Panama

We stopped at the park in downtown San Jose before our trip. It is huge and has this beautiful lake in the middle! We had a nice afternoon here :)

These trees are so amazing! There are so many colors and super vibrant! It looks like someone painted them!

Crossing the border in Panama! They have quite a few rules to enter the country which makes it kind of difficult but we were prepared so everything went smooth.

Everyone waiting to cross in to Costa Rica

How many guys does it take to change a light bulb? Three men on a pole.. not to mention in the rain!

After the first bus ride we stopped in David and stayed with these dear friends at their home. They are so sweet. We had such a wonderful time with their family! They have the convention in David at their home. 

They have a really big patio filled with hanging bells, a typical Panamanian decor, really beautiful!

Hector & Blanca with kids Hector & Leonell

Rice fields

We got the front row on the second level of the double decker bus on the way to Panama City. It was awesome to have such a nice view! Even though sometimes it looked like the tree branches were going to come through the windows! 

This is the home of Doña Nena where we stayed in Arejan. There are a lot of our church friends who live really close by to each other so we were able to walk from her house to the home where the convention was. 

She lives on a really steep hill and when we were leaving the worker June slipped and fell and scraped her knee all up. No one had a bandaid so we used a vine from a plant to attach a napkin and secured it with a sticker from our kleenex pack. Talk about original! 

Lunch with the workers at the home of a sweet lady, we had lasagna. 

Her grandchildren

The bother workers and Miguel getting ready for some dessert!

Guayo is pretty excited for some postre :) hehe I just love how Efrain is cracking up haha!

Lunch time at convention

Yard at Eric & Sandra's. Sad we didn't get a family photo but the last evening we were there one of the sister workers fell and broke her arm so there was a lot of commotion. It was fun to be with them for a little while and see their place. 

Walking to meeting on Sunday morning :) So sweet!

One of the ones who made their choice on Sunday

New bridge over the Panama Canal. We went on Monday morning to see the Canal. 

This shows the locks really well. You can see how high the water is in the lock on the right and how low it is in the lock the boat is in. The water raises up 26 meters! There are huge holes in the bottom of the locks where the water fills in. Pretty impressive!

These are the trains that pull the boat along so it doesn't hit the sides of the canal. It gets to be a pretty tight fit! We got to see 2 boats go through the canal and see the gates open for the locks. Here the gates are opening. The canal is open 24 hours and has had over a million boats pass through since it opened. 

Guayo & Landon watching the boats

Super exciting to see the Panama Canal!

Walking through the tunnels :)

Landon helping bring the boats in

Beautiful view of Panama City. We had this view where we ate lunch with Eric & Sandy and all the workers

There were a lot of us for lunch and it was a very yummy meal with seafood, beef, and platacones

All 12 of the workers who were at the Panama convention

Marjorie, Nena, and her husband. Such a sweet family!

Gotta love this retro bus, we thought it was going to be uncomfortable but it was the most comfortable we have been on! 

This indigenous lady in front of us had a newborn that she would just set on the seat next to her. He was a really good baby the whole trip 

Cemetery in San Jose

My favorite picture of all time. The Costa Rica flags and multi colors just make this picture!