Sunday, June 19, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The shipboard community
There has been a lot of people I connected with on board the MV Explorer. Here are just some pics of them -
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Panama
Panama! I didn’t get to go to my trip in Panama (seeing the Embera Indians) but I eventually was able to leave the ship and along with Janna and Tom, got to drive up to Panama City where I had a great time. Panama City is remarkable. Like many major cities, it has diverse pockets of neighborhoods that show its socioeconomic differences. Luis and Annette took us on a tour all over the city and showed us the old and historic portion of the city, the new highways, the beautiful skyline with new architecture, and of course the canal zone. We ate at a lovely restaurant that was frequented by locals overlooking the water. As we ate our dinner, we could see the ships waiting in line to enter the canal. The food, particularly the seafood, was exquisite. I had fried whole Corvina ( a local fish that is sometimes exported) with arroz (rice) and this really good local hot sauce. The next day, the three of us went around the old part of Panama City and just walked around and explored. We hired a guide who gave us the history of the city and even shared with us the gentrification happening throughout that part. There are various “stars” now living in that part of the city as well as various offices including the nation’s president’s. At moments, I was lost in thought about the various colonial legacies left to Panama by Spain, France, and the United States. Amongst of all these colonial legacies, you can see the indigenous community dressed in colorful clothes, short, dark, some with their children carried over their shoulders. The indigenous community we kept seeing were the women and children of the Kuna. They were working in the streets selling tourists bracelets, hand sewn blankets, bags, and quilts, necklaces, and other items. I couldn’t help but imagine as I looked into their eyes their anger and resistance against a society that took away the world that was theirs. It became a sharp reminder to me of the history of conquest and of the racial mixtures in the Caribbean.
My favorite thing that I did in Panama was simply to walk around and observe the people. I briefly chatted with an elderly man who played his guitar on the street and sang for us. He was fantastic and quite striking. If I successfully attach his picture, you can see that he has a proud look to him, his face lined with experience and knowledge that can only be obtained by being out in the streets and seeing great disruptions, transitions, and joy.
More Sea Life
May 27, 2011
Sea life is quite wonderful. There is nothing like begin lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the waves. At times though, I have to laugh when we get a little bit of “rough” (ok, it’s not really rough, just a tad shaky) seas and then people are walking side to side to the rhythm of the ship as it rocks left and right. We all look like we are dancing ackwardly as we walk towards one another. We have the busy days of programming as we have our sea socials for the students, the faculty, staff, and LLLs socials, and the SAS Friending and also Dance. The students are wonderful and really quite responsible and engaged with the voyage and what we are all trying to accomplish. I think that as we continue to go to the other countries and the students get deeper into their studies and projects, we can really have positive contributions towards the Millenium Development Goals set by the United Nations.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
May 25, 2011
May 25, 2011
Today was a day when we got out of the port city – great time going to Trini Mall. It looked like a U.S. mall but worked like a Trinidadian one. There were no times listed when things opened and closed! It was really fun getting to know our interport lecturer and his wife – Luis and Annette Ferreira from Panama. We had a great time and Brian was the big winner with regards to all of the goods he bought. I haven’t really been mentally ready to go shopping at all in the countries we have visited. I am really trying to soak up and learn from the cultural concept of slowing down and not having to move so fast. I think that this is going to be the one of the most important and toughest things for me to learn on this voyage!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)