“No fun at all” day

Today was quite the adventurous day. We caught an hour long early morning water taxi to the mainland and started the several hour drive to the medical clinic in Puerto Nuevo. About an hour in, our driver/friend,Fermin, was pulled over for speeding. We all piled out of the car and noticed the back breaks were really smoking. Once Fermin worked things out with the police we spent the next hour at a roadside mechanic working on the breaks. It was very hot, but the kids did great having a little mechanic shop picnic. With the breaks “fixed” and now the a/c broken, we made it to the turn off to Puerto Nuevo. We were supposed to drive into the community but due to high river water we had to hike in. It was actually a pretty cool hike consisting of several bridges and walking through the small town. It was mid day and sweltering by now. We set

up the clinic in the town center. The kids entertained themselves for a few hours watching the clinic, exploring the area, and “searching for treasure”. But after a few hours everyone was VERY hot, hungry and tired. The kids and I hiked back to the car to get food. By the time we made it back we were covered in sweat, dirt and bugs and out of water. The kids had a well earned breakdown at the car with Walker yelling out “I hate Panamá!” with lots of tears from everyone. To top it all off a local family, I’m sure intrigued by the scene, came and stood right next to me and watched us all with complete amusement. It was a rough few hours. Fortunately, Dennis and Fermin hiked back out with several bottles of water and we were on our way to Boquete!

Within a few hours (and a few rounds of car sickness) we were in the beautiful, COLD mountain town. We quickly changed into pants and long sleeve shirts and made our way to dinner. Everyone was happy and smiling by the end of the day. When I tried to declare the day as a “type 2 fun” kind of day, Walker quickly replied that it was a “no fun at all” kind of day. We all had a good laugh! Although it was a pretty challenging day, Dennis and I couldn’t help but be so proud of how well the kids handled everything. Minus the one meltdown they adapted to the changes and dealt with the discomfort incredibly well.