The Hike

A few weeks ago, I received an event invite from my friend Haven asking me if I wanted to hike Volcán Barú. Only knowing a little about Barú, I looked up some more information on it. The two biggest things I found out were it is the highest point in Panama at 11,398 ft and if it is a clear morning you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. So I said why not and I signed up.

The plan was to meet in David around 6:30 on Friday. From there we would take a bus to Boquette and make our way to the entrance of the hike. Since the hike takes six to eight hours, our plan was to start hiking around 11pm and reach the top around daybreak.

With that, our group of Peace Corps Volunteers and Panamanians that numbered 18 took off for the top. The first thing I noticed was how much cooler it was in the mountains. It’s not that I don’t know this, but after living at sea level in the hottest part of the country you tend to forget these things.

So our group was off. The trail leading to the top was 15km, very rocky and, of course, sharply uphill. At about 2am, I started to get a bit tired. It seemed that taking breaks was actually hurting me, because my body felt like it wanted to lie down and go to sleep. At that point, I decided no more breaks. Other than changing batteries on my flashlight for a couple minutes, I managed to do that. By the time I reached the summit, though, I was pretty worn out. And it was 4:30am.

I decided to try to catch a little sleep. I set an alarm for 6am, which was the time the sun would come up. Well, I didn’t make it to 6am, as at 5:30 I woke up shaking like a leaf on a tree from the cold and wind. But by this time, it was becoming lighter and others were making their way to the top.

It seemed like it happened all at once, because at one point I looked out in the distance and there were both oceans, separated by a narrow piece of land. It was quite cool. What’s ironic is, despite being in Panama for 21 months that was the first time I saw the Atlantic (or Caribbean).

These pictures don’t really do it justice of what it was like to be at the summit. It literally felt like we were on top of the Bocas Islands.

Slowly, the clouds rolled in and you couldn’t see out in the distance anymore. I slept for another hour or so. We headed back down around 8:30am. To me, that was the worst part of the trip. The constant downhill rocky path killed my knees. Where I didn’t stop much on the way up, I stopped like every 15 minutes on the way down. Needless to say, it was a long trip back.

It even started to rain with about 2km left, which added to the the misery. Eventually, though, I did make it to the bottom in quite a bit of pain.

But, looking back, it was quite an experience. Just one I never want to do again.

The Azuero Classic

Over the course of my life, I have attended hundreds of sporting events. Some memorable, others mostly forgettable. But two weeks ago, I attended the Azuero Classic and it immediately became one of the most memorable events I’ve attended.

What is the Azuero Classic? It is a baseball game between Herrera (the province I live in) and Los Santos (the province directly below Herrera). These two provinces make up the Azuero Peninsula here in Panama. Naturally, because of the proximity of the two provinces, there is quite the rivalry between the two teams.

So that’s the background for the game. The game took place in the Los Santos stadium, which is in Las Tablas, about an hour bus ride for me. For the game, I was joined by four other Peace Corps Volunteers who live in the Azuero. One calls Herrera his home, while the other three live in Los Santos. Additionally we were joined by some community memebers of the volunteers that live in Los Santos. Here’s a photo of the group:

Now we have that out of the way, I feel like this would be a good time to mention that the adult beverages at the game were 65 cents, so the whole crowd was fired up as the first pitch was thrown. None moreso then the respective bands fo each team, who would play when the other team is pitching.

Los Santos jumped on the board first with a towering two run home run that ended up in a graveyard (not exactly McCovey Cove) over the left field wall. With that, the Los Santos crowd exploded and my Herrera friend and I were on the receiving end of some Spanish taunting.

The top half of the next inning saw Herrera put guys on first and second with no outs. However, the Herrera batter lined out to the first baseman who then tagged the guy caught of first before firing to second to get that runner. That’s right, a triple play! Again, the home crowd exploded and I hung my head as I had a lot more things yelled at me that I didn’t understand.

Everything was at a fever pitch when the game turned on its heels in the bottom of the third. With a Los Santos runner on third, the Herrera pitcher uncorked a wild pitch that went to the backstop. Despite no throw, the Los Santos guy went crashing into the Herrera pitcher. And with that, pandemonium everywhere. The Herrera pitcher started swinging at the Los Santos guy and both benches emptied. You can see the brawl here.

But it gets better. The Herrera-Los Santos fans in the stands started to get into it. Since we were right on the boarder of the two fan bases, we got to see beers and beer cans go flying at each other. Eventually the police came up into the stands to calm everybody down.

After about a twenty minute delay, the game resumed. It was hard to match the intensity after that and Los Santos eased its way to a 5-1 win. Leaving the stadium, my friend and I received some more good natured Spanish trash talking. It was quite enjoyable; I just wish I had a good comeback.

The Worlds Collide

One of my favorite moments from George on Seinfeld was him having to deal with his two separate worlds – Independent George and Relationship George – coming together. No one wanted to see Liar and Bawdy George die, did they? Over the past 20 months, the quirky concept rang true with me. I had two separate worlds – Peace Corps Panama Dylan and United States Dylan. Outside of a brief visit by my cousin, the worlds never collided.

That’s not to say, unlike George, I didn’t want them to, they just hadn’t had the chance … until this past month.

