Toni

We currently have the wonderful infusion of Toni in the Gamboa bat lab. We first met Toni in Bulgaria in 2009 when we spent two months in Tabachka, doing field work (fun to look through these old blog posts again!). Gwendolyn was just one year old then, which seems very young to remember anything. But now - at nearly age 5 - Gwendolyn's taken so quickly to Toni upon remeeting her, we really wonder if there's some deep-seeded something that she remembers. Or maybe she just loves Toni now for the exact same reasons she loved Toni then. Either way - it's extreme happiness:

 Then.

And now.

Gamboa Bat Lab

An amazing group of people working in the bat lab right now! The group keeps getting bigger and bigger. Starting from bottom left to right, then counter clockwise up and around: Flor, Alex, May, Wouter, Yann, Thomas, Molly, Rachel, Toni, Matthieu.

Happy Mother's Day

Gwendolyn caught me off guard this week. Very early Friday morning, before I was fully awake, she took me downstairs and very excitedly gave me this gift. Somehow with the canceled school, the busy week, the lack of sleep, it seemed that Friday might actually be Sunday. And she was so excited for me to open it, it didn't seem to matter too much what day of the week it was. 

 The wrapping paper itself was wonderful. 

As was the framed portrait inside.

 Simon had his own Mother's Day card for me.

And then on Sunday, our new weekend nanny, Karmir, arrived with this fruit bouquet. Happy Mother's Day all!!

No rain = No electricty = No school ?

Every once in a while something very odd happens in Panama that makes us really feel like foreigners in a strange land. This week was one of those times. Some background - it's been a very dry dry season. The rains have been very late in starting, everyday we are expecting them to begin and still they haven't come. While this has been good for some reasons - for instance, we've been able to put a dent in painting the outside of the new house, we've put up porch columns, fixed some holes in the roof - a post on the house progress coming soon! - it has been very bad for other reasons. Dying plants and off schedule animals aside, people are very worried because it's sparked a "national energy crisis" - or so the government says. So much of Panama's electricity comes from hydroelectric dams that when it doesn't rain enough, there is a decrease in the production of electricity. So the government started issuing energy saving mandates. The first thing to go? Schools! It seems incredible, but yes. All public and private schools in Panama City were forced to close this week. Classes will resume Monday. Not only does this send a terrible message about the value the national government places on education, it doesn't seem to make any practical sense - all those kids have to be somewhere, doing something. Likely many (most?) of them are at home with their TVs on, using energy. We asked some of our Panamanian friends their take on it - the prevailing opinion is that it is a government strategy to convince people that the land that belongs to the indigenous people in the interior - land the government has been trying to take for some time - should be developed for hydroelectric power. Which sounds horrible but believable. I guess we can't be ones to talk - our own government is doing some pretty crazy things too. Closing schools before taking any other energy saving actions, however, seems like a very strange thing to do.

We do have one person who was very happy with the school closures, though. Gwendolyn was estatic to stay home in Gamboa, playing with her friends here, finding lots of new ways to entertain little Simon.

A couple of very happy, Gamboa-bound kids.

Homecoming

David's back!!! A very sweet homecoming, complete with lots and lots of New Orleans/mardigras beads....

 

Pensive Wren

Crazy Hammock

There seems to be a lot of hammock craziness these days! From left to right: Gwendolyn, Amael, Izzy, Simon, Maricarmen, Nico. And missing but added a second later - Julia!