Panama = Winter 2009

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My trip to Panama almost didn't get a blog, but not because it wasn't a-mazing, but because it wasn't over a school break. I took a week off in February from school. The way I remember it was this. Coburn, who at the time was a friend of a friend, said "I'm going to Panama to visit my sister, who wants to come?!" I said "Yes!" I happened to be teaching that year at a DC public school called Murch, which is the elementary school that Coburn had gone to as a child. It was meant to be!

We traveled together and have since become very, very good friends. Coburn's sister had moved to Bocas del Toro in Panama to run a restaurant called El Ultimo Refugio. El Refugio has absolutely the most delicious, fresh food I've ever had and the atmosphere can't be beat! The restaurant, as with many buildings on Bocas del Toro, is essentially a building on a dock over the water. As you dine, when the waves come in they lap at your toes!

Coburn and I spent about half the week in Bocas del Toro on incredible adventures. Then for the other half of the week we explored in other areas of Panama including: David, Boquete and Panama City! Some highlights included a random, amazing stop at a hostel on the side of the road called the Waterfall Hostel. We only spent the afternoon, but it was so beautiful and peaceful! I also loved Paradise Gardens Wildlife Rescue center where we got to hold a sloth!

Thanks for inviting me to Panama, Coburn! I'm not sure I can ever take a week off from school again, but I'm so, so glad I did back in 2009. Back at school, I made up a project to teach my students about Panama's colorful, decorative craft called a mola.

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Photos

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