OHHHH, I LOVE TURTLES!!

November 22 2007

What do you do on a cool, rainy Wednesday evening in Panama? Glad you asked! You release endangered baby turtles into the Pacific Ocean. Cool or what????

There is a program here that takes vulnerable turtle eggs and keeps them safe until they hatch and are ready to be released. Unfortunately, the turtle population is dwindling. And humans are the main reason for this, second to dogs. Tortoise shell glasses, purses, shoes, some soaps and human consumption have caused environmentalists to take action. Naturally, only 8% of the turtles make it back to the ocean. Either the eggs are eaten or the turtles just don’t live after they are hatched. This hatch and release program allows for up to 99% of the turtles to return to the ocean. After that, their on their own. I think the other 1 % don't make it to the Ocean because the turtles blend into the sand and are tough to see. “Crunch” and “oops” are words that come to mind. Don’t worry, I don’t think that happened on this release.

My family along with 3 other families crammed into our vehicles and made our bumpy way south of Boquete and David to Los Olas beach where the release occurred. We arrived to find that a large crowd had already gathered. After a brief education on the plight of these creatures, and a request for a donation, we were asked to line up on the beach, facing the ocean, and wait for our baby turtle. We all received a little baby turtle and together we released them to make their way into the ocean. They seemed quite helpless hobbling towards the loud, dark Pacific. Many of them needed a little help as they were going in the wrong direction. Amazing to think these little creatures can grow to be as big as 900 lbs!

Syd and little "Crush"

After they all made it safe into the big blue, we had a picnic and got eaten alive by mosquitoes. It was an incredible experience, and such great fun shared with a group of terrific people. Jenni, thanks for the invite. Alayna, thanks for the story of Zion’s birth. You had me in stitches the entire drive!!!

Josh and "Little Jerry"

Linda

MACHETE MAMMA

November 16, 2007

Well, life here in Panama has settled into a nice little routine. I’ve received a few emails saying how adventurous we are. At times we have little “adrenaline rushes” and “unique” moments, but overall its pretty quiet, and even a little boring at times. Then there are those times when you get to do/experience/see something really unique, like the other day.

We have many fruit trees in our yard, including banana trees. I have learned that when there is no longer a purple flower on a banana tree, the tree must be cut down. Banana trees take around 9 months to grow and produce fruit. We were told when this fruit is ready, take the fruit and cut down the tree. We did that the other day. The kids watched as Mama took a machete and chopped down a tree. We were all surprised to get splattered with a thick, sticky, milky fluid that oozed and sprayed out of the tree trunk. I got the fliud all over my favorite white tee. Needless to say, my favorite white tee is now wrecked. We also were very surprised to see the different layers in the trunk of the tree. Every three layers down there was a mesh-like cloth that goes around the circumference.

FYI: We have 3 types of bananas here. There are the ones we eat in Calgary. There are plantains which are large thick bananas that people fry in oil and dip in k-up, just like round French fries. And there are very small and sweet bananas that are so very good. Plantains and mini bananas down, like a bowl, while regular bananas hang up.

No messing with Mama.

Sucessful tree cutting complete!!!

After our successful “surgery”, we hung the green bananas in our kitchen window. After a few days, they turn yellow and are ready to be blended with our freshly squeezed orange juice and ice for our morning vitamin boost. Syd and Josh love eating off the land.

Syd making our morning vitamin boost drink

We had a beautiful day, today. Summer is on its way. The sign is gale force winds and beautiful morning sunshine. Its great for drying our clothes on the clothes line. The unique thing about summer in Boquete is that we get these light rains, more like a mist known here as “bajareque”. One thing about where our house is located (on the crest of hill between two valleys), is that we can have rain on one side of the house, and sun on the other. Or rain on one side, and none on the other. This allows for many opportunities for rainbows to develop. They are pretty spectacular. We saw two today, one on top of the other. I have never quite seen a rainbow that bright in my whole life. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it gives you a little idea of the beauty we see daily.

A view from our living room, little piece if heaven

I send my love to you all. Thanks for the e mails. Thanks to all who have emailed Josh and Syd. It helps them to hear from family and friends. Until I blog again.

by Linda

FRIENDLY CHURCH IN BOQUETE

We just returned from attending a great little Baptist church here in Boquete. The pastor is a Korean missionary pastor who speaks great Korean and Spanish, and a little English. The service was in Spanish, but the pastor was so kind to ask that someone translate for each us. Syd and Josh were both got invited, separately, to sit with kids their age who spoke English. They loved it. They each had their own translators. It was so cute to Syd and Josh sitting on their own listening to their new friends translate the sermon. The congregation of about 60 was very warm and welcoming of us. We made some great connections with several families. It will be a great place for us to learn Spanish. It seems we may have found our church home in Boquete.

SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS

After a few choppy conversations with some gracious locals, we finally figured out what our snail mail address is. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the absence of street names and house numbers in and around Boquete has made the process of finding any address a bit challenging. You usually are given instruction in reference to land marks (e.g. big rock, broken red fence, etc). Given we live up in the hills above Boquete (Jaramillo Centro) along a "country road" we were wondering how in the world we'd actually get mail. (We are so urbanized, aka ignorant)

Turns out the street name and house number don't really matter because snail mail doesn't actually get dropped of at your house. It goes to the nearest post office where you have to visit every couple days to check and see if anything new has arrived. Duh! That makes absolute sense.

Since there is only one post office in all of Boquete (identified by the code, 0413), we actually have a pretty simple mailing address:

Paul, Linda, Sydney, Joshua Day
Boquete 0413
Chiriqui
Panama Republica Panama

BTW, Sydney and Josh love getting emails. If you get a second, drop them a line.

sydney.t.day@gmail.com
josh.d.day@gmail.com

HOME SWEET HOME

By Linda.

