Flux

Being in flux is kinda like being on an unending vacation. I have decided to change sites and it seems as though everyone (Security Coordinator, Country Director, and APCD, Francisco) are all behind it. Just nothing has happened yet. So when I met with my boss and Security Coordinator last week, he suggested that I go visit my best friend in Peace Corps and spend a week with her. I reminded him that I didn’t have any clothes with me, so I couldn’t leave immediately as he suggested.

So on Wednesday night, I went up to my site, packed up my bag, furiously cleaned up my house and got a good night’s sleep before heading out to Cocle the following morning. By late afternoon I was skipping across the rocks of the river and up the path to Kayla’s house. I met her parents and so began my adventure for the next couple of days.

We left the following morning for Pedasi on the Azuero Peninsula and stayed there for two nights at a fun hotel called Dim’s Hostel with a great outdoor area. We took a boat out to Isla Iguana which is a wildlife refuge due to a huge breeding colony of Magnificent Frigate birds.

There were about 5,000 pairs with clouds of the birds hovering over schools of fish and squid in the ocean and more on the island. Their enormous black wings and pointed tails are recognizable from afar, but the inflatable red pouches of the males were a treat to see up close. To attract the females, the boys blow up the pouch in their throat to the size of a balloon while others around them held their beaks up high and made clicking sounds to regulate their temperature. It sounded like Jurassic Park with so much noise and otherworldly creatures.

Snorkeling and reading filled the rest of our day on the island which I wouldn’t mind being stranded on for the rest of my service. We then moved on to Las Lajas, my favorite beach in Chiriqui. The cabins on the sand were a perfect complement to bodysurfing waves, magnificent sunset, and innumerable starts.

I’m hanging out in David tonight before I head into the city tomorrow for two nights and then a training of trainers seminar. I’ll be back in my site in a while, but it sure has been nice to get out for a while and decompress! And heck, I’ll be back out again with my family whom I can’t wait to see!