Farewell Tour Part 1 & 2

The end of my adventure has been beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I stayed on in El Salvador longer in order to join a brigade of doctors who would be holding a two day clinic at my site. It proved to be a great decision. I spent two days working with the women's group as we gave a talk on breast cancer and I helped translate breast exams and pap smears. I also assisted in translating medical histories which was incredibly fascinating. Women who didn't know their birth days, women who were too scared to get examined, women who did the brave thing of going on birth control, young girls who wanted their health to be a priority, women who looked to be 50 who were pregnant with their 7th child and so on. I now have a new drive to work more in women's health policy. One of the women in the group works for Planned Parenthood and suggested volunteering which is something I will definitely be looking in to.The doctors continued on to other PCV sites but I had graduation and packing for my big trip.

On Thursday morning I got to the bus stop at 4 am with my school director who was kind enough to escort me. I had two seats to myself until Costa Rica which allowed for sufficient sleep. However, I did have a problem with my expired visa in El Salvador which made me angry and, I admit, made me cry. I had to pay a $115 fine to leave and continue on my journey. The 24 hour journey was not that bad because TICA provides good food and the countries make you get off at every border crossing for about 20 minutes or 2 hours. In Costa Rica, we switched buses and I sat to a Panamanian reggae musician. Sleeping was harder and, like Texas, we were driving through Panama for nearly 9 hours before reaching our destination.

My friend, Dylan, met me at the terminal and we headed back to his condo in the city which turned out to have an ocean view and be super plush. (He gets free housing as an SAT/TOEFL/AP professor for children of wealthy families here.) The next day we set out for San Blas. It is an archipelago and Indian reservation of the Kuna Yala Indians...see my pictures for more details. After two full days there, we headed back to the city. The next day we did market shopping in Avenida Central...a haven of cheap goods. I scored some cute earrings and indian sandals but, thankfully, didn't go too crazy buying tons of cute tops for $2. I saw Harry Potter. Today, we are planning on seeing the Old City Ruins and the Canal.