reflections on the mountain town of El Valle

Sometimes it feels like I live in a developing country.

Sometimes it feels like I live in Jurassic Park.

Always it feels like I live in a rainy, humid, Tropical climate.

Fiestas Patrias parade in a small town

The local Fire Brigade led the parade.

The Sassy Girls Junior High Dance Squad (as we called them), shook their booties all the way down the street. 

Every school-age child wore their uniform to march.

A little girl and boy, dressed in traditional Panamanian dress;  the girl had to hold out her skirts for the entire parade, and her principal continously corrected her wrist alignment and posture.  I say, let the 6 year old march!

India Dormida

Spending the weekend in the mountains of Panama was calming and lovely.  Hiking to the top of this mountain (right), was challenging and slippery and cold, but gave me a sense of accomplishment. 

 Before we started the serious hiking, we took a group photo by a trickling waterfall (2 hours later, when we crossed it again on the way out, it was a raging torrent that hide all of those pretty rocks we are standing on).  We look clean, energetic, and ready to face the Sleeping Indian Girl mountain. 

Forty minutes before reaching the top, it started to pour cats, dogs, lizards, and spiders.  All of the rain made the mossy rocks very slippery, and I made it the last 20 minutes on sheer determination alone.  This is the view of the entire valley town of El Valle from the 'nose' of the sleeping indian girl mountain.  It was pretty in the rain, but I bet it would have been outstanding on a sunny day. 

To get back to our hotel for a well earned hot shower, all of us hopped in the back of a pick-up truck taxi cab.  I don't know if the phrase 'drowned rat' comes to mind when you see this picture, but that's how I felt.  But the townspeople loved seeing a taxi full of gringos drive through the one street on the town.  They laughed and waved and smiled, which made a bit of the challenging part of the hike seem funnier. 

ISP Halloween

The kids dressed up in a variety of (surprisingly appropriate) costumes, the teachers dressed like angst-filled, dress code violating teenagers.  And most of us have dress-code violation detention slips in our hands or around our necks. 

This is our teen angst photo;  I am rolling my eyes like any good teenager, Austin and Nick are spacing out, Andrew and Kim look like they have a secret, and Denise looks stressed out by IB exams.

Sunset

 It usually starts raining at about 2pm each day, but occasionally, we get some gorgeous sunsets. 

ISP 30th Anniversary Staff Gala

At my old school, I had to buy chalk.  Literally.  Each year, I would go to Office Depot and get the one good kind of chalk, because the school always bought the cheap stuff that didn't erase.  When we had staff parties, we had to pay $30 to attend, which included one alcoholic beverage.

At my new school, they feed us at staff meetings, they buy new materials, and when they throw a staff party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the school, they do it at the Marriot, complete with gift baskets for each teacher, unlimited food and alcohol (I drank a lovely amount of champagne), and with a 10 piece live band for after dinner dancing.

My friend Janelle and I

I am still a strong believer in public education and the right of poor kids to get a world class education, but last night's party pulled me over to the privatization dark side, just for a few hours. 

The traditional Panamanian dancers who performed.

When the 8 piece band started playing, everyone, and I mean everyone, started dancing.  Gotta love those Latin coworkers.  They danced for hours, all in 6" heels.  I am still in awe of them. 

PanaMUN XX

This week, ISP hosted the 20th Int'l School of Panama Model United Nations conference, aka PanaMUN.  Every student in the high school participated, as well as 100 kids from 13 other countries, including Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Canada, and the US.  It was a wonderful event, all student run and organized.  Next year I will be the PanaMUN director, and after seeing how well run this event is, I am both excited and daunted.