Update on Parades
My son has finished his 3rd and final school parade this year. His school took 1st place for Secondary Schools. The trophy is as big as he is! 

Mirror Devils
​I had never heard of mirror devils before and some of the characters in the parade had actual mirrors on their head.  There were some with faces like wolves and some just plain scary. 

“During the colonial period, liturgical dramas in spoken verse were common in Latin America.  They instructed the illiterate population in the wonders and mysteries of biblical narratives.

In Panama, the Mirror Devils (Diablos de los Espejos) and Big Devils (Gran Diablo) respectively from Garachiné and Chorrera, portray variants of the Christian theme of the eternal battle between good and evil.  Musicians accompany the Mirror Devils as they enact the defeat of the devil by the Holy Spirit.”  ​Lingua Franca

Bad Horse
Our neighbor's horse has decided that our grass is greener on this side of the fence. She has started using brute force to get big bites of our lawn. We had to do some modifications to the fence, we will see how long it lasts. :)

Critters
Butterflies, moths, caterpillars and jumping grasshopper type bugs all over!

Mushrooms
I can find mushrooms hidden around the farm if I look hard enough. Here is my favorite one, it looks like it is upside down.

Things have been very busy lately. Summer vacation is about to start and we are quickly going through all of the end of the year activities. Besides the parades, there was a field trip, prep for exams and the end of the year formal school dinner. There are weekends with friends that my son will not see over the summer break and planning of trips to do with this time off!

We celebrated (U.S.)Thanksgiving with our friends and neighbors, I went to my son's school to celebrate Mother's Day, since the holiday is actually the day after school lets out this year and now we are working on Christmas. I think tonight we will put up our tree. It is different putting up a Christmas tree while wearing shorts and flip flops, but I do not miss the cold.

November  has many holidays
We started the month out with Day of the Dead, November 2nd. This is a day where people remember friends and family that are no longer with us. They take flowers to the grave sites and clean up the cemeteries and plots. No alcohol is sold in stores or restaurants. This really is a day of remembrance, not really a celebration.

November 3rd. Independence Day, separation from Colombia. All of the local schools participated in the parade and wow, I had no idea there were so many!!!! The kids all dressed up, some in the "traditional" Panamanian costumes, some as jesters or some kind of monster, or the more traditional marching and drum band outfits. It was pretty fun seeing each school and what themes they chose to represent.

The last but not least was my son's school. :)

And, tomorrow is Flag Day, November 4th. This is the holiday where Panama celebrates the adoption of the national flag. We will be attending another parade tomorrow!

Then there are 3 more holidays after that....lots to do!

Trash
In the 6 years we have been coming to Panama, we have never had a place to deposit our trash near our house. This might seem very trivial, but trust me....finding the trash truck, dump or community area was very difficult at times. 

Realistically, there is no trash truck that would come up the hill to collect trash, so we fabricated a trash receptacle and placed it at the bottom of our hill. YAY!!!!!! It is the little things in life!

Creatures/Bugs
Wildlife here is always interesting! I only know that the first picture is a rain frog, or so my gardener tells me and from there....no clue on any official names. :)