Gettng Settled

Luna's Castle Hostel Panama

My first two weeks in Panama have felt a lot like coming home after a long trip abroad… and I am often struck with how easily I have slipped into my daily routines without questioning the normalicy of it all. My first night in our new house I was amazed by the beautiful views of Panama City and the crazy hustle and bustle of the city around us, but after a week here it seems as if I have been looking upon that view for years and the city is as familiar as an old friend. I have to remind myself to recognize the beauty of my surroundings, and to appreciate how different this life is from my last. The one major difference that has been obvious and easy to appreciate has been the company of Dain, Meredith and Dave. I have been impressed by how well we are able to smoothly work as a team, how much we have been able to accomplish together in our short time here, and how much fun we have together. It has been awesome having Dain here with me, and definitely makes being so far away from home that much easier. I am stoked for us to be working on this project together…and so nice to know neither of us has to get up early to head off to work. I have not had the opportunity to see many of my PeaceCorps friends yet, so it still hasn’t quite seemed like Panama yet…especially because I still need to get to the beach!

Our house is absolutely amazing, and it has been really fun living in it with just the four of us, and our own personal security guards, who we have affectionately named Yogi and Bubu. It feels something like the movie BIG, where he has the huge loft with a few toys here and there. We have an abundance of open space which we have utilized by moving our “bedrooms” around several times to aprovechar el espacio. We currently are housed on the third floor, each with our personal balcony offering the best views of the bay, Panama City and the church steeples in Casco Viejo. The ocean breezes blow almost all day and do an amazing job at keeping the house cool. Our neighborhood is unique and quirky, but I think that is why I like it so much. Overlooking our patio in the back are several rundown apartments that house the more humble side of our neighborhood. We are often greeted with smiling children and friendly housewives when we walk onto our breezeway, and are often bombarded by reggaetone and tipico being played from the communal boombox at incredible volumes. We have heard one specific song about 100 times in the past two weeks…often played back-to-back…which is slowly driving me crazy. I can only hope a new song comes out soon so we can appreciate some diversity. To our front is a completely different side to our neighborhood, with our balconies overlooking one of the grandest houses in Casco Viejo. Owned by one of the richest families in Panama, the house takes up almost an entire city block and is gaurded by several security gaurds 24 hours a day even though the owners are rarely there. Being that we are not in the best area, it is reassuring to have such good security right out front and combined with the presidential gaurds on the corner, our front street seems very secure. Meredith and I have been using our sweet gringa skills to make friends with all the police in the area, and have been bringing coffee and brownies to our local gaurds to ensure that we are on their good side…and we have had an amazing reception. Good to be a cute gringa sometimes! The presidential palace is only a block south of us, the plaza de independencia is two blocks southeast and our favorite bar is only three blocks to the east…great location huh? There is a national jazz festival next week and we will be able to hear it all from our balcony!

So what have we been working on you might ask? Well these last couple weeks have been filled with making contacts, scheduling inspections, buying supplies and finding the best painters, security firms, contractors, fumigators, plumbers etc. We are working on getting the second floor ready to open before we have our inspections next week, which includes getting the kitchen ready, getting bunkbeds made, painting, buying computers and other necessary items…and then we are ready to open on a small scale while the rest of the renovations are taking place. I will keep you updated as we move forward and I look forward to sharing the amazing transformation this building is going to undergo in the next couple months. I hope many of you get a chance to come visit me, but if not feel free to live vicariously through my blog! Pura Vida, wakan