#8 - Taking shape

10/02/2011

Got up fairly early this morning, felt ok considering the abundance of weirdness I ate last night.
The others complained of stomach cramps, but I think that's just because they ate so much.

Picked up the first other team member - also called Jonny. For this reason, I have decided to be known as Jon for the duration of the trip to simplify matters. Plus it's what my parents and sister call me so I'm used to it, I quite like the sound.

We went to the same place for breakfast and had more Boyo, some chorizo sausage and more of the lush fruit salad. And of course, a nice cup of strong Panamanian coffee. What a way to start the day.

We then relocated to our hotel that we're just staying in tonight - the room is very spacious, and it has additional benefits such as a bigger TV and most importantly, a courtyard with a swimming pool.
Me and Jonny went straight down to take advantage of these facilities, doing a mix of sunbathing and swimming - Albin said we are white and pastey so I see this as a challenge to tan-up as soon as possible. However I applied suncream liberally (Mum would be proud) so I feel this will be a slow and steady tanning process, but I'll reap the benefits e.g. not having snake skin.
We had fajitas for lunch though they were served without a tortilla wrap. Great confusion was caused when we ordered them, as they straight away brought out a bowl of soup and a glass of Iced Tea for each of us. Although we were well aware we hadn't ordered these, we delved into them whilst laughing about the potential consequences - however it then transpired that they are served with each meal, so drama was averted.

Our next teammate, Jessica, arrived at around 2:30 so we chatted to her for a bit. Albin and his friend Enrique then went to pick up the next guys so Jonny went for a sleep and me and Jessica went to the pool for a bit and then for a stroll round the city. The sun was ridiculously hot to the point where I could feel my skin dying out and stinging, but we got some great photos and had a nice chat which was important.
In a mission such as ours, team spirit and togetherness is going to be vital so I have taken it upon myself to get to know everyone as quickly as possible.
When we got back to the hotel, the water tasted soooo good. She gave me some sweets she had  brought with her, and I mentioned that I thought Hershey's chocolate had the aftertaste of vomit without realising the factory is 20 miles from her house. Oops.

Albin and Enrique arrived at 6pm with two more people, Andrew and Jarett. Andrew chose to take it easy so me, Jonny, Jessica and Jarett were taken for a mini tour of the islands on the edge of the city (where we went for seafood yesterday). He explained that until 1999 when Panama was given control of the canal, there were areas where Panamanians couldn't go! I decided not to go on a rant about Americans as I had already criticised a major aspect of their culture in front of Jessica once today.

We then went for a hamburger con papas (with chips) and also had some fried Yuca on the side - I'm getting to like this food, it's quite savoury. However apparently the indigenous tribes boil it rather than fry it and it tastes way worse boiled, so I'll enjoy it fried while I can.

We then returned to meet another arrival, Christina, and also to chat to Andrew for the first time. He's been in South America for around a month and is staying for 7 in total, then spending 4 months in Ukraine and Russia! He's then going back to his job as an architect. Interesting guy to talk to.

The others went to bed but we stayed talking until the last of our group, Bonnie, turned up about half an hour ago. So our team is as follows:

Me
Jonny, 23, from Northern Ireland
Jarett, 23, from Ontario, Canada
Andrew, 26, from London
Jessica, 20, from Pennsylvania, US
Christina, 20, from Virginia, US
Bonnie, 19, from Wales

We all speak English as our native language which is big, because it means we'll all be able to actually connect with and understand each other rather than simply understanding that Stig is 22 and enjoys dancing the salsa.

So we're all here - the work starts now. Actually on that note in case any of you were wondering how I've been on Facebook and stuff, that's purely because we've been chilling in hotels waiting for people to arrive.
From now on, it's going to be training then hard work (except for tomorrow where we have a tour of local temples and religious buildings).
But I'll keep writing my blog as much as I can - I can't let down my legions of followers back home.

Buenos noches

JG