Happy 4th From Central America

Thursday, July 05, 2007
9:20 AM

We are quickly making a number of traditions as we travel. This is our second year in a row that we celebrated our independence day while travelling abroad. Luckily, the town where we are currently serving has a number of Americans living here and there was an impressive fireworks show. Last night, after dinner we all came back to our hotel to play a couple round of "scum" or "ash-loh," in German (you may be able to figure out the alternate English name from the German name, but this being a family oriented blog, I decided to leave that one out). During the game, we heard a number of gunshots at which time Haley and I realized it was the 4th of July and ran outside to see the streaming lights of gunpowder. The show went on for a good ten minutes and was especially impressive as we are in the middle of a canyon here in Boquete and the "boom" seems to be amplified on either side by the mountains.

Haley and I are sure starting to appreciate America and all that she stands for. This morning, the newest attack against our motherland came from an unexpected source: Our guide, Myra. At breakfast Haley was dressed in her Che Guevara t-shirt that she sleeps in. Myra questioned whether or not you were allowed to wear stuff like that in America. Apparently she didn't realize how free of a country America is. Once the bashing began, Myra started to give us a hard time for calling ourselves Americans. She, as an Ecuadorian, felt that she too was an American. Apparently many in her country feel this way, and she has spoken with many Canadians who are also upset with this particular naming strategy. I said fine, I am willing to call her an American if she wants, but she then said she would never want to be called an American. I said "okay," I'll be American and you will be Ecuadorian. She then went on and on about how our great country doesn't even have an original name to call ourselves and so we call ourselves the generic "American." She suggested that we come up with a new name or start calling ourselves "United Statsians." You can probably imagine how flabbergasted Haley and I were that she was even trying to argue this point. I suppose the British started calling us Americans and the name stuck. There are two separate continents, North America and South America. So, if the continent naming is an issue for her, there is no continent named America. She should be content, and proper, in calling herself a South American. Those north of Columbia who are not satisfied with calling themselves Mexican or Canadian can be content with the continent name of "North American" and not get confused with American. Those people who spend time getting angry at this naming scheme have too much time on their hands.

Okay on to other stuff. Tyson has now left the group. His partying ways didn't mix well with the family atmosphere of Boquete, Panama. This morning he headed back to Bocas with a couple Canadians and will rejoin us in Panama City on Sunday. Christoff is quite happy with this latest development, and isn't trying to hide his enthusiastic dislike of Tyson. I personally like Tyson, though our worlds are quite different. He enjoys drinking and hooking up with women, though he can never remember who exactly he ended up with the night before. He does have some good stories, however. Christoff is more mature and serious, and the two don't mix too well. I like Christoff as well, its just that the two men can quickly change into something ugly as displayed in our game of "scum" last night when the two got into a little quip over who had to deal. There was a bit of uneasy speech and "adult" words were dished out. I guess tensions had been building and the rest of us just kind of sat around not sure how to respond. If I were a great writer that made up quotes, I think for this story it would be: "A man's pride can be his greatest weakness." It is probably better that I don't become that type of writer.

Before I forget, I suppose I should touch on the Banco Nacional de Panama stealing $200 from my bank account. I had tried to withdraw that amount from the "cajero automatico" right after writing my last blog entry on the day we left Bocas. I withdrew the amount from the ATM, only no money came out, the screen said "transaction complete," and upon checking, the money had been debited from my account. I then high-tailed it to the local bank, and with only 20 minutes until our boat left harbor I was starting to perspire a bit above normal, even for the humid tropical climate. The lady I talked to couldn't be more apathetic to my cause. She gave me some drab form to fill out and said the money should be in my account in a week. I highly doubt that will be the case, and luckily I got her name and number and look forward to making many calls to the Bocas branch of the Banco Nacional de Panama upon my return to the states.