For 2 years I have been looking forward to the possability of making this trip. We began saving a year and a half ago, and the Lord truly has made it all happen. I tried going with no expectations. There were a lot of unknowns, but everything worked out so nicely. So, on May 27th we hit the road again...
We flew out of JFK because it was cheaper (even with gas costs!), and we enjoyed a visit to Rileys and Grawhers as well! It was so nice to be with the church family there at First Baptist in Cobleskill, NY and to share an update on our ministry here in Durham and where we were off to.
Jack & Louise had a group over for supper. Laura gave me a cool hat that she had made especially for our trip! You'll see it in our Panama city Pictures. : ) Shane taught Laura's son, Ben, how to do Sudoku. : )
Grawhers took us swimming at Bubbling Springs. The water was cold, but Shane swam with DebbieGrace, even all the way to the 'island.' We also enjoyed a quick dip in the hot tub. We had a delicious meal overlooking northern New Jersey. It was too cloudy to see New York City, but the view was awesome nonetheless! We were off to bed at about 10:30, leaving at 1:30 for the airport!! Copa sure has some crazy hours out of JFK!! Thanks so much Mark, Becky, DebbieGrace, and EmmaJoy! We enjoyed our Tootsie Rolls on our pillows and the little notes you left us beside our bed.
We arrived in Panama at 10:10 (11:10 our time) and caught a bus to the DeCameron. What a ride!! It was a two hour trip, but it was so neat to look and recognize the places we passed and remember all of the a fun memories that went along with them. We had a day to ourselves at the DeCameron as the rest of the group did not arrive until the next day. It gave us time to acquaint ourselves with the 'lay of the land.' : )
I LOVE the ocean!!! There is just something about being on the beach early in the morning, watching the start of a new day, listening to the waves, and looking out over the huge expanse of endless water. You are sitting at the edge of nature, just close enough to respect the awesome power of its waters, and sometimes uncalculated actions. It makes me come to the end of myself, laying it all out before the Lord, no wall, barriers or pridefull attitudes. I was blessed to experience 4 of my mornings with my brother Dave. He likes the beach in the morning too! Especially with a cafe' con leche in his hand. : ) It was such a special time with him, one of my best memories.
There seemed to be around 90 of us who were really planning on being at this reunion, however, only about 38 returned to Panama. Some were new, but most were old familiar faces. (Johnnie & Ruthie Jenkins, Kevin Schneider and family, Jim King and family, Vickie -scoble, Julie - scoble, Sarah - mankins, Dee Dee Kalne and sister with little baby, Bethany Goodman with baby - and a friend of hers, Ben Goodman, Andrew Scoble, and Brian & Tracey Wolfe. Oh, Angie Jordan & Katie Heft were there briefly too. I am sure I have forgotten someone!
We were able to make 3 trips to Chame! I had two main goals: be with Dave & Bec to put the plaque on Jim's grave and to see my best Panamanian friend Carmen and her family.
The first time up was on Thursday the 1st. There was an open house/ice cream social/picture powerpoint. We were able to get a ride up with the above three girls (Sarah, Julie, and Vickie) and got a ride back with Angie & Katie. We had a super time meeting people and visiting with those I hadn't seen in 21 years! : ) Norm Slaymaker had arranged for the tools needed to do the job at the cemetary, so after most of the event was over, we hopped into the back on the truck and headed off to the town's cemetary. I was busy pointing out places to Shane, and taking in the sights and smells! It was GOOD to be back!
A few pictures of the cemetary and this event. With the help of a man who came to the cemetary soon after we arrived, he helped locate the grave of a neighbor and good friend of Jim's, Tojo (pronounced Toho). Tojo was his nick name, but the last picture is of his grave. He just died in February.
When we were finished at the cemetary, Norm took us for a quick ride out in the back area of the town. He also stopped where I could get a picture of Chame Mountain (where we hiked every year... and the only place in the world where you find Chame jasper in the world,) and of course I HAD to get a few pictures of my most favorite cows - Brahma cows!: )
Norm also drove us by Carmen's house, but we did not have the time to stop in. We had dinner reservations at the hotel and we needed to get back.
