i just fixed the link. it should work now. well, by my clock it is after 4pm on the day the first of the english teachers was due to arrive. my my, i seem to be the only english speaker on campus. what could that mean? maybe some of the other teachers read the article and decided this might not be the place for them. hopefully tomorrow will be the lucky day. i will update some new picks later this week. victor took a bunch of pics this weekend of the new teaching crew (four new teachers and a wife) when we went to ojo de agua (eye of the water) which is about as close to a water park as you will get in the istmo. basically, there are mini dams that block up this natural spring on weekends so family and people can come and play in the water (this particular playland is never deeper than about five feet). it is great because the water is constantly moving: kids, no chlorine, you get the idea. the weird thing is that since is a natural creek, there are lots of fish. these fish like to bite, i am not kidding, which is only a minor annoyance until one of the big ones singles out your leg and goes in for a snack. no blood is drawn but it never failed to freak me out when the big ones got hold of me. there are two such places in this area, and i hope to go to the other in the next few weeks.

to explain a little better, people actually dug out the creek bed to make larger pools. when the water is stopped up at one end, the `pools fill up, but eventually the water spills over the top. there are two runoff points which keep the water fairly fresh and people are not allowed in the actaully eye of the spring. kind of an interesting place until about 2pm (when we got out and made our way to the food huts) when the kids and families hit full force. in that sense, it is like any water park.
a vela and a wedding are on tap for this weekend, but i think i am going to skip the vela. i need to buy my own guayabera and some black pants. i don´t really want to have wear the same thing two days in a row (just contemplate the smell at the very least) and i am not sure if i am ready for that kind of partying. plus, i like the new teachers and want to hang out with them some as well. who knows, there may even be english teachers here as well by then. school starts in a week, they had better be here!