Tristan and Jennifer's Visit!! aka, the rest of December and the beginning of 2014

And so we continue. I don't know in what order you are reading my posts, but the previous entry covered the culmination of my cinematic career to date, which ended on December 19^th, 2013.

I went back to site for a whole weekend, a long weekend to boot, to relax, see the very involved nativities that nearly every household arrays on their porch, and visit with people, before going back to the city on Tuesday, December 24^th, aka, my birthday to fetch my Best Birthday Present Ever.

Right around noon, Tristan and Jennifer arrived for a visit of about 6 days! We stayed in the city and wandered Casco Viejo, ending with a celebratory birthday dinner at a nice restaurant before turning in early for the night. At about 5 AM on Christmas morning, our ride arrive to bring us to San Blas, where we spend the day and the following day reading and relaxing on the beach, snorkeling with fish and corals and fish and squid and sand dollars and sea stars. There were uncountable stars in the sky, and little phosphorescent critter-algae-stars in the Caribbean Sea. It was incredible, as anticipated, and T and I saw a waterspout stretching from the clouds to the water, very near another of the islands.

On Thursday, after some logistical difficulties because Panama, we made it all the way back to my house where I introduced T&J to my familia panameña, and we walked around town to see the sights, plants, leaves, and decided to head to El Valle on the following day.

Bright and early on Friday, we bussed with all of our luggage around and up to El Valle where we stayed at a hostel at the Orchid House with my PCV friends Julie and Nate. We saw the true freak-of-nature square trees, La India's profile, the mercado, and visited the thermal hot springs and got volcanic mud facial masks. In the evening we went out for pizza with PCV friends, and spent the evening playing games and generally chilling.

Saturday saw us back to the City, where after depositing our belongings, we went out to visit the Canal at Miraflores, where we went through the museum and watched a huge cargo ship moving through a set of gates.

That evening, we had a final meal of Indian food, and on Monday morning, we went to the airport where I very reluctantly left T&J to take their flight back to the Frozen North.

I went to spend the night at my friend Catherine's house before going back to the city Just Once More, to ring in the New Year with a whole bundle of PCVS in a hotel in the center of town. We watched the Times Square Ball Drop, and then ran between our set of hotel rooms watching about 20 different fireworks displays in different parts of the city.

2014 began with a bang, and the first couple weeks saw me packing up and moving out of my house in preparation to leave service at the end of February, and as I write this, I've been living with my host family for nearly 2 weeks, and have just over a month left in Panama!