New Years Eve

It's only 3 hours until the new year! The Pettengill's have decided to stay home, and bring the new year in with just our family. Madison and Mike decided to watch Shrek the Third, and I listened in, and worked on a video for tomorrow's blog. I know...I know...pretty exciting. Anyway - Happy New Year's Eve to all and to all a good night!

A Time of Transition

The last year and a half has been a time full of transition. We sold our house and lived in an apartment for a year as we prepared for Costa Rica. Now, we are in Costa Rica for 10 months learning Spanish and preparing for Honduras. For almost 2 years now we have been in a state of flux, and living in a time of transition. This is difficult because it's hard to have a sense of permanence. Each "home" has been one of transition. We don't want to paint walls, or decorate it up because we know it's only temporary. That's difficult. We so want to begin what God has sent us out to do. We do know that to do that we have to do these things first. But - when the only things you own can be put into duffel bags, it's hard to feel rooted. We are so excited about what we are learning in Spanish, but know that we are going to be far from fluent when we leave, but we will definitely have a foundation to work with, and a lifetime to get better. So, pray for us during this transitional time. Not feeling rooted can get to be a little difficult at times.

Last Full day in Panama City

I apologize, I didn't do a Christmas entry - I will try to make up for that now:

Christmas, this year, we knew was going to be different. First time away from home, first time with a fake tree at home, first year without a Christmas Eve dinner, etc, etc. And no egg-nog latte's from Starbucks...sigh... Our trip to Panama came about from many different levels. First, we knew we had to leave country because our student visas hadn't been approved. We didn't want to be illegal! As my 40th birthday was on the 21st, it seemed ideal for us to leave during that time. So - Panama it was. Christmas day was quiet. We brought Madison's gifts with us (our only gifts to each other, Mike and I, was the trip to Panama). So, Madison opened her gifts, we enjoyed her enjoyment over all of them (thanks to her grandma/pa Pettengill, grandma/pa Brumm, and Aunt Jerry!!!!). Then we ordered KFC for lunch (what else you may ask?! It's the only place open on Christmas - even the hotel dining was closed), watched movies, did a family devotional, and ended our Christmas day.

Today is our last full day in Panama City. On this trip so far I've enjoyed turning 40 years old, celebrating Christmas in a hotel room, visiting the Panama Canal, seeing old Panama, and just RELAXING! We had our annual watch-all-three-extended-edition-Lord of the Rings-in-one-day event yesterday. We've done this every year. We order pizza (no exception - ordered pizza in Spanish and had it delivered to our room - see...we ARE learning something), drank soda, and sat on our king sized bed (ahh...what a blessing - after sleeping on a double for 4 months) and watched them on our lap-top computer. Hey - our screen on our lap top is bigger than our TV screen back in Costa Rica. All in all, a great day! Today we are going to head out to Traffic Islands - the islands that were created from the land pulled out when the canal was dug. Imagine - creating 3 islands from dirt from the canal. Wow! Then, tomorrow we pack and head back to the airport, and back to our current home in Costa Rica. Don't know our plans for New Years Eve - we hear staying at home is the best option - can get a little crazy in San Jose during the holiday - so we may just be staying at home, playing games, and being a family. We shall see.

A Quick Tour of Old Panama City

Today we took a guided tour of two museums and the ruins of old Panama City. The original city was built in 1519 and destroyed in 1671. Many of the ruins and artifacts we saw were almost 500 years old.

Here is a 3 minute 30 second video of old Panama City. Yeah…we know…the accompanying music doesn’t fit at all, but, who could resist?

Panama Canal

Today we toured the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. This is the first set of locks as you enter from the Pacific Ocean. It was very interesting. There was a museum and a documentary movie onsite to help visitors understand the history of the Canal.

Here is a three minute time lapsed video for you to watch. While this video is only three minutes in length in actualy uses 12 minutes of footage. It is of a cargo ship being raised up in one lock and traveling through the next lock, with only a few feet of space on either side:

Panama

We have arrived in Panama for a little R&R, knowing our little tiny apartment was going to get even smaller if we spent the next week and a half there, so Mike sprang for a trip to Panama for my 40th birthday. We arrived safely, with ALL of our luggage intact, unlike this poor sorry sap (see pic below). I laughed so hard each time the handle came around the belt, wondering what I would do it that was all I found of my luggage. It was worthy of a picture. My 40th birthday came and went very quietly. Only managed to come out of it with a raging ear infection (please pray for that). Tomorrow we have almost no plans, just time to be with God (in our hotel room), and be with each other. Sounds like a GREAT day to me thank you very much! This is a view from the walk we took when we arrived. It is the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.

The "handle"


View of canal from the walkway

Battle of the Apes

Had an incredible day in Manuel Antonio. We started off our day at a local restaurant with our Casado meal – typical Costa Rican breakfast of gallo pinto (rice and beans), plantains, and eggs. We then took our rental car down to the beach area, parked our car, hired a local guide, and had a tour through the rain forest near the beach. This is a national park / nature preserve, which has been protected for over 35 years. Our guide managed to find some incredible things including squirrel and white-faced monkeys, sloths, Jesus Christ lizard (it walks on water), iguana, toads, poisonous grasshopper, cicada, many birds, including a rare owl, bats, rodents, and hundreds of hermit crabs. We then spent the remaining time at the beach. All total, we were there for 6 ½ hours. The most “exciting” event was my Battle with the apes. Huh? You may ask. Well…as we were relaxing on the beach, Denise, Mike, and Madison were all in the ocean swimming, I was quietly reading my book when I heard a, “Senora! Senora!” A gentleman behind me was trying to catch my attention as a monkey had snuck up right behind me and had grabbed the bag with our books in it. I turned around and he looked at me. First, it was a battle of the eyes - we stared at each other, each determined to make a stance. The next, after he got bored with that, was the battle of the bag! He had his hand on our book bag, and I grabbed the other side of the bag. I pulled toward me, and frowning, said, “HEY!” Then he pulled back, then I pulled toward me again, stating “Hey!” once again. I really think if monkeys could frown, he would be frowning. He was quite irritated that I wasn’t giving up my booty. After a few more attempts on his behalf, I rattled the bag fiercely (with an evil gleam in my eye), and he finally departed – defeated! However, his mischievous deeds were not completed – he looked for easier game with other people around the beach. Eventually he was irritated that none of his attempts came up with a catch, and left the scene.


Manuel Antonio



Naughty little monkey