Right, Left, Right

In Almirante (which means Admiral) where I live; Sir Yes Sir! I'm just waiting to find anyone military here, but the closest I've gotten is a drunk who thinks he's a pirate and who happens to be missing some teeth. We did recently find a box of Captain Crunch. If I remember correctly he never did earn his promotion as a Captain and he's actually still an Admiral. I don't know if that counts, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that I'll find someone.

Now not a whole lot going on here in this small town. It has one strip that looks kind of nice, but that’s right where they have a small hotel and Taxi 25. The water taxis that send you off to one of the 20-something islands. Supposedly they're beautiful, but as missionaries, we are prohibited to go there. From what I have seen tourists come in at all hours of the day to go out to who-knows-where. Apparently, there are some islands where you can rent a personal island for a week and others that have high scale resort hotels. One that I have recently heard of is called something like the high heels. It has two islands and they have big volcanos sticking out of each island and from what I've heard it looks like a pair of high heels. 

Additional information looked up by my family: Almirante is a crop of stilted homes on the water.  It is a village of unkempt homes that have seen better days, but it remains the springboard for the Archipelago de Bocas del Toro so it is always busy.  As they talked about the Bocas del Toro Province, they mentioned that it consists of six densely forested islands, scores of uninhabited islets and the Parque Nacional Marino Isa Bastimentos, Panama’s oldest marine park.  It is the base of Chiquita Banana, home to diverse wildlife such as the elusive jaguar, the traditional Ngobe-Bugle settlements and the Naso, one of the few remaining American tribes with its own monarchs. They say it may be one of Panamas most beautiful corners. 

Some of the history that I thought was cool was, that Christopher Columbus visited Bocas in 1502. They actually have maps of this area that he made. He actually entered with his two vessels into a wide bay that the indigenous people used to call Carabaro which is now days called Almirante Bay.  He was so affixed by its beauty that many landmarks are named after him, including the Isla of Colon which is just a 30 min boat ride from where I am. 

In the 17^th century, it became a haven for pirates where they fed on sea turtles.  And despite the rumors, there has never been any lost treasure found there.  France settled there in the 17^th century, mainly Huguenots (Protestants) who were fleeing religious war.  The Spanish were later sent there to dislodge them.  They ended up bringing disease which virtually wiped out most of the indigenous population.  

In the 19^thcentury, wealthy aristocrats brought in many slaves from the US and Columbia.  In 1850 when slavery had been abolished, former slaves became fishers and farmers.  In the 1900’s the Jamaican joined them in work. Chiquita Banana exports 750,000 tons of bananas annually.  The largest workforce in the province is also the most diverse nationwide, with West Indians, Latinos, Chinese and indigenous people in its employ.

Name Bocas Del Toro's origin: It is being said that Christopher Columbus when he landed at one of the paradisiacal beaches, saw various waterfalls in the form of “Bocas del Toro” (mouths of the bull). It is also said that Columbus distinguished a large rock on Bastimentos Island (easily to recognize nowadays) that has the form of a bull that is lying down. It is also being said that the sound of the immense waves that hit the large rock that has a volcanic origin and that you can find on Bastimentos Island, makes a sound similar to the roaring of a bull. On the other hand, there are people that assure that the last “cacique” (= chief) of the region was known as “Boka Toro”. And that’s why they call it Bocas!

Genuinely Almirante it’s just a small town. They have a bus port that goes to David Panama and Changuinola and it is really just like Winnemucca.  A Town that just gets used to get gas and pass through. (Well a pass through to get to the islands.) Surprisingly it has a bank, a lot of bars, a hand full of chinos, and a lot of parking garages.  By parking garage, I mean like gravel park with a big metal fence. If you ever played the board game Rush Hour as a kid it’s just like that. You have your one red car that needs to escape but someone parked three buses on the lot and you're just sitting here like who invited these buses into the parking garage?! Next time I'm just walking! Yeah, but aside from the strip, the houses are really cool. 

You have the area split up into three big quadrants. Guaymi, where all the Ngobes live. Barriada Francais, where all the Afro-Panamanians who speak Wari Wari live and, Seglas where all the Latinos live.  My favorite part is Guaymi because the Ngobes all have their traditional houses. They are all houses on stilts and just fun. Now Changuinola, as you remember, has a problem with water. That’s how I got Parasites and why we can't drink water without a filter. Here more so than El Empalme you see the problems and the curses of Black Water. That sounds a lot scarier in English, but yeah, it’s really bad. Our shower here doesn’t work so we use a bucket for a shower here. About 50% of the time the water isn't running or doesn't have pressure so we leave the bucket filled with water and yes, the worms grow in about 12 hours and you can see them in the bucket. In case you wanted to know. (And No, I do not have Parasites again.)

I genuinely never thought this would be the mission I signed up for it, but it has just been so much more of an adventure than I could have ever hoped for! I am so grateful that I can get a Boy Scouts of Central America trip of a lifetime.  Yeah and now that I mention it, I am probably going to be called as a scout leader after the mission and this experience.

Anyways, in Guaymi they have a lot of problems with their water. So, they build their houses in the middle of the lagoon. We walk on cut off planks of wood that are aged and look like they're going to fall any moment. Basically, it’s just practice to be a gymnast or a pirate. I'm just waiting for any moment that Jack Sparrow jumps out into a sword fight.

Oh, by the way, they do have some big bugs here in Panama!

We walk from house to house on these elevated platforms. It is apparently normal. It is like if you were to walk to the end of a port to go fishing. We have had to be careful for, at any moment, you could break through one of the planks and fall straight in. Or find out that they ran out of nails and didn't nail them in.

This week I decided to be more dedicated to my exercises.  As I was getting really into it, I found some old weights in the house. I used an old blanket as a workout mat. I was sweating and feeling great. I swear I must have put on like five pounds of muscle because that same exact day we were walking back from an investigator and talking and excited as she was preparing to be baptized. While I was waddling along these planks I put my left foot out onto the plank my companion just crossed seconds before me and SNAP! Yup, I broke it. Dove foot first into the lagoon of the cursed black water. I did clean my foot off, then I fixed the bridge, and continued on my day. Apparently, it happens a lot there. I'm just glad I didn't fall in head first. Moral of the story, don’t put on too much weight while exercising.