My Adventures in Central America: San Felix

May 28, 2012

Today was moving day. 22 people on a bus with just enough seats plus all of our luggage. Dario, our bus driver, was planning on strapping all of our suitcases to the roof of the bus. Everyone was to have their bags out on the curb first thing, which they did, but when it came time to actually start loading them up there was no one to be found (namely the two boys, both of whom are head and shoulders taller than most of the girls). I offered to help by being the middle man on the ladder transferring the bags from the people on the ground to Dario on the roof of the bus. Olivia and I switched off for a while until Dave finally showed up and was guilted into helping (he’s a bit of a Diva – his nickname is Princess if that gives you any indication). Once the bags were on, they were covered with two tarps and tied down with rope. Finally, we were ready to go.

Loaded bus

We stopped at a few places along the way for lunch and to pick up any necessities at the grocery store before we arrived at San Felix, our destination. Lunch was, once more, at a cafeteria type place, and none of the menu items looked appealing. Instead, I took my $5 allotment and went down the street to a bakery that also happened to have ice cream. The "Panamanian" ice cream was in a liquid form, and I was not brave enough to try it. They had another which was vanilla ice cream with what seemed like grape nuts in it, and that's the one I went with. I thought it was a good decision :). The entire ride took about 6 hours and was relatively uneventful.
When we arrived at the "compound," as our professor calls it, we were shown our rooms and allowed to unpack. Dinner would be at 6pm, and until then we were free to roam around the grounds. The compound is affiliated with a Catholic church in town, and locals simply call it "Padre's." It is entirely self sufficient and has crops, pigs, chickens, sheep, and who knows what else. The whole compound is gated as well, and therefore quite safe to roam around. The church holds Sunday school classes here after mass and offers some adult courses during the week so there are also several classrooms. Apparently they used to have a full time school, but it is no longer operating. In addition, local people are permitted to work for food and lodging, so some of the housing is set aside for that. Our room is a dorm with 6 bunk beds and 18 females. Luckily the windows open and there are several ceiling fans, so we don't die of the heat.