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.
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.
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.
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.
1 comment:
What beautiful countryside! and "arco iris" is a beautiful phrase.
Little Gwen speaking Spanish. Sorry about the illnesses and hope you all stay well for a LONG time.
much love -- Christina
(Nice to have the blog back)
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