great friends, crystal clear water & the canal

We're back in Minneapolis already; Panama was a whirlwind so I didn't get a chance to post anything until now. But we had a really great vacation. It was wonderful in that it was (1) extremely refreshing. We had a really easy pace, broken up by some more active days, but overall it was a great mix of relaxing, exploring and spending quality time with friends.

It was also (2) really meaningful. I loved getting to travel with KJ, learn from her perspective and see her creative photographic talent at its best. It was so fun to see Michelle step into marriage with such great joy. I deeply appreciated getting to see Lindsey enjoy her Colombian context and some really key relationships there, especially as she'll soon be saying good-byes and transitioning home. It was refreshing, easy and great fun to spend time with our friends Angie and Dave and to see how they've fallen into a sweet relational rhythm in their Spanish and in their marriage as they've settled into life in San Jose, Costa Rica.

And (3) I'm so very grateful to travel with Jachin. Can't wait to do more exploring with him.

But what's really new since my last post is all the time that we spent in Panama. We really enjoyed Panama! And would love to find reason to spend more time there in the future. Panama City itself is shocking modern - LOTS of huge buildings with modern/edgy architecture that has been built in the last 20 years. I didn't know what to expect, but I sure didn't expect that. There were really two parts to our trip. We spent time in Panama City hang out with Dave and Angie (who took the bus down from San Jose to hang out). We had a lot of fun exploring the city.






But then we also went out to the San Blas Islands, which is an archipelago in the Caribbean. We stayed on Franklins Island, which had somewhat of a rustic hostel (which means there was a generator for lights for a few hours in the evening and we could shower within a small window of time following dinner, otherwise it was just a handful of visitors, those that live on the island, beautiful white sand, warm and clear Caribbean waters, and a sand-bottom cabin to sleep in at night).





Two very different experiences, both great fun in their own right. I've posted more photos on my Flickr page - check them out, especially since blogspot isn't very format friendly for including photos.

We landed late last night and then turned right around and drove straight through the night again. Needless to say that it all went more smoothly following our well-rested nights of sleep, as opposed to the fiasco at the end of our last trip to Latin America. We came home very grateful to have electricity and a home that was still fully in tact, following a storm that rolled with the Twin Cities on Friday.

And now Jachin and I are both feeling ready to do some laundry, get back to work and get into a summer rhythm here in the midwest. Although let's be honest... I sure do miss the fresh juice, the warm culture, the awkwardness of my trying to speak Spanish, and all the newness that comes with travel. But there will be time for more of that again soon...

THE caribbean wedding

Saturday was a great day.:) It would no doubt be the best Caribbean wedding I've ever been to even if I had ever been to any other Caribbean wedding before. It was very fun to celebrate friends. It's rainy season in Cartagena, which means that rain, heat and humidity abound. But yesterday was just about darn right perfect! There was off and on rain, but by 3:00 pm it cleared up, stayed clear and we even had a great ocean breeze - just the kind of weather Michelle and Kike were hoping for. The timing was perfect... we did all our prep in Michelle and Lindsey's apartment and Michelle was set to meet her groom for pre-ceremony photos at 3 pm sharp.

Michelle gettin' all dolled up.

The ceremony and reception were both held on a beach-front event restaurant/bar, which was altogether lovely. And Lindsey and I made it through the ceremony in our fancy wedged shoes with enough grace to call it a succes.:)

Exchanging vows:)

But the best part of the wedding was just seeing how much Kike and Michelle love, respect, enjoy, and cherish each other. It was a real honor to celebrate both of them and to witness the milestone.

They were both just SO happy! It was contagious.

It was a blast to get to stand with Lindsey and to see KJ do some amazing and heartfelt photography work.

Following dinner the night before the big day!

There's A LOT more to say about the wedding... but I wanted to share some photos real quick before we take off for Panama - leaving for the airport shortly. Yesterday set us up well to hit Panama well rested - following a very relaxing Sunday poolside at Michelle and Kike's new building, we went out for some civiche last night and went to bed surprisingly tired consdiering the pace of our day.

Hasta Panama...

my wedding date :)

lovely humidity

This Caribbean air feels amazing. I'm feeling extremely grateful and content today - very meaningful friendships and the time to be able to be here to celebrate a fantastic milestone as Michelle and Kike get married tomorrow.

Our travels yesterday went smoothly. We got to travel with some of Michelle's family, which was very entertaining and included an intense game of farkel - it was a great way to break up what ended up feeling like an endless layover in the Panama airport. We hit the hay pretty soon after arriving and today has thus far been a lovely, sloooow pace. I suspect this will go down in the books as the most laid back wedding ever... at least for those of us that are fresh from the States.:) But our nails are done and lookin' lovely.

The familiar view out of Michelle & Linz's window. :)

The bride and her nails

brushing off the ol' blog

We're on the road again, which is funny in this case because I'm once again writing from my laptop in the car and we're once again driving to Chicago in order to catch a flight to Cartagena, Colombia. While this is familiar occurrence, there are some big differences... (1) I'm not writing a paper along the way (I sure don't miss homework one bit!); (2) Jachin and I are married this time around; (3) we get to enjoy the company of our friend KJ; (4) we're not flying Spirit Air; (5) but most importantly... we get to go be a part of a dear friend's wedding!:D We're very excited to celebrate with Michelle and Kike.

We'll fly tomorrow with Copa Airlines, with a short layover in Panama en route. When we bought our tickets, we imagined that we would be disappointed to leave that perfect, sunny MN summer weather... but seeing as we haven't enjoyed much of that yet following our endless winter, I'm all the more looking forward to getting off the plane to some humid, salty, hot air. We'll celebrate Michelle and Kike with all our might while we're in Cartagena, and enjoy some quality time with our friend Lindsey as well. Then on Monday we'll catch a flight back to Panama for an extended layover. We'll have almost six days to get to know a bit of Panama. And the best part of Panama?? We get to meet up with a our friends Dave and Angie, who will be catching a bus down from Costa Rica, where they live.

All the right ingredients for a great trip! And I just can't get over how novel it is that this trip is entirely homework-free. The books I brought with? All pleasure reading. Awe.some. But I'll try to share some stories and photos along the way.