Friday, Julie -scoble -Chaleski, was heading back to Chame to help ice the graduation cake. It has been a long standing tradition in the Scoble family, so Julie was excited to help her sister-in-law ice the huge (country of) Panama cake. We got a ride and headed straight for Carmen's house. We only had about 2 hours, so we wanted to make the most of our time. She was not home, nor any of her family. I spoke with a young girl who was at the house. Come to find out, it was Carmen's brother, Fernando's oldest girl! : ) I left a message with her and we decided to drive around and show Shane the town. We started with the first house we lived at our second term. Tojo lived across the 'street,' and an older Panamanian couple lived next door. They were so hospitable to our family, and I loved going over to their house. It is a traditional mud/straw home and it was still there. I saw an old woman sitting inside. I was not sure if that was my Panamanian grandma or not, but after some hesitation, decided to stop. Sure enough, Anna was still living, and her daughter Elis was living there now. Elis recognized me right way as did Anna once I got closer. It was such a wonderful time of seeing them. Tacho (Anna's husband) died 10 years ago. Anna currently rotates each month to a different daughter's house. They would give us eggs, traditional food to try, fresh fruit from their trees (custard apples & guavas), included us in family events, and I enjoyed watching their chickens roost in the mango tree at night! : ) I remember watching Anna weave the strands needed to make my father's Panama hat. {I was happy that Shane wanted a Panama hat! We were able to buy him one from a local guy.} Was it just a coincidence she was here at her old home? Nope. Don't think so! ;)
Well, after spending most of our time visiting with Anna and Elis, we had about 10 minutes to pop our head in at Senior Hererra's house. He lived across the street from the second place we rented our second term. When Jim died, he gave us one of his own family plots, and arranged everything for the burial. His wife is burried beside Jim. Amazingly he is still alive too, at 86 years of age! We got a picture of him and I too, but it came out a bit fuzzy. :(
Well, Saturday was the graduation, and probably my last chance to see Carmen. That morning Shane went off fishing in Gatun Lake (the huge man made lake that feeds the canal locks) and I hung out with Dave & Becky. : ) We headed off to Chame that evening with Kevin Schneider and his family and made a bee-line for Carmen's house. There didn't seem to be anyone at home, but after a few times of calling out and almost leaving, Carmen had barely heard me and she came to the door. What a great reunion!!!
She called her brother Fernando and he brought the kids, Cindy, Fernandito, and Michelle, and after a few minutes her parents came home. It was soooooo good seeing them again! Minin, Carmen's mom, scolded me for not staying with them, and Fernando had asked his daughter Cindy (from our meeting the day before) if I was heavier. : ) Dito, Carmen's dad needs a kidney transplant. If you think of it, please pray to that end. He has been driving the hr. drive three times a week to the hospital in Panama City for dialysis. He has always been a very trustworthy, honest man, and I do not know where he stands with the Lord either. Carmen is moving to Panama City this week for another position with her bank. Fernando has a big company, mowing and taking care of lawns. I spent many an hour at Carmen's house, watching TV, playing in the yard, climbing their mango tree, talking as girls do, and swimming/playing pool/and tennis at a rich guy's house up from their house that their dad, Dito, did the upkeep while the rich family was away. Carmen and Fernando hope to come visit next summer! That would be really super, and I always have the standing invite to stand up with Carmen if/when she marries! How fun is that!!! We now have better communiction lines between us and we hope to not loose touch again.
We had a few other special trips during our stay...
Sunday we headed to El Valle with Kevin's family, and Jim's family. El Valle is the only place in the world with golden colored frogs that are highly poisonous to touch. (We didn't stop to see them this time.) The Panamanians living in the surrounding areas bring their produce, flowers, and wares to sell. We made the trip many times as a kid and it was wonderful to be back. (I thought the trip to Pacitan, Indonesia was bad for getting car sick, I had NO recollection at how bad this road trip was!!) Here we had our snow cones (respado) and bought some souviners for others. At the end of our trip we headed back toward's Chame, turning off at Coronado. Jim, Kim & Andrew were staying there, so we hit a small restaurant for lunch. Yummmmm! We had a super time with everyone; very special.
