Hello friends,
I´m currently in Bogota, Colombia for a 4+ hour layover on my way to Guatemala City... I wanted to leave the airport and explore a bit, but I did promise my parents I´d make wise choices while traveling solo so I decided against it. Left Panama this morning after a week in paradise.
Flew into Panama last Saturday and was picked up from the airport by Isabel (college roommate from Panama), and her fiance Tony (also a Notre Dame grad)... the two most important people of the week!!!!... met up with all of my Notre Dame friends who were joining me in the celebration (Toy from Minneapolis, Janine from St. Louis, Michele from Boston, and Emilie from Alabama... Kathleen from Florida came in later in the week). That night we went out in downtown Panama City (picture a high-end glitzy club, half European half Latino, with skyscrapers, beautiful people, pumping musica)... and had a nice time. A bit of a culture shock for me, though, coming from quite a different scene in Honduras. I forget that not all of Central and South America are like the poor areas to which I feel so heavily drawn.
The next day we all left for Bocas del Toro, an island archipelago in northwestern Panama, and spent the next 3 1/2 days there. To keep it brief, Bocas del Toro is absolutely amazing. The town itself (Bocas Town) is a small little hippee town with little shops, delicious restaurants serving really yummy seafood and very good mixed drinks, and a whole range of bars and clubs for those who care to indulge. During the days we would hire a seacaptain and small fishing boat who would take us around to different areas of the islands in the archipelago. Some favorites include Dolphin Bay where we saw dolphins swimming around and just chilling, various pristene beaches including Red Frog beach (i´ll try to upload some pictures when I can so you can see why it´s called that..) and Starfish beach, and Bird Island which required an open-water boat ride that was long, bumpy, and scary (all understatements). As a matter of fact, at Bird Island we spent about 3 minutes in the boat at the actual island before some faces turned green and we had to turn back... During our time in Bocas we also spent a lot of time snorkeling and getting comfortable touching living things in the water --like starfish, sea cucumbers, and these funky plants that have sprigs that stick out and then retract quickly when you get close-- that before had seriously freaked me out. Had some nice weather, and some rainy weather making for unpredictable days but also a relief from intense sunshine and humidity. Our nights involved obeying Isabel and sampling the local sugarcane liquor called ´´Seco´´ and dancing salsa and merengue with locals until wee hours of the morning in various bars. Our favorite hangout was named Barco Hundido which had a large (uneven and wooden) dance floor that had great tunes and some talented local dancers who liked instructing the gringas, but also had a DJ that obliged to Janine´s requests for occasional ´´Musica Americana y Daddy Yankee´´... I swear I´ve taught her nothing over the years!! The bar also conveniently had no back wall and instead abutted to the ocean with a large maze of docks where you could sit and dip your feet in the water while sipping on Seco and watching the fish and starfish literally swim around under your feet. Beautiful.
We returned to Panama City on Wednesday night and then went to a party at Isabel´s country club on the bay in the most beautiful part of the city. Met her three older siblings and their spouses, and also reunited with Isabel´s Panamanian friends who we´d met during the summer after our first year of college when we spent a week in Panama for the first time. On Thursday we headed to Buenaventura, a brand new resort on the eternally sunny southern coast of Panama, conveniently also the location of their (immaculate) wedding. There, we ND ladies had a very nice apartment for 4 nights and got to know Tony´s ND friends very well -- all great guys I might add, and wonder why we didn´t know them while we were in college???
Thursday night there was a ´´welcome party´´ with wine and appetizers for all of the guests. The night also ended up entailing multiple renditions of the singing of the Notre Dame fight song, as well as impromptu Journey played on the piano by Tony´s friend, late night swimming in the pool, star gazing at the beach, and getting to know a lot of very fun and interesting people. Friday was a pool and beach day all day, and then after the Groom´s dinner that evening, more time to celebrate with Tony and Isa and their friends. Saturday was another pool and beach day (tough life, I know).. and then that evening was the **spectacular** wedding. An outdoor sunset wedding on the steps of a white stucco church on the beautiful grounds of the resort... the couple had nearly 100 people come from the US to celebrate with them -- a tribute to just how good of people they really are, as well as 150+ Panamanian friends and family. The ceremony was gorgeous, Isabel looked immaculate, we all cried when her elderly father walked her up the isle with both of them beaming smiles... then at the end of the wedding we were surprised by A FIREWORKS SHOW!!!!!!!!!! whaaaaa??? and that just started the night. The reception lasted literally 9 hours, with and open bar and multiple courses of food including sushi, paella, lamb, beef, soup, and these yummy traditional twinkie things... there was a DJ, and a live band, and an hour that we dubbed ´´madness hour´´ where this drumline of like 5 drummers came in and just started banging away and everyone took to the dance floor and just went nuts. They also gave us costumes to put on over our dresses, and the boys got traditional hats and we all got whistles and maracas to create more of a ruckus. It was nuts. I think I´ve been tagged in some pictures on facebook showing those outfits. Ridiculous. Really had a fun night, and all of us couldn´t be happier for the newly married couple.. their love is obvious and their commitment to each other a great example to us all.
Sunday unfortunately a lot of our new friends left, but we ladies had the day to recover (after not getting much sleep given the marathon of the reception)... and then this morning left Panama back to our own lives and away from the paradise of our vacation together. Hopefully, of course, we´ll be able reunite again soon from our various alcoves around the country.
As I think about the past week, the image of Isabel´s father sticks out in my mind as a true role model and man of kindness and sincerity. Incredibly inteligent, he was very curious about all of our lives and always gave positive encouragement while talking to us, learning about us, and telling us about his life. I also think about the quantity and quality of the people that attended the wedding to support Isabel and Tony... I truly hope that I am someday that lucky to have so many good people stand at my side and support me on my most important days.
That´s about it for now. I do feel a bit detached from the real world and know that I have been missing some fun things back in Minneapolis and feel behind on world news which is a weird feeling for me.
Love getting the occasional quick note from the few of you who haven´t forgotten me!!!
Will be getting to Guatemala in just a few hours to start the next leg of the trip. Will be there from today (Feb 7th) through the 26th. Hope to add another update soon, along with some pictures.
Love,
Tarita Dactyla
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