Birthday in the bus, more rain, holiday plans, '09 planes

So I lived to tell about my birthday. Barely. Overall one the most boring birthdays ever, spent on a bus watching dubbed Hollywood Chihuahua or whatever they call it in English. Only exciting part was when we brushed up against a mini-van and had to sit for 2hrs for the police and insurance ppl to show up and take pics and document the damage. Was more annoying than anything because then we had to rush just to get into Panamá before the border closed.

Panamá was about just as much underwater as Sarapiquí was (where I was the previous week). Not to hurt the tourism industry but nov-dec travel in Central America can be pretty hit and miss and would be better off avoided. I met a friend in Panamá who had been there the previous month and it rained the whole time he was there. I guess the rain was kind of out of control their too because they had a bunch of mudslides and even the best road in the country had two lanes wash away down the mountain. Basically there are two ways to enter Panamá and both are by bridge. One bridge was closed because of the rain and the other one we had to sit in traffic for 90min to get around the washed out portion of the road. Overall a big clusterf*ck if you ask me trying to get around all the detours that had about half the signage that a typical US detour would have.

So I made it to the city and got stuck shopping for a day with some of my aunt’s family while waiting for my bus to leave at 11pm that night. Here is the most messed up part about Panamá: they celebrate mother’s day 16 days before Christmas. So imagine the malls. I was there on the Sunday before Mothers day when they had Monday off to recognize their independence from Spain. So the mall was a zoo. I’d never seen that many ppl in my life in a mall. Apparently the crisis hasn’t hit Panamá yet.

Since Panamá life has been pretty normal however tomorrow I start my end of year vacation. Habitat has an employee outing tomorrow where we are going to hot springs in la Fortuna by Volcano Arenal. Then this weekend I have a wedding to attend and then after that I will be eating tamales pretty much everyday up until Christmas because it is the cultural custom here to make them. The big idea though is to get the whole family together to help make them and chat at the same time. I have between 10-15 families from which to make tamales with so I’ll be pretty busy. I come back to work on Jan. 4th. Might be a little awkward not being at home for the holidays but I’m looking forward to being able to spend them with my more or less adopted families. Ppl always ask if I get homesick and the truth is I really don’t that often. I only get homesick a little for holidays and birthdays. Missing the leaves change colors and fall also bugs me too. It’s not like I get lonely here though because I have everyone I met when I came to Costa Rica two years ago to visit when I get lonely or bored.

Things will get exciting then in January because we are starting a 4 house project in San Ramon and I’ll be involved a lot in that. We actually have an office in San Ramon so I’m going to relocate there and will be able to work in the office and on site. This will be really interesting because I’ll be able to help Habitat manage the construction and we will be able to track our costs better by having someone on site. Also we have two volunteer brigades coming in January so I will be there helping them get situated with the construction.

Don’t know when my next chance will be to write on this so to all my loyal readers: Happy holidays and Happy New Year ’09.