and he seems to be stretched a little thin these days. Our first meeting with Trond was about a week after he had gotten into a pretty bad ATV accident on his way to the station. He is currently going back and forth between San Jose and here to get root canals to fix the teeth he broke in the accident. It was gnarly. So he´s been a bit distracted and overwhelmed.
Jamey and I hope to bring some peace to his life by helping establish a permaculture garden and some pura vida atop of the Osa. We are currently working on making raised beds to plant veggies and devising new ways to keep the millions of ants away from the plants. Jamey and I also spend part of the days either going to the completely beautiful deserted beach that is a 10 minute walk or we chase Howler Monkeys in the trees around the property. Either way we can always find something interesting to do. We´ve come to one of the most biologically diverse places on earth (according to Nat Geo) and we are darn appreciative too.
We will write more when we get the time. Love to all of you.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
sucking fumes and pounding pavement
Do you ever wonder where U.S. school buses go when they die? They go to Panamá city. Once they arrive in Panamá City, the City government passes them off to a bus driver that, in no particular order, does the following things to the bus:
1. Take out the non-working parts and replace them with second hand Mitsubishi or Toyota truck parts.
2. Rip out the exhaust and tail pipe. Attach two huge, silver intake pipes to the back emergency door of the bus. Polish pipes.
3. Get out white spray paint. Paint entire yellow bus, bright white. Proceed to paint bright colored graphics via airbrush. DO NOT leave out the lude, inappropriate, overly-busty and leggy naked women. Next to the naked lady, or on the other side of the bus, paint a picture of Pope John Paul II or Saint Francis of Assisi. Or President Martin Torrijos. Whatever works.
4. Duct tape all holes and broken metal on the interior seats. Screw long pieces of scrap metal to the ceiling of the bus, covering the remaining emergency exits, as handles for standing passengers.
5. Place flag of Panamá on rear view mirror and hang banner that says ¨Yo Soy Panamá¨
6. Install car stereo. Play very loud salsa, day and night. Or 80´s music, whatever your preference.
7. Get in bus, speed, honk, yell at people and frighten small children.
Optional: Hydrolics, silver rims, off-road tires.
1. Take out the non-working parts and replace them with second hand Mitsubishi or Toyota truck parts.
2. Rip out the exhaust and tail pipe. Attach two huge, silver intake pipes to the back emergency door of the bus. Polish pipes.
3. Get out white spray paint. Paint entire yellow bus, bright white. Proceed to paint bright colored graphics via airbrush. DO NOT leave out the lude, inappropriate, overly-busty and leggy naked women. Next to the naked lady, or on the other side of the bus, paint a picture of Pope John Paul II or Saint Francis of Assisi. Or President Martin Torrijos. Whatever works.
4. Duct tape all holes and broken metal on the interior seats. Screw long pieces of scrap metal to the ceiling of the bus, covering the remaining emergency exits, as handles for standing passengers.
5. Place flag of Panamá on rear view mirror and hang banner that says ¨Yo Soy Panamá¨
6. Install car stereo. Play very loud salsa, day and night. Or 80´s music, whatever your preference.
7. Get in bus, speed, honk, yell at people and frighten small children.
Optional: Hydrolics, silver rims, off-road tires.
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