Monday we took another road trip with Kevin's family to find the beach in Gorgona where we always swam. After three stops, and asking directions, we finally found it! Gorgona is actually a dangerous beach. The current can be pretty bad sometimes, and we have body surfed in 14 foot waves. Jim was caught in a rip tide a year before he died at the same beach.
I got some black sand for Sarah and myself, and we hunted the usual rocks as the tide was beginning to come back in. At low tide our family tradition was to see who could find the most cowelry shells! Britney & Kaley enjoyed the rocks (Kevin's girls) and Shane and I won the 'race' for the most cowelry shells found. : ) This is what Dad and I were doing the Sunday Jim died. What a great time!!!
Tuesday we had a bit of time waiting for the transportation to the city....
Our last two days were spent in Panama City. Dave and Becky rented a car for us to get around, but their friend Lisa REALLY took us sight seeing!! We totally blitzed the city that Wednesday. We visited Old Panama (a replica of part of the town, and Shane and I at the church tower),
Ancon hill to see the view of the city,
Salse Puedes/Central streets for leather sandals, the Causeway, and we ate lunch at Niko's near Stephen's Circle. After she dropped us off, we zipped to the canal, having one hour to do the museum and see a big ship going through. (This picture is taken from the observation deck at Miraflores Locks looking north to the San Miguel locks.)
That evening we ate at my most favorite restaurant in all of Panama City - Napoli's! They have the BEST clay oven pizza!!! I sacrificed my usual cheese and pepperoni pizza for the never having had clams. I regreted that, but hey, at least I won't have that haunting me again! : ) I ate two pieces of pizza of Shane's, one of Becky's, and lastly Dave's. His had ham and cheese, and boy was it good. As close to my favorite as I was going to come.
Thursday we were not sure how it would turn out. Dave and Becky were leaving early, turning in their car leaving us either in the city without a car or at the airport for the amazingly long day of waiting for our flight that left at 7:45 p.m. Lisa graciously offered to take us to the sister hotel of the DeCameron at 10:30, giving us more time in the morning to pack, as well as time to shop or do whatever we wanted before getting a taxi to the airport. We toured the acclaimed largest mall in Central America from top to bottom. That took about an hr..... so with more time to spare we decided to take our extra time outside. : ) Across the street of busy traffic we stopped in at Grand Morrison, La Arrocha, and other stores along that stretch of busy road. At about 2:30 we decided to buy some bread and head back to the hotel. We picked up our luggage and went ahead and took a taxi to the airport to wait out the remainder of our time. The pansitos were soooo yummy with our Keso Mili (fresh cheese). We saw Doug Shemerhorn as he had brought his Colombian co-workers to the airport as they were leaving the country and he was seeing them off. It was nice to visit with him again.
Our flight was bumpy - we passed over a lot of thunder storms. Great light show! There weren't enough blankets, so we really didn't sleep. We arrived back at JFK at 1:45 A.M., picked up our car and headed to Fall River, Massachusettes to visit for a day with Turnbulls.
We arrived at their house at 6:30 and hit the hay!! We had a super time with them! We developed pictures, visited, slept, highlighted Damarise's hair,
and Shane went fishing Sat. morning with Ken and Ian.
We left Fall River at 11:30 for Dad's place. We pulled in at 8:30, visited a bit and then went to bed! It was really nice to see dad. It had been a year since we were there. We picked Juanita, Dad's friend, up from church and went out to eat. We left from the restarant at 2:30 and headed home! It was a gorgeous day for driving, and we hardly hit any traffic, even at Niagara Falls at the boarder! We made it through with no problem and pulled up to our place at 10:30.
And........Shane left on the men's 3 day hike this morning. We didn't get to bed until about 12:45 as Shane was packing and we were getting things ready. I have had a quiet day doing laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, going through mail, scanning pictures, and for the last 2 hrs.... working on this blog entry. It is good to be home, but what a wonderful trip the Lord gave us. We are thankful for safety, provision, and friends. Thanks for sticking with this all and reading it!! You should get a metal! : )