It’s Nov 6th, and we’re finally in our “home”. Yesterday we packed up our suitcases and headed to our home in the hills of Boquete (Jamarillo Centro). Joy and Jerry (Dutch couple), the home owners were there waiting for us. Inside, freshly cut flowers and a basket of treats were waiting for us and every bed had a chocolate treat on the pillow. What a wonderful welcome!

The house is a fully furnished 2 bedroom (plus loft bedroom) home. Sydney has claimed the upstairs loft as her “apartment”. It is so nice to hang up and put away all our clothes. Josh and Syd are enjoying having their own space and lots of space to run around outside. There’s also a tire swing and trampoline for the kids to play on. We have goats keep the lawn manicured. We have fun feeding our compost to them.

Our home in the hills of Boquete

Syd’s “apartment”

Josh enjoying “alone” time in his room

The views are incredible. We are literally on a hill with a valley on either side. We have lime, orange, bananas and lemon trees right in our yard.

Even simple things can take a while here. I had quite a time figuring out how to work the washing machine. Everything is in Spanish, so this morning Paul and I were outside, where the washer is, looking up every word. Talk about cross cultural laundry!! I was also wielding a very long knife to cut the lawn. Right near the clothes line are lots of bushes, and we are in the jungle, so I thought I better chop them down. I don't want to see a snake first thing in the morning! Mmmm snake soup!

Cross cultural laundry!!!!

Thanks to everyone who is e mailing and commenting on the blog. Makes us feel connected. Until I blog again.

Linda

BOCAS DEL TORO- SYDNEY'S JOURNAL

Nov 7th 2007

We just got back from Bocas Del Toro (northeastern part of Panama on the Caribbean Sea) where we were for 3 sleeps and 4 days. On our second day, we went for a boat tour and saw dolphins, fish, coral, a sting ray, sea urchins, trees, water of all shades of blue and green, red frogs, crabs and mud. We started our tour at Dolphin Bay where we saw a baby dolphin swimming with a mother dolphin. And one of the dolphins that we saw had a partly bitten off fin. One of the other dolphins would slap its tail on the water. We aren’t sure why it was doing this, but he did it over and over again. We noticed that the dolphins would do 3 shallow dives, and then, put their tail way up in the air and deep dive.

We then went to Crawls Cay and went snorkeling. Josh said that he saw characters from “Sponge Bob” like Patrick, Sponge Bob, Mr. Crabbs and Plankton. The coral was cool. The water was salty and warm. Mom and I saw a big neon turquoise and purple fish. It was beautiful. I saw a large crab, but I was the only one that saw it. We saw green-neon, purple, orange, blue, black and gray coral.

Family snorkeling in Bocas Del Toro

After snorkeling, we went for lunch at a restaurant in the middle of Crawl Cay. At the restaurant, we saw a shark in captivity. The waiter threw our leftover lunch food off the dock and gave it to the fish. There were hundreds of fish fighting for some carbonara, spaghetti and chicken. Josh tried to catch a minnow with his hands to feed to the shark. But no such luck.

After lunch, we went to Red Frog Beach. We had to 5 minute walk from the dock on a secret path through some jungle to get to the beach. Tarzan could have lived here! The beach was amazing. At the beach we rented boogie boards. The waves were perfect for boogie boarding. When I was boogie boarding a wave caught me by surprise and I flipped over. Mom said she saw my legs go flying. I got salt water in my eyes. It sure hurt. I also swallowed some salt water and didn’t feel very good for a while. Don’t worry, I didn’t blow chunks! That flip made me a little afraid of going back in so I played in the sand for a bit by myself. The sand was velvety soft. Every time a wave would come, the sand under my feet would get sucked away back into the sea.

Sydney and Josh at Red Frog Beach

Then we went to Hospital Point where mom and dad did some more snorkeling while Josh and I played on the beach.

We had quite a day. We celebrated Dad’s birthday that night by eating a lobster dinner. Yummy!

The next day we went to see some friends of ours, Emma, Easton, and Everett and their parents, Jody and Trent, that were staying across the bay from our hotel. Together we went to Starfish Beach for the day. We got to see and hold starfish of all shapes and sizes. We saw a starfish eating a slimy jellyfish. It was gross. Emma and I found around 100 sea shells on the beach. On the walk back from Starfish beach, Emma and I tried to catch a crab, but he was too fast for us! At the end of the day, we all went back to the Schmuland’s hotel for a swim in the pool. And all the kids played “Survivor” in a little lagoon tucked away behind a palm tree. We also had a sand ball fight. No one won, but boy we got dirty and gritty. We also played on the hammocks and tried to catch frogs. Josh is the only one that caught one.

Syd, Josh and Emma swimming

Hanging out at Dragoon Beach- Bocas Del Toro

Starfish Beach

Taxi ride, Bocas style

Survivor

We then had a great dinner in a cabana on the water at the end of the dock. I ate pasta, veggies, coleslaw, chicken, toast and spaghetti. I was hungry from all that playing.

The next morning, we took a water taxi back to the mainland and headed back to Boquete. Of course, when we returned, it was raining, again. We were able to go to one of the gardens in Boquete. It was surprisingly huge and beautiful. There were little paths to take everywhere. There were little bridges, fish ponds, water falls, streams, lots of people from all over the world, flowers, plants, pools, flower tunnels, playgrounds, houses, hotels and a look out.

Sydney and Josh at the Boquete garden -Oma you would love this place!

After the garden, we went to a coffee shop. I got an iced cappuccino. It was caffeine good!! My family thought I would go crazy, but I didn’t until that night, during a Dutch Blitz competition. Then I crashed hard.

“Oh, can I can feel the buzz!!”

And that was our little 4 day vacation.