Panamania

December 17th

Dec. 15th On my last day in Piedras Gordas before heading out for the winter holiday I had the opportunity to attend a graduation party.  It was thrown for the adult class that’s taught in the afternoon for students that want to recieve their high school diploma.  This was the first year that the class was held, so the students were celebrating their 7th grade graduation.  It was really fun and heartwarming to see how excited the students were to finish up their first year back at school.  The age range of students varries greatly, some students are fifteen year-olds that had just been out of school for a year, and others hadn’t attended classes for over thirty years. The activities started out with numerous rounds of brindis being passed around.  The snacks ranged from ham and american cheese on a stick to bright colored marshmellows mixed in with cheetos.  Next up was musical chairs.  The teachers and I were asked to partici...

Nov. 5th On the 3rd and 4th of November Panama celebrates it’s Días Patrias (days of independence/patriotism).  This year all the events in Piedras Gordas centered around the primary school.  For months the students had been preparing to present folklorico (folklore) dances and songs to the community members and invitees.  November 3rd started out with a prayer lead by the kindergrateners, and tradional dances by a few of the students.  Afterward and group of fathers greased up, tied a bag of prizes to and raised a 30 ft. palo (stick or pole), that the boys in the community tried to climb up so they could reach the prizes.  While the boys worked together to degrease and climb the palo.   The rest of the students took part in various activities; there were gifts handed out, a parade, sack races, foot races, and egg on spoon races.  After close to two hours the boys finally conquered the pole and the prizes were distributed to all of the ...

Nov. 8th