Maybe we should play lottery - we are good with rare chance events...

Dear readers,

You can see from the previous post that our trip to Portobelo was an exciting one.

 As Katie nicely summarized:

1. Don't pet the stray dogs - they have flees.
2. The locals are better than you at soccer (See Mark's post) - better known as fútbol - but they are happy to include you in the game anyway.
3. It is truly a small world, you never know when walking down the street you will see someone that you know - or for that matter a Bryant alumni.
4. Pee before you leave - or don't drink too much water. The result: a car accident that blocks the road causing a 30 minute delay followed by walking up and down the road until being forced to ask a couple to pee in their house because that's better than going in the tropical rain forest... Not that I would know from experience.

Number 4 from Katie's list talks about a car accident and causes number 3 on her list.

 

 

As any tourist in a foreign country would do - when you see flashing police lights you go toward them to see what's happening and how long you might be stuck in traffic. So Alejandro P., Esteban (our awesome local guide) and I decided to check things out. We walked out of the bus and started toward flashing lights. On our way we passed by number of cars and from the bed of one pickup truck jumped a massive mastiff and started barking at us. I was afraid they did not feed him that day so we moved quickly from the truck.

The accident involved a bus, a delivery truck, and a suv. Police was taking notes and gathering intel. As we turned around to get back to the bus another person was coming forward to take a look at things. When he was few feet in front of us, both him and I looked in disbelief and yelled "no way, what are you doing here." What is the chance that another Bryant student would be there at that time? Slim - but it happened. I was face to face with Ali Abbas, former student at Bryant who currently works for The Abraaj Group in United Arab Emirates. He has family in Panama and was on vacation with his brother and some friends.

I did not think students would believe the story so I showed him off on the bus. Ali greeted the rest of the group and we chatted for a few minutes until the road was cleared again. 

When Ali left Esteban suggested we start playing lottery!

And the mastiff - you know the big barky one - he was on his way too and he belongs to Ali!