Wow! I keep being
The good news is that the people here are fabulous – I’ve had lovely conversations (not all of which I have understood but anyway…) with a number of people including taxi drivers and folks in stores. My Spanglish is improving rapidly.
The not-so-great news is that today, I wore my khaki pants and the only other folks I saw wearing light colored pants were kids in school uniforms and policemen. Everyone else – and I mean EVERYONE else – was wearing dark colored pants. Lots of jeans (real ones not lightweight ones like mine) I guess it’s lucky that I threw in an extra pair of black pants in a panic just before I left because I couldn’t remember if I had put any in. So I’m OK – but it’s pretty funny IMHO!
I got a new hat (NOT a “Panama hat” since those are made in Ecuador) today. There was another woman looking for a hat so we helped each other out in choosing. I think that "collaborative shopping" is really helpful - especially with hats.
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| The hat - which was made in Panama but which is not a "Panama hat" |
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| The Collaborative Hat Choosing Cooperative |
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| Lots of flag-waving and posters and banners for the campaign. The entire government is up for election, so there's lots of waiting to see what happens. There were these kinds of flags being waved at many intersections. |
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| A vendor of lottery tickets in front of the Rex grocery store. How he makes any money is not clear to me since there are many other vendors - I counted more than 10 other tables. |
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| The awesome Elba Valderrama with whom I had a totally delightful lunch today. Elba will be my primary Fulbright "sponsor"/handler along with Karla Arosemena who I will meet soon. |
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| The porter at the airport who lifted my just under 50 lb bags with grace and seeming ease. |
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| Bags packed and ready to go! This feels like it was a lifetime ago - not just 3 days ago! |
I also found a very skimpy supply of beads – almost no findings or wire that I’d trust – at a mall today. I believe there are other “real” bead shops and I am going to seek those out for sure.
Tomorrow I go to the Embassy for my security briefing and then to the University to meet the Dean. I will be introduced to the faculty on Thursday. At least that's the plan so far.
I'm fading so good night all and thanks for joining me in the journey!
