My time in Panama has come to an end. I really love Bocas. There’s something about island living that sits right with my soul. Time moves a bit slower here, which is great because I always seem to be running late for something back home. Here, it’s more or less ok. Get there when you get there 🙂 I met some wonderful people here and experienced some beautiful sights. There are a few things that I’ll take with me.
Español
Obviously, one of the main reasons I chose to come to Bocas was to attend classes at Habla Ya. I spent my time here learning about the glorious subjunctive tense, but most importantly I’ve gotten over my fear of jumping in feet first and practicing Spanish. All things academia have always come easy to me, even with Spanish, I am great at reading and writing, but not so great with speaking and listening. I hate being wrong, so at times I just wouldn’t try to speak so that I could avoid the awkwardness of not being understood. After my time here, I won’t let that bother me. Obviously Spanish isn’t my first language, and I’m going to make mistakes, and that’s ok. Making mistakes is the only way that I’m going to learn. As I continue through my journey and upon my return to the States, I hope to continue building on what I’ve learned here. Habla Ya was a great school and my teacher, Ofelina, was wonderful. She was very patient and truly did all she could to help me and my classmates. The last week, I was in the class by myself, which was perfect because we had more time to practice conversation in addition to grammar topics. I would definitely recommend Habla Ya to others that plan on visiting Central America for Spanish classes.
The Reach of the African Diaspora
I think it was a bit of fate for me to visit Panama in May. It turns out that May is El Mes de la Etnia Negra (Black History Month) in Panama. Bastimentos is one of the islands that makes up Bocas del Toro. It has one of the highest populations of blacks in Panama, so it was interesting to see some of the different events commemorating the month. The elementary school near my condo had various outdoor assemblies with African music, art and clothing. They even crowned young ladies at the school as reinas (queens). It was so refreshing to see the youth here celebrating their African ancestry and especially nice to see young black queens 🙂 There were also events held in the central park in Bocas Town with vendors, dance performances and hair braiding. Lots of fun!
Visiting Bastimentos was so different in comparison to Bocas town. The accents were completely different and the streets were filled with a mixture of Patois and Spanish. You could definitely feel the Caribbean vibe as you walked through the town. I almost felt like I had been transported to Jamaica.
La Comida
I know, I’ve already written a post about some of the food here in Bocas, but because food is one of the main motivators in my life, I have to mention it again. After almost 28 days of arroz con pollo, I have a strong appreciation for it. I’ve had it everywhere, including at home and I think that I’m probably going to continue cooking it when I get to the states. Last weekend, I decided to experiment and make what I’m going to call Bocas Arroz con Pollo. I braised chicken thighs in a rum and cacao sauce. I was completely skeptical the entire time I was cooking, but it was absolutely delicious and the best meal I’ve made since I’ve been here. I made it with Panamanian rum (of course!) and organic cacao nibs I bought at Up In The Hill in Bastimentos.
Oh! And this week I lucked up upon one of the best tamales I’ve had in my life. Someone was selling them outside of school one day. The masa was perfectly seasoned and the chicken had a really nice smoky flavor.
La Playa
Being in Bocas I’ve gotten to work on my tan at the beach! I love the beach, so being here in Bocas is pretty awesome! The beaches here are absolutely beautiful. I’ve spent lots of time at Bocas’ beaches, but I was lucky enough to spend my last day in Bocas on a tour of Cayo Zapatilla (thanks Habla Ya!). Cayo Zapatilla are a pair of islands in the Bocas archipelago.
In addition to visiting one of the Zapatilla islands, the tour included stops for snorkeling, a traditional Panamanian lunch, Dolphin Bay, Sloth Island, and a shallow bay where we could see starfish. So, the dolphins were pretty much impossible to catch on camera, but I did see a few. I also saw a couple of sloths, but it was difficult to get a good picture because they were so far away. And in true sloth fashion, they refused to awake from their slumber and move closer to us. Zapatilla was beautiful though!
Panama was great, but now, I’m off to Colombia. I’m super excited. Not just for the sights or the food, but for an extra special visitor that will be joining me. Later gators 🙂
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