Adventures Everyday!

Wow! Something extraordinary happens almost everyday both on and off the ship. As I’ve mentioned before we have had several guests on board giving lectures and sharing in class discussions. From time to time we have other scholars, researchers, press, partner institutions, parents, politicians and others. Today a number of University career/academic advisors are joining us from Panama to Ecuador to get an idea what the Scholar Ship is about, and hopefully, recommend the experience to their students.

Every evening I look forward to hearing from the various Academic Field Program (AFP) experiences from students and colleagues. Some work really well and others don’t quite provide what they promise. Fortunately students and staff make the most of all of these experiences and come away with some good learning.

Shore excursion experiences and independent travel are also shared when folks return from the day or in some cases several days away. Some times these experiences work and again, sometimes they don’t. Either way there is always something to talk about.

Yesterday a group came back from the Pirates of the Caribbean excursion with stories of over-promising and under-delivering or miss-delivering. It seems they spent the whole day driving back and forth in Panama not really seeing or learning much. One participant even had a reaction to the bug spray she used and had to head off to the hospital (everything is okay). Another participant said “we were captured by pirates and driven around on a bus”.

I talked to a few students today about their adventures to the east coast of Panama to the best beaches. They said they had a great time with several challenges to overcome. There are many more stories like this.

For me, I just got back from a great day canoeing (with a motor) up the Chagres river to a wonderful waterfall and swimming spot. We then headed to a community of the Embera Tribe (13 families, 62 people) where we were fed a wonderful meal of Tilapia (fish), plantain and fresh fruit. We learned about their history, were entertained with music and dancing and then had the opportunity to purchase their hand-made crafts. Oh, and did I mentioned we saw crocodiles, turtles, numerous birds & butterflies and other jungle “things”.

Yesterday I went hunting mosquitoes. Not really hunting. There is an international research team onboard who will travel with us and collect mosquitoes and larvae from around the world. I was research assistant along with several others. We essentially found a pool of water came up with a sample and then “sucked” up any larvae we found (of course there is lot more to it than that). Oh, and did I mention we saw toucans, sloth, numerous birds and butterflies and other jungle “things”.

As they say you really need to be here as this is only a sampling of what we see, hear, feel, smell, touch and do. I can’t wait until Davis returns from his Darien Jungle experience tomorrow. Stay tuned for his “blog” where he will share some of his adventures.
Ken