(Re)Discovering Grapes

Here's another now and then image. Gwendolyn at 8 months old, trying grapes for the first time - and now, a year and 8 months. Still totally into them.

Rainforest Tower

Not long after we got back, Gogi and Adam visited - and told us their very exciting news - Gogi is pregnant!


We climbed to the top of the rainforest tower with them for a snack, a view, and sunset.

It's really funny, I vividly remember climbing the tower about this time 2 years ago, when my parents were visiting and I was about the same amount pregnant.

Then and now!

Here's the view of the Panama Canal from the tower - our house is the third from the bottom right.

And here's us trying for a few family pictures. Hard with three independent bodies, all looking their different directions!

Tower of Books

Another extremely awesome arrival - a box full of clothes and books for the Wren - from our Austin friends April, Blake and Vivian. This moment was really hard to capture - the book tower did not last long - but the book appreciation continues. It's amazing to watch Gwendolyn amble over to her bookcase and curl up with her favorites, pointing out her favorite animals in each one: mouse, bat, posa (=mariposa=butterfly), fishy (pronounced more like "chippy"), and on and on.

W + E = H

Among the Christmas boxes was an easel from Sam, Jess, Maddie and Max. Gwendolyn loved every part - all the pieces involved in assembly, each individual piece of chalk, the eraser, and the discovery that a wonderful chalky soup results when you mix all of the above with water.

W + E = H

Wren Plus Easel Equals Happy!

Mountain of Presents

We returned from our trip to find the Gamboa mailroom nearly overflowing with boxes - for us! It was an incredible Christmas surprise. Thank you friends and family!

Arco Iris

One of my favorite new words in Spanish is arco iris, or rainbow. We saw so many rainbows in Boquete, at least one a day, sometimes doubles, even triples. Boquete in the dry season is really sunny, with frequent showers of extremely fine rain, blown down from the volcanoes that surround it. It's also extremely windy - there were strong gusts all night long, it felt like being continually bombarded by high waves on a ship in rough water. The wind made it hard for someone as small as Gwendolyn to walk. She kept trying, and kept falling headfirst, taking several major face plants per day. By the time we left she had quite a collection of bruises, but was still cheerfully persistent about walking - and stubbornly resistant to having anyone hold her hand.

We spend each morning and afternoon in our Spanish school. The owners (a Costa Rican/Dutch couple) had four great kids and one great dog, and Gwendolyn was quite happy to race around after them, and to play with their huge crate of toys.

During our time off, we rented a car and explored the mountains surrounding the town.

We found some really cool rock formations.

Tons of coffee plants.

And lots of little semi-paved roads like this, that posed a challenge to our low clearance, 2 wheel drive rental car. And made us really wish we had a rugged, 4 wheel drive.

The week ended with Gwendolyn and I getting sick again. Just as we had finally shaken our colds, Gwendolyn and I got food poisoning, and spend a horrible night throwing up. It was really terrible to see Gwendolyn so sick, not even really crying, just kind of sad and limp. It was quick though, just as we really began to worry, she started acting normally again, and a few hours later was back to her old self.

The other exciting event of the visit was New Years. We were all fast asleep when midnight came, but heard lots of fireworks, so we bundled up Gwendolyn and walked out to the field by Nuria's house. It was incredible. It seems that there is no regulation on firework sales, and as David described it, it was the most impressive display of amateur fireworks we'd ever seen. Gwendolyn loved it, each time she said, "más, más!" more would appear, as if on cue. They showered from all directions along the volcano rim - it was really beautiful.

I really think our Spanish got better during this time. One correction we learned - we've been spelling Gwendolyn's favorite pet pig wrong - it's "Puerquito" not "Porquito" - it makes me wonder how many other ways we are mangling this language in our efforts to speak it. A week was very short. We're hoping to find a class in Panama City to continue with.

El Explorador - Part 2

Hard to resist! We took a lot of pictures here. Here are a few more images from our favorite Boquete garden.

This one reminded David and me of the two of us :).

El Explorador - Part 1

As part of our Boquete adventures, we visited a garden called El Explorador. We had heard something about a place that had plants growing out of old shoes and quirky words of wisdom painted on flowerpots, but we had very little idea what to expect. What we found was strangely beautiful. A bizarre conglomeration of recycled, organic whimsy. Here are a few pictures of our favorite parts:

As usual, Gwendolyn was attracted to the animal element, here in the form of a somewhat aggressive cat dressed in a modified dress sock.

She also loved the oranges.

We had a great meal in the garden restaurant. The women who worked there offered us a free lunch if we traded them the Wren. We did, but somehow they ended up charging us anyway.

Our sentiments exactly.