Spearfishing Panamanian Style

We went to visit a beach on the other side of the island-

Starfish Beach

it was about a 20 minute taxi ride 

through the interior of the island. 

But it was well worth the time- 

Nothing commercialized about this beach.

We grabbed our spears and started snorkeling.

Starfish were huge and plentiful.

So were the dolphins 

 A few thatched huts were on the beach 

where the locals ran the 

boat taxis on and off the beach, 

but other than that there was not much going on.

We went around the island 

a bit and found this great rock jetty-  

the fish were plentiful on the reef.

Bleus first spear of the day.

Can you tell what this is?

He speared 7 of them 

in about 30 minutes.

The smallest stingrays I have ever seen.

As I look at this picture I think I must be the Worst Mom Ever.  

Not only am I letting my boys swim around 

with sharp spears in their hands

 but one is spearing multiple stingrays 

and the others are still snorkeling.

Have they lost their minds???

Off to school...

Little boys waiting for their taxi driver
 Ivan to come get them.  

The boys leave every morning at
8 and return at noon for lunch.  

It cost $1 per person for the trip.

Panamanian style school..

The school is an international school. 

 The owner Keren is from Israel, 

the teachers and students are from: 

U.S.A, ITALY, ARGENTINA, PERU, ENGLAND, AUSTRALIA, 

ISRAEL,  INDIA, BELGIUM, PANAMA, SPAIN, HOLLAND, 

GERMANY, URUGUAY, FRANCE, SCOTLAND, GHANA

They don't always want to go... same attitude different country:)

Eli loves that they don't wear shoes in the school.

We shut the gate to the courtyard so the kids are nice and safe 

and I go home to do some writing for a few hours.

Adios los ninos dicen!

A Jesus Lizard

Jesus walked on water. 

 So does this lizard found 

in the rainforest here.

Hence the name.

Bleu caught this one in his net and it didn't want to let go. 

I had to help him pry its toes and mouth out of the netting.

He's not really sure if he feels good about holding it.

They run standing up and VERY fast.  

It took Impressive hunting to grab him.

Liam choose not to partake in the holding of the huge lizard.

And now he lives in a box in my kitchen.

He eats vegetable scraps

because we haven't found any

 snake eggs yet that they love to eat.

An island Sunday...

We went hiking on Bastimentos island on fathers day 

and found this little church half way up the mountain.

The people speak  Guari Guari which is 

sometimes refered to as creole english.

A lot of them speak spanish as well.

The service was given in spanish by the pastor 

and then translated into Guari Guari.

They honored the dads as well as gave them a strong charge 

to lead their families and stay clear of alcohol, drugs and violence.  

3 of the main problems this community has.

The children in the church performed an exciting drama.  

Acting out how Satan uses drugs, 

alcohol and all types of sin to keep us down.  

Then Jesus came and a real tug of war happened, 

I mean my kids were a bit frightened on the front row, 

but in the end, Jesus won, and the sin was crushed.

Heavenly voices.  

I love their variations of songs we sing at home as well.

We sang and worshiped together 

with this beautiful little church and 

felt so blessed to be so far away from our community 

but yet surrounded by one that so strongly loves the Lord.

Surfing Horses..

We didn't really believe there were 

wild horses on the island that came to our beach and swam.

But this morning as we ate breakfast they came.

At first they were just resting in the shade of the palm trees.

I couldn't believe they let us touch them.

Then the boys decided to swim with them.  

I thought for sure they would run but they stayed out 

there for a long time with them splashing around.

Even petting them

And when the boys came in, the horses followed..

moving around the island...

Our house is a mile outside of town on 

the one road that runs around Isla Colon.

We are on a beautiful bay and have acres of jungle behind us.  

So far, we have used many different modes of transportation.  

My favorite is when we can walk out of the house 

and wade in the ocean for a water taxi ride.

to visit Carenero island it is 1$ a person. 

Wills favorite..

At first he tried to pump Liam this way and mama said no way..

It is only a 10 minute ride to town.  

You have to ride very straight however because the road is 

very narrow and the taxis pass you with about 6 inches of room to spare..

The baskets are great for when we grocery shop in town.

Sometimes we walk.  

It is dusk and Zeb is afraid of bats 

so he walks with his hand on his head.  

Although there are vampire bats here, they don't 

commonly swoop the streets and bite little boys heads...

We are heading to town to get a water taxi to 

visit Bastimentos island today.  

They have an organic chocolate 

and coffee farm there I want to tour...

Beautiful Feet...

Beautiful feet are the feet that bring the good news Jesus said.  

And  a woman named Vivianna brought it to me today.  

She is a traveling pedicurist,  A mother of 5, 

grandmother of 1, and a strong christian Baptista.

She has lived in 

Bocas del Torro all of her life.

Today she brought me the good news.  

A reminder of Jesus' love for me 

and his gift of himself.  

He will never leave me nor forsake me.  

Jesus himself IS the Good news and Vivianna was his messenger today.

AND she gave me beautiful feet while we visited!  

There has been NO hot water since arriving on the island over a week ago.

But oh sweet mercy she boiled some water in our kitchen for my nasty feet.

Feet that walked all over town barefoot

 looking for new flip flops after a shoe blowout.

This is the center of Bocas town.

Not very clean to say the least...

I found some great gold flip flops for 3$ here..

And now I feel all clean and right side up again.

Heres to another day in Bocas!!