Settling in and Branching Out

This is the third week in Panama.

Peep and I moved into our own apartment (finally!). We live in a neighborhood called Casco Viejo (old helmet). It is the colonial part of Panama city. The building we live in is older than the city I was born in. The stair case is original marble imported from Italy, the banisters are handcarved mahogany. We have a view of the ocean and of the city that is made for kings. It is a castle. I will post pictures in a few weeks.

Our landlords (who own the house and live part-time in the rest of it) are a small family who run a really cool non-profit organization here in Panama: www.earthtrain.org .

We are trying to grab hold of Panama a bit more and have been looking for things to occupy ourselves here in Panama. We are looking for things to do that will teach us Spanish and earn us money. We have sent CV's around and gotten some job interviews. I am doing work with some non-profits. CREA-Panama has "hired" me as their pro-bono marketing consultant in exchane for the experience and practicing Spanish in their office.

In a few hours, I will go on a bus to some small town in the jungle called Soloy where I will teach English for a week and learn Spanish. After one week, Peep will meet me in a town near by called David and we will go together to Costa Rica. We have to do this to change our visas (only good for 30 days).

So the next weeks should provide chaos, interesting experiences and pretty pictures.