Our first full day in Panama was a huge success! We set out this morning on a walking adventure to the market to stock up for the week. We've become pros at navigating through Panama City thanks to Blanca and Doris... we learned from the best! Very proud of being able to get ourselves around a place where we don't even speak the language!
In the afternoon, we headed over to Divino Niño Orphanage, a house that has been turned into an orphanage for children ages 0-6. It was nap time when we arrived, so we sat and talked with Graciella, our guide for the orphanages, and she told us all about fostering and the adoption process in Panama. Jordan, Brittani, and myself were all amazed at how long and difficult adoption here can be... they are just now getting to the applicants from 2009! We also learned that adoption for children with special needs here is very difficult, and they almost solely rely on international adoption in those cases. It was definitely an eye-opener, and put into perspective what we were about to witness.
After that, it was playtime! Divino Niño has about 30 children, so you can imagine how much energy that is! The good news is the children there have lots of toys... although most of them preferred just using us as jungle gyms! We had just as much fun, if not more, than they did! We definitely gained some perspective on the situation, and came up with some points and ideas to share with Misty and Matt for their new orphanage!
For tonight, we're off to the Navarros' house to cook a yummy dinner! It's the least we could do for all the amazing things they've done for us! Time to relax and recover, for we are sure to be sore tomorrow!
:) Brittan(with a Y)
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