Independence day Parade

I'm doing well in my site. I got to celebrate Thanksgiving with 115 other volunteers in the mountains of Volcan Buru which is the tallest mountain (volcano) in Panama. Being 50 degrees it was cold up there, I even got too wear pants and a long sleeve shirt. We stayed in a resort/lodge, I shared a suite with our own wood stove and mini kitchen. There was 5 turkeys, ham, stuffing, gravy even cranberry sauce which I think was imported from the States. The town where we stayed, Cerro Punta, is located near the national park that has virgin rain forest. It is also in the Chiriqui region that supplies most of the fruits and vegetables for the rest of Panama. Most of the veggies we ate where locally grown. For a snack I walked down the road and got fresh strawberries and cream... delicious!

The aqueduct work is progressing along. I hope to start construction this month. Its kinda of strange that there is really not much Christmas here. In some ways it was nice not to be bombarded with the commercialism. Its just not that big of a holiday here. It is also hard because the people in my town don't really have enough money to buy presents for each other. I heard that usually they slaughter a pig and eat it for Christmas day. There are some plans underway to get together for New Years and have a gift exchange.

Right now I am in my closest town, called Almirante. It is a real cross of cultures, there are the indigenous Ngobe, Latinos, and Jamaicans and other people from the islands of the Caribbean. You commonly here their 3 languages, Ngobe (dialecto), Spanish, and Guari Guari. Guari Guari is kinda like how people speak in Jamaica but a bit different. I can{t really understand it at all. The other day I was riding back to my town in the 4x4 taxi, next to a drunk guy who thought that he could speak English, because he knew Guari Guari. This didn't work out at all, and he kept shaking my hand saying 'we are friends' until eventually he passed out.

My friend Brandon has a blog with different pictures. He lives right near me if you want to check it out.
www.panamericanproceeding.blogspot.com

On Tuesday I came to Almirante for Independence day from Spain. There was a huge parade in town. Marching bands from all over came to Almirante. Here is a bunch of pictures.


I'm not sure where this band is from but I like there Panama flags. Some of the bigger bands had cornets like these. I was talking with the band director from my town and told him how I used to play trombone. Later he told me that he wants to get cornets for next year, and that he wanted to know if I could play trombone. So who knows next year maybe I'll be marching.

This is my little sister, Betti. She is a baton twirler. They have all sorts of organized moves they do all organized by whistle. I think that is general the band is really good for the students, because it provides an after school activity, learning structure and discipline and lets them go see new places.

This is my neighbor Sara, she lives about 15 minutes away in the town that I'm building the aqueduct. This guy was sitting next to us on the curb, and was obviously a little drunk. Apparently he was alot drunk and just straight up past out. People kept walking around him like it was no big deal.

This is the band from my town. You can also so most of the teachers that march behind the students. Usually the teachers outfits match the students. The bands is made up of the drums and the Lida's which are like xylophones.