As I mentioned prior, first my sisters and brother-in-law would come, then my parents. And, with that, my worlds would collide. They would come to my community, meet my Panamanian and Gringo friends, and enjoy Panama. Oh yeah, get to see their loving brother and son.

All this happened and a whole lot more.

I planned the trips with the thought that they would get to experience the real Panama – the interior. That meant riding buses, dining at fondas and having a drink at a cantina. We also went to see beaches, mountains, Carnival, coffee farms, a Panamanian baseball game and indigenous cultures.

And, yes, my parents and I went to see the Mira Flores locks of the Panama Canal. To me, it was probably the least interesting thing we did. After all, the Canal is not the part of Panama that I know.

On the flip side, the best time I had during the two visits was a simple dinner (Carnival was a close second). When my parents were in and staying at my house, I had invited the family I lived with for my first three months while in my new community over for dinner. My mom was going to make a nice American dish for them. So they came, Sergio, his wife Clari and their two adorable kids. Overall, the dinner was fantastic. The food was tasty. The conversation was, ok, a bit awkward, after all I had to play the role of translator. But ultimately, two worlds perfectly collided.

The Family

Growing up, I always knew I had an awesome family. My parents were everything a kid could ask for – caring, responsive, helpful and nurturing. While my two sisters helped guide me along by always staying on top of me about, well, everything. Now over the past year, I’ve added a brother-in-law into the mix and he certainly makes the Sacchetti clan a spicier mix.

However, it wasn’t until I moved away did I realize just how great they were. You see, I never lived too far from my parents and sisters, and something happened over the years. I started to take them for granted. I had a problem with my car, ok, time to call pops. Need a home cook meal, hey mom, I’d like some chicken pop pie. Need to buy some shoes, ok sisters, here’s some money.

I promise you I’m not that lazy, but the crutch they provided started to overshadow all the other qualities that made them so special to me. And sure, all those things above are part of what make them great, but being away from them for an extended period of time I have come to miss all the little things that are hard to describe.

Over the past 17 months, I’ve seen my family one time. That was the joyous occasion of my sister’s wedding back last April. When I went home the first time, it was great to see everybody, but in a weird way, it didn’t feel like I had been gone for too long. Too much had changed in my life that I hadn’t had much time to realize much of anything beside how to live in a whole new world. Well, the past ten months of not seeing them has certainly changed that. It feels like a lifetime since I’ve seen them.

That’s why I’m so excited for the next month. First, my sisters and brother-in-law are visiting then my parents. I’m excited for a multiple reasons. I’m excited to show them Panama and the culture. I’m excited for them to see my community. I’m excited for them to meet some new friends. Most of all, I’m excited just to be with them.

And, no, I won’t ask my sisters to pick some shoes out for me, I don’t have any money. Nor will I ask my dad to take a look over my car, I don’t have one. Finally, I won’t ask my mom to make a good home cook meal. On second thought, maybe that will happen.

The Drawing

I have a brother-in-law, Dan that is a very talented artist. One of the best things that he and my sister do is make goofy cards for birthdays and such. Being not a very creative person, whenever I get a card from them, my creativity levels sink even lower. How did they come up with this, is the question I often ponder.

For my first birthday down here, they sent me a cute card that had caricatures of my sister, brother-in-law and myself on a beach with my sister holding a dead chicken. It was the perfect card for me in my new country. I liked it so much that I decided to hang it up in my house. Well, my counterpart and dad of the house I lived with my first three months, Sergio saw the card and got a good kick out of it.

So I brainstormed the idea of Dan drawing a caricature of Sergio, his wife and their two young kids. This was back in May of last year. Dan drew the picture and my sister sent it down to me. Except one problem- I never got the package. I finally abandoned hope after 5 months.

Knowing that Sergio and his family would like the drawing, I asked for another one. I resent the picture of the first time his family came to my house and Dan drew another one. This time, I got their package!

Earlier this week I went to their house to give them the drawing. They got a big kick out of it. Probably the best part was the little girl, who is now a year and a half old, not being able to realize that she is the little baby in the photo. But it was a big hit and they have it hanging at their house.

The Bat Attack

As I mentioned previously, right now is the dry season here in Panama. The weather is fantastic (sorry, I have to tell you that as you guys are freezing and digging out of snow). It is especially great at night, because it cools off to the perfect sleeping temperature. Seriously, over the past couple days I´ve never slept better in my life. Well, other than last year at this time!

So imagine my surprise when I was rudely awaken by something similar to this.

Awesome, right?

The Christmas

It is the week of Christmas and I’m in Panama, which is a short way of saying it doesn’t feel like Christmas. The slightly longer way is the other day I was talking with my parents and they told me they got 14 inches of snow over the weekend. I told them that earlier that day it was probably 90 degrees. Talk about a contrast.

So while I won’t be playing in the snow this week (I’ll be on a beach!), I wanted to thank all those friends and family who have meant so much to me over the years. While I won’t be spending the holiday season with you, I’ll be thinking about you. Especially, my wonderful sisters, brother-in-law, and parents, I can’t wait for your visit soon!

Stay warm and Merry Christmas.