So, Tres is an iguana hunter in the making. He found a baby iguana here on site several years ago. He came to get his dad and informed him that he needed his camera. This time, Natalia found the iguana - it wasn't hard. He had come down from the trees and was sunning himself a bit on the pathway between the main building and the ocean facing cabanas. She came back and got all of us at lunch and told us to bring our cameras because there was a big iguana. All of us went over to take a look. Both Scott and Tres did some takes with Jim describing the iguana, but this one cracked me up so it is the one I chose to use today. Boty also got in on the fun, but only in pictures, no video for her this time.



Over the past week, we have seen quite a few iguanas as it is the Spring mating season. They come out of the trees for a short period of time each year to do their thing. Earlier in the week Jim was photographing one making his way down in the mangroves outside the main building. It has been quite a treat.

So, here goes the first entry of the life and times of the Tranquilo Bay teacher, the best job I have ever had the pleasure of holding...sorry the position is taken!

When I began teaching at Tranquilo Bay in March of 2008, we started working on Kindergarten material since Tres was 4 and Scott 5 years old. In August, we were studying parts of the plant. Tranquilo Bay is blessed with a beautiful and vivacious jungle setting, so we just naturally began to learn about our surroundings. I remember in elementary school an “experiment” of sorts where I placed a few popcorn seeds in a dampened paper towel and then shoved the towel into a clear plastic container to watch the roots grow. It was fascinating to see the roots do their thing. I thought Tres and Scott might enjoy this too, but with a twist to the original experiment.

As we wandered around TB grounds during recess we chose a few blue seeds from a heliconia plant and then other seeds from a mystery fruit found decomposing. We created a comparison experiment to see which seeds would grow best: by planting some in soil and others in a dampened paper towel. We put these samples in recycled clear plastic peanut butter containers. TB is great about reduce, reuse, and recycle. All the vegetable scraps from the kitchen are processed to create super rich beautiful black compost, so we put this to good use. As the smart boys predicted, the lovely composted soil produced the healthiest little seedlings.

Nevertheless, Tres and Scott were enamored with these plants. I never expected such a response. Each morning on our arrival to school it was the first thing to do: check on the plants! So Tres and Scott bonded quickly with their seedlings and became very attached to them. We nurtured our seedlings and transplanted them into larger containers. While they did their growing we practiced many scientific skills such as measuring their weekly doses of water in milliliters, measuring their heights in centimeters and creating a table to chart their growth, making observations on their happiness and changes, and finally creating a bar graph showing their progress.

It was November and time for me to take my birthday vacation. I would be away from TB for 5 weeks. (Gosh, I love teacher perks!) I felt the plants would suffer without me around to regulate watering and they were sufficiently big enough for transplanting to the big world of Tranquilo Bay grounds. During our recess, Tres and Scott carefully scouted out their planting sites. The next day we returned with fresh compost for enriching the plants’ new homes, a shovel, our plants and a couple of large straight tree limbs to mark their location. I did most of the sweating by digging the holes and for some reason the boys did not feel like getting dirty that day, so my nails took a bit of punishment as I showed them how to mix the compost in with the existing soil, remove the plants from their plastic containers, place them in the soil (but not too deep) and cover up their roots just right. I was planning on Scott and Tres doing all the dirty work, so I hadn’t brought any gloves. Next time!

So, every once in a while during “recreo” we wander over to see how our first transplants are faring….and above the banter between Tres and Scott debating over which plant is whose, we all agree that our plants are very happy and healthy. A lovely addition to the beautiful gardens of Tranquilo Bay.

Needless to say, these little seedlings have led to something much bigger than I expected. Now, we are growing all kind of things….any seed we spot, which is a lot around here, the boys want to plant. We have a lovely avocado sapling sprouting new leaves and reaching higher every day. Since the boys are so into growing things and I am craving a larger variety of veggies in my life, I bought a bunch of vegetable seeds on my way back form my birthday vacation. Through some sort of inspiration in having my own garden, about two years ago I purchased a book about organic gardening. Now, I believe I may have a real reason to crack its spine.

I myself grew up on a small farm in Tennessee and spent much of my time outdoors wandering around, so I suppose this is one of the reasons I love it here so much and enjoy spending time in nature with Scott and Tres. While growing up, we had a nice sized garden. At Tranquilo Bay, due to our somewhat isolated spot on Bastimentos Island, our supply of vegetables is carted a long way over the mountains, the variety a bit on the low side with some chemicals used in helping them do their thing. So….just last week, the boys and I scooped up some rich composted TB soil and planted seeds for spinach, mustard greens, and chives. For watering, Tres and Scott used curled up banana flowers that made perfect bowls for giving our veggie seeds their first drink. Now the anticipation of our newest seedlings has begun…. I’ll keep you posted.

There are those hotels and those destinations which are not a good fit for people traveling with children. We are neither of those things. We love kids – we have three of our own on site. Bocas del Toro Panama has plenty of places where the kids can have a fun and safe day.

This morning I was trying to help a former guest find another place in Panama to visit next year as he and his family want to return to stay with us, but they also want to explore a few different parts of the beautiful little country. We both happened upon a few new lovely places which look great but they are not appropriate for children. One place is completely over water which is not the best location for children. The other place does not accept children under the age of 13.

There is a reason that we are right for people with kids and for people without kids. We live here on site. We have our own kids living here with us. So we know what it is like to make sure both the kids and the grown ups have a good time. We send our kids to bed early or to the library downstairs to watch television while the adults enjoy a delicious meal with white tablecloths up stairs.

So, bring the kids and have some fun.