Looking at Plants...In Panama: Is this real life?

Saw this little guy out the window Sunday morning.

Always give way to iguanas.

The view from the Gamboa resort.

The last two days continue to be amazing, surreal blurs of new experiences.

Let’s start with Sunday.

The mannequins in Panama have larger butts...

So after our excursion to the hotel for wifi, we all piled onto the bus en route to the Allbrook mall, one of the most massive malls I’ve ever seen. It was packed with the most random assortment of stores, from about 15 mobile phone stores, really cheap clothing, expensive American products, sporting good stores, and anything else you might imagine. We thought we’d just pop in to buy some cheap phones and any forgotten gear…and ended up sitting in the mall for 3 hours because the lovely people at digicell were a bit slow, understandably so since 12 people wanted phones. There’s only so much one can do in a mall before the boredom, fatigue, and hunger set in, and when we finally left what I can now only see as a hell-hole, group moral was wearing thin.

and larger boobs...

Now to find somewhere to watch the Super Bowl, for which we were already 30 minutes late. Nino, our driver, took us into a historic part of Panama City, Casco Viejo (“Old Helmet”), a location known for both its vibrant night life and its crime. No one was feeling confident as we drove through narrow streets lined with police officers in bulletproof vests. We drove past children fighting in the streets, and a gathering that that looked like a protest/dance-off (it was hard to tell). And then we hit a dead end, the street cordoned off by more police. So we did what any sensible American tourists would; we got off the bus and continued on foot. Casco Viejo is in the process of being completely restored and rejuvenated, so for now many streets are blocked off by construction barriers and buildings are being gutted and redone. It will look great in about ten years, but now I couldn’t help but be reminded of movie sets from Indiana Jones and eerie theater sets for Phantom of the Opera. Soon enough, the street spilled out onto an open-air bar complete with flat-screens showing the game. We didn’t stay because the prices were a bit too steep, and instead ended up at Diablicos, with a private room including TV. Good food, good conversation, and some freaking out about Beyonce’s killer half-time performance were all involved.

The ceiling of our restaurant.

As we made our way to meet up with Nino after dinner, things became more interesting. A police officer started following and eying us suspiciously. He went away once we crossed the next intersection, but it was still unsettling. Interestingly enough, a native Central American in our group told us that in the US, we are and can be much more trusting of law enforcement than down here.

We were finally on the bus, and now it was time to pick up one of our late-arriving group members. It was back to the airport, and time for more waiting. This took much longer than expected, since she had actually gotten in a taxi, whose driver announced after about half an hour of driving that he actually didn’t know where Gamboa is located. Nino managed to contact her, and she headed back to the airport. Meanwhile, to entertain ourselves, all the OA leaders in the group broke out the arsenal of riddles, and we exercised our brains for a bit. Finally, after about an hour, the whole group was united, and we headed back to Gamboa, exhausted but with stories and experiences that won’t be forgotten.

Today, Monday, was the first day of class: Tropical Ecology. We started out with an incredibly entertaining lecture on safety from Nelida Gomez. "Boys, unless you want your butts touched, keep your wallets in your front pockets". We've also been thoroughly warned about Carnival, which is next weekend. Then came a lecture on risk management that brought me back to the perils of the OA leader training Risk Balls seminar. No matter how hard they try, it will never be interesting. I think I may have PTSD. The horror, the horror!

Then, after a rapid fire lecture about tropical ecology and lunch (with fresh fruit!!!), we were off to the field.

Enter the jungle

Professor Yves brought along his friend, Hector, who showed us a variety of plant species, as well as herbivory impacts. One tree has a neurotoxic sap that if contacted can cause serious damage to humans. Another palm has needle-like spines all along the trunk. Essentially, the trees out here aren't so friendly.
Fun sightings include a monkey, an agouti, and an armadillo.

After we returned from the field, I actually went running with Simone (shocking, I know), and since then, we've been lounging in the schoolhouse killing time. This really is the life. No homework, no exams, plenty of free time, and real science to be done in the near future, since the next big thing for us all to tackle will be to propose and carry out a research topic in these rainforests we'll visit over the next three weeks. I'm thinking something to do with epiphyte abundance and its relation to canopy cover/sunlight, but we'll see.

Signing out for now, but I hope everyone back home is well.