Destination: Panama

Six-thirty a.m. is early. Six o'clock, the time you wake up to be ready at 6:30, when sleep only came at 3:30, is even earlier. But that is A-okay when you're going to Panama!

Such was my story Thursday night into Friday morning. I was working on a paper all night but had packed most everything earlier that day - minus a few things, as I later discovered. I finished my paper, sank gratefully onto my pillow with random school supplies still scattered about my quilt.

Six o'clock came and somehow my roommate roused me - not with water because I wasn't soaking wet- and I mechanically began to get ready with my brain still foggy. That haze cleared as I actually thought about the journey we were about to embark upon.

At 6:30, Sam, Lauren and I piled ourselves and our packs into my car, stopped by the ATM, then headed to Trivette Circle. By this time it was light out (when did it start getting light so early? was my thought, but then again, I'm not usually up at that time). Our group gathered in a circle and said some Russian word that I think meant "good travels," - I don't really know. Oh, and this was prefaced by Lauren calling Kevin - because he was late - and her opening the conversation with, "Hi friend. Would you like to go to Panama?" Ha.

Our group had a pretty positive vibe going through it. Before this dawn rendezvous, we had been together a grand total of 3 times. The first meeting included a speed dating activity that was a logistical nightmare thanks to an U-shaped table arrangement, the second a furious game of Panama history with chocolate prizes, and the third saw food, bingo and jeopardy. Through this fun, we had established a constant, positive attitude and demeanor for our trip. I mean, it is rather difficult to be a Debbie Downer when you're heading to paradise.

It's actually Tuesday right now; I'm behind in my journaling. I'm sitting (laying?) in a hammock with my host family nearby - one is changing a diaper, the other sewing, the others talking. I say this because it has put me in a pensive mood, and I want to write what is currently on my mind.

I truly feel like God has put me here. At first, I didn't even want to go on an ASB trip. Then they had spaces left after sign-ups, and a strong desire was put on my heart to go. Becuase my parents are paying for me to go to China, I didn't want to ask them to pay for this also. I could cover it on my own, but it would deplete most of my savings (sad, I know). My father, the ever-pratical one, was against that idea in light of the downward-spiraling economy. Alright, I said to him, I'll fundraise the money on my own. I figured I'd work and ask family/friends for donations. It's a plan, I told him.

I have never been much of a performer on violin - my nerves would get so bad I could barely stand up - so I never really put myself out there for gigs. This December, I earned enough money from violin gigs (and one singing) and working one day to completely cover my trip with some left over. Coincidence? I think not. :-) More about that cool stuff later.

The rest of Friday saw me and Kevin absolutely conked out in the back of Lynn's car on the way to Charlotte. Well, not just that. Within ten minutes of us all checking in, we lost Katie P. and Rica. In the Charlotte airport. Seriously? Turns out that had already gone through security. Yikes! Got to our gate then promptly dispersed again. I realized I had forgotten my Nalgene, immodium, pepto bismal, extra batteries and tall socks. (I didn't remember all at once, but that's what I've discovered so far.) I set off determined to find a water bottle (to no avail - I ended up just getting the largest Dasani I've seen in my life) and ran into Mr. Outen and Michael! Had a nice chat with them in which I succeeded in freaking myself out about no electricity - actually it was more of just increased apprehension, ha. It's all part of the challenge.

Our plane was more than 30 minutes late, and with only an alleged 45-minute layover in Houston, we were all a bit fidgety, checking our watches more frequently than usual. I bet the other passengers thought we all had twitches. The plane to Houston ended up being a little early, so we stormed the bathrooms (of course the closer ones were closed for cleaning!) then hustled onto the plane, where I believe we had the best flight attendent ever.

Landing in Panama City! First step off the plane and BAM! Everything is in Spanish. Not gonna lie, it was quite odd to see Spanish first, then English. (Note that I speak a total of about 5 Spanish words at this point.) We bombarded el banyo again, and with our bladders happy set off to battle customs.

After we mauvered through that mess, we got to baggage claim, got our packs on (keep in mind someone asked me in Charlotte if I had a small child in mine) only to promptly take them off again to go through the x-ray machine. Good practice, no worries. Outside we met up with Joel and boarded an obnoxiously yellow bus that reminded me of an old Volkswagon bus. Also, it was wonderfully air conditioned, which the 90 degree humid outside air was not. :-) Dinner was at Nikkos, a cafeteria-like place. Oh, perk of this trip - we basically don't have to pay for anything ourselves besides souvenirs since our leaders found plane tickets under budget.

We rode in our Magic School Bus to Penonome (2.5 hours) and arrived at our lovely hostel, which had showers with the best water pressure I've ever felt. Sleep about 12:30-1:00 am.