Bastimentos, Panama

We are on the small island of Bastimentos Panama. This is the second part to our KidzReach outreach. We have had a busy last few days. It has been raining like crazy for the last 3 days. They say they have never seen it rain like this in December. So it feels a little like Vancouver. I didn't ever think I would miss snow, but I have been talking about snow a lot. It is so much dryer than rain. The blessing is that the house that we are staying in even in the rain is so great. It is up on a big hill over looking the mangroves and the bay.
Today we spent the morning playing with some of the local indigenous kids. They came over to the house and we baked Christmas cookies and just got to know each other. In the afternoon we made the families in the neighborhood a big Christmas dinner of chicken mixed into rice with boiled beans on the side. We also served them the Christmas cookies that we had made for them in the morning. Before dinner started we had to go and pick them up from the village so that they wouldn't have to treck through the jungle in the pouring rain.
We had a bit of a program for them. The kids did a skit for them about the meaning of Christmas. They really seemed to like it. After dinner before they left we gave each child a bag with a toy in it that we brought from home. They were so excited to get this gift. Because not only was this probably the only gift they would get this Christmas. But they also took the left over food home with them so that they would have food for tomorrow.
We talked a lot this evening about how happy we made these families and how that is a great way to be able to serve. We are so blessed to be able to have this experience and can't wait to tell our friends and family more about it when we come home. Merry Christmas!

Colton's fish

This is the picture of the Yellow finned tuna. Notice the rain in the background.

Today Dean and Colton went fishing for the morning. They got up shortly after 5am to get an early start. It was a cloudy day and it looked like it would clear up. It started to drizzle a bit and only down poured a bit here and there and on the way back. Colton caught 1 10lb. yellow finned tuna a king mackerel a and Benito. As you can see Dean is not holding a fish ) - :

Scuba Diving and snorkeling

Miranda's post:These are my friends that I met on the bus ride from Costa Rica, There names are Jen and Kelly. We had lots of fun on the beach. They used to be cheer leaders and they taught me a new move. They are really fun and they are like my big sisters.

Wendy's post: We have been doing a bit of tourist stuff the last few days. We are spending our few free days on the island of Bocas. Yesterday Dean and I went scuba diving and Colton and Miranda went snorkeling above us. It was a great day doing something that we all love.
Miranda's post: Yesterday we saw a lot of starfish and we saw alt of sea cucumbers wen my mom and my dad went scuba diving . There was a lot of Coral . Today my dad and my brother went fishing and me and my mom are going to go on a shopping spree.

miss you

Well ...we've been gone 9 whole days and today not one e-mail. Not even spam. Sigh.. ) - :
Disclaimer: Dean is NOT in favor of this post but Miranda says that I am my own woman and she thinks that I can.

Bocas Del Toro, Panama

Now for the rest of the story....
We did leave in the rain and we packed our bags through the rain to the bus stop. We took the 1 1/2 hr. bus ride to the border and then walked across the bridge from Costa Rica to the Panama customs and Immigration. That in itself is very interesting. The bridge is for trains, cars and also people to go across. The cars and people drive and walk on 2x6's some of which are broken. The bridge is about 150 yards long. So while I was carrying two huge backpacks as was Dean, Colton and Miranda were also each carrying a pack. What fun! Thankfully the rain stopped and we definitely thought that we had had ENOUGH! Then when we arrived into Panama and went to the 3 different places to get our passports stamped we grabbed a taxi bus and headed to the banana boats which we had taken last year. The trip was about 45 min. long. We were so happy to finally get there. When we dragged all our bags down to the boats we were told that there was a tree that had fallen across the canal and the boats wouldn't be going any more till tomorrow. SOOO we got back n to the taxi and took the road back from were we had come and went another hour to the other way that you can get to Bocas. Then when we got there we took a different boat for 1/2 an hour to the town, YEAH, we made it!!
Our bed and breakfast place has hot water and a/c. We are in heaven and we slept. Oh how great it is to sleep and not sweat. Today we did something cool. We went with some people that we met (on the long bus ride from Costa Rica )and rented a boat for the day. We went snorkeling and to the beach. We also tried to learn more about the indigenous by trying out one of their boats as you can see. Big fat Canadians are not meant for little cayuca canoes.
We also studied up on the local wildlife in the area. These are both native to the area and we just happened upon this strawberry poison dart frog and also this very cute howler monkey on the beach. No really, these are in the wild and that is why we love to come here.

Beach

We left the YWAM base after a busy week. It felt like it was a whirl wind of planning learning which was why we were there. It was amazing to see the difference in our whole family when we first spotted the ocean. We all came alive. We all got a new energy that is so fun to see. We started talking about what we wanted to see and do and laughed about how much fun it was going to be. After a long day traveling on a bus for 81/2 hours it was great to have some excitement again. We dropped our bags and headed for the beach to play in the water before it got dark. Also we needed to find something to eat. Dean is o.k. with food on the side of the road but me and the kids are a little more cautious about what we eat. We also had to make Miranda happy and find a coconut and eat it. That was what she wanted to do the most.
The next morning we started the day at the beach finding more coconuts to eat and also to take a walk along the beach rain forest jungle. The path takes you along the beach and in and out of the jungle. We took so many pictures along the way it was so beautiful.
That night it was sooo hot. We lay in bed a sweat. It was so nice to finally get out of bed in the morning and go out into the breeze. But unfortunately it was raining. It would have been a nice light rain other than we had to hike our 5 backpacks to the bus stop and then change buses 2 more times and take a half hour boat ride to get to Panama. Tomorrow you will hear.....the rest of the story.

New Goat pen needed

Here is a picture of the space that needs a new goat/horse house. Here are the kids with a kid.