Jack and Jill...

... walked down the (slippery, muddy) hill to fetch a tank of water.  In my friend's community, the group of houses that she lives with collects water from this spring for use at home.  There is another spring farther down the hill where they go to bathe and wash clothes, but all of the water for cooking, drinking, washing dishes, etc. comes up the hill to their homes in plastic jugs, normally in the hands (or on the heads!) of children.

Showing off our haul!

But I'm just a poser... I filled it up, but I didn't carry our tank of water back to the house.  That's what the boys are for, right?!

I don't even know which way is up anymore....

Living here I have become accustomed to the idea of maps reading from uphill to downhill as opposed to North to South.  Not professional maps, but maps of a community or water system.  Panama runs mainly East-West with a mountain range through the middle.  The highway and the majority of things are on the southern side of said mountain range so this scheme generally "works".

I find myself daydreaming of bike rides back home.  I think about how it would be easier to ride my bike from my Grandma's house to my parents' house than from my parents' house to my Grandma's house... because it's downhill.  Or is it?  I find it interesting that I keep catching myself imagining the Midwest as having a overall dip to the South.  :)

July = re-acclimating to the Land of Flat Expanses.

Taking Names and Climbing Things

I headed up to the mountain town of Boquete last week to take a little vacation and go rock climbing with some friends.  It was a gorgeous, not so hot, and relaxing break!

Show off.  ;)

Ruben leisurely making his way up this 5.10 route ;)