Rock the Boat!

We’re off Balboa, Panama, unable to get off the ship. For reasons that I don’t quite understand, the ship is not pulling up alongside the dock here. Instead, we’re anchored offshore, and have to get to the port by means of “tenders.” A “tender” is basically a lifeboat used as a sort of shuttle that takes people back and forth between the ship and the dock. We’re supposed to be tendering throughout our stay in Panama, making this a logistically complicated port. Right now, the sea is too rough to get people from the ship to the tenders safely, so everyone is sitting around waiting for the swells to calm down and the tendering process to begin.

In a way, it’s a blessing. We all have much-needed downtime after four intense days at sea. I could not be more pleased with my classes. My students are doing the reading, are engaging with it, are bringing up good questions for discussion. They’re doing a lot less reading than I would have assigned back home (there’s simply not enough time in the day for my usual reading loads), but the payoff is that we’re spending more class time on each individual text that we read. Now, though, no one is working, because we’re all waiting. Some are watching movies. Some are chatting. Some are napping.

Zoë, the Kid and I have several things planned for our stay in Panama. This afternoon, we’re supposed to be going hiking through the nearby Gamboa rainforest. Tomorrow we’re going to visit the “Casco Antiguo,” the old colonial part of Panama City, in the company of a Panamanian student and some of the students from one of my classes. Sunday is free, and Monday we have an all day excursion to visit the Spanish forts on the Caribbean side, and the nearby Canal locks. We’ll be coming back by means of the recently restored Panama Railroad. I can’t wait.

Other people are going to musical events, meeting with Panamanian politicians, going to indigenous villages. Many are getting hotel rooms in Panama City to avoid the tendering hassle, and, I believe, to facilitate late-night partying. We’ll probably spend a night or two in town ourselves, but not partying.