Today is a sort of in-between day. Tomorrow morning I am going to Chitré where they are having a folklore-style parade to mark their fiesta. Every town has a fiesta which is a big occasion. The people come from all over the area and there are normally markets and lots of activity. Dances and parades are often a big part of the fun.
Tomorrow I will be travelling with Bishop José Ulloa who is the Archbishop of Panamá City and is also the leader of the Panamanian Episcopal Conference. José, as it happens is an Augustinian. I don't, however, know him very well - we only ever met once before and that was a long time ago. Well, tomorrow, at 5am he is collecting me here at the parish of Los Angeles and we will have a three-hour journey during which we will get to know each other a little bit more.
The plan is that tomorrow I will visit the semi-closed Augustinian Nuns in Chitré and will give a talk to their novices - not sure how many. And, after, I will be delivered to the Augustinian parish of San José (St. Joseph). I will spend tomorrow night there and will return to Panamá by bus on Sunday evening after seeing the parade.
It looks like it's going to be two very full days so hopefully all will go well.
As I was hanging around this morning I decided to brave the sun and go for a walk. I walked a little longer than I had planned (about 45 mins) which meant that I had the same distance to walk back - obviously! However, I was a little unlucky as I bought something while I was out - practically at the end of the first half of my walk - and it turned out to be faulty so, having walked all the way back home I had to put my cap back on and repeat my journey. I think that if this had happened at home I would have been irritated - at least. As it happens, I was too hot and sweaty to be irritated. I just jumped straight in to the shower - thank God that, unlike the seminary, there is hot water in this house.
It was interesting to note that footpaths here are quite like the way I remember them from Ecuador. They tend to be narrow and are often used as parking spaces for cars and lorries. Another thing they have in common is that the manhole covers are often missing - I don't know about here but in Ecuador it had to do with selling the metal; I presume it's something similar here. That means that you really have to keep your eyes peeled - in fact, you don't realise how many manholes there are until you are really looking out for them.
Another thing that makes the footpaths unsafe is, of course, trying to cross from one corner to another. Traffic simply doesn't respect pedestrians and each time you step out on the road you are taking your life in your hands. Pedestrian lights and crossings are really only ornamental and seem to be totally ignored by drivers. What makes matters worse is that it is difficult to figure out the logic of the junctions - traffic seems to move in directions that it would never dream of doing at home.
Anyway, that's enough of a rant!
N
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